HGSE 2021

[EvolvedGradBlog]

Hi Everyone!

I'm a recent HGSE graduate and writer for a graduate admission tips/advice blog called The Evolved Graduate ( evolvedgrad.com ). On the blog, I draw heavily on my experience at HGSE, and I hope that it's helpful to you as you make your way through the application process. I thought I'd get the ball rolling here for 2021 applicants. The HGSE 2020 thread has a longer life this season because of the second around of admissions, but I can imagine that 2021 applicants will soon arrive in larger numbers. I really enjoyed my time at HGSE, learned many lessons ( some on time, some too late!) and I'm glad to be a resource to any of you who'd like some perspective from former student. If there''s any graduate admission topics that you'd like covered in the blog please let me know. Additionally, I'm still in a facebook group with my HGSE class, so any questions that I can't answer, I could share with that larger group. Best of luck!

[JConan]

Hi Jeremy, 

 

Thank you for starting this thread. I'm wondering what your top advice would be, any classes and activities/clubs you highly recommend, cross-registering with HBS/HLS, and thoughts on exploring independent studies and the like (do you cold email professors you like)? Is it possible to design one's own independent study with another organization outside Harvard and get credit for it? Is there a direct path to a doctorate that one could explore? And lastly, do you hear at a specific time on a Friday? :)

 

Thanks!

[EvolvedGradBlog]

2 hours ago, JConan said:

Hi Jeremy, 

 

Thank you for starting this thread. I'm wondering what your top advice would be, any classes and activities/clubs you highly recommend, cross-registering with HBS/HLS, and thoughts on exploring independent studies and the like (do you cold email professors you like)? Is it possible to design one's own independent study with another organization outside Harvard and get credit for it? Is there a direct path to a doctorate that one could explore? And lastly, do you hear at a specific time on a Friday?

 

Thanks!

Classes: There's a period at the beginning of the semester where you can kind of sample courses before making your final decisions. I would recommend being extremely active during that period. Even if you choose not to take a course, just the exposure to the subject matter and the professor could be helpful later. My only courses  outside of the Ed school were language courses at GSAS. There will almost definitely be more courses that interest you at the Ed school than you can possibly take, so I think that quite a few people who  like the idea of cross-registering don't quite get around to it. Obviously, some people do. 

As far as independent studies, I think they're hard to arrange, without support. My advice would be to plan to do an IS second semester, and get everything in order to do so during the first semester. I would chat with my advisor and share my interest -> Ask for their advice or a connection to target-> meet with target professor -> Offer to volunteer/support their work -> try to set up IS for spring.

Activities/Clubs:  There's so many interesting talks and events every week, and a number of affinity groups. No specific recommendations, just a promise that if you look hard enough, you'll find your people. If you just google [your interest] Harvard, you'll find something!

In my experience, admission decisions are usually Friday afternoons. I got my email at 2:47pm. I'm going back through previous years of HGSE threads and I'll post a retrospective soon.

As far as the doctorate piece, it's so tough if you want to go straight from master's -> doctorate because you don't even really have time to get a recommendation from an HGSE professor. I can remember attending an applicant information session and  asking a question about the masters to doctorate move. The admissions rep stressed that there is no pathway from master's -> doctorate.  If that's your plan, you need to make moves on your own. I'm glad to expand on all of that in another post. I'd also say that there's a great benefit to doing a master's at HGSE and doing your doctorate at a different top-5 or top-10 program, so keep that option in consideration.

[JConan]

Thank you for your response Jeremy. Those are some invaluable nuggets. 

I look forward to hearing you retrospective on admission email times. I admit I'm a little surprised to hear that there is no pathway from Master's to Doctorate because it seems like they would want to encourage that (even from a financial perspective) and 'cos they mention that credits can be transferred over for up to three years. Is there a specific reason u mention doing a Doctorate at a different place than Harvard/the place u do ur Master's? 

My other question, beyond these, would be any perspective on scholarships or financial aid or even loans - like, any advice based on ur experience. I was a first generation college student who grew up in a low-income family, but to be honest, scholarships have been hard to search for on top of full-time work and considering advanced studies. 

Thanks for taking the initiative of posting here unprompted and being so open with ur advice. 

