RandiZ

Frankly, I don't mind having all of this anxiety if there is an acceptance at the end. I'll be pissed if I've endured this for all rejections.

Thanks! You too. The last I heard is that the ad comm was to hold final meeting last Friday. I expect the notifications to come this week too.

A new iPad will be my gift to myself if/when I get accepted in a doctoral program. I've had a Nook for over a year now and love it. I use it almost exclusively for reading and web surfing. While I have a few games and other distracting apps, I rarely use them. Last semester, I got a PDF app and used it to save on printing close to 1000 pages. But it was very sluggish and the software has limitations. It is no relacement for a full fledged computer, like the iPad. But I find reading and annotating on my computer so uncomfortable that it is unproductive. I fully believe the iPad will pay for itself in 4-5 years of printing/notebook costs and time savings. There are a number of really good articles on using the iPad for grad school. I've already started using Mendeley, Dropbox and my new best friend Evernote. Rumor has it MS will be releasing an iPad version of Office even if the Surface sells well b/c their bread and butter is still software. I find Word much better for academic writing than Pages.

No harm in waiting another month for all notifications to go out. But other than the initial cost of the moving to the UK, you will not regret taking your family there. I have a few relatives who did and they think they gave their kids experiences that were priceless. You might want to gather up and thoroughly read through the government forms necessary to make it happen. That always takes more time than you think it will. What a great adventure! Austin to Kent.

I'm a bit ahead if myself here since I have not gotten any acceptances yet, only good feedback from interviews. But my general attitude is any acceptance requiring me to pay tuition is like being asked to partially fund someone else's research. In other words, it is not really being accepted into a doctoral program. In my case, the universities have more money than the departments, so I would call the grad school financial aid office about funding first. I'd contact my POIs next if that didn't work out.

As someone who used to have student loan debt, I am now a parent who has promised their kids that they will get their BA degrees debt free. Bottom line, the debt SUCKS. Debt denies you your freedom of choice and the ability to really pursue opportunities. I only applied to doctoral programs that pay for their students. If by some chance I get accepted to a program that requires me to pay tuition, I will decline. I am doing this for two reasons. 1) to model for my kids how one should pursue graduate studies without debt and 2) so I don't take resources away from my children when they need them. I think that you do need to balance out the cost of education with future earnings. My criteria for picking out schools was first and foremost programs that have multiple people with whom I wanted to work. That's why my list includes HGSE and remains short.

I don't think there is anything wrong with emailing a thoughtful answer to a good question. It is not about correcting an answer per se. It should be about, "I had time to think about one of your questions. It was so thought provoking that I wanted to give you a supplement to my answer." Seems very PhD material to me. As long as the answer legitimately adds something substantive to the conversation. Might want to just include it in a "Thank You" email so it doesn't seem out of place.

I can not be certain of what was in his head. I met with another POI in the fall who recommended that I also speak with him but he was on sabbatical. I contacted him as soon as the spring semester began. He was crazy busy from coming back to school. It felt more to me that he made a definite time to meet me after the department knew who they were interested in. So, I guess you can say that I contacted him first. I can not say with certainty if he actually met with me because he is polite or because I'm on some list.

Professor of Interest. S/he is the professor you want to study with because you believe your research area aligns with theirs.

Spoke with POI last week, who pushed up the meeting by a week. Said the change was because the Grad School wants to make decisions sooner. No way to know for sure, but I'm thinking late this week or next. There has been no change to my online status page since all of my materials were received.

Good luck, Eager. You've been supportive to so many, I thought I throw some back your way.

Sent my taxes to the accountant last week. Goal: get them to Harvard by the March 4th deadline. If I don't get accepted, at least I won't be scrambling with everyone else on April 15th. I used to be one of those people who went to the post office near midnight to get my taxes in. All us slackers had a great time greeting each other. The USPS workers were always really nice too. Why no chatter in the EdD thread? Is everyone just white knuckling it or incredibly busy?

Geeky science device. From the distributor Ohaus: Two-pan design is ideal for comparative weighing. Based on the classic Roberval balance principle, the Harvard Trip balance allows the determination of the difference in mass (rather than absolute value) between two objects. Also had nice contact with Harvard POI yesterday. One thing supported the other. I think I've got a 50/50 shot. Time will tell.

So I go to teach my class tonight and stopped in the lab prep room for materials. Among other things, I needed triple beam balances. Right in front of me were some double beams I never saw before: Harvard Trip Balance. I'm thinking its a sign.

Congrats to those who have been getting acceptances. Wishing you much success in your programs of choice. I hope to be among you soon.

The zen is gone. Had an interview last week and was basically told that the department has refered me for admissions, BUT you never know what might happen. AHHHHHH! Also, there's no way I can go if I have to pay full freight and POI said he's got no funding right now. AHHHHHHHH! I teach my classes half heartedly and check the 'net for any clue about change in admissions status. My only comfort is that history shows I'll know by the end of this month.

In addition to my doctoral search, I took my daughters around as they looked for their undergrad school. Personally, I love being on any collegiate campus. But for beauty, Lehigh stands out for me. P.S. Older one at Florida State, younger one off to Smith this fall.

I'm hoping to be in your shoes soon. Since the email advises to email the POI, I would do so sooner rather than later for the same reasons we want to know as soon as possible. I would also thank them and say that I will let them know my final decision as soon as I have one. I would only say that I'm weighing other offers if it were true. Congrats!!

Makes me want to read and re-read my spam box all day today.

HGSE's change to the PhD is multifaceted. By no means do I have all the information. Two things stand out for me. Historically only the college of A&S could give out the PhD. All other colleges gave out professional degrees, like the EdD. Harvard's EdD has always had the reputation of a full fledged research based doctoral program within the field. However, larger granting institutions like NSF and the Ford Foundation were not easily recognizing the EdD as equivalent. This last issue is the only thing that may concern me. Otherwise, I'd be honored to be part of the Harvard community.

Second interview was scheduled for next week. Got an email at 3 asking to make it for this week. Of course I calmly replied, "sure!" as my heart went into my throat. Now all that weekend reading has turned into overnight/early morning reading to prep for the interview. Egads! I hope I don't have circles under my eyes. But, I'm really looking forward to this meeting.

Accepted: latest iPad with the max memory. Rejected: sell everything, get a Winnebago, and hit the road for a year.

Congrats, that's awesome! Good luck! Out of curiosity, did you reach out to any POIs AFTER you applied? I talked to a few POIs at Minnesota before I submitted my app, but that didn't exactly work out. :-/ Yes, I did contact the POI after I applied. In large part due to particular circumstances. The POI was on sabbatical in the Fall. I spoke to another POI who agreed and recommended that I speak to the other one too at the beginning of the Spring semester. I kept sending very polite emails about a meeting. By the time he responded he said that my application had made it to his desk and he would like to meet because decisions had to made soon. YAY!!!

So this weekend marked the end of the zen feeling I'd been in since I submitted my apps. Checking the Results Section here and app status on the two programs I applied to. Then today I received an email from POI at one school asking for phone interview Thursday or Friday. He said my application made it to his desk and he wanted to talk next week because decisions will be made soon. Lesson learned: if I REALLY think that I fit into the program, be persistent and contact the POIs in every way possible with legit questions about content.

I don't remember all of the states. But, I qualified because I earned my BA at a school in Florida. There was a list of a bunch of southern states. Just don't remember if Alabama was one of them.