ZeChocMoose

I agree on the fact that these interview weekends are exhausting. I tried to do 5 when I was applying for my master's degree and I ended up withdrawing from one because I was so exhausted by the time it came around and it was the school that I was the least interested in. All of my interview weekends were typically 2.5 to 3 days and only two were close enough that I was able to drive my car there. I was also working full time so I was trying to catch up with my work and prepare for the weekends so it eventually became extremely tricky. Good luck and congrats

Definitely go with the one that you'll enjoy long term the most! Ed Admin is actually different from Higher Ed Admin so I can't tell which one you have applied to. Ed Admin is usually for people who want to work in the K - 12 segment of education as principals or superintendents. I honestly don't know much about it and I am not quite sure what people do with a master's degree actually in that field. I think you need the doctorate for a principal or superintendent position (at least where I am from), but I could be wrong. Higher ed admin (on the other hand) is for people who want to work at colleges and universities (or related organizations) either in student affairs, academic affairs, or admin affairs and can encompass a lot of different jobs. If you are looking at higher ed admin, you'll be studying colleges and universities as organizations, discussing the issues facing students, faculty, and alumni, and looking at federal policies affecting higher education. It's a blend of social science fields and some management essentially. I have always been fascinated with colleges and universities and I started working in the field before I decided to go back and pursue my master's degree. It's an interesting field because people come from vastly different backgrounds which makes for great in-class discussions.

English and Higher Ed-- nice. Are you leaning towards a particular degree over the other? What do you plan to do with the degree(s)?

I do not recommend doing this. It is unlikely that you will be able to transfer with 0.94 GPA at your current institution. Just so I am clear you graduated from a community college and received an associates degree with an above 3.0 GPA? Then you transferred to KU and now you have one semester there with a 0.94 GPA? In that is the case then I have some alternatives. What services are being offered to you now that you are on academic probation? Are you required to check in with an academic advisor or see someone in the tutoring center? If so, follow exactly what you are suppose to do. If not, please seek out an academic advisor at your institution. They will be able to provide you with assistance and you can talk through what you feel is going on. They might recommend that you see someone at the counseling center. Most importantly, they will also be able to explain the academic policies at your school in particular what are their repeat policies. You want to know if you retake these courses and do well-- will the lower grade be removed from your GPA? At my graduate institution they called this "freshmen forgiveness." If worked for freshmen or transfers that did poorly in their first 15 credits. They were allowed to retake the course and the original grade was removed from the GPA but still on the transcript. Also, you might want to ask for a retroactive withdraw from one of the courses. Usually this is not granted unless there are some circumstances surrounding it and it needs to be approved by the dean (usually) but it doesn't hurt to ask what the process is. This will replace the D or F on the transcript with a W and remove it from the GPA. Usually you can only do this for one course though. So I have covered some logistics on how to fix the past. Moving forward to this future semester. 16 credits sounds to me like a heavy load. As a former advisor, I would not suggest someone to take this heavy load after the semester that you have had. I suggest dropping one course and using the extra time to extensively work on your study skills and motivation. And you have to be serious about this. Things that helped me were either blocking away the same time each day to study and always doing it then no exceptions. Also if you get distracted in your apt/dorm, leave and study in the library/coffee shop/outside. Anywhere that you can get things done. You also need to start attending your professor's/TAs/etc office hours before you notice that you are struggling. Make it a habit to come by, ask questions, and talk about the lecture/course. It will help you understand the material better and help build relationships with your professors. Make it a goal to do this in the next semester. Make yourself accountable to these goals. For the friend issue-- if you are isolated with no support system this makes academic difficulties much harder to deal with. I suggest that you reach out to people in your classes. Offer to go grab lunch and get to know each other. Or join one extracurricular activity on campus or in the community to help you meet people. Everyone needs in outlet and being isolated is not healthy and generally very unfun. In my experience, my friends really helped me when things became stressful during college and in grad school. I wish you the best of luck. This is not an insurmountable task. I have seen people recover from a bad semester or two in undergrad and go on to finish master's and PhD degrees. It is definitely doable, but you have to want it and work for it. You need to reach out to staff/faculty on campus to help you. Devise a reasonable plan and stick to it.

