Sandmaster
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Posts posted by Sandmaster
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Usually it is just federal loans and it can only be Stafford direct loans, not the older FFEEL loans. You have to apply for it and qualify every year for working in specific places of employment and you have to make 120 qualified payments before you would qualify. If you have started this process and then go back for an advanced degree, you would need to talk to your servicer. I am not sure how that changes things.
I hope this helps!
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Yeah, I was rejected after interview weekend from a fairly prestigious school. I don't want to scare you, but the POI and I were on the same page and the fit was really good. We both really enjoyed each other and the current students in the lab all liked me too and gave me good marks from what I was told. However, there was someone they liked just a little bit more due to slightly more experience. So I got waitlisted without ever being told that was the case. Eventually, I got rejected, but it really didn't matter since I personally liked another school far better as the fit and culture was closer to what I was looking for.
Long story short, yes you can still get rejected even after doing a phone/virtual interviews and them inviting and paying for you to come do an in-person interviews. I did go to the happy hour for students and faculty that they had as that was part of their culture after the interviews had finished. I wouldn't say it was a part atmosphere, but it was far more relaxed. I can almost guarantee that we were still being evaluated at that point too, so keep that in mind.
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10 hours ago, 2019CulturePhD said:
Hello @eternalreturn and @SPEDucator - This is my first post in the forums. Congrats on UMN admittance! I was accepted to UMN for PhD as well -- Dept of Curriculum & Instruction, Culture and Teaching (CaT)! I'm curious if you've had any direct contact from the department and/or received any indication of funding. I received the admissions letter from the Graduate Admissions Office before Christmas; in Jan reached out to a professor in CaT to express my excitement, as well as inquire about funding and the enrollment decision deadline. Haven't heard back yet, which is understandable -- I assume folks are still coming back from break. I don't want to leave UMN hanging, but funding and fit are obviously big factors in my decision and I've not yet heard back from all my schools and no word on funding from Minnesota. @Sandmaster Can you share "what happens next," in your experience? Also, will it speak poorly of me that I haven't established contact with program faculty at this point? I could reach out to a different professor with the same questions, but I am hesitant to appear overeager if the department has its own process for communicating with accepted students in due time. Thank you for any thoughts! And congrats again to all who have received acceptances!
Hey there! Congrats on your acceptance as well! I know I was extremely excited when I got mine too. So next steps for me may, or may not, be similar to your's just since the department could have changed things from last year in their process. In the next few weeks, you will probably get an email from our grad studies coordinator with details about setting up a campus visit with other admitted students. The actual visit is sometime early in March (or it was last year). It gives you and your fellow potential colleagues the chance to meet each other, faculty, staff, and current students within your program area and across the department. It is common for domestic students to attend, or try to attend, but it can be expensive for international students so none came in my year but still accepted to attend regardless. This event is particularly useful when I came because I also placed a ton of emphasis on the fit of a program when I was attending all of the schools I was accepted to. I found UMN to be my perfect fit, so the event only solidified my choice. Other's may not, it is personal preference of course. Also, keep in mind that your initial advisor can be changed at any point in time too, it is just who the department felt could be a good first point of contact until you solidify research ideas and interest.
As for funding, that is where the timing can get a little complicated. Usually the program areas meet in March just after the visit day to discuss funding for all current and incoming students. Which means that you may not get your offer of funding until late March, or early April. (mine came April 6th I think). I know I can not offer you a guarantee of course, but if you selected you would like to be considered for funding on your application and are planning on being a full-time PhD student in the program, then you will be given at least a 50% appointment which covers all of your in-state and out-of-state tuition and you will be offered health insurance at a pretty awesome rate in addition to your stipend which is like your paycheck bi-weekly. You will still be required to pay fees out of pocket (~$800 a semester) though so keep that in mind if you are a budgeter like me. I do not know of a full time PhD student in any of our department programs who did not get funding that wanted it one way, or another. If funding is tricky in your case, the department works to try to find you funding. Also, one of the best perks (in my opinion) about UMN is if you want to teach here, you are usually given Instructor of Record assuming you already have a master's degree. Other places do not give you that level of responsibility and freedom, but I have loved my teaching experience here.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to keep reaching out here or in pm if it is more personal. I am happy to chat more about the exciting things happening in the department and how things work. I know I had a ton of questions when I first got admitted to.