[EvolvedGradBlog]

I think that they (admissions) clearly state that there's no master's-doctorate pathway because of the numbers. If you have 800-ish master's students and 30 doc students, giving new master's admits the impression that the PhD is a likely next step isn't fair, accurate, or in anyone's best interest. I think their message is, " come here for your master's if you truly want a master's, not just as an intermediate step toward the doctorate". I can imagine that if you came to HGSE for a master's, applied for the PhD while you were here and were denied admission , you'd find out during your spring quarter and there's a potential that you'd end your year bitter about getting rejected.

The bit about doing master's/doctorate at different schools: If you look at the top-5 ed school graduate programs and you ask all the deans, " what makes this program unique?", they'll all have an answer. Each school has a different identity.  Exposure to more than one of these schools can give you a broader perspective of the top of the field, and I think that's helpful. On the other hand, I know of a person in my HGSE cohort who did their undergrad, master's, and PhD at Harvard  and one of my TAs who did their master's and PhD at HGSE. They might feel differently. Mostly personal preference!

[graciasadios]

I graduate from HGSE SLP in 2017. I was very active on the HGSE 2016 and 2017 threads. Here is my statement of purpose for anyone to consult. Here is some admissions data I mined from the many years of HGSE threads on this forum. If these documents are helpful to you, please give me an upvote so that I will know all the hours that I spent will have been worthwhile in helping myself and others achieve our dreams.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

[Tea_Drinker]

On 7/29/2020 at 12:56 PM, EvolvedGradBlog said:

Hi Everyone!

I'm a recent HGSE graduate and writer for a graduate admission tips/advice blog called The Evolved Graduate ( evolvedgrad.com ). On the blog, I draw heavily on my experience at HGSE, and I hope that it's helpful to you as you make your way through the application process. I thought I'd get the ball rolling here for 2021 applicants. The HGSE 2020 thread has a longer life this season because of the second around of admissions, but I can imagine that 2021 applicants will soon arrive in larger numbers. I really enjoyed my time at HGSE, learned many lessons ( some on time, some too late!) and I'm glad to be a resource to any of you who'd like some perspective from former student. If there''s any graduate admission topics that you'd like covered in the blog please let me know. Additionally, I'm still in a facebook group with my HGSE class, so any questions that I can't answer, I could share with that larger group. Best of luck!

Thanks EvolvedGradBlog for starting this thread! I got into the schools I wanted but have decided not to attend this fall as planned because online learning is not for me. This is probably too early but I wonder if you have any intel on fall 2021 at HGSE? Still online? I might need to postpone again if next fall is online still. 

[EvolvedGradBlog]

On 8/18/2020 at 8:14 AM, Tea_Drinker said:

Thanks EvolvedGradBlog for starting this thread! I got into the schools I wanted but have decided not to attend this fall as planned because online learning is not for me. This is probably too early but I wonder if you have any intel on fall 2021 at HGSE? Still online? I might need to postpone again if next fall is online still. 

No decisions on fall 2021 yet!

[Richelieu]

For PhD applicants at HGSE for Fall 2021, HGSE just announced this:

Given the fiscal constraints on our institution presented by the continuously evolving COVID-19 pandemic, HGSE has made the difficult decision not to accept doctoral applications for fall 2021 enrollment. We are pausing admissions for our fully-funded doctoral programs in order to uphold our commitment to maintaining program quality and strong support for our current students. At this time, the next application cycle is expected to have a December 2021 application deadline for fall 2022 enrollment. Complete the Introduce Yourself form to stay informed about future enrollment in our doctoral programs.

[emcollins3]

Jeremy, thanks for getting this string started! Many thanks as well to all who have posted thoughtful questions and resources thus far. Any insight as to how heavily they consider the quant score of your GRE? I was going to wait a year or two to apply however, for a host of reasons I will avoid boring all of you with, I have now decided to apply for Fall 2021. I take the GRE a month from tomorrow and am quite stressed about the quant section. Focusing on ensuring all other sections are as high as possible and hopeful that my Statement of Purpose will offset this. Looking forward to utilizing this thread throughout the application process and congrats to my fellow applicants on taking this step! 

