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Not necessarily. I believe that admissions staff are all working remotely so this may require the committee to take more time to review our applications.

It has been a daily situation that “I can’t breathe”... the waiting game as well as the anxiety is killing me... all I have thought about during these months is the decision of my application....

Fellow EPA applicant here. Do you mind sharing your basic stats? GPA, GRE if submitted, schools went to for undergrad, etc. thanks!

I was interested in both of these two programs. However, my friends at HGSE said that the ELOE is more like a combination of the School Leadership Program and the Education Policy Management Program as they showed me the chart of how the newly designed programs were structured based on the original programs. So that’s why I didn’t choose to apply as they and myself believed this program may need more leadership and education-related experiences.

I am glad that I didn’t apply to ELOE????this thread seems like full of ELOE applicants?

Ohh that’s what I received haha that’s why my sophomore year’s gpa was so low and I honestly didn’t know what was I doing at that time during the entire academic year. I hope the last two year’s gpa would compensate that... I also forgot to mention that I also took a course at a cc and received 4.0/4.0 on it. If calculate the entire 4 years of undergrad + current master’s program, the cumulative gpa is 3.4-3.5 ish... but I really hope the last two years of undergrad could weigh more...

Also, wait, what do you mean by writing sample? HGSE doesn’t have a requirement for writing sample... did you submit it as additional file???

Your gpa is terrific so I assume the worst grade (math) you meant was also like a B or B+ something like that (this is better than mine). My stats were actually posted on page 2 or 3 of this thread. Basic stats: freshman year 3.412, sophomore year: 2.839 (idk what was I doing), last two years transferred to a top 30 private university and gpa was 3.65 (junior year 3.8, senior year 3.5). Now a master’s at an ivy (took three classes last semester and gpa 3.5). For internships, I have taken two internships at top-tier consulting firms, one technology internship, and one finance internship. LOR: all from my professors. There’s one graduated Harvard MBA. I also think my sop was great but I believe there are many people who can write good sops....

From watching videos and reading texts from the program’s websites, I think the program focuses more on analytics in education policy not like studying economics and math in the typical policy programs. So that’s why I think they would prefer students with critical thinking and analysis capabilities.... that’s my thoughts regarding their expectations.... I hope my consulting experiences may be helpful as for this program many graduates will go to become policy consultants....

???this aligns with my experience too...... do you mind sharing your stats? GPA, school went to, GRE/GMAT if you submitted, professional experiences....

me neither regarding math backgrounds and I’m actually not good at it.... I have consulted with several of my friends who studied policy either at HGSE or other education schools. They said that the policy programs at education schools are different from the MPP or MPA at policy schools such as at Harvard Kennedy School, and the education schools’ policy programs don’t involve much math.... I don’t know if it was true but I believe the policy programs at education schools would rely math much less than the ones that policy schools. What’s your thoughts?

I’m actually not applying LDIT but EPA! @hales1013actually is the one applying the same program as you did! Good luck!

Do you mind sharing which program did you apply to?

We don’t need full-time experiences in order to be competitive candidates. Summer internships certainly count as professional experiences and there are actually a lot of people who don’t have any full-time jobs. I believe the ELOE program may want people who have had many full-time experiences, but for other programs, if candidates have had some internship experiences, I believe that would be sufficient.

For lacking in professional experiences, did you mean by lack in education-related experiences or professional experiences at large? For education-related experiences, I believe students don’t need that many education-related experiences but I have a friend who is applying to this program and my friend has abundant amount of education-related experiences. I believe it would be beneficial if you had some technology-related experiences.

There are actually a lot of people who didn’t have much professional experiences. However, I think it depends on specific programs. Which program did you apply to?

I mentioned this on an earlier page - I applied to the Education Policy & Analysis (EPA) program. I thought the program I applied to would also be very popular, but it seems like no one in this thread has applied to the program so far.

Wow! There are so many ELOE applicants according to the people participated in this thread! I’m wondering that is ELOE a program more appropriate for the people who have had some sort of entrepreneurial/leadership roles? I was afraid of this so that I ended up applying for another program. Your stats is amazing, especially for the LOR!

