ZeChocMoose

When I sat on the adcom as a master's student, we had someone "transfer" out of our pool and into another department. I don't know if that person got in-- but we had already voted to reject the person as it was clear that the person wasn't a good fit for what we had to offer. I guess I would find out if the program you want to be considered for has already made decisions or not. If they have, I would just stick with the program I applied to and evaluate whether I should attend if I get in. Also some master's programs can be pretty flexible for their curriculum. You might be able to take some Literacy courses.

Seating chart

Road rules

I haven't received anything yet but I assume it is because I am far away from USC and it will take a couple days until the mail arrives. I'll be with you all soon!

Total bummer! I haven't been home either to check my mail-- but I assume if it was positive we would have heard by now.

honeymoon suite

Hi Triedgold, Okay-- that makes much more sense now. If I was you (and the limited knowledge that I have over your situation), I would probably enroll at USC. By enrolling at USC, you'll be able to stay in your job (where it seems like you are doing well and have momentum). Generally, getting education leadership jobs seem to require experience + the degree and you'll have both with this outcome. The admittance rate for the EdD program is high at USC-- 72%. (I couldn't find the admittance rate at Berkeley for the LEEP program but it seems that their cohorts are much smaller). I guess the question is can you afford the 70K? (That seems pretty steep to me for a doctoral degree!) If you get into both-- which one has more professors that you want to work with? which one has the better reputation in your field? how reasonable is it to assume you can get an education leadership position in and/or around Berkeley if you decide to go there? Also an alternative option is UCLA has an Education Leadership EdD that is aimed at working professionals (http://gseis.ucla.ed...s/education/elp). Since it is a state school, the tuition should be cheaper and it is roughly the same distance as USC. Could that be another option if 70K is not feasible? ~ZeChocMoose

face off

Well getting a third master's-- will that really be helpful in the long run? For the other programs (USC & Berkeley), you would have to quit your job anyways-- right? I am not a big fan of EdDs, but it would probably make more sense to do the EdDs since it is a higher degree than a master's. Also since you need to quit your job, does USC and UC Berkeley offer funding for the EdD degree? What are their placement rates for the jobs that you ultimately hope to hold? Since you state that you want to be a scholar-practitioner-- have you looked into PhDs in education? If you are really interested in research (which I can't tell from your post) this might be a better degree for you. If you hope to stay in K - 12 administration, you are probably all set with the EdD. Good luck on your decisions!

I got my phone acceptance during business hours, but my interview request in an email sent at 8:30 PM for the next day. So yes it is definitely possible to get news outside of the typical 9 - 5 especially if professors are making the contact.

blue fish

sensory deprivation

man eater

down town

GSE has an admissions blog where someone asked that question. They said the EdD weekend invitations were sent out in January. http://penngseadmissions.blogspot.com/

Thanks, jaxzwolf. I'm thinking positive thoughts to for you! And I can't wait for the success stories to start rolling in from everyone.

self control

Ouch! Talk about kicking someone when they are down! It sounds like they are saying, "Good luck finding someone who cares..."

They will definitely have to see an official copy of your final transcript at some point because they need to verify that you have completed your bachelor's in order to enroll in a master's program. I am not quite sure if the program cares whether you finish with a 3.7 or a 3.6 unless the university refers you to a fellowship or a scholarship that is based on your academic grades. Seeing a dip in your last semester probably won't be impressive to them. At this point, it is safer to just keep plugging away and doing the good work that you have been doing.

To bring hope to all of the second time round applicants, I just found out that I was accepted into one of my top choices. Very thrilled Here's to filling this thread with all of our success stories. I am sending good thoughts your way!

I didn't apply to HGSE, but I saw that decision in the results section. I agree that it sounds strange. Anyone applying (I would hope) knows that HGSE does not award PhDs!

In my experience, average salaries for a person with a Master's in Higher Education in an entry level job in either student services or academic affairs is around 40 - 45 K. This also depends on where you hope to live-- those averages are for living in cities with a high cost of living. For places with a lower cost of living, you might be looking at under 40K for your salary. What do you want to do with the degree? If you are interested in education research, data, and statistics, you might be able to do better-- 45 - 50K+ for entry level jobs depending on your experience. The Chronicle of Higher Education has salaries for staff members at universities by field. The link is here: http://chronicle.com...Midlevel/64750/ (This one is for mid-level staff members, but I am sure you can find other information using the search feature.) I never seen data on average starting salaries by higher ed master's programs-- but you can ask specific programs that you are interesting in attending what the starting salary of their graduates are. Also, higher ed programs can be so different from each other. Some are more research focused and are interested in developing researchers and policy-makers; Others really focus on practical experiences and creating higher ed practitioners. It would be hard to suggest schools without knowing what you hope to get out of a program. Edit: Found another one for senior level positions. It will give you an idea of what the projected salary path is for the position you desire. Although you might need a PhD to get some of these positions (and of course many years of experience). http://chronicle.com...f-Senior/64289/ Another Edit (ha!): All of these positions are not available to you. Some of these are faculty positions-- I would focus on academic affairs, student affairs, business/admin affairs, and external affairs.

NYU is a good program. When I applied there 5 years ago, I believe I heard mid February or so and then they had a visit weekend at the end of March. I hope you get accepted!

The issue I have is with the word "quota" because you are then saying that the entering student body needs to have x number of women or x number of people who identify as "black" regardless of what the applicant pool looks like. I agree that institutions can "craft" a class so to speak and I think it is important that they do so. It would be boring and unfortunate if everyone in your cohort was from the same background, had the same interests, from the same region, etc. It is important in your education experience to be exposed to a diversity of ideas and people so you can better interact with others in your profession and in the real world (so to speak). Please see above about why US universities ask applicants to fill out race/ethnicity and sex. It is not surprising-- it is mostly logistics.

Sent you a PM. I am confident that we will get to the bottom of this. Also I have reached out to my friends that work with international students at American Universities to hear if they have experiences with quotas for international students. Why do they ask gender or race when you apply? Universities need to report enrollment numbers to the federal government. Part of those enrollment numbers are asking for the gender and race composition of their student body. It is much easier to ask students when they apply to fill out this demographic information. Colleges and universities who refuse to report enrollment numbers are not eligible for federal money (i.e. no federal grants or federal financial aid for students). As you can imagine that would grind most universities to a halt so they compile with these requests. Also in some cases there are university-wide fellowships based on your demographic characteristics (especially for the STEM fields). Departments need to know which students to recommend to these awards. I also I want to make it clear that college and universities can factor in race and gender into the admission decision as part of a holistic review but they cannot allot x number of spaces for women or x number of spaces for black students because that is a quota and admission quotas are illegal. (I reread what I wrote above and I think I didn't make that clear enough on how they can use these demographic characteristics in the admission process).