critic1

TC does have a high acceptance rate but its probably because they expect quite a number of students to decline based on lack of funding and the high cost of tuition. I'm very happy at BC Lynch School's program academically and find they are genuinely caring and approachable. The faculty is very strong and supportive as well. TC was not the most friendly- and were very curt when replying to emails. However, it does depend on where you feel comfortable and that can make all the difference with programs.

Congrats FutureEdStudent12! I called TC and they told me they will send email notifications this week. I've already decided on BC- the faculty was very friendly and so helpful. I emailed faculty at TC once to ask a few questions and was immediately told that's what Admissions is for (even though the professor I emailed had research that interested me)

Good for you Hitomimay- what a rude person. He's probably bitter because he never got accepted to USC

What department did you apply to? Mine is Human Development.

Yeah, I don't know. Maybe someone was having a rough day in the admistrative staff at TC, but I seemed to catch them in a crummy mood. I emailed them once and received a snippy email stating 'If you read our website it clearly states blah blah blah...' after reading that email I was tempted to reply with 'Did somebody steal your lunch today, why so harsh?' but thought the better of it.

Is there much of a difference between the two? I'm leaning more towards BC but I am curious to know if TC carries more weight in the long run. The main thing with BC is the faculty/administration seem genuine and approachable compared to my experience with the administrative staff/faculty at TC. They come across as a little hostile- and lost part of my scholarship application, didn't apologize, and sent me an email saying I need to do it again

I would take a couple of graduate courses in your field of interest in order to offset your undergrad G.P.A. If you plan to defer because you want to apply to other schools in the Fall- that's wasting your time and the school's. It's not worth it to attend a program you don't have any interest in. Have you visited the school? You may get a different feel for it if you meet faculty and other students. At the end of the day- as long as you can handle graduate courses in your program to show professors you're capable of handling grad school (and get recommendation letters from them if possible) this should offset your undergrad G.P.A.

I'm in the same situation with Lynch School. Accepted into their Applied Developmental M.A. program- but not offered any funding. Apparently they offer lots of positions for graduate assitantships, so I will apply for those. Unless you feel strongly about BC and the faculty, I would take Penn since they did offer you funding and a GA.

I would not take rankings into account- the U.S. News Methodology is skewed...it uses Rate my Professors as one of its ways to measure quality programs....that's a poor sign. It's all about the program being a great fit for you. I actually Googled schools that had my program of interest in my region and went from there. Yes, I will be honest and say I did look them up on U.S. news and the one program that is in the top 5 which I thought would be a perfect fit and its rankings would help me in the long run.... false! I actually found out it is not such a great program. Many of the classes are taught by TAs and there are hardly professors who teach, also they hardly fund their students-which is ridiculous. Had I known this earlier I would not have wasted the application fee and my professors time writing recommendation letters for me. With the other program it has the faculty I want and when I visited I knew it was the right match. Overall, rankings hold very little truth over what programs are excellent. It's more about whose a great fit for you and if you will be prepared to enter the workforce competent in what you have learned at your program of choice. Sorry for the rant- but try to avoid program rankings dominate your decision to attend a program.

Thanks Hitomimay!

Officially accepted into BC's Lynch School for Applied Developmental. So excited and still in shock! Just waiting to hear back from Columbia Teacher's College. Will most likely accept BC as they fund their MA students. Yay! I can relax now-haha. Goodluck to everyone! You'll get in somewhere!

I applied to Teachers College MA Human Development and BC Lynch School for MA in Applied Developmental. My tests scores were quite poor, but I have a MA and research experience so hopefully that will offset the scores. Hopefully I'll get in somewhere, preferably BC.

Hello, So I applied to the MA Applied Developmental program. I have a BA and MA and was curious to know what do they look for in grades. My grad gpa is a 3.5, and my test scores were quite low too, but is there any chance schools overlook beyond hellish scores if you already have a Master's? Thanks