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MS was at the admissions level (unless faculty went out of their way to step in). PhD was the chat board/vote.

I think that paper sounds good. I would respond favorably to such a sample.

@nanakimmy9 Oh wow, good for you! I decided it wasn't right for me this cycle as well. Decided to go for the MS, so I'll still need those recs ha. These decisions are big ones and take guts, so I'm glad you're doing what works for you! and Good luck to you in advance of the next application season!

@Mindsoncoffee Thank you! But actually I decided not to apply this year and to apply next year instead. I was able to get three people to agree to write an LOR for me, but I’ll let them know and ask if they would be okay with writing it next year. Good luck on your applications too!!

If I may, I would wait until early- to mid-August. Have you written your request in a way that is less pressure for them to write? Good luck by the way!

@andylee0427Thank you for the suggestion!
Then I think I will follow up in mid-August, since the second professor (the one with the automatic reply) will also be back around then. I think I didn’t put any pressure in my email, or at least I hope I didn’t! Haha. I’m applying to only two schools. I provided all the info and materials they might need and let them know that the applications won’t be due until December. I also just asked if they could let me know if they would be able to write a strong letter of recommendation. I think I was very polite in my request.
I’m hoping that they either just haven’t seen my email or have put it off for later. If they don’t want to write a recommendation for any reason, I would totally understand but would appreciate getting a response at least so that I can make other arrangements.
Reading some of other posts in this part of the forum, I realize that a lot of people suffer from LOR-related anxiety. I really wish it weren’t a requirement. ? Usually, if I see a job posting or internship that requires an LOR, I just don’t bother to apply. But I guess that’s not a option for grad admissions. I can only wish!

Hello, everyone! And thank you, @TabTurbo for starting this new thread!
Is there anyone else applying for the PhD in education this year? Also, I wonder how the acceptance rate varies between the masters and the doctoral programs. I did my masters at HGSE in an earlier year, but it would be an absolute dream to be able to go back and study there again, even though I know there are far fewer openings for PhD. ?

Hello, everyone! And thank you, @TabTurbo for starting this new thread!
Is there anyone else applying for the PhD in education this year? Also, I wonder how the acceptance rate varies between the masters and the doctoral programs. I did my masters at HGSE in an earlier year, but it would be an absolute dream to be able to go back and study there again, even though I know there are far fewer openings for PhD. ?

Hi friends! For those who missed the session, I believe the recording will be posted on the Recorded Webinar page soon. But in the meantime, I captured some Q&A in case anyone is interested:
Select Q&A from July 28 General Info Session
Q: Are need-based grants available for international students?
A: International students are eligible for need-based grants. 
Q: How's the tuition fee for international students?
A: Tuition is the same regardless of citizenship.
Q: If we don't send GRE scores, will our application be considered less?
A: The score will be considered if it’s submitted, but applications will not be considered less without GRE for the EdM program. Applicants should make the personal decision and consider whether submitting the GRE will strengthen the application, or whether the rest of the applications adequately demonstrate candidacy. 
Q: As a prospective Ed.M. student, am I disadvantaged for having an intended niche that isn't quite covered by one of the concentrations?
A: Concentration is not a must as long as your interest is covered by one of the programs.
Q: Is the application deadline the same for both the online and the residential Ed.M. program?
A: Yes
Q: Do you accept transfer credits from other doctoral programs for the Ed program?
A: No, we do not accept transfer credits
Q: Does my application need to be submitted ahead of the deadline so that my recommenders have time to write and meet the deadline too?
A: No. Applicants can designate recommenders in the online portal prior to deadline while working on the application.
Q: Are admissions for the Ed.M. program rolling? Is there any advantage to applying as soon as applications open rather than closer to the deadline?
A: No. Applications are not reviewed until after the Jan 15, 2022 deadline.
Q: I graduated 15 years ago - are three professional letters of recommendation acceptable?
A: Yes. Recommenders should still discuss transferable skills and analytical capabilities of the candidates.
Q: For the ELOE program, do you need a minimum number of years of experience?
A: No. It’s more important that the candidate feels it’s the right time and articulate in application.
Q: How many candidates are typically admitted into the PH.D program per cohort?
A: There’s a hard limit of 25 seats and typically 25 offers are made, sometimes a few more.
Q: I completed my bachelor's degree from an institution at which English was the sole language of instruction but my native language is not English. Do I need to take up IELTS?
A: No if the bachelor’s degree is from an institution at which English is the sole language of instruction.
Q: When does the Ed.M academic year begin? Just want to clarify because I remembered hearing you say that the foundational courses are done in June/July
A: Foundational courses are online courses.
Q: Is there any benefit to submitting the PhD application ahead of the December 1st deadline or will all applications be looked at at the same time?
A: Applications are reviewed all at the same time.
Q: Can you apply for 2 masters programs (1 residential and online)
A: No. Applicants can only submit one application per program level.
Q: I am a criminologist and I wish to work towards improving the quality of police officers through training design and curriculum development. Would my background without education in “education” make me eligible for EdM?
A: Education experience or prior training is not required, but applicants should have a desire in education. Admission will be interested in hearing about how the applicant plans to use the strength of the experience and apply to the study.
Q: In previous years, I believe some EdLD applicants have been invited to interview in February. Will that be happening again?
A: Yes. TBD whether it will be in-person or virtual.
Q: Does the foundation course count towards the 42 credit hours?
A: Yes.

