day_manderly

First, my credentials. Well. I can spell my own name, though I don't usually know exactly how old I am. I'm within a year or two, but I'm usually wrong until I've done some subtraction. I teach composition and like to write calculus equations on the board when I take classes in poetry writing. But, here's my real credentials: consider what is written herein in conjunction with what the various instructions on SOPs that you've read have said, with the requirements the program you are applying to has put forth, and with your own experience as a writer. Do you think I know what I'm talking about? Should you pay any attention to it? Is any of it useful?
 
Second, I'm not going to give you a formula for what the standard SOP is like, or a list of things the various thousands of admissions committees will be looking for. There are plenty of prescriptions on the internet, many of them written by professors who have presumably gotten sick of badly written SOPs.
 
Third, I'm not promising that SOP writing be easier after this. It'll be harder, actually. I'm not promising that you'll get in to any place you desire, or that there is any one best thing to put in the SOP to get noticed. That would be totally impossible. Each discipline has its own needs and values, as does each university, each department, and each faculty member on the admissions committee (adcomm). There is no one size and it doesn't fit most, let alone all. There are conventions (use Standard English, for one), but other than include your research interests, I won't advocate that any one thing is strictly necessary. I leave that up to the more knowledgeable.
 
The advice:
 
First thing is to deeply understand that you should write an SOP for each program. Most people take this to mean write one master SOP and then tweak as necessary to make the one SOP applicable to each university (U of A becomes U of B, Professor X becomes Professor Y). You can do that. You can be very successful doing that. You most likely, really shouldn't do it.
 
The next thing to understand is the SOP's purpose. Why do the adcomms want to see SOPs? Shouldn't transcripts, letters of recommendation, and a writing sample do it? After all, transcripts and samples show the actual scholarship and the letters verify it. The SOP isn't for showing scholarship off, or to act like a resume, or anything. So why do the adcomms want an SOP? Why are the SOPs one of those make-it-or-fail things? What is the SOP's purpose? In job hunting terms, the SOP is like a cover letter. The cover letter is to make clear connections between the resume and the job ad. For you, its primary purpose is to make the adcomm offer you admission with full funding. For the adcomm, its primary purpose is to help them see how you would fit into their program (make connections between their program and you). By fit, I mean do they have faculty (or enough faculty) in your area of research interest that can advise, mentor, supervise, and/or committee you through the program to get your degree? Do you have the kind of understanding of the discipline, your research interests, and their program that would make you successful? Do they have something to teach you? Offer you? What can you offer them? They want to brag on you as much as you want to brag about them. If they offer you admission, will you be a good scholar? A good student? Here is the most basic question the SOP should answer: What is it about you that makes you a better prospect than everyone else who's applying?
 
Understanding the SOP's purpose, in practical terms, means that you will know what to put into it and what to leave out of it. And how to phrase it.
 
So, with the purpose in mind, there comes the question: what should you put into it and leave out of it? What format should you use? (MLA? APA? Is footnoting okay?! What about citation?!) Should I stick in a personal story that everyone seems to recommend, except for the half that don't? My research interests? The story about why I got on F in that one, very important class? I'm not going to answer those questions because I can't. Every discipline and department is different. I will give you an answer you won't like: research. Find out the requirements each program you're interested in has for the SOP, think of the SOP's purpose: and now research.
 
