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VegasRed

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  1. Hi everyone! It's April 15, and I made my decision. I figured I'd share with y'all since y'all helped me out and maybe this will help future applicants. After a lot of research, soul searching, and talking with professors, students, administrators, and other applicants, I decided to go with Harvard's Teacher Education Program. It was a really tough decision, especially with the health crisis looming over the summer semester and potentially affecting the fall semester, too. In the end, I narrowed it down to Harvard and Berkeley. While Stanford offered me a decent fellowship and has credible social justice credentials, I liked the faculty at Harvard/Berkeley better and would prefer to teach in the Berkeley/Oakland//Cambridge/Boston areas. I applied to all out-of-state schools (grad schools aren't very good where I'm from) so I would be stepping into a new environment wherever I go, but I think Harvard/Berkeley have placements in diverse areas with students whom I'd want to work with. While I really liked Berkeley's social justice focus and curriculum, I was worried I would be dissapointed if their praxis didn't live up to their rhetoric. They also seemed more disorganized than Harvard -- Harvard was the first of my schools to come out with a plan for an online summer semester, but Berkeley was still deciding how to conduct their courses when I talked to them a couple days ago. Also, when I asked to see the syllabus for the history methods course at Berkeley, they only had a course proposal since they hadn't hired an instructor yet. With everything so uncertain, Harvard definitely stood out as a more organized program with more resources. As someone dedicated to critical pedagogy, I definitely had serious reservations about committing to an elite institution like Harvard. I actually contacted the new director of the Harvard program about my concerns and tried to determine how committed they are to equity in education. The new director has only been there a year, and she was very honest about Harvard's problems with race and its entrenched oppressive attitudes/ideas/institutions. However, it seemed like she genuinely viewed her role as the new director as fighting against those oppressive aspects of the education program and bringing faculty and students who reflected those values. While it wasn't exactly comforting to hear that the director herself was having issues with the environment at Harvard, it was reassuring to hear that I would have an ally in the program and hopefully with my peers. Comparing the syllabus of the history methods course to the course proposal from Berkeley, it was definitely not as radical or progressive, but it still incorporated elements of critical pedagogy and focused much more on the mechanics of teaching than the framework. Since I know that I already have a commitment to social justice, I feel like it would be better to learn and practice the actual logistics of teaching. Overall, I decided that Harvard seemed like it was the most organized, had the most resources, and best practical teacher preparation, and I was willing to put my hopes in the new director and cohort that they will provide me the community and support I need to become a skilled educator with radical praxis. Thanks again everyone for talking me through this, and best of luck to you if you are attending a different program. Feel free to hit me up if you are also going to HGSE or are considering it!
  2. Thanks everyone for all the thoughtful responses! I'm making my last minute decisions now. I think I've narrowed my list down to Berkeley, Stanford, and Harvard and will make a final decision in the next couple days. My current thought process: Berkeley seems to center social justice the most in their messaging, but I've heard from several people that the bureaucracy can make you feel anonymous and unheard. I like the faculty whom I've met though and think the opportunity to teach in Oakland and the Bay would be a really valuable experience as someone who wants to make a difference teaching in public, urban schools. They've also offered me a $10,000 fellowship and a computer science authorization fellowship which would allow me to learn and teach CS (seems like an important skill that could give me more career opportunities). However, I'm still worried about housing, especially given the COVID situation, but breadislife's comment has made me feel a bit better about finding housing in the Bay. I was surprised to learn from iheartscience that the BE3 program is so new, and it might be better to go with a program with more resources. I don't want to regret my choice though if I end up having better job prospects and career opportunities by going to Stanford/Harvard. Stanford is appealing because it's still in the Bay area, and it has a good reputation. It's kind of a medium between my other options, because it rivals Harvard's resources and status, but it's still close to Berkeley. It seems like they do have a long history of prioritizing social justice, but I am still a bit worried about the diversity in the program and the placements. I'm sure I would recieve a good education at STEP, but I'm still deciding whether it's a good fit or not. Harvard seems like the obvious choice on paper, and it's the place where most of my family are encouraging me to go. My main hesitation is the location: I've never really been attracted to Boston, but I'm sure I could learn to live there for a year. I've taken the virtual tour, but it doesn't really give me a good sense of the culture or what life is like off-campus. After talking with a current student, it seems like Boston actually offers some pretty diverse placement options, and to my surprise, it's a majority non-white city. It does seem like social justice is an emphasis of the program, but I don't know how much it is incorporated in their praxis. The resources and opportunities are alluring, but they haven't offered me any fellowships like the other 2 schools. I think I'm leaning towards Harvard, but I'm still a bit conflicted. I've arranged to speak with people from each school in the next few days, so I think I'll make my call based on how I feel after that. I appreciate everyone's feedback; it's really helped me move my decision making forward. Please feel free to offer additional insights as I know myself and others reading along find any advice useful at this point!