You can email them now but don't take it personally if they don't respond. Follow up in two-three weeks. 
When I was applying, I sent out emails over the summer and received responses across the board. 

Hi @Alyson,
While higher grades exist more commonly (partly because the demographics are different) in grad school, it is untrue that everyone in grad school has a 4.0 GPA. Different professors have different styles. Some professors might limit the amount of A's in each class. Others might not have any limits. Grades aren't by any means the most important part in the humanities. The reason you get rejected from a program is highly unlikely to do with someone outscoring you by a 10th of a percentage point. If your GPA was below a B+ average (or littered with C's), there might be more reason to worry but a B in a class (especially in a field/topic outside of your own) isn't going to hurt you.
I think there would be more effective ways to spend your time though than trying to get your grade changed. Getting a better understanding of your fit within a program, presenting at conferences (to make connections), submitting to journals, spending additional time on your SOP/Writing Sample, and engaging with your professors in conversations to strengthen your recommendation letter based on your CV are all ways in which might help to strengthen your application. None of these are guaranteed though and one can excel in all of these and still not be admitted. What committees are looking for one year might differ from year to year depending on who's serving on the committee, how they're trying to balance a cohort, and so many other factors. I think it's important to remember that rejection is not personal. You are more than your application to grad school.

Some academics consider getting one's undergraduate degree and subsequent graduate degrees at the same institution as "incestuous." (A professor said this to me when I entertained the idea of going to my UGI for graduate school. At the time, I was eager to go somewhere else. Put me in a time machine, I may make a different decision and take my chances.)
Wait. Where was I? Sorry. Right.

One could ask professors directly, as @serpentstone suggests, or phrase the question much more subtly, or one could look at the CVs of people who have the kinds of positions you eventually want to earn. Do you see any patterns?

(My recommendation is that you do your background research, figure out if you really want to get your Ph.D. from the same school, and then have conversations with professors that might be on your committees. IMO, these conversations should reflect a fair amount of preliminary research and reading and thought on your part. You could just see how they respond to your expression of interest.)

Definitely leave out all high school stuff. Perhaps if your awards are highly relevant to your field, maybe add those to your Awards/Honors section, but realistically all high school related content should be left off. For reference, if you received your undergraduate degree and were applying to jobs, you shouldn't have high school stuff on it either.
 
 

It seems like it would make sense to take on a student that faculty is already familiar with. However, when browsing the admissions reports on the GradCafe main page, I've noticed a few people attribute their rejection to applying to the same school as their previous degree... I can't say I know too much about the reasoning or if that is an actual issue for rejection, I just wanted to report what I've seen. It might just be best to ask your professors directly, "This is something I've been wondering about..." Good luck!

Hi all! Happy to see this thread start up. I've been lurking for a while on gradcafe, but I feel ready to take the plunge and commit to applying to grad school for next year. HGSE is at the top of my list right now, though I'm nervous since everyone seems REALLY qualified! But I will be brave and see what happens. Wishing everyone good luck as we all apply! ?