Unfortunately, yes. I have read some. In my experience, there were not a lot, but I think I have encountered at least 10 "non-recommendations" and that is probably after reading roughly 1,000 recommendations. Some of these were for grad school apps and some of these were for undergraduates trying to get into a particular major. None of them said I do not recommend this student for admission, but either they said nothing of substance besides so-so was in my class and they received X grade (I kid you not two sentences!) or they "damned them with faint praise" as catherinian has said. The later is definitely worse and a couple I will remember to this day because their comments just stick with you! Honestly, I conclude that most professors will decline if they cannot write a strong recommendation for the person.

I have to disagree with this. Personally I am a big fan of Melrose and it has a lot of character esp the downtown. I think it really depends on what you are looking for hedgequant. If you want to live in the city, I wouldn't suggest Medford or Arlington as they will be too suburban for your taste. You would be better off in Cambridge or maybe even Somerville depending on the area. Winchester is notorious pricey and suburban so I would cross that off the list. Will you have a car or do you want to rely on public transportation? Parking can be quite a PAIN and expensive in Boston in the surrounds. When I lived in Arlington I had tandem parking which I would not wish that on my worst enemy. Public transportation in and around Boston is okay. Not excellent, but not terrible-- but I find it a bit limiting especially if you choose to live in the suburbs. Personally I would not live in Everett (or Revere or Chelsea for that matter). I would also be very strategic when selecting a place in Malden. My friends have had cars broken into and a catalytic converter stolen in broad daylight in the parking lot of the apartment complex. She called the police as the crime was being committed and they said that they couldn't help her (I know--yikes!) That being said there are some okay to nice areas in Malden in particular the Malden/Melrose border-- just be strategic and do your homework.

This varies from program to program. I remember we had someone who deferred a year before I reviewed apps and so he/she ended up in the pool of candidates that we were reviewing. This person got reviewed again with all the regular applicants. I am not sure if that person used the same application or if they updated his/her resume and SOP. Since admission committees tend to read a lot of SOPs in a short amount of time usually it is best to clearly connect the dots (so to speak) for them. If you have time, you might want to revise your SOP for the state school. In my experience, there are a fair amount of people with K-12 experience that make the transition to higher ed (especially former hs teachers). I definitely don't think they will be insulted at all! Some people talk about how they are interested in helping hs graduates transition to college thus tying in their professional experience with their current academic goals in the program. I would suggest to make a stronger connection to the field of higher ed in your SOP. Admission committees like to see that you are interested and vested in the field. Some of this is because when the course work or life as a grad student becomes challenging, they might be concerned that you will not have enough motivation to finish (which ultimately hurts their retention). Generally they select applicants who they believe will finish the program. A strong personal interest in the field is a good signal of this. If you decide to revise, I would also suggest talking about why you are interested in that specific higher ed program as well. It shows that you have done your research and have concluded that you are a good fit for the program. This is important because it is something that they will be looking for as well. If you can clearly and concisely explain why it will put you ahead of the other candidates. Good luck!

You're welcome! I hope the job searching process is relatively quick and painless for you. I always find when I am cold calling/emailing people that the first time is hard, but then it gets much easier after that. If you have a mutual connection with an alumnus/a have that person write you an introduction email and it will help pave the way! Good luck!

Definitely agree with that! The people who hire you generally don't care that you got an "A" in XYZ course, they want to know if you can communicate well, solve problems, meet deadlines, and apply your learning (whether that is technical skills or more general liberal arts skills) to the job at hand. The only exception that I can think of is some federal govt jobs that require you to have a certain GPA to apply for the position. I personally find GPAs on people's resumes to be odd, but I understand that people like to tell recent graduates to do this. If I saw GRE scores on a resume, I would be taken back. At best, it would come across as misguided. At worst, it would come across as pretentious and I would be concerned that this candidate wouldn't fit into the office culture. Since you are applying to analyst positions that focus on quantitative skills, I would suggest to list the statistical software packages that you can use (SPSS, SAS, HLM, Mplus, AMOS, etc), relevant course work and workshops (think upper level statistics and research methods courses here), and explain a specific research project that utilized your quantitative skills in your cover letter. Good luck!

Lots of great advice on here. I just wanted to add another perspective on the importance of learning how to network well and have social skills-- or at least fake it! I am sure you have heard the saying "it is not what you know, it is who you know" and in my experience that is true to some extent. I have seen how great networking has given people jobs, promotions, and entrance into graduate school. I would also say it is extremely helpful to learn these skills because when you attend academic conferences you'll be able to chit chat with attendees and expand your academic/professional network. Also, you may find people with similar research interests that could be future collaborators on research projects. It is great to hear that you are working on this now, OP, as it will be beneficial to your career.