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On 10/16/2018 at 11:56 PM, AdMeliora said:
Hi all,
I'm new to the ed forum on grad cafe, and am looking for a bit of advice from some of the more seasoned folks on this page. I'm currently in a master's program in religion and am interested in teaching at the high school level after graduation. I have a couple years of previous ed experience via AmeriCorps, and will have the appropriate experience to teach something in the vein of religion, humanities, introductory philosophy, etc after completing my current program.
I'm interested in M.Ed programs for some more specific coursework in pedagogy and curriculum design, but from my research thus far, it has been difficult to measure the value of this proposition. M.Ed's and their equivalents seem generally expensive, and they don't necessarily offer tangible benefits (I know that it would offer plenty of value in the course work, but I mean in the sense that it doesn't offer a specific credential, etc). All of that to say, do people generally find these degrees to be worthwhile (especially as a second master's degree)? I know that I would enjoy it, but i'm not sure if it's a wise use of time and money.
While I can not speak to K-12 as my domain is higher education, I know that a lot of people usually do a M.Ed. as their first master's not as a second one. What I have typically found with teachers who have a second master's - they usually first get a master's in their specific content discipline and then get the teaching job (assuming they already have the license and certification requirements for that state) and then wait and do a second master's in education and curriculum specific once the school district is willing to pay for it (to avoid the some of the cost). The problem is, if you do not have the requirements to teach in your state you might find a private school who doesn't require the license or certification process, but public schools will. You can look into a post-bac program and see if that option is cheaper. Initial Teacher Licensure students are still typically eligible for federal and state financial aid, but are limited to the undergraduate aggregate level/amounts.
Just some food for thought.
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7 hours ago, eternalreturn said:
Woo hoo! I'm in at Minnesota, too - Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Literacy Education focus. Minnesota is ideal for us personally if we're going to relocate - family and friends and great job prospects for my spouse. Just playing wait and see with other programs now - especially Harvard (CIS PhD) and Wisconsin (C&I).
Congratulations to you as well! That is my department, so if you have any questions, feel free to reach out!
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On 12/20/2018 at 4:10 PM, SPEDucator said:
Just wanted to let people know that I heard back from my first school, the University of Minnesota. I was accepted to their PhD program!
I'm still waiting to hear back from UT Austin, Harvard, and Vanderbilt. Anyone have updates from any of these schools?
Just thought I would add UM was Special Ed through the Ed. Psych Department and UT Austin and Vandy are also SPED and Harvard is a PhD with a concentration in EPPE.
Congrats! Let me know if you have any U of M questions! I am happy to answer from the perspective of a first year there.
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Hi all! I hope you are all doing well given deadlines are coming up for most places quickly! Remember to relax, breathe, and stay confident! I remember this was a stressful few weeks for me last year! For LORs, it really depends on what type of a program you are applying to (not just a master's vs PhD). If the program is very research focused and they want applicants who are wanting to do research and will be doing research throughout the program, then your LOR should be someone who can speak to those important research skills and experience. The master's at my institution is heavily research focused and has an even more rigorous master's track for people who want to "springboard" into the PhD. If you are applying to a PhD then I would recommend all of your letters at least mention your ability to conduct research. Strategically select people who can attest to your success as many PhD students burn out by the time they get to their dissertation research and it is quite common to not finish because the research is overwhelming. Also, if you have a good idea of what you want to research, maybe not a specific research question, but a general topic, include it in your statement of purpose.
Lastly about the age of students, in my program, most PhD students are between 25-40. Master's students are between 23 and 50.
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Hi all, good luck to the applicants in 2019! I just went through the application cycle (2018) and got admitted to a variety of programs. Feel free to reach out if you have questions about the process. Also, if interested in educational technology/learning sciences, let me know also. :) Best of luck!
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I have never heard of this practice except maybe at medical schools/programs. Usually they just recognize that the degree they are conferring is a doctorate level degree and that is it. I have never heard of an institution using the doctor title for graduating students.
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I would say send the first scores. AW is not heavily looked at to begin with and you can easily make up with a stellar SOP and writing sample to showcase your writing ability. Any red flags the 3.5 would raise would probably be quickly extinguished once your essays are read. But, I am by no means an expert so do what you feel most comfortable doing.