Hello, everyone! And thank you, @TabTurbo for starting this new thread!
Is there anyone else applying for the PhD in education this year? Also, I wonder how the acceptance rate varies between the masters and the doctoral programs. I did my masters at HGSE in an earlier year, but it would be an absolute dream to be able to go back and study there again, even though I know there are far fewer openings for PhD. ?

I didn’t have much guidance from anyone in high school and college, so it took me several years to find my passion and what I really wanted to do in life. Maybe the following can help you in some way:
I graduated from undergrad in Field A, where I took a bunch of classes in Subfield B, but was miserable when I got a job in Field A, so then went back to school and got a graduate degree in unrelated Field C because it paid well (which was not at all a good deciding factor, by the way). Anyway, while doing my studies in Field C, I got interested in Subfields D and E and did a lot of part-time work or projects during school in those two subfields. But after graduating, I was miserable again after getting a job in Field C+D (actually Field C was the problem, not Subfield D), so I switched careers and used my background to get a career in unrelated Field E (the other subfield from my graduate studies) which was also related to Field B (the subfield from my undergraduate studies). This time I was truly happy in my career, but after some time I realized that I would need further qualifications to truly get ahead in the Field B+E industry, so I applied for a masters in Field B+E and got accepted to one of the top universities in the world.
I had been worried about the admissions committee’s reaction to how much I had switched my fields before finding what I truly cared about. But I was honest about that weakness and demonstrated in my statement of purpose how my studies in undergrad and grad school had brought me to that point. In fact, the masters was for advancing in my new industry, not for switching once again, so it was completely relevant. I guess they must have understood from my SOP, since I got in to both of the masters programs that I applied to.
Now I’ve been working full-time in Field B+E for a few more years and also started interning in a research project which is related to Field C+D (which I’m actually enjoying this time because there is no pressure and it’s now related to my main Field B+E). And now I’m applying for PhD programs in Field E that combines B, C, and D (in a very relevant way) because I want to be a professor and researcher in this niche. I guess I’ll see how that goes.
I don’t know how related your current and previous fields of study are, but if you think that it will be a glaring part of your application, then it’s better to explain it clearly in your application than to ignore it and hope that no one notices. In interviews, either for jobs or university admissions, I’ve always been asked about about my change in studies, but I’ve always drawn connections between them and explained how I had developed an interest for one while studying another and can still use the skills and knowledge from the previous ones. Now that my studies have all been combined in some form or another (except for the original Field A), this question isn’t a big deal anymore and I think has actually helped me stand out.

I didn’t have much guidance from anyone in high school and college, so it took me several years to find my passion and what I really wanted to do in life. Maybe the following can help you in some way:
I graduated from undergrad in Field A, where I took a bunch of classes in Subfield B, but was miserable when I got a job in Field A, so then went back to school and got a graduate degree in unrelated Field C because it paid well (which was not at all a good deciding factor, by the way). Anyway, while doing my studies in Field C, I got interested in Subfields D and E and did a lot of part-time work or projects during school in those two subfields. But after graduating, I was miserable again after getting a job in Field C+D (actually Field C was the problem, not Subfield D), so I switched careers and used my background to get a career in unrelated Field E (the other subfield from my graduate studies) which was also related to Field B (the subfield from my undergraduate studies). This time I was truly happy in my career, but after some time I realized that I would need further qualifications to truly get ahead in the Field B+E industry, so I applied for a masters in Field B+E and got accepted to one of the top universities in the world.
I had been worried about the admissions committee’s reaction to how much I had switched my fields before finding what I truly cared about. But I was honest about that weakness and demonstrated in my statement of purpose how my studies in undergrad and grad school had brought me to that point. In fact, the masters was for advancing in my new industry, not for switching once again, so it was completely relevant. I guess they must have understood from my SOP, since I got in to both of the masters programs that I applied to.
Now I’ve been working full-time in Field B+E for a few more years and also started interning in a research project which is related to Field C+D (which I’m actually enjoying this time because there is no pressure and it’s now related to my main Field B+E). And now I’m applying for PhD programs in Field E that combines B, C, and D (in a very relevant way) because I want to be a professor and researcher in this niche. I guess I’ll see how that goes.
I don’t know how related your current and previous fields of study are, but if you think that it will be a glaring part of your application, then it’s better to explain it clearly in your application than to ignore it and hope that no one notices. In interviews, either for jobs or university admissions, I’ve always been asked about about my change in studies, but I’ve always drawn connections between them and explained how I had developed an interest for one while studying another and can still use the skills and knowledge from the previous ones. Now that my studies have all been combined in some form or another (except for the original Field A), this question isn’t a big deal anymore and I think has actually helped me stand out.

