Oden

It was fun dreaming with you folks about pursuing a Harvard education. . . Congrats to the few in this chat that got accepted - a great accomplishment! Skol, Oden

Rejected too. . .

they're released

3:45p was a good guestimate. . . But, nevertheless, I am beginning to use my middle finger to hit refresh button. . .

Ya - they are in their sophomore/junior years. They are a lot smarter and better credentialed than me. . . I double-checked on Ed.M. interviews, and I have to admit that the hgse has never done them for the master’s program. So, that hopefully unravels the rest of my conspiracy theory ? We’re down to a matter of hours! YAY! Oden

Harvard College undergraduate admissions are very thorough, even though they get about 40,000 applications and only admit approx. 2000. For the the applicants that make it to the final phases of that review process, regional advocates argue why their selectees should be admitted. These reviewers check and analyze everything - often, with images of the undecided applicant’s narratives on a large screen for all to challenge. Sometimes, these harvard admission advocates will call the applicant during these final admission’s reviews to gain more insights, so they in turn can make a better case to the committee - a second contact in addition to the interview. This was the case with my admitted kids. Obviously, Harvard College is undergrad and this is hgse grad school, But, I bring this all up because I know hgse is normally thorough too. So, I was surprised at their decisions to not interview, not require the GRE, not go to links, and their comments in the webinar that admissions during this cycle are limited because it’s intended to fill an attendance gap due to COVID and aversion to online college. My fear was that this all meant they are only going to give serious consideration to the most elite in the applicant pool - those that can be admitted absent the normal requirements: the one’s that are a no-brainer decisions, for whatever reason. And since space is limited, many of these elite may not be admitted. I still applied, because I’m hoping I’m wrong. . . ? Oden

Has anyone had any hgse-likely visitors to their Linkedin page?

For the regular admission cycle, HGSE posted their decisions at 3:45p, Fri, Mar 6. So, I think we’re looking at getting our decisions at about the same time this Friday.

That’s awesome, thank you!

Anyone know if the online classes are planned to be held in the evenings, to accommodate a presumably busy worker-bee cohort? Oden

Hi tyguy I hope you’re right. Especially since it’s an online program now - it’s not like they’d be bumping anyone out of a seat. . . Oden

Interesting, thank you. oden

Anyone have some info/insights on how many will likely be admitted during this second admit cycle? I ask, because my impression is that this 2nd round is largely intended to fill a gap created by those who do not want to attend online. But, I can’t imagine that leading to many open spots, because my kid’s peers at Harvard College were threatening to take a gap year and none of them are actually doing so.

Anyone read or been told how many of us the HGSE will admit in this second round of admissions for Fall semester? Oden

Have any of you, or any of your references or employers been contacted by HGSE? Me and mine have not. Oden

Admit notices last March were released Friday, March 6 at 3:45p (gradcafe time, whatever time-zone that is?) Oden

Thought the following were interesting from the FAQs: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions/faq Is a bachelor's degree required for admission to a degree program at HGSE? For applicants to the Ed.L.D. or Ed.M. degree, while a bachelor's degree is not required, those who hold a B.A., B.S., or equivalent degree are the most competitive for admission. Only in rare and select cases will the school consider exceptional and extensive professional achievements, along with demonstrated non-degree academic success, in lieu of a degree. (So, it isn’t until it is, unless otherwise convenient ? My read of this, is that an old and below-par bachelor's transcript may be disregarded for a variety of reasons) May I change Ed.M. programs after I've been admitted? Transfer from one Ed.M. program to another is rarely permitted. Students are expected to enroll in the program to which they were admitted. We encourage students who wish to transfer to another program to seek the advice of the Ed.M. program administrator of the program to which they were initially admitted before submitting a request to transfer to the Admissions Office. (These sorts of rules tend to over-empower the draconian-minded bureaucrats enforcing them. . . I am not a big fan of this - I prefer flexibility and accommodation) Oden

Hi Rev, I did not find any HGSE position statements on a doctoral degree holder applying for a masters degree. But, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) and Harvard Extension School (HES) have posted guidance. The GSAS statement is related to a doctoral holder applying for another doctorate, while the HES version is relates to any graduate degree holder seeking a masters at the HES (highest degree awarded). Impossible to know whether these shed light on a general policy at Harvard University, or if they’re college specific. GSAS https://gsas.harvard.edu/admissions/apply If you already hold a PhD or its equivalent, or are an advanced doctoral candidate at another institution, you may apply to a PhD program only if it is in an unrelated field of study; however, preference for admissions and financial aid will be given to those who have not already had an opportunity to study for a doctoral degree at Harvard or elsewhere. You may also want to consider pursuing non-degree study through our Special Student or Visiting Fellow programs. HES https://www.extension.harvard.edu/graduate-degree-program-admissions If you already hold a graduate degree, you may earn a master’s degree from Harvard Extension School provided the two degrees are in dissimilar fields with unrelated content. Don’t worry about the other stuff you mentioned. . . Oden

