erbrown

GLB is definitely changing how we think about "at - risk youth." I saw a talk she gave some time in 2009...like I said before, amazing! To your other point, I have heard a number of stories from people about changing their top choices for PhD programs based upon campus visits. It makes the most sense so I'll figure out a plan. Thanks for the advice and tidbit of wisdom about Madison

How nice to find a community of future education PhDs!! I am applying to the following schools for human development/developmental psych/educational psych: Vanderbilt Michigan Penn Stanford WashU Northwestern Wisconsin - Madison Chicago i'm both nervous and excited (probably more nervous than anything) but it is nice to have a place to discuss these feelings with other people who are going through the same process. @litjust, i'm glad to hear you had a great experience at uw - madison as i'm visiting in january. was gloria ladson-billings the critical race theory/multicultural ed rockstar you mentioned in your post? she is amazing!!! i'm going back and forth about whether to visit schools in advance of being accepted in to the program. i'd like to hear other people's thoughts on this matter. i wish you all the best of luck!

I agree with litjust and michigan girl. The designation of "private" and "public" has more to do with funding streams and less to do with the quality of the program. There is even variation within public university systems, California and Wisconsin being great examples. UC Berkeley and University of Wisconsin - Madison are just as reputable as many private institutions. These schools also have a great deal of research funding in comparison to their public counterparts within the same public system.

Hey, I felt the same way until I received some advice from a friend about this very same topic. The general reason for contacting professors is to gauge whether your research interests make you a good fit for the program. In a sense, this is just general information gathering. Ideally, an initial e-mail correspondence develops in to an ongoing conversation and you gain a contact. In the very least, you obtain some confirmation regarding your decision to apply to a particular program. I'm not sure about whether it is best to contact professors before or after your application has been submitted. I think the timing depends on whether anything concrete materializes as a result of your correspondence with a professor. Maybe the professor sits on the admissions committee, reviews applications or puts a note in your file. I've heard stories from friends where professors have really gone to bat on their behalf as a result of e-mail correspondence. Those instances seem arbitrary and serendipitous but I think the general consensus would be that if the exchange is professional and reflects favorably upon you in some form or fashion, it could not hurt to get on someone's radar especially if you really want to attend a particular program.

Ditto on the interdisciplinary approach! My sense of this (based on very limited work experience in education research) is things are best kept "territorial." I have yet to meet a public policy researcher or economist in the field of education who does qualitative research for example. I have also seen some "mixed methods" studies where the analysis of qualitative data is constrained to supporting findings from quantitative data (I have not seen the reverse case but I am sure instances exist). I agree that collaboration across disciplines would be beneficial but the terrain has to change as well so that different disciplinary lenses and methodological approaches are given equal consideration.

I am reading a book called "Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning an MA or PhD" by Robert L. Peters PhD. It is a very easy and straightforward read that is chock full of common sense. Some of the topics are more germane for individuals who already working on a PhD but I am thinking it has sunk in and will resurface when I am approaching that milestone.

I am also applying to graduate programs in education for entry in Fall 2012. While doing some formal and informal informational interviewing, many of my colleagues who have PhDs from various disciplines, education included, expressed a slight degree of contempt for the rigor of methods in these programs in comparison to say, economics, public policy or sociology. I do not know how true those statements are but I do believe the field provides a unique opportunity for the "rubber to meet the road" so to speak. I know of efforts across the country that are under way to replicate the Harlem Children's Zone given the success of this model (not without its critics or controversy surrounding its success). I have also heard the term "public scholarship" pop up more frequently in relation to the development and success of cradle-to-college programs and initiatives. I think the field is going in a direction that will create a demand for research and practice becoming more cooperative and hopefully, schools of education will respond by supporting research and encouraging scholarship that addresses this need. The incentive structure within academia might also have to be modified but that is probably a discussion for another topic.