[emcollins3]

Will you can disregard my last post/question since HGSE just updated their website to indicate the GRE will NOT be required for the 2020-21 application cycle and it will be considered optional given continued issues with applicants accessing test sites/dates.

If you're not on their email list, sign up as they just sent out dates/registration details for upcoming info sessions. 

[LED1620]

Speaking of the GRE!

I was admitted and enrolled to the EdM program last year (higher ed) and decided to forfeit my enrollment for covid reasons. I’m planning to reapply this cycle, and I’m wondering if I should include my GRE in the reapplication process. My verbal and quant were fine (161 V, 157Q), but my writing was only a 4.0. It was obviously fine enough for me to be admitted once, but I’m nervous that fewer students submitting GREs will mean they are looking for higher scores. Thoughts?

[hnakm]

Hi everyone!

I just went through the entire thread of the HGSE 2020 cycle (wish I could've seen this earlier, you all are so supportive and I love it). I applied for the summer cycle for AIE and got a fat reject :(

I thought I might try again, but to be honest, I'm not even sure if I should even try because it only has been a few months and I'm literally trying to apply again with basically the same application I used. I do feel super discouraged because if I already got rejected, why should I try again lol. Is there anyone else that applied summer and is reapplying for fall 2021?

Anyways, here are my stats. It looks like the HGSE website recently got updated with the new program offerings. I'm leaning towards LDIT with an A&L concentration:

GRE: none

Work experience: 4 years as a tutor for international students, 3 years as a resident assistant for freshman and grad families. I went through student teaching about halfway and then quit lol. I did a short internship doing health education stuff for a hospital. Currently working americorps to help HS students with college admissions. Idk if this counts here but the reason why I applied AIE is because of my music background (was in musical groups before college and throughout all of college with music scholarships)

Undergrad: Honors B.S. in public health at a public state university. 2 minors in computer science and education

Undergrad GPA: 3.91/4.00

Research: not sure if this really counts, but I created a children's book about mental health for my honors undergrad thesis. My poster won runner-up for some category?? I forgot which one haha

Previous rejected SOP: I thought it was good haha. I talked about my experience as a student teacher and why I quit and want to pursue an education at HGSE. Looking back on it now, I feel like I didn't specify my exact future goals so I'll try to revamp that if I end up applying. I'm interested in curriculum dev, which I have just realized in the past few weeks.

Previous LORs: 1 from an education professor, 1 from my previous supervisor, and 1 from my music director. I thought they were all super strong

Other schools: I am so lost, no idea. What safeties and mid-tiers should I apply to with my stats??

Last question: how do we contact the professors? Are we even allowed to??

Thanks for bearing with my long post - if you can provide me feedback or know of any resources or other opportunities that would best suit me, that would be awesome!! 

Also, shoutout to Ivan, I've been watching his videos on youtube and they have been really helpful, link here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChRIK6A0Ix4BPCf-kzraH3g 

[EvolvedGradBlog]

On 9/17/2020 at 1:10 PM, emcollins3 said:

Will you can disregard my last post/question since HGSE just updated their website to indicate the GRE will NOT be required for the 2020-21 application cycle and it will be considered optional given continued issues with applicants accessing test sites/dates.

If you're not on their email list, sign up as they just sent out dates/registration details for upcoming info sessions. 

That's such great news (for some)! A huge weight off of your shoulders. There's something kind of pleasant about thinking  through all your accomplishments and how you'll package them in your letters, but GRE studying feels quite miserable for so many folks.

[Ivan5]

Hello everyone, 

I am a graduate of the EPM program class of 2016. I have recently started a YouTube channel where I discuss my experience with the graduate school admissions process at HGSE. I have produced videos of my application stats, general application advice, and have shared my statement of purpose alongside a statement of purpose from one of my colleagues in the human development and psychology program. Feel free to subscribe to channel as I plan to produce more HGSE-related videos title: How to fund an HGSE education, Is an HGSE education worth the price tag, and more! Feel free to also ask me questions via the comments on the videos I produce. I look forward to helping you with the admissions process! 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChRIK6A0Ix4BPCf-kzraH3g/ 

[mjsmith]

On 8/12/2020 at 11:14 AM, graciasadios said:

I graduate from HGSE SLP in 2017. I was very active on the HGSE 2016 and 2017 threads. Here is my statement of purpose for anyone to consult. Here is some admissions data I mined from the many years of HGSE threads on this forum. If these documents are helpful to you, please give me an upvote so that I will know all the hours that I spent will have been worthwhile in helping myself and others achieve our dreams.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.