Key Dates: July 13 – Application Deadline July 24 – Financial Aid Application Deadline End of July – Admissions decisions release date (I think likely: Fri, July 31st) Mid August – Financial Aid decisions release date August 19 – Enrollment Deadline September 2 – Classes Begin

Hi dangelykarla, I applied to same Ed.M. Higher Ed. program as you. Here’s a good vid about the need based aid and other info. https://m.facebook.com/HarvardEducation/videos/299107041261278/ Oden

Hi Dragonboat, I agree that summer admission is going to be more competitive than the normal winter admission. As you say, the no-GRE opens the program. Particularly, to highly qualified older applicants that don’t have or are not interested in taking the GRE, and may already be renowned scholars and practitioners. And, since summer admission appears intended to fill what is likely a small gap made by applicants/current students unwilling/biased against online learning, this also intensifies the competition. I was trying to speculate how many really would take a gap-year, based on my kid’s friends at Harvard, but it’s a big fuzzy guess. Nevertheless, I think you’re pretty close with 200 MIA that need to be replaced with summer admissions. And since this summer admission opportunity was pretty much a shotgun-wedding (only being announced a couple months before the deadline), I personally think there will only be about 1000 applicants - normally they have about 2200. So, continuing deeper into conjecture ? , I figure we may have about a 18-20% admission rate (16-20% less than winter rate of 36%). Admittedly, that’s a mighty big hole, or pile, of speculation. Oden

Hi again Ashley - Oden here, If you can nudge your reference to submit this week, I’m pretty sure the admission committee will get it, and consider it. But, the reference would need to be submitted within these few days. The Harvard admission process is structured, but allows the committee lots of flexibility. My kids go to Harvard.

Ashley, Your stats are fine. None of the items you mention will keep you from being admitted to HGSE. That said, everyone being seriously considered by the HGSE will have great stats. What really separates the candidates is a combination of volunteer/public service, great essays, and recommenders that cite examples of their experiences with you that align with experiences listed in your resume (Harvard loves verification of applicant’s claims through triangulated sources). Also, it greatly matters how many are competing against you within your demographic - if your demographic is a small group of applicants, that further increases your chances of being accepted. Unfortunately, because this is a one-off admission cycle, there are no past stats on the number of applications vs the number admitted. For instance, the regular winter application has about a 36% admission rate. My guess is that the number admitted this summer cycle will be significantly less, because the HGSE is using summer admission to replace those admitted last winter that are choosing not to attend online this fall, including existing part-time students that also will not return until onsite classes resume. In any event, we’ll know in a few weeks! Warm regards, Oden

From HGSE website. Appears the number of admitted this July is significantly smaller than regular admission numbers this past winter. Summer Admissions: Why are you having a summer admissions round? We realize that some of our current students will not enroll this fall due to changes in personal circumstances or the move to being remote for AY20–21. As such, the summer admissions process allows us to include additional students eager to join our community virtually. Our summer admissions round, coupled with the decision to operate remotely, also presents an unprecedented opportunity for us to extend the HGSE learning experience far beyond Appian Way — to students who may never before have considered joining our community due to difficulties of relocating or leaving their professional positions. We view this shift in learning modality as an extraordinary chance to increase access to the courses, cohorts, and community experiences that are typically confined to Cambridge. Opening our doors to additional applicants is our effort to expand our reach; to bring in educators and changemakers who possess the same academic, personal, and professional excellence we seek in the winter application pool. I’m worried that the summer admissions process will lower the quality of my cohort. Will summer applicants be evaluated the same way as spring admits? Our holistic review of academic readiness will not change, and we maintain our firm commitment to admitting and enrolling only those students capable of succeeding in our classrooms and in the field. The one change for the summer process is that we are not requiring the GRE, which would be logistically difficult given the short timeframe and COVID-related disruptions. We do not expect that making the GRE optional will change the admission evaluation process because the GRE does not figure strongly into our admissions review. Instead, our practice for years has been to rely on other parts of the application to assess writing ability and other academic skills. We have already been considering making the GRE optional for the past couple of years. Does opening up another admissions cycle mean that our classes will be much larger next year than previous years? We are committed to making sure that we have the capacity and resources to fully serve the students who enroll so we are being very mindful of cohort size. We do not intend to grow the overall cohort size in terms of the number of full-time equivalent students. To ensure class sizes do not grow, our summer admissions decisions will not happen until after we have a sense of how many of our current students plan to enroll (the deadline for informing us is July 15). As always, we will maintain a mix of large and small courses, though we expect to have many more small seminars and tutorials during AY20–21 than in past years so students have multiple opportunities to engage in smaller classes.

Hopefully, Leo doesn’t mind the 2nd batch of Fall 2020ers piggy-backing onto this thread?! Submitting my app soon. My reading between the lines from the webinar I attended, is that the online Ed.M, admission cycle is to fill an attendance gap left from the traditionally admitted this past winter and current students that are not willing to attend online this fall. Bottom line, I’m thinking the HGSE will not be admitting a full class this July. Anyone with better intel? Love, Oden