HGSE 2019

[MA_cognition_1991]

On 2/1/2019 at 1:31 PM, MA_cognition_1991 said:

Hi all, 

Waiting for a decision from the Mind, Brain, and Education Ed.M. program. I just scanned through the threads of previous years, and it seems Ed.M. applicants receive decisions in early March. 

While we wait for next month, I was wondering if any other applicants are slightly put off by the fact that none of the Ed.M. programs have an independent research project, like a thesis or a capstone project. All the other programs I've looked at with a focus on cognition (Teachers College, Northwestern, Berkeley, Peabody) have a thesis, even if they're year-long programs like HGSE's. I've been accepted into Northwestern's MA in Learning Sciences, and the last two months of the program are dedicated to independent research. Because of this focus on research, I'm actually leaning slightly towards Northwestern right now (assuming I'm accepted to HGSE; ultimately I may not have a choice as I'll be attending on a Fulbright scholarship, but that's a different discussion). At the same time, the info I have is limited so I'm definitely open to being persuaded about HGSE. Are any of you also concerned about HGSE in this regard, particularly if doctoral studies are among your plans for the future? 

It'll be great if ppl familiar with HGSE's curriculum can shed light on the rationale behind the decision not to have a thesis, and the implications that result. Thanks! 

And good luck to PhD applications with interview calls in the next couple of days!        

While we wait for decisions, any thoughts on this? 

[JWalters]

4 hours ago, MA_cognition_1991 said:

While we wait for decisions, any thoughts on this? 

To frame this response I'll note that I'm an HGSE master's graduate (L&L), and currently applying for doctoral programs. From the minute you arrive on the HGSE campus, professors and staff tell you how the year flies by. It's true. Looking back, I can't imagine completing meaningful research in the context of the master's program. I graduated having written approximately 12 papers of 3-5 pages,  and about 8 papers from 10-15 pages. In the doctoral applications that required a writing sample, I used a few of the longer papers that I wrote, and they fit within the length requirement. At Harvard, in my experience, many of my classmates were involved in the full-fledged research projects of faculty members. These folks could begin doctoral study with a clear idea of what full-scale research projects require, and what their interests might be. The primary talking point in these doctoral finalist interviews has been, " What do you want to study?", and I don't think that answering that question well requires that you've written a thesis or done research in your Master's program.

[ed19]

Has anyone heard anything regarding decisions or interviews yet? I applied for EdL and haven't received a status update. Does that mean it's over for me now? 

[Anon79158]

On 2/6/2019 at 9:26 PM, civitas said:

I think they welcome entrepreneurs. I have a very unconventional profile and a speaking score lower than 26, but they choose to give the interview. 

Definitely hope so. Founding a Ed startup and having an MBA from a top school are my 2 main selling points. 

[MA_cognition_1991]

On 2/7/2019 at 8:13 PM, JWalters said:

To frame this response I'll note that I'm an HGSE master's graduate (L&L), and currently applying for doctoral programs. From the minute you arrive on the HGSE campus, professors and staff tell you how the year flies by. It's true. Looking back, I can't imagine completing meaningful research in the context of the master's program. I graduated having written approximately 12 papers of 3-5 pages,  and about 8 papers from 10-15 pages. In the doctoral applications that required a writing sample, I used a few of the longer papers that I wrote, and they fit within the length requirement. At Harvard, in my experience, many of my classmates were involved in the full-fledged research projects of faculty members. These folks could begin doctoral study with a clear idea of what full-scale research projects require, and what their interests might be. The primary talking point in these doctoral finalist interviews has been, " What do you want to study?", and I don't think that answering that question well requires that you've written a thesis or done research in your Master's program.

Thank you for the detailed and informed perspective. It's great to hear that you were able to choose from a number of papers while submitting writing samples to doctoral applications. I agree that being able to effectively articulate your study objectives doesn't require independent research experience, but I do believe that having the experience will allow you to answer by providing granular details. At the same time, perhaps doctoral admissions committees don't really consider such granularity as foundational to their assessment of candidates. It's also heartening to hear that you had several peers involved in the research projects of faculty members. 

While I have your attention, I'm going to be an opportunist and ask a few other questions, given your background as an HGSE grad: 
1. Any thoughts about the MBE program? Do you know how large the cohort was, and whether there were any international students in it? It's understandable if you don't know cos of the sheer number of programs at the Masters level, but thought I'd ask as MBE and L&L are related. The same info about L&L will actually be helpful as well. 
2. How many of the referees who submitted rec letters for you were HGSE professors from your program? Just trying to get an idea about how familiar professors are with a student's individual academic profile and strengths...
3. Any thoughts on the pros and cons of the J-term, and whether you took a course during the term? 

Thanks again for the response! And good luck with your doctoral applications 
 

Edited February 9, 2019 by MA_cognition_1991
Updated questions list

[JB91]

Hello, everyone! Are there interviews for the Ed.M IEP program? As far as I know, there are none.

[Sophieee]

Hi all, just wondering if all Edu PhD candidates that Harvard finally selected for admission will go through the interview process in late Jan? That if we didn't receive any interview notification by now, that means an absolutely no ?