Research is one of the basic keys to writing an SOP. It's no different than the writing sample you'll be including in your application packet. For each program you apply to, do some research. How much research you need to do depends on a lot of things, the least of which is your personality. More research does not automatically mean a better SOP. Less research doesn't automatically mean a better one, either. What makes the right amount of research? The ability to craft an SOP that is specific for the program that you're getting into. Here's some ideas (not an exhaustive, inclusive list of what to do) on what to research:
The program itself. Look at the recent graduates and, if possible, read their theses and/or dissertations, at least in part. The acknowledgements can give you an idea about the program's culture. The introduction can give you an idea about what kind of scholarship the program produces and expects. It will also, and this is very important, give you an idea as to how the program uses language. If you speak to them in their own language, that helps your case. You've likely done this, if not, seriously, you should have done this. Look at the program's website and read it all. What kind of classes are offered for both undergrad and grad. Who are the faculty, the tenured, the assistant, the visiting, the emeritus, and the graduate students. What kind of ties to the community (both academic and their local town) do they like to talk about? Do they talk about how their graduate students are working with community partners? Do they host conferences? What happened at the last one? This gives you a taste of the program's culture. The faculty. All of them that might be on the adcomm and the ones that are relevant or somewhat relevant to your interests. Crack open JSTOR etc. and search for recent faculty publications. If you're basing your interest on a faculty member on the interests they've got listed on the site and a reference to them in an article from a decade ago, or worse, only their reputation, you don't have a strong basis to establish clear reasons why they have anything to offer you. Read their recent publications, see who they name drop in terms of theory, other faculty, and so on. Make a list of what each faculty member can offer you in terms of research, not just the ones that are directly related to it. If you're into studying apples, but Dr. V works with oranges, think about how Dr. V's work might help you out. Take notes when you research. Each program has a bunch of people, and you're likely applying to multiple programs. It's easier to refer to notes than to go back and look it up all over again. What's happening in the field with your current research interests, if necessary. This is so you can situate your research interests in the discipline, and then situation your research interests in the program. You can just tell them what you're research interests are and leave the situating to them, but you can lose that chance to sell yourself as the best amongst the rest. Research you. Yup. You. Scribble out some lists or paragraphs or whatever that inventories you. Who are your influences? Who are the theorists you keep coming back to? Who are the theorists you loathe, mock, and/or ridicule? What are your research interests in general and specifically and anywhere in between? Some SOPs will need to be more general, some will need to be more specific. Length restrictions, what you found out about the program, the faculty, the state of the discipline, and so on, can alter this for you. What kind of scholar are you? Student? What's the difference? How do you manage your time? Stress? Health? Do you expect to bring your dog? Do you have health issues? Do you have any academic things that are a negative? If you do, how negative are they? It's easy to see that as an either it's entirely bad, or it's somewhere in the huge good category, but some things are negatives that need to be addressed for certain programs, while other negatives can be ignored, or you should discuss with the one relevant letter writer so they can address it. While Sam ultimately received a C in the Research Methods course, the grade doesn't reflect the actual scholarship as Sam fell ill during the mid-term and consequently failed it; my course policies do not permit re-taking the test. What are the good things about you? Not just the grades, awards, publications, and presentations, but also the character traits. What are you weaknesses? Don't do the job interview baloney, my greatest weakness is my perfectionism. Of course, the important, probably ought to be on the SOP questions: why grad school? What will you do with the degree you want? Why are into the research you're into? Why that particular school? Why are you worth admission and funding?
 
Research the assistanceships. Some SOPs will want you to write a bit about teaching or research with assistanceships in mind. So, do a bit of research on what these entail in the programs you're looking at. What do they do and how do they get it? Have you done assistanceships in the past? If so, what were they like? Do you have a teaching philosophy? If not, make one. Have you done anything that can be discussed in terms of the assistanceship? I taught kung-fu to white belt children, so I have teaching experience. I was part of the state herpetological society and went out to help them with their field counts twice a year. I learned that licking petrie dishes is always a bad idea, no matter how much they resemble pistachio ice cream.
 
Research SOPs. You're doing that, right? Go on to forums (like this one) and read the SOPs people have posted and then read the responses. Look particularly at SOPs in your discipline or related disciplines. Psychology might look at other social sciences. Physics might tell the joke about the Higgs Boson and Sunday mass. Bear in mind that the people responding to and/or criticizing the posted SOPs are likely not on an adcomm. Some have been  or will be, but it's not likely they'll be on the adcomm you're hoping will like you best. However, you can start to get a sense of what SOPs are like. What format is it in? Does yours look like everyone else's? Do you have the exact same opening sentence as half of the people hoping to get into a program in your discipline? I've always wanted to be a librarian since those wonderful, summer days I spent in my (relative of choice)'s home library. 
 
So, to take stock. First, understand the purpose. Second, research. A lot. Let the purpose of the SOP guide your research efforts.
 
Next, get the specific requirements for the SOP from each program. Make a list of similarities. If they all ask for a statement of your research interest, score! One sentence fits most! Most of them will be of different lengths and will have different ideas of what specific information they want. Most won't tell you enough, aside from length and one or two "should have" things. They mostly won't tell you if you should use APA or if you should footnote, or how to format it. Single space? Double space? They will tell you whether it should be on paper or what kind of file format to use. I have only one suggestion: consistency. Okay, two suggestions: unless otherwise specified, don't include anything other than the SOP. No bibliography or footnotes. If you quote or paraphrase someone, cite them in the text the way they do it in the average newspaper article. As Scooby says, "Ruh-roh!"
 
