2025 Applicants

[junebug610]

Hi all! Saw nobody had made one this year, so I figured we could chat about where we are applying. And hopes and fears and all of that good stuff!

I have submitted apps for UC Berkeley, Northwestern, and U Michigan. Going to also submit apps for UCSD and U of Washington soon!

Applied to Northwestern's HDSP program, but all other programs are Education PhD.

[jun_]

Hi! I also submitted applications for UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, U of washington, Umich, MSU, Boston College, Upenn, Purdue, UT Austin.

I applied to curriculum&instruction or STEM education program.

 

Good luck!

[JadedVGC]

Hi everyone! 

Harvard: Education Policy & Program Evaluation

Stanford: Higher Education

UMich: Higher Education (Public Policy Concentration)

Vanderbilt: Education Policy and Leadership Studies

UPenn: Higher Education

UW-Madison: Education Policy Studies

UC Irvine: Education (Policy and Evaluation Concentration)

All are Ph.D. programs, and I am happy to share my stats/application materials as a point of reference. 

[palebluebliss]

UPenn Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development for me! They are only accepting 1 student. 😵‍💫

[PopCultureScholar]

1 hour ago, palebluebliss said:

UPenn Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development for me! They are only accepting 1 student. 😵‍💫

That is wild! Good luck!

Edited December 6, 2024 by PopCultureScholar
Forgot to add Good Luck!

[jun_]

4 hours ago, palebluebliss said:

UPenn Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Development for me! They are only accepting 1 student. 😵‍💫

omg😭 how did you know that?

[palebluebliss]

7 minutes ago, jun_ said:

omg😭 how did you know that?

Spoke to a professor on the faculty. Apparently future funding is tenuous. They normally only take 1 or two but def just one this year. Did you also apply?

[jun_]

2 hours ago, palebluebliss said:

Spoke to a professor on the faculty. Apparently future funding is tenuous. They normally only take 1 or two but def just one this year. Did you also apply?

I applied to Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education program at Upenn. I have never heard about how many students will be admitted😭

[palebluebliss]

1 hour ago, jun_ said:

I applied to Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education program at Upenn. I have never heard about how many students will be admitted😭

Thats awesome, I wish you luck. I am in class this weekend and also just found out that there were over 800 applications for this 1 spot. ouch... lol

[jun_]

7 minutes ago, palebluebliss said:

Thats awesome, I wish you luck. I am in class this weekend and also just found out that there were over 800 applications for this 1 spot. ouch... lol

It is so competitive😱 Good luck to you!

[loopsjo]

Would love to hear people’s thoughts on contacting faculty. And if contacted - have you received replies? 

[k101]

5 hours ago, loopsjo said:

Would love to hear people’s thoughts on contacting faculty. And if contacted - have you received replies? 

I contacted before applications! I got replies from all that I did, and met with most of them. I think now I’ll just wait it out for interviews/decisions 

[jun_]

8 hours ago, kd01 said:

I contacted before applications! I got replies from all that I did, and met with most of them. I think now I’ll just wait it out for interviews/decisions 

I also contacted before submitting, but many of them didn't reply😢

[k101]

1 hour ago, jun_ said:

I also contacted before submitting, but many of them didn't reply😢

I think that’s normal sometimes. One of my replies was that they don’t like actually talking to anyone and I have a few professors at my current school who said they don’t respond to anyone!  

[JadedVGC]

I also contacted many faculty across 15 to 20 programs before reducing my list to just 7! Many were happy to meet to discuss what they were looking for in a student and details about the program itself, or they told me they were not taking students or retiring. I also got lucky that the institutions that I am applying to have multiple faculty members with overlapping or related interests so if one faculty member was retiring, I could just replace them with someone else. Some faculty have personal policies of not contacting students before the deadline which I think should be the standard as it reduces bias in admissions.
 

[JadedVGC]

Did anyone notice that a Vanderbilt PhD in Education Policy interview request was posted in the main feed today? I find it incredibly hard to believe someone received an interview request on December 23rd, two days before the holiday break. I also noticed that they have never commented on anything else or shared their stats in the "See More" tab next to the thread (i.e., missing undergraduate GPA, GRE scores, etc).

I have been noticing this a lot lately (specifically with someone positing a Harvard interview invite two weeks ago despite them saying that interview requests will go out in January) and some people have mentioned that there are fake/troll accounts on GradCafe frequently, but what are your thoughts? 

Edited December 24, 2024 by JadedVGC

[k101]

48 minutes ago, JadedVGC said:

Did anyone notice that a Vanderbilt PhD in Education Policy interview request was posted in the main feed today? I find it incredibly hard to believe someone received an interview request on December 23rd, two days before the holiday break. I also noticed that they have never commented on anything else or shared their stats in the "See More" tab next to the thread (i.e., missing undergraduate GPA, GRE scores, etc).

I have been noticing this a lot lately (specifically with someone positing a Harvard interview invite two weeks ago despite them saying that interview requests will go out in January) and some people have mentioned that there are fake/troll accounts on GradCafe frequently, but what are your thoughts? 

Hi! The Vanderbilt one was me. It came in an email today. I forgot to add stats, sorry! Current masters student with strong quant background, two years as RA experience. I don't know about the Harvard one though! I was also alarmed by that 

Edited December 24, 2024 by kd01

[JadedVGC]

Thanks for adding context! Do you know if others got interview emails or if they come in waves at all?

[k101]

8 minutes ago, JadedVGC said:

Thanks for adding context! Do you know if others got interview emails or if they come in waves at all?

No clue! I sent times for after the new year. It's with the program director and a professor (not my POI). I also applied to about the same schools as you (BC, UCLA, TC, and UT Austin instead of UCI and Stanford), so I will keep this forum updated mostly!