Hi folks - found this site while looking for admit rates (trying to avoid a U.S. News subscription) and thought I'd register and contribute.
I'm a current first-year doctoral student at HGSE. To answer your questions re: the approved Ph.D. program:
This is a big issue, and one that is causing some consternation here. The short story is that "we don't know." The dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, who recently vacated his post (health issues), apparently was of the opinion that current Ed.D. students would need to re-apply with the general applicant pool. The current dean is in an interim post, but I haven't heard him express an opinion either way. The proposal to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (the one they just approved) didn't mention anything about possible transitions to the new program.
Having been around Harvard for a long time (I did my undergrad and master's here, and also worked for the university for a few years), my sense is that if current students make enough noise (and we certainly are making plenty), they will at least consider allowing current Ed.D. students to transfer in, but there will definitely be some kind of hurdle involved. My sense is also that there are two years to work out the specifics of the new Ph.D., and that even though FAS has approved it, lots and lots of things are still up in the air. In short, there's probably a chance, but it's far from a sure bet.
The concentrations will definitely change - the current proposal only has three concentrations, each intended to be broadly linked to a specific discipline. Again, this is apparently still up in the air:
Human Development, Learning, and Teaching (Psychology)
Culture, Society, and Institutions (Sociology)
Education Policy and Program Evaluation (Economics)
More here: http://harvardmagazine.com/2012/03/new-harvard-education-doctoral-program
