HGSE 2022

[caxiatec]

Hi All...

Actually came over here to start the thread... only to discover it has already been started.  I got admitted to the LDIT for fall 2021, but couldn't make it for some personal reasons. Luckily I was granted a deferral. I'm happy to help in any way. Good luck to all the folks applying!

[DogeCoin]

1 hour ago, caxiatec said:

Hi All...

Actually came over here to start the thread... only to discover it has already been started.  I got admitted to the LDIT for fall 2021, but couldn't make it for some personal reasons. Luckily I was granted a deferral. I'm happy to help in any way. Good luck to all the folks applying!

Hi caxiatec! Congratulations on the acceptance (and deferral)? I'm planning to apply to LDIT too, and it is nice to find someone else here with a similar interest. Can I message you with some specific question I have?

[caxiatec]

3 hours ago, DogeCoin said:

Hi caxiatec! Congratulations on the acceptance (and deferral)? I'm planning to apply to LDIT too, and it is nice to find someone else here with a similar interest. Can I message you with some specific question I have?

sure! please do

[DogeCoin]

On 8/4/2021 at 12:03 AM, caxiatec said:

sure! please do

Thank you @caxiatec! Just sent you a message.

[sunshine_and_rainbows]

Has anyone been working on their statement of purpose? I'm thinking about starting, but it seems so big that I don't know where to start with it. Really would love any help or advice! ☺️

[PhD2Be2020]

On 8/18/2021 at 6:10 PM, sunshine_and_rainbows said:

Has anyone been working on their statement of purpose? I'm thinking about starting, but it seems so big that I don't know where to start with it. Really would love any help or advice! ☺️

I'm happy to help you, @sunshine_and_rainbows. DM me and let me know how I can help you.

[sunshine_and_rainbows]

On 8/22/2021 at 1:05 PM, PhD2Be2020 said:

I'm happy to help you, @sunshine_and_rainbows. DM me and let me know how I can help you.

THANK YOU! DM is already sent to you. ☺️

[JadedVGC]

Hi everyone! I am looking to apply to HGSE once again this academic year. I was rejected last application cycle, and I instead chose another graduate program. This time around, I am applying to the Education Policy & Analysis program instead of the ELOE program. In addition, I intend to enroll on a part-time basis while working a full-time job in higher education in the greater Boston area. Currently, I am enrolled in the Higher & Postsecondary Education program at Columbia University Teachers College, and I expect to complete my coursework in May 2022. This means I will be applying to (hopefully attending) another graduate program immediately after the conclusion of my first one on a part-time basis which should be much more affordable and manageable. Even though I say I am applying, I have not fully decided whether or not I will apply to this specific program. I am also looking at UPenn and Stanford with a preference for Penn. Regardless, I would really appreciate speaking to others who either graduated, or are currently enrolled in the Education Policy & Analysis program!

 

 

 

[SHPVEdTech-2022]

Hi friends! Regarding HGSE's GRE Optional policy, I have a V164+Q162 in GRE but only a 4 in AW. In the case that I have a pretty decent GPA from undergrad, do y'all think I should still submit this GRE score? I am applying to the LDIT program btw. ANY tips/suggestions are welcome!

[TabTurbo]

I personally think that's pretty decent score and you should submit. To demonstrate your analytical writing ability, perhaps focus on having a polished PS which serves as both a statement of purpose but also a writing sample. 

On 9/16/2021 at 5:07 PM, SHPVEdTech-2022 said:

Hi friends! Regarding HGSE's GRE Optional policy, I have a V164+Q162 in GRE but only a 4 in AW. In the case that I have a pretty decent GPA from undergrad, do y'all think I should still submit this GRE score? I am applying to the LDIT program btw. ANY tips/suggestions are welcome!

 

[PhDhopeful2022]

Hi everyone! I'm hoping to apply to the HGSE PhD program this year. I know they weren't accepting PhD applications last cycle due to COVID and budget cuts. Does anyone have insight into whether they are reducing the PhD cohort size (hopefully they will keep it the same size as previous years!!) - just trying to figure out if it's worth applying this year or to another program. I know this is already a very competitive doctoral program to get into and scared that budget cuts will lead to additional cuts in the acceptance rate. 

[mrsflantastic]

As of right now, it still looks like GRE is required for PhD applicants. And from no earlier than 9/1/16, to boot! I have a score from January 2016. Even if I wanted to retake the test at home (I've heard some negative things, especially for ADHD folks like me), I can't afford it because this pandemic ruined my finances. (I don't qualify for the fee waiver, and even if I did – it doesn't look like a full waiver? Just half?). Plus, standardized tests are garbage, especially for disabled folks like me.