Hello, everyone! And thank you, @TabTurbo for starting this new thread!
Is there anyone else applying for the PhD in education this year? Also, I wonder how the acceptance rate varies between the masters and the doctoral programs. I did my masters at HGSE in an earlier year, but it would be an absolute dream to be able to go back and study there again, even though I know there are far fewer openings for PhD. ?

If you are a US citizen, your application will be viewed as a US citizen. Where you are living now won't really make any difference to them, especially if your whole educational history is in the US. Also, your husband's legal status is also likely not of relevance to the university. I would speak to an immigration attorney regarding your husband's status and options. 

Hello everyone. Really excited for you all to be applying. I applied and was accepted this last cycle, and am happy to answer any questions people may have. Be brave, be yourself, and best of luck as you apply!

Hello, everyone! And thank you, @TabTurbo for starting this new thread!
Is there anyone else applying for the PhD in education this year? Also, I wonder how the acceptance rate varies between the masters and the doctoral programs. I did my masters at HGSE in an earlier year, but it would be an absolute dream to be able to go back and study there again, even though I know there are far fewer openings for PhD. ?

Hello. I’d like to apply to HGSE for a PhD in a few years using my GRE scores.
Their website seems to suggest that they won’t accept any GRE scores prior to September 1st of five years before the application deadline. So, for example, an earlier HGSE page says, “Ph.D. applicants interested in Fall 2020 admissions must submit official GRE scores from no earlier than September 1, 2014.” And the more recent GSAS page (redirected from the HGSE page since the Ph.D. is between both schools) says, “ GRE scores are valid for five years from the test date (i.e., taken earlier than September 1, 2015, for fall 2021 admission).”
So, this seems as though your scores have to be valid for the entirety of the application season. Even if your scores would have expired in October or November of 2015, you wouldn’t have been able to use it for fall 2021 admission, even if you were to submit them before the December 2020 Ph.D. application deadline.
So, is that correct then? Has anyone experienced having their scores rejected despite not actually being expired yet and having to retake the GRE test? I’m asking because I’m worried that my scores might be considered expired a few months earlier than the actual 5-year expiration, meaning that I’d either have to apply one year earlier than I had planned or retake the GRE altogether.

Hello. I’d like to apply to HGSE for a PhD in a few years using my GRE scores.
Their website seems to suggest that they won’t accept any GRE scores prior to September 1st of five years before the application deadline. So, for example, an earlier HGSE page says, “Ph.D. applicants interested in Fall 2020 admissions must submit official GRE scores from no earlier than September 1, 2014.” And the more recent GSAS page (redirected from the HGSE page since the Ph.D. is between both schools) says, “ GRE scores are valid for five years from the test date (i.e., taken earlier than September 1, 2015, for fall 2021 admission).”
So, this seems as though your scores have to be valid for the entirety of the application season. Even if your scores would have expired in October or November of 2015, you wouldn’t have been able to use it for fall 2021 admission, even if you were to submit them before the December 2020 Ph.D. application deadline.
So, is that correct then? Has anyone experienced having their scores rejected despite not actually being expired yet and having to retake the GRE test? I’m asking because I’m worried that my scores might be considered expired a few months earlier than the actual 5-year expiration, meaning that I’d either have to apply one year earlier than I had planned or retake the GRE altogether.

Hello, everyone! And thank you, @TabTurbo for starting this new thread!
Is there anyone else applying for the PhD in education this year? Also, I wonder how the acceptance rate varies between the masters and the doctoral programs. I did my masters at HGSE in an earlier year, but it would be an absolute dream to be able to go back and study there again, even though I know there are far fewer openings for PhD. ?