Now, start writing. Create something of a master SOP, or a set of master sentences for the SOPs. Some things should be in every one of them, like what your research interests are. Because length requirements are different for each program, you should work out more than one sentence or set of sentences for each thing you plan to put into more than one SOP. Have a more detailed explanation of your research interests and a more concise one. Even though this might be central and, perhaps, most important to the SOP, you don't want most of a short SOP taken up by one thing. Make these sentences do extra duties. If they can explain not only why you're into what you're into, but also why it's significant to the discipline/program, and how the program factors into it, bonus! The more functions one sentence can serve, with clear, readable logic, the more room you have in the length requirements to bring in other things. Think of this master SOP as more of a set of sentences you can hang on the individual SOP's unique structure. A flesh and skeleton metaphor can work here. You can order all SOPs at this point, you'll probably want to put research interests in the middle or toward the end, rather than in the first sentence, but the key here is that the skeleton of the individual SOP and most of its flesh will come from the needs of the program you're writing it for, not from some predetermined formula. No generically applicable, master SOP that has a few tweaks here and there.
 
Here's the thing. The SOP is one of the most important documents you'll write in your life. It's not something that should be done in a few hours, after looking at the program website and spending some time on the net searching for a how-to-write-an-SOP-guide. It takes work backed by research. The readers can tell quite easily how much research you've done on them by the way you structure and write your SOP. They can tell if you're sending out a generic SOP to several programs because it will be too general. You can't change faculty names in and out, along with a detail or two that makes it seem tailored to the program. The individual SOP should be tailored from the beginning. Some sentences won't change much, so you can pre-write them. But how they fit into each SOP, the reasoning you'll use to try to convince the adcomm that you're the best applicant, and the perspective you'll take all the way to the words you use should be done with the program in mind. It shouldn't be generic. Even if it doesn't seem noticeably generic to you, that doesn't mean that the adcomm won't notice it. They read many, many SOPs every year. People who read SOPs develop a sense about the generic, the cut and paste work.
 
How to name drop gracefully, or bring up the theory and histories and whatnot you're working with when there's only a teeny amount of space for everything? That's a bit easier than it might seem. It's not in the explanation; it's in the usage. If you can use the relevant theories and people and methodologies correctly in a sentence, you don't have to show the adcomm that you know how to use them, or how they're related, by explaining it. Trust them to have enough education to make a few connections for themselves when it comes to the discipline. Example: Novels such as Twilight exemplify how Marxist alienation can be applied to childbirth. My research interest lies in the alienation of women from the product of delivery in Modernist American fiction, such as Faulkner's Sound and the Fury. (Huh, I wonder if that would really work?) Two sentences and I've referenced theory, period, history, relevance for today, and some methodology (it's literature, not science). Use it, don't explain it.
 
If possible, have a professor you know read the SOP to your preferred school and give you some advice. They know more than most other groups of people. If not possible, your current university's writing center can help, or other people who are familiar with the field, or with writing. Your high school English teacher or your English major buddy can probably say something about your grammar, but might not be as helpful as expected. Example, in English, the convention is to speak of historical people in present tense. Shakespeare writes, "To be or not to be," because he thinks it is the question. History has kittens. Shakespeare has been dead for centuries, he can't write! Past tense! Shakespeare wrote, "To be or not to be," because thought it was the question. Someone in the field is preferable!
 
Finally, a word about my real credentials. The adcomm is going to do to your application what you've just done with this post. They are going to judge your credentials (your ethos, trustworthiness, veracity, credibility, knowledge, and so on) based on the impressions they get of you from what you've written. So, be knowledgeable about you, your field, and the program, and use that knowledge well.

I've been using OCR'ed PDFs and text-to-speech while simultaneously reading, so I get visual and audible reinforcement. It's much faster, but it's still mentally taxing; it requires a fair amount of concentration.
Yesterday I burned through 350+ pages of reading. Wave of the future.  