Between this and the application fees, it's just shocking at the ways in which these institutions can preach about educational equity and reform when they're the ones continually upholding every effing systemic barrier they can. 

[EverythingAHH]

Hey everyone. I hope you all are doing well with this year's app season. Anyone else out there applying for the CIS PhD program?

• Program: CIS PhD
• GRE Score: V170, Q163, AWA: 5.0 
• GPA: 3.8 undergrad / 3.9 master's
• LORs: probably ok-ish. Former boss, master's advisor, research advisor
• Work Experience: 7 years teaching with some leadership stuff thrown in.
• Undergrad Institution (Public, Private, Ivy, etc..): top US public undergrad, top US private master's
• Research Experience: 1 project, a few months long, no pubs
• What Other Schools Are You Applying To: UPenn, Stanford, Vandy, and a few others

Just starting to get anxious already because it all feels a bit like a lottery... How are you all getting through?

Edited October 3, 2021 by EverythingAHH

[PhDhopeful2022]

@EverythingAHH I'm also applying for the CIS PhD program this year. I'm making a huge shift from the medical field (epidemiology and sexual reproductive health research) into education and super nervous about this. Spent the past 7 years learning about biostatistics and infectious diseases but realized my heart was way more in the community health education and teaching side of things from my work experience and schooling.

But yes! Definitely feels like a lottery after looking at all the past people who got in and honestly, I'm especially worried that due to covid, they are reducing the acceptance pool due to funding issues. I currently work at Harvard (at the medical school) and our dept. is already facing lots of budget cuts even though a lot of the work we are doing is front facing and covid-related. Seeing how last year the education dept. couldn't take in any new PhD students...wish there was a little bit more clarity on all of the schools that are more of the social sciences / humanities and what they're planning to do since app fees are not cheap and the application process is pretty lengthy, involving multiple parties. 

A few articles I found about the doctoral admissions that are making me super nervous. I know they were written ~a year ago so don't know how much things will change but just wanted to share in case any one had any other input. 

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/9/16/ed-school-pauses-doctoral-admissions/

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/10/30/harvard-coronavirus-gsas-admissions-pause/

[PhDhopeful2022]

Hey all - sorry for posting so much but I attended the HGSE PhD Q&A session today and got a ton of clarity on the whole post-covid questions that I had initially posted and thought I would share. They are accepting 25 people this year for their PhD program and Ed.D program (that means a total of 25 people for admission into both their PhD and Ed.D programs so I'm guessing around 12-17 people will be admitted into their PhD program depending on how many people apply this year). They said they wouldn't necessarily try to split it half and half for the PhD and Ed.D program but wanted to distribute pretty proportionally across the three concentrations. They also said COVID was not affecting their fully funded program so students who get accepted into the program are guaranteed coverage for their tuition and stipend for Y1-5 and will get additional from the TA / RA opportunities. I don't think they've released the recording yet but can access it here (https://www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions/recorded-webinars) when it's up!  

[Kompetent]

@PhDhopeful2022 thanks for sharing. I think the financial strain came from uncertainty more than anything else. I mean with the stock market somehow chugging along, I have to believe that all their endowments are doing fine. Add to that the fact that in 2020 HGSE opened master’s admissions after the normal deadline for the 20-21 school year (to bring it more $$ since master’s students fund a big chunk of the school) + the addition of a permanently online master’s (which they expect will have 90 students)… and it just gets hard to believe that these schools are suffering much financial strain. It really seems like HGSE used the moment to open up new streams of money for themselves. I don’t doubt that admin at the various Harvard schools are pushing that line to reorganize or justify cut or w.e. I’m just a bit skeptical about the underlying dynamics/rationales. 
 

In any case, there was a webinar for the PhD today and the admissions people confirmed that they plan to take a full class of ~25 (plus a similar number for the EdLd program). So we’ve got that!

[Kompetent]

1 minute ago, PhDhopeful2022 said:

Hey all - sorry for posting so much but I attended the HGSE PhD Q&A session today and got a ton of clarity on the whole post-covid questions that I had initially posted and thought I would share. They are accepting 25 people this year for their PhD program and Ed.D program (that means a total of 25 people for admission into both their PhD and Ed.D programs so I'm guessing around 12-17 people will be admitted into their PhD program depending on how many people apply this year). They said they wouldn't necessarily try to split it half and half for the PhD and Ed.D program but wanted to distribute pretty proportionally across the three concentrations. They also said COVID was not affecting their fully funded program so students who get accepted into the program are guaranteed coverage for their tuition and stipend for Y1-5 and will get additional from the TA / RA opportunities. I don't think they've released the recording yet but can access it here (https://www.gse.harvard.edu/admissions/recorded-webinars) when it's up!  