[Belle2019]

On 2/8/2019 at 8:05 PM, ed19 said:

Has anyone heard anything regarding decisions or interviews yet? I applied for EdL and haven't received a status update. Does that mean it's over for me now? 

I think so. Interviews are next week 

[jose_lr]

On 2/9/2019 at 10:15 AM, Sophieee said:

Hi all, just wondering if all Edu PhD candidates that Harvard finally selected for admission will go through the interview process in late Jan? That if we didn't receive any interview notification by now, that means an absolutely no ?

I´m pretty sure that you need to go through an interview for the Education Ph.D. at Harvard. Also, acceptance and waitlist notifications already went out las week. 

[LizKay]

To those who applied for masters or anyone else who submitted applications in early January, does the HGSE application management page just say “Payment Received” (application fee) under “Latest Activity”?

Do you know if the status is supposed to change once the application is under review, or is does it go straight to accepted/denied?

[SPEDucator]

22 hours ago, jose_lr said:

I´m pretty sure that you need to go through an interview for the Education Ph.D. at Harvard. Also, acceptance and waitlist notifications already went out las week. 

I agree that that to get in you need to interview. I received my rejection yesterday, so if you haven't checked the portal, I would do so.

[LizKay]

Does the status change from “submitted” to “under review” or something like that in the middle or does it go straight to the decision?

And where are you guys checking? It’s the HGSE application management page, right?

[SPEDucator]

3 hours ago, LizKay said:

Does the status change from “submitted” to “under review” or something like that in the middle or does it go straight to the decision?

And where are you guys checking? It’s the HGSE application management page, right?

If it's the same as the PHD portal it will go from "Submitted" to the decision. There was no way to see when it was under review.

Edited February 16, 2019 by SPEDucator

[LizKay]

1 hour ago, SPEDucator said:

If it's the same as the PHD portal it will go from "Submitted" to the decision. There was no way to see when it was under review.

Okay, thank you!

[JB91]

On 2/6/2019 at 9:38 PM, civitas said:

UPDATE:

The admission officer told me that the admission outcome will be available in early March, not late March. Good luck to everyone!

That's a relief. thanks for checking.

[JB91]

On 2/5/2019 at 6:47 PM, Ran1126 said:

Did everyone apply for the Ed. M. program in International Education Policy？ Did you get an invitation for  interview?

I have applied. As far as I know, not everyone gets an interview call. I mean one can be selected even without the interview.

[gradhopeful0000]

On 1/20/2019 at 7:50 PM, OperationPhDforMe said:

Just feeling the need to vent here as I am coming to terms with not hearing anything from Harvard. I've heard this in whispers and throughtout other forums on the internet but it seems like althought Harvard says..."masters degree not required" or "masters in ed field not required" they have a VERY CLEAR preference for people who 1. Not only have Masters in Ed but 2. Recieved them at Harvard. I looked at the past  4 years graduating cohorts of PhDs and on average about 90% of PhD students have an EdM from Harvard (many have at least two Masters.....)

All of this to say, I think getting rejected from Harvard (though it's not official yet) has really made me evaluate this whole process with new eyes. I find it quite disgusting that in order to really hedge your bets on gettting into Harvard, you first need to fork over 60k in tution for an accelerated Masters degree. I wonder how many students who complete EdM's there go on to be innundated with debt but have a "at least my degree says Harvard" sort of attitude about things and don't go on to pursue the PhD's...I attended the open house this fall and many potential students were already bitter towards the EdM to PhD pipeline as they felt it was apparent that the EdM program essentially funds the PhD students.

I did say I'd like to be considered for the EdM (to my detriment possibly) though I have no intentions of attending if I'm accepted that route. The more I dwell on it the more frustrated I become simply because of the background I have and the research interstests I have....only Harvard (and possibly Penn, Princeton, Columbia) can get away with denying people the opportunity to have a fully funded PhD experience and counteroffer with the opportunity to have a lesser degree and tens of thousands of dollars in debt and people willingly take it. 

Getting denied has truly been a blessing as it's allowed me to see this school with new perspective. Harvard was not my top choice and now I am excited about the prospect of attending a school that from the outside seems far more open-minded about who they select and why they select them.

For those that may think this is a post froma  bitter rejectee, I hold a Bachelors from an elite institution and a Masters from an Ivy League (though for what it's worth Ivy League is just the name of the athletic conference....) so the allure of Harvard was never there for me in that respect. While titles and schools do mean something, at the end of the day, I would be perfectly content attending a state school/small liberal arts school if the funding was there and the fit was better.

HGSE claims to be a a thought leader in education innovation and reform but at the end of the day they are still elitist pricks who sit levels above the lives they claim to try and impact....

This post so inaccurate that rumors of its existence have actually started flitting around the Ed school. Good work OP, you've made yourself legendarily ill-informed and bitter. 