The good news is you have a strong GPA and work experience. Is your work experience in higher ed? The other good news is the 60% acceptance rate for TC. Hopefully it will be similar for this admission cycle. I sat on my program's higher ed admission committee when I was a master's student so I have some insight into the process. It is a little unusual that you didn't include an academic reference. Generally, they want to hear from at least one professor on how well you write and communicate your ideas. What type of references did you include? For your personal statement, it might be better than you think it is. Did you talk about why you are interested in pursuing the degree or what you hope to do with it when you graduate? In my experience, master's applicants can get away with being a bit general in their SOP, but doctoral applicants cannot. At this point, there is not much you can do, but to hope for the best. I know that is hard to do as I also think about what I could have done better with my own applications. Did you apply to any other programs or just TC? When I was applying for master's programs in higher ed, the best advice that I received was not to pay for my master's degree as there are plenty of great programs that give you full tuition remission and a stipend. I highly, highly recommend to follow this advice. I didn't apply to TC, but I have heard that the funding isn't so great at the master's or doctoral level. I also wouldn't recommend taking out too many loans as the starting salary for a recent master's graduate in higher ed is usually around 40 - 45K (sometimes even lower in certain areas). I wish you the best of luck!

Oh, I agree if it is an interview weekend. I have been to a couple of those for my master's program and they can be extremely exhausting after awhile because you are "on" all the time. I didn't get the impression from the OP that this is what the weekend is since it is optional and because the OP said that "I think they are inviting pretty much any applicant they deem sensible." Usually if it is an interview weekend, they only invite a small group of finalists to come visit the campus and have interviews with faculty. The interview weekends that I attended weren't optional either. If you chose not to come, you weren't admitted.

Wow. That's an intense schedule but I am sure it gives you a good look at the program. Hmmm, I would probably be inclined to still visit assuming that I can reschedule the midterm and my professors are okay with me missing class. Another factor I would think about that hasn't been mention yet is cost. Are they offering any travel funds? Do you stay with current students or in a hotel? The cost of visiting schools can really add up after a couple. I also assume since they are having a pretty formalized event in Feb that they probably won't turn around and invite the admitted students to campus in March. I wouldn't want to miss out on the opportunity to meet with faculty and current students. Lastly, the question I would ask myself if I did not get accepted would I wonder if it was because I missed the optional recruitment weekend? And more importantly, would I care? Best of luck to you with your decision!

I agree with mewtwo. I also would avoid a running list of all the courses that you have taken that you think may relate. They can get this from your transcripts and it is very awk to read. Also the part about the social activities-- I don't understand how this is relevant to your application. Does the application question specifically ask this?

Oh interesting. I did misunderstand as I assumed you knew that you had been admitted and they were using the weekend to recruit you to come. That is typically how it is done in my field. With that being said, it might help them to put a face with a name. Have you had any contact with the program or the faculty? Is this a program that you are really interested in? A whole weekend seems like a long time to spend with applicants who may or may not be admitted. I have been to "open houses" at programs, but typically they are only a couple hours. I am curious how they are going to fill the time!

Ah, yes. I can see how that would be annoying. Unfortunately, you have probably been labeled as the "grad school app buddy" who will listen to her rants about her doubts and fears about the process. As it is not helping your state of mind, I would just ignore her (as you have suggested and are doing) -or- if that doesn't work just tell her directly that you rather not talk about grad school apps anymore. Hopefully that will quell the storm.

I agree with LJK about asking professors that research what you want to do about job hunting strategies. Also are you involved with a professional organization with either one of your degrees? Sometimes you can find great people to network with if your professors do not have any leads. Did you do an internship or gain professional experience while in graduate school? If so, I would network with those people as well. This is actually how I secured a job after my master's degree. Not at the same place that I was interning at, but I used my supervisor's network to secure a position. How about the alumni network for your programs? Is there an alumnus/a in a particular field/area that you would like to work in? I would at least contact him/her and ask him/her about how he/she got started and if he/she knows of any available positions. This may put you out of your comfort zone, but sometimes you just have to be willing to take a risk! Lastly, I found a great blog that has amazing advice not only about job hunting/interviews/networking but also about work place issues in general. I recommend that you check it out: Ask A Manager blog I have been reading her advice for about a year now and I have found it invaluable. Good luck on your search!