This may depend on our differences in fields etc but I think generally, CVs are going to be read less carefully than other parts, like your personal statement or the letters of reference. This means that, to me, it's really important to spend a bit of time really maximizing your ability to communicate information clearly and concisely, but I wouldn't spend additional time choosing between minute differences in wording.
This is in contrast to most non-academic CV advice you see online, since for typical non-academic job applications, the only thing the company gets is your cover letter and your CV. For many grad school apps, the CV is mostly redundant---much of the information is already covered in other aspects. Some schools (in my field anyways) don't even want a CV, instead, they have several forms to fill out that convey similar information (e.g. list of publications etc.)
I don't think a footer is a must. Mine has a header with my name and the page number, but no footer. I definitely agree that section ordering is important. My CV currently shows: Education, Research, Publications, Awards, Students supervised, Teaching/Outreach, Service/Leadership.
On that note, considering the audience of your CV is really important. Different versions of my CV have different emphasis (e.g. the CV I wrote for the volunteer teaching position at a non-profit emphasized the teaching and service parts instead of research). For grad school applications, transcripts are almost always included, so no need to indicate coursework on your CV.
Finally, I don't think there is really one single "proper CV architecture". You can pretty much do whatever you want as long as it's readable and does its job of conveying important information. One of my friends likes design and makes very visually stunning CVs. They got compliments on it from their admissions committee (but I don't think it's really a factor in getting in). It's also fine and safe to just copy the standard academic CV format that seems to be on everyone's website (at least in my field). I think both ways can be right. Making a unique CV can help you stand out, as long as you still make sure the critical info is communicated. Making a boring CV means you risk blending in with everyone else, but you know that it's a format that works (and with the standardization, people know where to look to find things). I prefer mine to be somewhere in between---not as visually creative as my friends but enough tweaks to personalize mine vs the standard.
 

I agree with @Quickmick that reviewing papers is likely the best way to find departments and professors that could be a good fit. Beyond that, and this may be obvious, but I'd look at literacy education programs to supplement whatever you find in special education departments. Also, just from my experience as a doctoral student, there seems to be more cross-departmental collaboration in education schools, so you may be able to gain research experience to cover the topic by working with multiple individuals in tangentially related areas. Similarly, when it comes to your dissertation, you may not find one specific professor that aligns perfectly with your topic, but you could still create a committee from across disciplines or areas to get a more complete perspective on the topic.
Also, don't get discouraged - I had similar issues finding programs when I was applying, but after narrowing my prospects I contacted a few departments and found professors that were willing to help me pursue my specific interests. 

I think what you have to do is go to the Results page and search POLS. Info on GPAs can sometimes be found there. Also, I found this information out there in the open for UPenn, maybe other universities also post it.

Just a plug - Penn's application is free!  They also gave me the most financial aid.
But yeah, most apps cost around $65.  HGSE is the most expensive at 80 I think.

Hello,

If anyone has yet to contact you, I would like to take you on this offer! Let us message each other to work out details and potentially trade emails. 

I mean, it would be great if you could find a university that had 5-10 faculty members you want to work with, it's just likely impossible. At this point, one PI per university is enough, since you are mainly trying to gauge fit and learn additional information. Down the road, when deciding where you ultimately want to go, it is helpful to have more than one professor you would like to work with, though, depending on the tenure status of your primary PI, but that should not be a central concern before you apply.

First of all, read about imposter syndrome, because you definitely have it.
Then - nobody gets admitted for not being good enough.
Now, the most important advice: CELEBRATE. Go to a bar with your friends / family / special someone / yourself. Make it a memorable night. You need a mark in you mind that something has changed, that you are your own hero, that nothing will ever be the same. Get happy. Go for a picnic. Spend a week preparing for it, and then give yourself a big night.
Then, get over it. You deserve it. You have worked for it, hard. If you feel you did not spend enough hours working on it hard - whatever, it's not about time, it's about the results.
Do not defer, by all means (even if it somehow becomes possible). Go for it. Panic is normal - I was all panicky too when I moved. Things that help:
* travelling there often (at least thrice), checking the place out, making friends;
 * watching movies about great universities;
* sports. You need another accomplishment to make it roll - sign up for a 5k run or something like that;
* go travel somewhere new and exciting.
Be ready for a month of organizing work when you are in grad school, it's ok. Just make yourself busy, join one club or another. In a month into grad school it will be all right, regardless of how you feel now!
I would advise against reaching out to nameless community from your school - better ask people who you make friends with / like. Nameless community gives all sorts of feedback, and it's impossible to get prepared.

