HGSE EdD Fall 2013

[The Other Cheek]

Are there any people here who are working on or have obtained an EdD from Harvard Graduate School of Education? I'm kind of in love with HGSE (I've looked at a few other schools but they just don't speak to me in the same way), but I'm really concerned that my Master's GPA is going to kill my chances. I know that admissions is quite selective, but their website also states that there is no minimum GPA. To what degree is admission about the numbers, and to what degree is it about being the right fit in terms of interest?

I've checked out the faculty and found one lecturer/professor in particular who I'd love to work with, and just reached out to him today (waiting for a response). I met with someone from HGSE admissions in September and he seemed to suggest that what matters most is whether my research interests align with work being done among the school's faculty. He was vague about GPA and numbers in general. I don't have much of a research background, but I hope to build on it in the coming year (I have one more year left in my master's program).

Any advice you can give on any front would be extremely helpful, thanks! My numbers and WE:

Undergrad: WashU (English major, Women's Studies minor)

Under GPA: 3.61

Master's: Harvard Kennedy School

Master's GPA: not explicitly stated on transcript, but so far around 3.3

GRE: 730Q/680V/5.5W

Work Experience: Teach For America Corps Member (2 years), Incubator Playwright (1 year), Grassroots Campaign Manager (fundraising, 6 months), wrote for online magazines (6 months) - some of these experiences happened simultaneously, so overall about 3 years of work experience. 2 summers of Breakthrough Collaborative summer internship (teaching-related).

[Dizzi]

Well, I'm a first-year EdD at HGSE, but I'm only one person, so that severely limits my sample size. I do have some insight on the doctoral admissions process, though, as I have good relationships with some of the senior professors in my program; he and others were able to tell me a bit about the process (after I got in). I also did an EdM here a few years ago.

First, to give you an impression regarding relative selectivity, the Master's programs at the Kennedy School generally have admit rates around 20-30%, while we were told this past year's EdD cohort faced an admit rate of around 6%. However, the rate varies by program, and there are some reasons to believe that the Fall 2013 admit rate will be somewhat higher.

Second, your actual GPA doesn't matter so much if you've been taking difficult courses. We are generally required to maintain some GPA minimum throughout our career, but some upper-level EdDs I've talked to have told me that they will waive that requirement for difficult courses (generally at GSAS). From an admissions perspective, if your GPA isn't great, but it's mostly because you've been taking very hard courses, it may not be as big a deal as you think. You might have an advantage there, since the HGSE faculty are generally very familiar with the courses at HKS (the hard ones, at least).

One major thing they look for - or at least, multiple faculty have told me this - is a demonstrated commitment to education. One of the big things they want to avoid is accepting people who are really just interested in some discipline like Psychology or Economics and view the EdD as a "back door" to studying that discipline. From what I can tell, they're very good at weeding those people out. I think your work experience would cover that for you.

Regarding research interests, you should definitely identify something and make sure it's not totally out of left field compared to what faculty are doing, but it definitely doesn't have to align closely with any particular faculty member. From what I've been told by the HGSE professors who wrote me recommendations, at some schools of Ed, a large proportion of funding comes from individual professors' grants, meaning that you really need a faculty "sponsor" you're expected to stick with. At HGSE, that money comes from a common pool, so we are free to switch advisors or get new ones. I've learned a lot from mine, and I'm working on a research project with him, but his research area has very little to do with what I identified in my application (or what I want to do overall).

From what you've told us about your record, it looks like your GRE scores are very good, but your Master's GPA is not so hot. That would probably cause a bit of concern; the knee-jerk interpretations would be either a) you're not very engaged with your academic work, or you "lucked out" on your GRE, neither of which are especially favorable. Is there a chance you could up your GPA a bit, or if not, can you make the case that your coursework has been unusually difficult? For comparison's sake, I had a 3.6 from my EdM, and that apparently raised a red flag with them - although the EdM is a lot less selective (and easier, typically) than the MPP/MPA, and my GRE was higher (1570 combined).

[The Other Cheek]

Hi Dizzi, thanks for your comprehensive reply! That was very helpful. I had a few followup questions:

1. You mentioned that my Master's GPA *may* be negligible depending on whether the coursework was difficult. This is kind of relative; I've spent most of this first year in core classes. These have been econ/stats/polisci-oriented - nowhere near my English background. At the same time, I don't know if simply stating that I've started from scratch with these subjects is reason enough for not performing up to par. I will certainly do my best to raise it between now and next semester, but I believe adcom sees grades up to the end of my first year during application season. I don't know - if they're concerned about your 3.6, I wonder if they'd even glance at someone with a 3.0.

2. To your knowledge, how much do they consider undergrad GPA? How much do they care about the GRE?

3. Why is there reason to believe Fall 2013 admission rates might be higher? Which programs are more selective than others?

4. I'm really interested in the impact of growing social mediums, reality and creative programming on adolescent development. I know Joe Blatt lectures on media, child development and civic engagement, and that the Sesame Workshop was first developed at HGSE. Still, I'm not sure which of the EdD program concentrations this would fall under.

5. Is my 3-year work experience a bit thin for the 5-year average in the EdD program?

Any other insight you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

[Dizzi]

I'll try to offer answers from my perspective - again, this is limited by my own experience:

1. If you're struggling in quantitative courses, that may not be a huge deal, considering your humanities background. I would think you could make a case for that in your statement of purpose. They seem to do a good job of identifying "smart" people - the head of my EdM program told me the SOP is the most important source for that, and ideally your grades and GRE would support that. In your case, if your GRE, SOP, and recommendations paint a favorable picture, but your current GPA is incongruous, it may raise some concerns, but I can't believe it would be a death knell.

I think the reason my 3.6 was a problem was i) my EdM program was not supposed to be challenging, and ii) my GRE was very high. The bottom line was that I was expected to get better grades than I did. I was told they were concerned that I wasn't very "engaged" during my EdM program, which to some extent was true. My SOP and recommendations apparently convinced them that I would work harder during my EdD (which so far has also turned out to be true ).

2. My impression is that your undergrad GPA carries less weight the farther away you are from undergrad. In my case, I know it barely mattered at all. On the other hand, one person in my cohort came straight from undergrad (I think she's the only one out of the 28 of us), and I imagine undergrad GPA was very important in her case. Your GRE is nothing to worry about at all - probably in the upper half of admits, if not the top quartile - but everything I've heard tells me that the GRE alone is not enough to make a big difference.

3. Fall 2013 is the last EdD cohort they will be admitting. After that, everything will transition to the new PhD program, which is joint with GSAS. My guess is that a lot of people will hold off on applying for a year in order to have a shot at the PhD program, thus increasing the overall admit rate. Of course, that would mean that the following year would be unusually selective. I don't know which programs are more/less selective than others, unfortunately.

4. I'd think Human Development and Education or Culture, Communities, and Education; I can't think of any other program that sounds like it would align with your interests.

5. Considering it's very heavily tilted toward education, I don't think your work experience is thin. When they say the average is 5, that includes people who have done other stuff; there are people who did things like IT, software, and even lawyering for several years before moving into education. I think your TFA and Breakthrough Collaborative experience would be big pluses, too.

One other thing: Some people apply for the EdD, but they're told the admissions committee recommends an EdM first (there's an option to check "consider me for EdM programs if I'm not admitted to the EdD"). If that happens, it could be a great opportunity to show them what you're capable of. I know at least two people who went that route.