Teaching Experience for Masters in Education

[uamaukeeaokaaina]

Hey everyone. I'm thinking about applying to Masters in Education programs at top schools (think Harvard, Stanford, and Columbia). I've got a solid GPA and extracurriculars, and I've been getting 1400's on practice GRE's

My question is this: how heavily do programs in education weigh teaching experience. On Harvard's website, I saw that the average Work experience for the master's program was 5 years. Are they looking for people who have had a lot of teaching experience already, or do they take people straight out of undergrad too?

Thanks!

[db2290]

I know people who have got into their doctoral programs straight from graduating from university. I would imagine they would want to see a commitment to educational issues (be that summer work, research experience etc.). I don't think teaching has to be one of those. Although it might depend on what programs you are applying for. The more practitioner based courses will require teaching experience more, in my view.

[Ed_Doc]

It depends entirely on the focus of the Masters or Doctoral program to which you are applying.

For the HGSE EdM, for example, the average was 5.0 years, but you'll notice that the range was 0 to 37 years. That means there was a lot of variability in time worked, but overall it wasn't all that high. On top of that, the number of years worked varies greatly by specific HGSE EdM concentration (there are 13 from which to choose, if I remember right.) Your best bet is to make a short list of those in which you are interested, and contact the program directors for each and ask that specific question.

Good luck!