First of all, read about imposter syndrome, because you definitely have it.
Then - nobody gets admitted for not being good enough.
Now, the most important advice: CELEBRATE. Go to a bar with your friends / family / special someone / yourself. Make it a memorable night. You need a mark in you mind that something has changed, that you are your own hero, that nothing will ever be the same. Get happy. Go for a picnic. Spend a week preparing for it, and then give yourself a big night.
Then, get over it. You deserve it. You have worked for it, hard. If you feel you did not spend enough hours working on it hard - whatever, it's not about time, it's about the results.
Do not defer, by all means (even if it somehow becomes possible). Go for it. Panic is normal - I was all panicky too when I moved. Things that help:
* travelling there often (at least thrice), checking the place out, making friends;
 * watching movies about great universities;
* sports. You need another accomplishment to make it roll - sign up for a 5k run or something like that;
* go travel somewhere new and exciting.
Be ready for a month of organizing work when you are in grad school, it's ok. Just make yourself busy, join one club or another. In a month into grad school it will be all right, regardless of how you feel now!
I would advise against reaching out to nameless community from your school - better ask people who you make friends with / like. Nameless community gives all sorts of feedback, and it's impossible to get prepared.

As some one who moved across the Atlantic for grad schol, I get what you're going through 100%, and it is survivable. First of all know that you do deserve this opportunity and you're just as bright and promising as everyone else there. If you're worried you're going to struggle, that's ok, it happens. One of my friends gave me a great piece of advice (and she goes to Harvard, so I hope she knows what she's taking about!): "Once they've accepted you, they want you pass and graduate. They will help give you all the tools you need to succeed. It doens't look good for them to have graduate student failing out, so they wouldn't have accepted you if they didn't 100% feel you were qualified." 
As for homesickness, I didn't expect to get it really, at all, so I didn't talk to anyone about it. I wanted my parents to think I was "staying strong" and didn't want to upset them. But fuck that. I agree with sjoh197 completely- talk to your family about this, and talk about it once you've gone too. Set up weekly standing dates to skype and stay in close contact, it really does feel better. Write your grandma old fashioned letters if she's not on technology. My great Aunt still sends me cards like she did when I was in the states and it makes my day. Maybe start planning when they can come visit you, and then you'll have something to look forward to! Try to start planning this with your friends as well. 
No matter what you do you'll still probably feel homesick, and that's ok. Once and while its fine to just wallow in that. But remember you don't want to let them down. Your family is extremely proud of you, I'm sure. Whats helped me get through sometimes is thinking about how my mom didn't finish grad school, but has worked a damn hard job for the past 23 years instead, on top of being a mom. Everyone has their struggles. Your mom successfully raised an awesome grad student, now go be that awesome student! This is not to put more pressure on you, but even if you feel like an failure your family knows you're not, and they'll love you no matter what. 
Having a routine also helps me, as does getting excersise and fresh air. Even just a walk around the park can change your mood. Definitely join a club, a society or a sport. Feel out if any of your aquaintences or fellow grads are thinking about joining any. Having some one you know there can make it a lot easier and you can bond over this! Making new friends is also a LOT of simply putting yourself out there and akwardly saying "Hi I'm throwaway19, i'm from anywhere, where are you from?" Its totally painful, but gets less so the more you do it. Complimenting someone is also a great convo starter. Most people are willing to at least make polite small talk- and then you have an aqauintance to talk to if you run into them later-, even if you don't become life long friends, but you can make friends this way!
I know its terrifying and painful, but like you said, you've been gearing up to this for a while, I don't think you should let cold feel and these feelings stop you. They are very normal. And definitly talk to your friends and family, and maybe a professional, that's nothing to be ashamed of and they can really help people. Before you go, look into this service at your new university, so you have no excuses. And you don't have to think of this as leaving home forever. 4 hours its too bad. The semesters fly by and you'll be home for Christmas before you know it. xxx

Moving on to a new phase in your life is always hard. Some people take it in stride... and some people don't.
So lets tackle this one point at a time. 
This is something that should be tackled on its own regardless of the causes. Go to your doctor. Ask for help managing your anxiety. Also read up online about ways to reduce anxiety at home. For example, getting enough sleep, going to bed and eating around the same times each day, staying hydrated, not watching anxiety inducing tv and movies, listening to peaceful music before bed... etc. 
This is just the classic impostor syndrome. If you look through the old threads... there are tons of people with impostor syndrome. It's a thing. You have great creds, and were selected for a reason. You are obviously good enough, or you wouldn't have gotten in to 6 fully funded programs. Shit, I still don't have funding info, and only got accepted to 1 place. 
This goes back to the general anxiety. So my first question is... have you actually talked to your mom and grandma about these fears? Have you sat down and told them you don't want them to be sad, and that you are really going to miss them? My mother was actually a professor at my undergrad. We would get coffee at least 3 times a week. And see each other on weekends and holidays. Now I live in a different state. I only get to see her around christmas-time. But you know what, we still talk on the phone 3-4 times a week usually. And facebook message funny things. And text each other the weird things we see throughout the week. I still feel like my Mom is my bestfriend. Our communication is just a little different now. 
If you are really actually close to your mom... you will find a way to remain close, even with the distance. Same with your grandma. If she's not already tech savvy... teach her before you leave. Teach her how to facetime, and how to text. Set up a time of week where you guys can typically talk. Make a schedule. 
 