Hey I was typing as you submitted. I went to the same seminar! I think you got some wires crossed tho. They don’t do EdD anymore. They said they’d do 50 doctoral admits total. Roughly half between PhD and EdLd

[PhDhopeful2022]

@Kompetent OH gotcha - I totally misinterpreted what they said!! That gives me a lot more hope. I know at the school I am currently working, they reduced the PhD admissions by abt 20% this year so glad to see that the HSGE PhD Program is still accepting quite a number of people!  

[AnnieRUok]

Echoing what @PhDhopeful2022 and @Kompetent say about the info sessions in general. I can't speak for the Ph.D. ones, but the Ed.M. ones were very helpful to me last year, and they are doing them throughout this month now for the different areas. I'll be at the HDE session next week. Will anyone else be there too?

[PhDPolicy2022]

Hi everyone! New to this forum I am applying for PhD in Edu for Fall 2022 - wondering if anyone up for reviewing application / providing general feedback? Would love to have feedback from a current student if possible. Thanks and best of luck to all!

[Kompetent]

9 hours ago, PhDPolicy2022 said:

Hi everyone! New to this forum I am applying for PhD in Edu for Fall 2022 - wondering if anyone up for reviewing application / providing general feedback? Would love to have feedback from a current student if possible. Thanks and best of luck to all!

@PhDPolicy2022Hey, I don't mind taking a look. I'm not a current student but I went to HGSE a few years ago. 

[errzzx]

Hello everyone! I am a final student and am planning to graduate in February 2022, I want to enroll in HGSE because this year the GRE is optional and as an international student applicant it's really hard for me to get a decent GRE score in just a few months learning . If you look at the stats, do you think not including the GRE score in my applications would make a big difference?

Program: Ed M. (LDIT), concentration in Language & Literacy
GRE Score: - didn't take
GPA: 3.7 (undergrad), communications science - currently only working on a thesis but the score will not have much effect to increase/decrease my GPA
LORs: Planning to get it from the dean of the faculty (professor), from thesis supervisor, and from an academic supervisor
SOP: The reason I took the LDIT concentration on language and literacy is because in my country the literacy rate is very low, and this is made worse by the pandemic situation. I took the LDIT with the hope of increasing the literacy rate in my country with the help of technology, because like it or not, we have to use technology so we don't lag behind other countries.

Work Experiences:
1. Published books since 10 years old and got a contract with 6 publishers in my country (a total of 15 books have been published consisting of children's storybooks, novels, short stories collections, etc.)
2. Internship at a national media company (6 months) as a content writer
3. Received dozens of writing awards during college (national and international competitions)
4. Be a delegate to various international conferences that take up the topic of education, especially the effects of the pandemic on education in non-developing countries.

Undergrad Institution (Public, Private, Ivy, etc..): top uni (number 1 in my country)
Research Experience: 1 joint project with lecturers, Scopus Q4 publication 
TOEFL: 115 (no score below 26)
What Other Schools Are You Applying To: Haven't decided yet

I need some advice, do you think it's better if I enroll this year and not submit the GRE scores, or apply next year and work first after college? That way, I can study GRE in one whole year.

[hgseanon]

Hi everyone, I'm a current HGSE student here and want to push everyone to really think through how HGSE, or even a graduate degree, would fit into the rest of your career.

I know you all are probably excited at the opportunity to come to a great university, but that doesn't imply that all of its schools are great as well. Why exactly do you all want to come to HGSE specifically? Why are you using some random US News ranking of Top Education Graduate Programs that arbitrarily ranks programs? What kind of research have you done in looking at programs? Do you know what courses you want to take? A masters in education is one year so you have one chance at taking the courses that align with your interests.

For some of you, why are you only applying to HGSE? I can't help but think you're applying and want to enroll just for the brand and name recognition. If that's what you want, go ahead. But that's some damn expensive diploma. Sure, plenty of other programs are expensive, and I bet they're all overrated just like HGSE. Look at local or public universities; there are plenty of great options around the country like University of Michigan, Michigan State University, UC Berkeley, etc.

Specifically regarding prospective applicants to the ed policy program, try looking at public policy schools at HKS, University of Michigan, UC Berkeley, among others. These are all great public policy programs that have some relationship with education in the form of professors and their courses, research, or affiliated programs. HGSE's courses are not very rigorous and incredibly applied since the school is in the social sciences. I've cross registered at a few other Harvard schools and have found them a bit more rigorous than my HGSE courses.

More importantly, I do want to share something that HGSE administration did to my part-time classmates who started last year. this article written by The Crimson sums up the situation pretty well.