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Yeah I agree with E-P. It is very rare they would rescind an offer of admission. Unless you did not graduate with the bachelor's degree (an admission requirement), or your GPA was just so terrible (like a 1.0) for your last term/year, I would seriously doubt they would rescind the offer.
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Different field here, but I would not mention it anywhere in your application materials. It may come across in a way you do not intend.
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53 minutes ago, sociopolitic said:
By the time applications are due, I won't yet have my grades for my 7th semester and won't have started my 8th. What GPA should I calculate? Just my 3rd year GPA, or 2nd-3rd years?
2nd-3rd year probably.
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2 hours ago, Justiscj726 said:
Hey all! Was just wondering what people have experienced applying to PhD programs with a pretty bad undergrad GPA. Some of the graduate coordinators I’ve talked to have kind of brushed it off and said not to worry and some have seemed more concerned about it.
Little background: Been out of undergrad for about 5 years and will finish my masters with around a 3.8.
Thanks!
Hey there. Different field, but I had a similar situation. I did not have a strong UGRAD GPA at around 2.9 when I first started to apply to graduate programs and I had a very difficult time getting a graduate program to say yes to be even for a master's degree, but luckily I did eventually find one. (They took me because I had a pretty good GRE score and they felt it was worth the gamble admitting me) I completed the master's degree in a year and a half and applied to PhD programs with a master's GPA of 3.67 (Not great, but a huge improvement from UGRAD) and I got in to most of the programs I applied to. I ended up graduating with a 3.60 from the master's but I think as long as a master's GPA is above a 3.5 I doubt many ad committees will even care about your UGRAD GPA or your Master's GPA. Unless you are applying to highly competitive programs (like Ivy League) I would say you are probably fine. Most programs only care about your most recent academic achievement. They will probably view it all and you will need to send them transcripts for it all, but will base the decision on overall trend and the most recent academic success. Last note, GPA is probably not even in the top three aspects of the application they care about. Believe it, or not, GPA and GRE are just boxes they tick off that you passed some threshold and only take a closer look if there are concerns. Focus a lot of attention on your SOP and securing exceptional recommendations as those are the two most important pieces of the application dossier.
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5 hours ago, AliceWang said:
most schools I looked at have January deadlines! Some are in February. Haven't seen any in December though. I guess this is a part of the reason why I'm confused. In my case submitting fall 2018 grade will definitely help my overall gpa.
Then I would assume you will apply with unofficial transcripts that include fall grades and spring classes.
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1 hour ago, AliceWang said:
Say if I am applying for graduate school this year for fall 2019, will schools want to look at my gpa in fall 2018 or do they only consider the first 3 years grade?
Depends on when you apply and what transcript you use (what semesters are on that transcript). Typically applications are due on 12/1, so your fall grades will probably not be posted by that point (I assume?) but they will see what classes you are enrolled in. All graduate school offers are conditional on completing the degree and they are assuming you continue to be a strong student in your final year. It is rare, but I have heard of admissions offers being revoked for poor grades, or for obviously not finishing the bachelor's degree in time.
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20 minutes ago, p287 said:
I will be graduating with my Master’s in Spring 2019 and plan to apply for PhD admissions for Fall 2019. My top-choice school is on the other side of the country, and I have already been in contact with a potential advisor and the department head.
Going to this school would mean relocating my family. I have some time off this summer, and my partner and I would like to go check out the city. Is it acceptable for me to request a campus visit, or do I need to wait for an invite?
If it is where you are seriously considering, I would not feel weird about asking for a campus visit. That shows a program your level of commitment/interest in their institution. Usually after you have been admitted they will offer to pay (even if it is just some of it) to bring you out to see their campus as a way to try to get you to accept their offer.
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On 4/9/2018 at 7:27 PM, surprise_quiche said:
I received a TA position and a fellowship for 9 months at a 50% enrollment. Is that typically paid monthly or upfront?
They are paid monthly at UWM.
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On 7/10/2018 at 2:38 PM, surprise_quiche said:
So I received tuition remission through an assistantship and a fellowship, but today the bursar also informed me of a federal direct unsubsidized loan.
Since all tuition and other associated fees should be covered through this fellowship, should I accept the loan?
So, I actually work in the financial aid office at the school you are going to (for a few more weeks), feel free to reach out if you want more help and we can set up an appointment to chat too. Otherwise, I would seriously question if you need the money. Loans at the graduate level carry a much higher interest rate than their undergraduate counterparts and since it is unsubsidized, interest begins accruing upon disbursement. If you absolutely need the money to live then sure take out only what you need, but I do not recommend taking it all out if you do not absolutely need it.