I completely agree! For my master's program, I visited all the programs that I was admitted into. Thankfully, I did because I was surprised how different each program was even though from the outside they were all the "same" degrees. Visiting also helped make a difficult decision easy as one program out of the five emerged as the clear winner. This program was also not in the top 2 before I visited. I would say it is important to visit because you get the opportunity to watch the little things that you can't glean across websites or phone calls. In particular, I paid attention to how the faculty and the graduate students interacted esp. the faculty-student interactions and the student-student interactions. Did they respect each other? Were they complimentary of each others' work? Did the faculty know more than surface details about the students in their program? For the students since my master's program was a cohort model, did the students genuinely enjoy each other’s company? Is it a competitive environment? Will these people make a good professional network in the future? I was also curious to meet my potential classmates as my future master's cohort was small (~ 10 people) and I wanted to check out the areas around the schools to see if they were somewhere that I could see myself living for at least 2 years.

You are right that it is none of their business. Some of them might not remember as I assume they will be busy with trying to find a job/graduation. You could always ask them how the job search is going All in all, I don't think it's a big deal if you don't get in the first time around even though it seems like it is at the time. I know quite a few people who weren't successful the first time, but ended up applying again and had multiple offers. Don't lose hope! She might just be curious. Perhaps she is thinking about applying to graduate school in the near future. I, on the other hand, love talking about graduate school so I have to remind myself that the majority of people I talk to are probably not that interested in the nitty gritty details. Of course one of my research interests is doctoral education so that is probably why

90% seems pretty high to me for graduates of the EdD degree since traditionally an EdD is a practice-focused degree. Graduates tend to get upper level leadership positions not research positions/professorships. Not saying it couldn't happen-- it just seems odd. If they said that about the PhD degree I would be more likely to believe it as that is the focus of that particular degree. I would double check that statistic with the faculty and/or current graduate students. Harvard's EdD program is a little different as they don't offer the PhD in Education. Their EdD program is equivalent to the PhD program at other schools and their EdLD is equivalent to other schools' EdD degree. After talking with current students and faculty in Harvard's EdD program, they were pretty candid that people don't enroll there with the initial expectation to become education professors. They said most graduates end up in research or policy jobs. Whatever happens, I would just make sure you get the necessary research experience and courses to make your goals possible. I work in education research currently and I'm surprised (and sorta sadden) by the amount of people getting education doctoral degrees (EdD or PhD) that don't have the necessary skills to get hired for an entry level job in education research. Usually these candidates lack statistical and/or research design expertise and have a difficult time explaining their research findings to a wider audience. Unfortunately, these graduates are from respected education schools too so it just makes you wonder what's going on! Good luck with your decisions and I hope everything works out for you .

It sounds like you have a good chance to get admitted to the EdD program. I hate to be a downer, but if you applied to the PhD, do you really want to do the EdD? I don't know how it is set up at Penn, but usually they aren't funded programs so it can get a bit expensive. I also would be concerned whether it would be an issue getting hired with an EdD. For some jobs, it is probably not a big deal. For others, it may be but I would talk to professors/people in the field to get their perspective. Good luck!

This is probably not comforting, but I sat on the adcomm as a master's student for my program. If I remember correctly, the app deadline was mid-December and we reviewed mid-January. Applications that were not complete (missing LORs, transcripts, GREs, etc.) by the time we started meeting were not reviewed. I assume a lot of this varies by program to program and how many applications they receive. If the program receives a lot of applications, they can afford to not review incomplete applications as there are too many great candidates with completed applications.

I echo the advice that has already been posted. Since it is not your dream program and it's the first year of the PhD program-- I would not enroll. Personally, it's too much of a gamble. There are a lot of kinks to be worked out in any program in their first couple years. If I wasn't interested in the faculty of the program, it just won't be worth it to deal with those issues when they arise. I would either take some time off and work as a research ass't or enroll in the fully funded master's program (assuming that it is a program that you are interested in.) If you are not that interested in the master's program either, don't enroll. I have seen several people drop out of their master's programs because they weren't that vested in it. Unfortunately it left them with tuition remission that they had to repay and no degrees.

Hi Crawl. I applied for higher ed programs not student affairs. They can be distinctly different depending on the school. Did you apply for master's or doctoral programs?