Vanderbilt?

[sarmstrong]

Even though Vanderbilt is the #1 education program in the US, I notice no one seems to be talking about it. It's all HGSE and TC. Why is that? Am I missing something?

[ZeChocMoose]

I think Vanderbilt is a great school for education. Is it number 1? Not for my discipline (higher ed). Although neither is TC or Harvard. I assume people talk about them more frequently because they are Ivy league schools and people have this obsession to enroll there because they are considered prestigious to attend. Personally, I think the funding for doctoral students at both institutions is pretty terrible and disappointing given how NYC and Boston have such a high cost of living. Although being full funded and having a stipend I can live on is extremely important to me.

Rankings are all relative though. If the program is a good fit, there are faculty that you are interested in learning from, and the program has a high placement rate that should be your deciding factors-- not what US News & World Report says.

Oh and US News & World Report only ranks doctoral education-- so if you are doing a master's degree, the rankings are not relevant.

Edited January 30, 2011 by ZeChocMoose

[okawesome]

Although I have yet to visit campus, I have gotten the impression that faculty, students, and staff are extremely friendly and responsive. I was just accepted to the MPP in Education Policy program, which was appealing to me because of the ability to obtain a professional degree with a more education-based focus/curriculum. I'm looking forward to learning more about the program and the university.

[sarmstrong]

Okawesome - let me know if you do visit and any other impressions you get of campus, faculty, students, etc. Maybe we'll see each other around in the fall.

[ziva7]

Although I have yet to visit campus, I have gotten the impression that faculty, students, and staff are extremely friendly and responsive. I was just accepted to the MPP in Education Policy program, which was appealing to me because of the ability to obtain a professional degree with a more education-based focus/curriculum. I'm looking forward to learning more about the program and the university.

Are you going to master's visitation day this Thurs/Fri?

[okawesome]

Unfortunately I won't be attending Visitation Day. I'm really bummed, actually--but I just can't afford the flight from Florida right now. I asked about funding, but they said none was available. I'm hoping to visit sometime in late March/early April and hopefully visit other programs (assuming I get accepted to other programs as well, fingers crossed!)

Good luck to everyone throughout the decision making process:)

[coffeekid]

I know that a majority of Peabody programs have already heard back about their decisions. A friend of mine went to the visitation day, but she/he explained that applicants to the Human Development Counseling program (this person's program) were the only people there who had not been accepted, and that they were the only people to have to do interviews, though brief. This situation seems odd, and would have made me so mad to be part of a small group not able to be excited about checking out the program you've already been accepted to.

There were only about two dozen people in this program who were at the visitation day. Does anyone know (1) how many are generally accepted to it and (2) when these people might expect to hear back? I ask because, although there are Peabody posts on the results page from past years, none are from this division of the program.