Good luck!
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On 7/1/2018 at 5:02 PM, Adelaide9216 said:
Oh, yeah, that makes sense then. So I probably wasn't high on their list.
I know at a few institutions that I applied to for their PhD program. Many of them would not offer a teaching appointment unless you already had a master's degree (or the equivalent in time spent in the program), even if the master's was not an admission requirement. Usually in those cases it is university policy that the instructor needs to have at least a master's to teach undergraduate courses and be an ABD to teach graduate courses.
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I would stretch it if I were you. When I went through my master's I got questioned multiple times by the department committee that oversees graduation and doctoral admissions on why I did my master's so quickly. (I started spring 17 and graduated end of spring 18 - so 1.5 years essentially for me) They had a valid point for bringing it up. Graduate school is not about how quickly you can power through the program, it is about giving yourself time to truly master the concepts and create original research (if applicable), or have time to reflect on what the content is (transformative learning).
That said, I had a good reason to go through mine quickly because I knew I wanted to get started with the PhD as quickly as I could knowing it would take 4-5 years. I am already in my late 20's and I started on an off-term being that it was January and I had to be finished in time for a fall start for the PhD. I did not want to take time off in between (except for a summer).
Long story short, it is your decision, but I would not do the entire degree in a single academic year. Maybe a fall, spring, summer trimester type timeframe, but I would not go quicker than that if it was my decision. Good luck!
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I can not really speak to philosophy specifically, but what I found in my application cycle was that basically everyone who was in my "interview cohort" at the schools I interviewed at were basically the same with a few people swapped out here and there. I found it very interesting (granted my specific field is much smaller than a broad, major subject) that so many of the same people had applied to the same programs and were that program's "top picks" for interviews. So I would assume there is quite a large overlap between the programs.
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14 hours ago, E-P said:
The answer is: Probably. To some degree, if it's a different college, they're probably not going to know. But you do sign paperwork to the effect of "This is truthful," so presumably there could be academic dishonesty consequences for not submitting it. How bad they would be probably depends on the program and whether or not you could pass it off as "I forgot." For example, I did a couple of classes at a community college back in '02 that were then transferred onto my main transcript. I'm pretty sure I reported them separately when I applied for my MA, but I'm not sure. I doubt my degree would be revoked if I didn't though.
Therefore, I'd suggest a few alternatives:
1. Drop the class. If it's not too late, drop it and retake it.
2. Talk to your professor about extra credit. Even if there's no mention of it in the syllabus, you can ask.
3. Go to office hours. All of them. If your professor sees you making a lot of extra effort to understand, they're more likely to help you out with #2, or give you the benefit of a doubt if it's the difference between an A and a B, B and C, etc.
Good luck. I'm in a similar situation right now and tearing my hair out.
I echo this, but also perhaps see if you can swap to auditing it? That way you can learn the materials without the stress of a grade? Not sure if it is possible for you or not.
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My master's was monthly, but my PhD (different universities) is every two weeks.
Decision time - share your dilema 2019
in Education Forums
Posted
If you are still deciding and want to talk more about it with a current student in the department let me know. I am always happy to share my experience, though I know your program focus would be different than mine. As a personal story, I was only offered RA for the summer before the fall term began and then got offered a 75% appointment (two teaching and one RA) for fall and 50% (one teaching and one RA) for spring. I initially was offered 25% for this upcoming summer, but then was offered to teach another section thus bringing me up to 50%. The department is large so sometimes things take a while, but they really do make every possible effort to fully fund all full-time PhD students. I only know of one who came in last year's cohort that did not get fully funded due to something weird in their focus area.
Also, there are so many different kinds of research going on, so that is why it may not seem too cohesive, but your first year you will meet so many great professors and students from all of the areas and learn what and how they research. The first year you take an entire year long research foundations course taught from two opposing (qual and quant) professors standpoints and they bring in guest lecturers from the department who specialize in all of the types of educational research. I found this course super interesting and you take it with your entire first year cohort of MA and PhD students across all of the focus areas.
The department got them an adjunct teaching spot in a community college and waived tuition as a last ditch effort. So at least the department tries to take care of you if things end up weird. Take it for what it is worth and the very best of luck on your decision!