Hey everyone! Glad to be jumping in with this group! Found the groups very helpful in previous years when I applied.

I worked with @graciasadios to update the admissions data file he created to include the most recent 5 years of data from what people have posted in various threads in GradCafe. Hopefully people find it useful. Definitely saw some interesting data as I was going through the different threads and filling out this sheet as best I could (in terms of admitted students, students that were not admitted, and financial aid awards).

I'm planning to apply again this upcoming cycle....will be the last time I'll be able to apply as it'll be my 3rd application. Waiting for work to settle a bit before digging in to do my application, but eager to be on the journey with all of you. I'll post my stats/program I'm applying to as I get further into the actual application.

Good luck to everyone!

[HiEdHopeful]

Hi all!

Planning to apply to HGSE this cycle, and SUPER excited (and nervous) about it. The new set-up for the master's program has me re-examining which specific program to apply for....I was gonna apply to the Higher Ed program, but now that is a concentration rather than a degree program. Anyone else in the same boat?

[Peacehappiness22]

Hello all, 

I'm planning to apply to HGSE as well as Teachers College, Columbia. Does anyone have any advice for writing about tragedy? And do you write about tragedy in the personal statement of additional context section?  I was going to write about how my experience with assault negatively impacting my mental health to explain a very low grade on my transcript.

Thanks

[22rise]

Hey guys,

Hope yall doing well during this unexpected pandemic. So, I'm considering applying to the HDE program in this application cycle, but I am not so sure about my chance. My major is philosophy and I haven't taken a single course in the field of education, whereas I do have several job experiences that are closely related to education and mental counseling.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone is also applying to the HDE this year?

[mjsmith]

On 10/23/2020 at 8:55 PM, Yoobo said:

Hey guys,

Hope yall doing well during this unexpected pandemic. So, I'm considering applying to the HDE program in this application cycle, but I am not so sure about my chance. My major is philosophy and I haven't taken a single course in the field of education, whereas I do have several job experiences that are closely related to education and mental counseling.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone is also applying to the HDE this year?

Hey @Yoobo!

I'm planning to apply to the HDE program (with a higher ed. concentration). Nice to see someone else looking to apply to the same program. To me, sounds like you'll be an excellent applicant!

Happy to chat more if you like. ?

[22rise]

Just now, mjsmith said:

Hey @Yoobo!

I'm planning to apply to the HDE program (with a higher ed. concentration). Nice to see someone else looking to apply to the same program. To me, sounds like you'll be an excellent applicant!

Happy to chat more if you like. ?

Sure! I am more than happy to chat with you about the application! If you want, please email me at 894720195@qq.com. Btw, have you heard of or already participated in the HGSE's 31st Annual Diversity Recruitment Program? I found many attendees who are also considering the HDP program, so I guess it is a good platform where we can meet people who share common ground with us!

 

[HTG7728]

Hi! Planning to apply to ELOE program this year. Does anyone know if the change in curriculum affects the acceptance rate? I see there are only around 4 programs now, but different concentrations. I wonder how this will impact admissions.

[HTG7728]

Also, for all past applicants, does anyone know if the HDE program need a psychology background?

[PhD2Be2020]

Hey all!

Bummed that HGSE isn't opening Ph.D. applications this year....but I'm still thinking of applying to one of their Ed.M. programs. Is anyone else in the same boat as me?

[HTG7728]

On 10/24/2020 at 8:55 AM, Yoobo said:

Hey guys,

Hope yall doing well during this unexpected pandemic. So, I'm considering applying to the HDE program in this application cycle, but I am not so sure about my chance. My major is philosophy and I haven't taken a single course in the field of education, whereas I do have several job experiences that are closely related to education and mental counseling.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone is also applying to the HDE this year?

I'll be applying to HDE as well! worried because other than a few years of work experience in education i dont really have mental health counselling or psychology background. not sure how the new programs are going to play out next year.