In short, HGSE decided to short change its own students and make us take courses online. So for this entire year, HGSE's own students can't take courses in-person at their own school, but a  HBS student is free to register into a HGSE course. We're limited to just the courses that are done online, and that accounts for 49% of the course catalog (which Dean Long thought was something special to brag about). It's been completely inequitable, unfair, unjust, and frustrating. HGSE admin have been completely quiet about it, which seems like an admission of wrongdoing. We haven't really gotten any apology from Dean Long or acknowledgement of the inequity that it touts to resolve in its own mission statement.

This ended up being a rant, but I hope everyone takes more time to thoughtfully think through what a Masters in Education is really going to do for you. If you want to be come a Policy Analyst or lead a new start-up, does a $50,000+ degree from HGSE really get you there any easier than the same degree from another institution? The masters program is a cash cow, just like 90% of masters programs, and HGSE will do whatever it takes to increase intake to make up for the loss from COVID. /endrant

Feel free to DM me, but I honestly would rather keep dialogue and discussion here for everyone to read.

[TabTurbo]

Thanks for sharing your perspectives with prospective students @hgseanon!  If I understood correctly, your main complaint is that the EdM program at HGSE is overrated - the quality of the education you received is not worth the price tag. Setting the pandemic-impacted online students aside for now, can you share more specifically where HGSE EdM fail to meet your expectation just so we prospective students have a better sense?

• When you say HGSE classes are not as rigorous as those in other Harvard schools, how so?
• How do you feel about your career outlook comparing to what you were led to believe when enrolled?
• Apart from the handling of the pandemic-impacted class, how was your experience with the school leadership & management overall?

Thank you for starting a dialogue and helping us make more informed decisions!  

On 10/23/2021 at 7:07 AM, hgseanon said:

Hi everyone, I'm a current HGSE student here and want to push everyone to really think through how HGSE, or even a graduate degree, would fit into the rest of your career.

I know you all are probably excited at the opportunity to come to a great university, but that doesn't imply that all of its schools are great as well. Why exactly do you all want to come to HGSE specifically? Why are you using some random US News ranking of Top Education Graduate Programs that arbitrarily ranks programs? What kind of research have you done in looking at programs? Do you know what courses you want to take? A masters in education is one year so you have one chance at taking the courses that align with your interests.

For some of you, why are you only applying to HGSE? I can't help but think you're applying and want to enroll just for the brand and name recognition. If that's what you want, go ahead. But that's some damn expensive diploma. Sure, plenty of other programs are expensive, and I bet they're all overrated just like HGSE. Look at local or public universities; there are plenty of great options around the country like University of Michigan, Michigan State University, UC Berkeley, etc.

Specifically regarding prospective applicants to the ed policy program, try looking at public policy schools at HKS, University of Michigan, UC Berkeley, among others. These are all great public policy programs that have some relationship with education in the form of professors and their courses, research, or affiliated programs. HGSE's courses are not very rigorous and incredibly applied since the school is in the social sciences. I've cross registered at a few other Harvard schools and have found them a bit more rigorous than my HGSE courses.

More importantly, I do want to share something that HGSE administration did to my part-time classmates who started last year. this article written by The Crimson sums up the situation pretty well.

In short, HGSE decided to short change its own students and make us take courses online. So for this entire year, HGSE's own students can't take courses in-person at their own school, but a  HBS student is free to register into a HGSE course. We're limited to just the courses that are done online, and that accounts for 49% of the course catalog (which Dean Long thought was something special to brag about). It's been completely inequitable, unfair, unjust, and frustrating. HGSE admin have been completely quiet about it, which seems like an admission of wrongdoing. We haven't really gotten any apology from Dean Long or acknowledgement of the inequity that it touts to resolve in its own mission statement.

This ended up being a rant, but I hope everyone takes more time to thoughtfully think through what a Masters in Education is really going to do for you. If you want to be come a Policy Analyst or lead a new start-up, does a $50,000+ degree from HGSE really get you there any easier than the same degree from another institution? The masters program is a cash cow, just like 90% of masters programs, and HGSE will do whatever it takes to increase intake to make up for the loss from COVID. /endrant

Feel free to DM me, but I honestly would rather keep dialogue and discussion here for everyone to read.

 

Edited October 25, 2021 by TabTurbo

[futureproof]

For your Peterson's source, the acceptance rates is for all of the school's programs.

For the PhD and EdLd programs, which are much more selective, they have acceptance rates of approximately 5 and 6 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, the M.Ed program has an alleged acceptance rate of 54%, although I am skeptical of Peterson's accuracy.