This is something that only you can change. You will have to make an effort to attend functions, and meet people. Whether its through school activities, or groups like meet-up where you find people who share a hobby and then go out and do it with them. 
Also... maybe getting a pet would help. But that is a huge responsibility that is not to taken lightly obviously. 
Also... one of the quotes that I try to live by at this point in my life is that "I would rather look back on my life and regret some of the things that I've done, than look back and regret all of the things I could have done, but didn't"
New stuff is scary and hard. But that is part of living and growing and a person. Do you really want to not grow as an individual, and then spend your later years wishing you had lived a different life? Things don't always work out, and everyone will have regrets, but I would rather mine not be over things that I had the power to change, but was too scared to. 

Are you me? You sound like me. Also was published many times as an undergrad, went to school an hour away from home, got the NSF, blah blah blah but never went far away from home. I cried every time I thought about moving because I was so close to my friends/family and especially professors. Even the thought of never seeing some of them again would sometimes send me into a panic attack. As an undergrad I kept to myself because I didn't make friends easily, and really didn't have friends until senior year. It took me 4 damn years to meet people, and the thought of losing it just wasn't bearable.
But alas, 15 days ago the day came when I hopped in my car and drove 14 hours away with all of my stuff. I thought the trip was going to miserable - that I'd cry so hard I wouldn't be able to see the road through my tears, and that I'd spend the first few days in my new apartment just wishing desperately to go home. After all, that's how it was when I went from high school to undergrad. 
And you know what? I'm still waiting for the homesickness to set in. I haven't really made any great friends but I really love the grad students I work with. 
TLDR - I hyped myself up preparing to move to the point where I was considerably depressed beforehand. But it will not be nearly as bad as you think.

This probably depends on what you want to do after the program. If you want to work at an international organization, I would suggest you consider Harvard and then UPenn. Harvard's brand and network (and probably UPENN) would help you a lot in terms of job hunting. Although this would not be in your choice, personally, Columbia's program (TC or SIPA) would be the best if you want to go to international organization. They have strong connections with international organizations and consulting companies which work for international organizations and governments. Vandy's placement is not so great. Very few students get a job related to international educational development. And their network is very weak.
 
In terms of the curriculum, at Vandy, you will gain good quantitative analysis/research skills, which are not focused on international education so may not be interesting but will expand your job options (there are many jobs in the US education sector which require quantitative skills). However, they are weak in content. There are few region-specific courses or topic-specific courses (e.g., human rights, child labor, conflicts, gender, etc.). If you are more interested in content, you may get disappointed with Vandy.
 
In terms of diversity within Vandy's program, according to my friends, one half of the students are Americans and the other half international students, most of whom are Chinese students without any working experience. This won't give you a chance to expand your job options around the world. I guess the student body is more diverse at Harvard and UPenn.  I often hear that students of color feel uncomfortable at Vandy. I'm not sure what kind of experience they had but a lot of students and most of the faculty members are White.

Hello. I am planning to do theoretical work in the domain of Higher Ed research. Does anybody know whether Peabody, Vanderbilt has any notable professors who work in the field of higher ed, theoretical dimension, specifically?

There are quite a few questions you can ask your professor(s) as well as anyone working at the school to address those goals.  Here are a few resources I pulled off of Google, for your convenience:
https://quantumfrontiers.com/2014/05/25/top-10-questions-for-your-potential-phd-advisergroup/
https://me.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/advice_paper_web.pdf
http://education.seattlepi.com/good-questions-ask-potential-phd-adviser-3094.html
Keep in mind that professors are great sources, but overworked and not altogether unbiased. School staff (admissions, student affairs) and current students can also be good resources for you.