@hmj598i believe a late deadline may be the reason for a record breaking number of applications to happen, and to be honest, an early January (HGSE) deadline might be too early for many people (many of us submitted the application until the very last minute including myself haha). I am thinking about one advantage of the restructuring of programs at HGSE for us might be that now there are only four programs instead of a dozens of programs so that each program may be able to accept more people... btw, do you mind sharing what program did you apply to, and your stats (e.g. GPA, what kind of undergrad school did you go to, etc.”)? Thanks! Additionally, I have some friends who initially wanted to apply for HGSE’s programs but they didn’t end up apply because of different reasons such as they think the program will still be conducted online in reality, United States is now the epicenter of the pandemic, etc. I believe there are people who are encouraged to apply given the situations caused by the pandemic, and there are people discouraged by certain reasons caused by the pandemic as well.

@hmj598the tricky thing about Harvard is that people have the mindset that it is harvard so they may even be afraid that they are definitely not getting in and they ended up not applying for this reason. Additionally, may I ask what’s the deadline for the program you applied at Penn? Is it as early as HGSE? Thanks!

Hey guys, I just would like to gather your thoughts regarding the number of the applicants for this year’s admission cycle. Would you guys think the number of the Ed.M. programs has increased or decreased or remained the same comparing to the previous years? From my personal perspectives, although the number of many grad schools including business schools along with law schools have increased, I don’t think the Ed school would have had more applicants comparing to other previous seasons. The first reason is that education isn’t that popular or competitive compare to business or law - many people would like to get a business or law degree during a recession to enrich their academic achievements, and I don’t personally think they would pay the money for an Ed.M. just because they don’t have anything to do during a recession. The second reason is that at least for HGSE, license isn’t a thing anymore during this pandemic and I believe many people who wanted to apply for HGSE would want to get a license upon graduation. Additionally, some people say that since HGSE doesn’t accept doctoral program applications for this season so there might be an increase for the Ed.M. I don’t think it is valid because many people who wanted to apply for a doctoral degree may have already had a master’s in education, and some other prospective applicants may not value the Ed.M. as much as a doctoral degree, especially because they need to pay for an Ed.M. while completing a doctoral degree is completely free. Therefore, my guess is that the number of applicants may have remained the same or slightly lowered comparing to the previous years. I understand that GRE isn’t a hard requirement anymore so it may encourage more applicants to apply, but I think the value of the program as well as its costs may play into a more significant role when a person decides whether or not to apply for a program. Please let me know what you think, and please pray for the best regarding the results!

@caxiatecI personally do not think the end of March would be a realistic time for decisions to be sent... the national commitment date is 4.15 and if the decisions was released by the end of March and we were offered admission, there would not be enough time for us to think about which program we are going to attend.

@CaitlynM the decisions for doctoral degree programs at HGSE had always been released in February but not March as you described (however, the admissions for doctoral degree programs at HGSE has been suspended for Fall 2021). The Friday of the first day of March has always been the day for Ed.M. decisions to be released. I am not certain if this year would be the same as I’m not an HGSE admission officer but I am positive that it should still be the same.

@PENNYLIUPPPPPi understand it’s a late reply but I think I should answer this question for other people to know although I’m also an applicant and I’m applying for Fall 2021 admissions. 4% should be either for the Ed.D. program or the Ed.L.D. program. Accordingly to Peterson.com and HGSE alums, HGSE has an acceptance rate of 50% or above (Peterson indicates that as 53% for Ed.M.). 4% should mostly never be a thing for master’s in education. If it was the case, it makes HGSE even much harder to get in than Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School?? but the 50% rate should be an overall acceptance rate, and the real one should be varied by different programs.

Guys, in addition to my previous post and comments, just curious that do you believe that the Ed.M programs at HGSE really have an average acceptance rate of 50%+? It seems pretty odd to me, but a lot of people including several HGSE alums that I know, people online, as well as Peterson all mentioned that HGSE Ed.M has an average acceptance rate of 50%+. However, even if it is true, I understand it is going to be varied depending on different specific programs. Thanks for your clarification!