  3. Hi, I hope everyone is doing well in these strange times. I found this site quite useful when I was applying to programs, so I thought I would ask everyone's advice now that I've heard back. I would appreciate feedback from people in education, but I'm open to any constructive feedback. I am an educator looking to get my Master's in Education so I can teach Secondary Social Studies, so I applied all around the country. I got accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Teacher's College, UC Berkeley, and UT Austin (I got rejected from UCLA). I honestly didn't think I would have so many options, so it's difficult for me to settle on one program -- each one has something unique I like about it. I want the program to have similar values as me and emphasize social justice / equity in education. But also the name/prestige does matter a little bit -- one of the reasons I am applying for a MA in education instead of just doing ARL is the hope that I will get a better salary / job options. Given my concerns, here is a breakdown of the schools I am considering to help give a sense of my thought process/priorities: Harvard: #1 Education School according to US News. The program has a new director that prioritizes social justice, so that puts me at ease a bit. Not a huge fan of Boston, but the summer semester has been moved onlin,e and it's only a year-long program so it's not a huge issue. The main draw here is the name and the opportunity to work with scholars like Howard Gardner, who developed Mutliple Intelligence Theory. Never been to the campus though and won't have the chance to visit. Stanford: #3 Education School according to US News. I like California (close to home and my partner), but Palo Alto is one of the most expensive places in world... I'm OK with staying on campus, and it's only a year as well, but I am a bit worried about the lack of diversity in the students I will be working with as part of my school placement (they even mentioned that this was increasingly a problem in the video information session). It's a well renowned program though, and I like being close to the Bay and other nature areas. They've already given me a $5000 fellowship too. Teacher's College (Columbia): #8 Education School according to US News. Columbia is my Alma Mater so it was a natural choice to apply here. The main advantage would be that I'm already familiar with the campus, the city, and have even met some of the professors during undergraduate. However, I'd also like to try something new; New York can be exhausting, and I'm not sure how confident I am moving there now with it being the center of the epidemic in the U.S. UC Berkeley: #20 Education School according to US News. I think I share the most values with the folks at Berkeley, I have friends there, and I love the city of Berkeley and the Bay. However, it's the lowest "ranked" program of all the ones that I got into, so I'm hesitant to commit fully yet. They also don't guarantee housing, so it'll be difficult to find housing in the Bay on my own, and worry about whether or not I'll need a car. UT Austin: #15 Education School according to US News. This was kind of a backup/safety for me, but I actually do love Austin and have family nearby. I went to their campus visit day, and liked their campus and faculty, but their program seemed like it might not have as many resources as some of the other schools. Austin's also expensive, and they don't really offer MA students housing, and apparently public transit is not great. Right now it's low on my list of likely choices. I tried to give a brief rundown about what excites/worries me about each option without keeping it too long. If y'all are interested, I can provide some more info. I know this is a pretty personal decision, but it would be helpful to get some unbiased advice as each program is throwing their propoganda at me. Any guidance would be apprecaited! Thanks!
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