I am a current PhD student. Three members of my 27 person cohort (I think we are 27...could be 26 or 28...) got a masters at HGSE. I can assure you that they are not here because they 'forked over 60k to Harvard.' They are here because they are fantastic students and researchers. I don't have numbers for how many of us have a masters degree in general, but I know a lot of us don't, myself included. Certainly not 90% of us. 

This is a damaging rumor to start because it could disincentivize people who are excellent candidates from applying to the program. So, to the applicants following this forum thinking about applying next year: yes, the odds are slim and there is a lot of luck involved in the acceptance process. However, if you are a strong student and researcher, you've got as good of a shot as anyone. 

[jmaroon]

@gradhopeful0000 I had a response to this person's post awhile back also (they downvoted it) but thank you for the affirmation! I mentioned that MOST hgse PhD students earn their EdM during their doctoral studies, not before. I agree that this type of blatantly false information is bad/dangerous

[59fscty]

Keep having dreams about the decision for my Ed.M application!! ? The wait is killer! I feel like we'll get the notification on Tuesday March 5, because of past trends. What does everyone else think?

[Ed_Cog]

So I just dug through previous HGSE threads on gradcafe, and it seems like in recent years, results were posted on the first Friday of March in the evening. I've included links to the relevant pages of these years: 

2018 thread
2017 thread
2016 thread

The one exception (very relevant for this cycle) was the 2013 cycle, as the first Friday that year fell on the 1st of March, and results came out during the subsequent Friday on the 8th. Here's the relevant page from 2013. This year will be the first since 2013 when the first Friday will fall on 1st March again.
 

2 hours ago, 59fscty said:

Keep having dreams about the decision for my Ed.M application!! ? The wait is killer! I feel like we'll get the notification on Tuesday March 5, because of past trends. What does everyone else think?

One of the posters in the 2016 thread mentioned that results had come out on the first Tuesday in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Is that why you're assuming it may be Tuesday, 5th March? That trend seems to be a bit dated so my money is on 8th March again (and perhaps the 1st if we're fortunate!). 

[Ed_Cog]

On an unrelated note, while compiling the threads above, I noticed that the popularity of the HGSE thread, measured by number of posts, has been going down year by year. HGSE 2016 was on p.16 at around these dates (Feb 19 - Feb 21), HGSE 2018 at p.8, and here we are at p.6.   

Is this a reflection of a trend of decline in the popularity of online forums in general? Or is this specific to gradcafe, or perhaps even specific to the education forum on gradcafe?

Responses by veteran posters well-versed in the year-by-year patterns will be appreciated! 

Edited February 21, 2019 by Ed_Cog

[59fscty]

50 minutes ago, Ed_Cog said:

So I just dug through previous HGSE threads on gradcafe, and it seems like in recent years, results were posted on the first Friday of March in the evening. I've included links to the relevant pages of these years: 

2018 thread
2017 thread
2016 thread

The one exception (very relevant for this cycle) was the 2013 cycle, as the first Friday that year fell on the 1st of March, and results came out during the subsequent Friday on the 8th. Here's the relevant page from 2013. This year will be the first since 2013 when the first Friday will fall on 1st March again.
 

One of the posters in the 2016 thread mentioned that results had come out on the first Tuesday in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Is that why you're assuming it may be Tuesday, 5th March? That trend seems to be a bit dated so my money is on 8th March again (and perhaps the 1st if we're fortunate!). 

Yes, that's why I was guessing the first Tuesday...I think there's pretty much no chance for a March 1 announcement based off of what's happened in the past but I'd be thrilled if there was. Basically I'm just praying we don't find out the second Friday because I feel like the wait will be rough! Who knows. ?‍♀️ 

[LizKay]

4 hours ago, Ed_Cog said:

So I just dug through previous HGSE threads on gradcafe, and it seems like in recent years, results were posted on the first Friday of March in the evening. I've included links to the relevant pages of these years: 

2018 thread
2017 thread
2016 thread

The one exception (very relevant for this cycle) was the 2013 cycle, as the first Friday that year fell on the 1st of March, and results came out during the subsequent Friday on the 8th. Here's the relevant page from 2013. This year will be the first since 2013 when the first Friday will fall on 1st March again.
 

One of the posters in the 2016 thread mentioned that results had come out on the first Tuesday in 2010, 2011, and 2012. Is that why you're assuming it may be Tuesday, 5th March? That trend seems to be a bit dated so my money is on 8th March again (and perhaps the 1st if we're fortunate!). 

Yes, that’s what I’ve found out as well, but from the Search Results.

I mentioned earlier that it was the first Friday of March for the last few years except 2013 when it was the second Friday, since the first fell on a Friday that year as well, but I had thought it was only for the Teacher Educations Program specifically. I guess it also applies to other programs too then.

I’m really hoping we don’t have to wait the extra week!

[Belle2019]

At this point I am no longer anxious about the acceptance decision. I already have a masters and if the financial aid package is not generous I will decline the offer. Currently I do not have any student loans and I’m not willing to take out more that 25,000 for another masters degree. 

[Ed_Cog]

Current HGSE students, any chance one of you has info about when the admissions committee intends to release decisions for Ed.M. applicants for this cycle? Seems like it'll either be this Friday or next Friday...