EDUCATION MASTERS. Am I in over my head? HELP!!

[ileigh]

I'm currently finished with my Junior year at a large public ivy and plan on applying to Education Masters programs next year. Here are my stats:

GRE Score: 1100 **just took a practice test**

GPA: 3.5 (English major w/History and Education [theory] minors)

Work Experience: Teaching intern with a TFA affiliate this summer, taught with a well known charter school organization last summer, and have volunteered in education the past few years

Undergrad Institution(Public, Private, Ivy, etc..): Large public ivy (similar to University of Connecticut, Penn State, UC Davis)

Research Experience: --

Applying for PhD or Masters: Masters

Program: M.A. w/certification unless otherwise noted.

What Schools Are You Applying To: Vanderbilt, Harvard (Teacher Education Program [TEP] or Technology, Innovation and Education), Stanford STEP, Columbia Teachers College Communication, Computing and Technology in Education (w/certification), UCLA, University of Oregon, University of Washington

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So what do you all think?

With that GPA, GRE and work experience, do you think I have a chance at Stanford STEP, Columbia, UCLA, and Harvard? I looked through the Education acceptance post on this board, but a lot of people had GREs 1300+ and were applying to PhD programs.

Congrats to everyone that's been accepted and best of luck to everyone else!

Hoping for helpful responses for me and the rest of the community!

[smirkette]

My admittedly-uneven stats as an admitted student:

GRE Score:

1270 (650 verbal, 620 quant, 5 analytical writing)...so not great. Only took it once because I decided to apply on a whim and didn't have time for a class or retakes. Would definitely not recommend trying this, esp. since I've been out of school for over 7 years

GPA:

3.87 (English education major w/art minor) + secondary single-subject teaching credential

Work Experience:

4 years teaching at a public high school + 2 summer school terms; 3+ years at an international ed non-profit (this was probably the strongest element of my application, as pretty much all of my professional experience is aligned to the programs I applied to)

Undergrad Institution(Public, Private, Ivy, etc..):

non-premium medium-sized state school for undergrad, large non-premium state school for teaching credential

Research Experience:

--

Applying for PhD or Masters:

Masters

Program:

Ed.M.

Schools/programs applied to & result:

Harvard (TIE Ed.M.) & Stanford (LDT Ed.M.); got into Harvard, rejected by Stanford (suspect this was due to my sad, sad GRE scores?)

From what I can tell, it's pretty difficult to be able to accurately guess whether or not someone's going to get in to a program. I've seen a 50% acceptance rate figure floating around the board for HGSE; I suspect cost & awe probably keep a lot of people from applying. Harvard's amazing financial aid does NOT extend to masters students from what I can tell from my own offer and talking to other people (both at HGSE & at other schools). HGSE in particular says that they look at the whole student, which my admittance despite poor test results do seem to bear out.

I'd say apply to as many programs as you can afford to (what have you got to lose aside from the application fee?), but make sure you know why you're going and what you want to get out of the degree. Why do you want a masters in education? What do you plan on doing with it? Being able to tailor your SOP to how the program will help you meet your specific academic & career goals can only help. If I were going to re-draft mine, I'd probably take the time to name check specific profs whose research aligns to my goals.

Good luck!

[gblesstc]

Hey smirkette,

Just to clarify there's no such thing as a large public ivy. All the ivy league schools are all private and include only 8 schools, penn state is a large state school. I'm sure you have a great education. I'm attending HGSE and got into Vanderbilt as well, you'll do fine as long as you write a strong SOP.

Good luck!

[smirkette]

Hey smirkette,

Just to clarify there's no such thing as a large public ivy. All the ivy league schools are all private and include only 8 schools, penn state is a large state school. I'm sure you have a great education. I'm attending HGSE and got into Vanderbilt as well, you'll do fine as long as you write a strong SOP.

Good luck!

Hi gblesstc, I was actually responding to ileigh of the public ivy (I kinda wondered about that too) who was wondering if s/he could get into HGSE. ...I already have & was sharing my stats since s/he was asking for datapoints by which to construct an informal baseline. Hope you're enjoying HGSE--I'm really excited to start in the Fall!

[HigherEd2013]

Hey smirkette,

Just to clarify there's no such thing as a large public ivy. All the ivy league schools are all private and include only 8 schools, penn state is a large state school. I'm sure you have a great education. I'm attending HGSE and got into Vanderbilt as well, you'll do fine as long as you write a strong SOP.

Good luck!

Not to be mean or anything, just trying to be informative: The term public ivy is actually used to describe large, public universities that give an education comparable to more expensive private ivy league schools. According to Wikipedia, Richard Moll coined the term http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy. While it isn't necessarily a term used by the schools themselves, it is definitely a term that people use colloquially. I've even heard school administrators use it.

[kismetcapitan]

SOP is the biggest factor. If you are VERY clear about what you want to do, and you fit with the school...you'll get in. If you don't, the school wasn't probably right for you anyways.

Depends on the school, but Vanderbilt has people with lots of teaching experience (I have 14 years), and in my same class, people who just graduated in a myriad of majors.

[ileigh]

Very nice. Thanks everyone!

Yes, I would feel like a fake if I had to convince myself in my SOP. Thanks again!