Tanglewood Posted March 16, 2013 Posted March 16, 2013 Congrats to everyone! I know some of you are overseas, but are any of you that are closer to NY planning on attending the admitted students day and the festival the next day? (April 12 & 13) Since I'm in NYC, I going to attend both events.
ay761 Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 ASzofer -- About my program, I applied for the International Education Policy and Management program at Vanderbilt and the CIE (Comparative International Education) program at Columbia (though I might change that to International Ed Policy if I go there - that's an option). Actually, if I go to Vanderbilt I might not have any loans! I'm pretty sure I would find an assistantship that would cover at least most of tuition, and if all I have to worry about is living expenses then I have enough to live on. I think if I had gotten that 2/3 tuition scholarship as opposed to the 1/3 tuition scholarship it would be enough to push me over the edge, but because my heart is in NYC I'm still seriously considering Columbia. I understand why you are drawn to Harvard for sure, I might be having that reaction too if I had applied & gotten accepted. Though personally what's making Columbia such a big deal for me is a combination of the name and being able to be around all of my friends - and potentially not being tied to Nashville. You said that when you visited it seemed like they had a lot of amazing connections -- do you think it seemed like a common thing for graduates to secure good jobs on the coasts? I actually worry about the 1 year thing in relation to the PhD -- because you don't have time to complete an actual thesis (or do you do that at Harvard?). And it seems like that is what would help your PhD applications the most. At TC you do an IP (Integrated Project) which is only 25 pages long... but at Vanderbilt you actually do a real thesis and devote a lot of time to it. Actually a professor at Vanderbilt told me that 28% of graduates go on to pursue a PhD... for my program at TC that rate is 9%. That may not necessarily mean anything, though. I am also generally interested in working to reform the education system... but on a more comparative level, as I have so much teaching experience in Japan and have seen some amazing policies that american schools would do well to adopt and vice versa. It makes me feel better that you also aren't 100% sure yet what your focus is!
ctcpx084 Posted March 17, 2013 Author Posted March 17, 2013 Hey, here's a different sort of question. I'm looking more into job opportunities in NYC, as it will be necessary for me to work at least through the start of my program. Being in China, it's rather difficult to get hired sight-unseen, so there probably aren't good odds. Even so, I was thinking of accepting their offer and paying the deposit in order to buy me time. If I fail to find a job, I don't receive funding, or for whatever reason decide I just don't want to foot the entire bill, is there any consequence to not attending other than losing the $300 deposit?
ASzofer Posted March 17, 2013 Posted March 17, 2013 wjdavis, I don't think so. You'll be fine if you do that. I think they make the $300 just to prevent everyone from doing that, but it's not like they will come after you. I accepted to two undergraduates to buy me time to decide. ay761, I don't necessarily know that a thesis is such an important prereq to a PhD anymore. A lot of people enter PhD programs without even having a masters based on their experiences. One of my good friends is getting her PhD at UT Austin for an Autism Research program and she opted out of a thesis during her masters program at U of I. She said that when she was getting her masters a lot of her professors said that she would need the thesis, but she did the program and the research and still had to write a major paper and had no issues getting into her top PhD program. I know that my program at Vanderbilt didn't have a thesis either. There was the practicum experience and the corresponding paper. I think all schools go about it differently and that is probably true for what they are looking for in PhD candidates as well. If the thesis is important to you, you should probably go with the program at Vanderbilt, but I think you'll be fine either way. For me, as of now, I think I'd maybe like to go to something like Harvard's doctor of educational leadership program, which weighs your professional and leadership experience more than a thesis so it's more important for me that I get a career for a while after the program to build my resume further. From what I saw at Vanderbilt, a decent amount of people went to the East Coast. A lot of people stayed around Tennessee too. I think it really just depends where you want to end up. I know for my program you had the option of doing practicum wherever you wanted so you could make connections in another city.
ctcpx084 Posted March 17, 2013 Author Posted March 17, 2013 (edited) ay761: For what it's worth, and piggybacking off of ASzofer's remarks here, I'm also not certain that thesis experience is essential for PhD admission, either. I earned my master's at what I would describe as a bottom rung state school; at the time, I was interested more in earning teaching certification than doing research or publishing or anything of the sort. The program included an internship, which was a semester teaching (teaching, not student teaching). There was no thesis component. The only written part, outside of the various writing assignment for my courses, was a comprehensive examination. Granted, I'd be lying if I said I was an average writer, but producing an actual thesis is not mandatory for many programs. Your other concerns I can't speak to as much. I didn't pursue the kind of master's programs you are looking at, so it's really out of my element! Edited March 17, 2013 by wjdavis
w4nd3rlu5t Posted March 18, 2013 Posted March 18, 2013 Hello all... Did your award letters include explicit information about loans? Mine only mentions scholarship funds, so I'm not sure what that means.... was I not approved for federal loans? Anyone else planning to attend for IED/ICE? I'd love to hear about admitted students day if anyone is planning to make it. Sadly, I won't be able to go since I'm working in the Middle East.
ctcpx084 Posted March 18, 2013 Author Posted March 18, 2013 w4nd3rlu5t: If you're receiving scholarship funds, you'll DEFINITELY receive an awards letter from the financial aid office. This will detail not just your scholarship funds, but also any and all federal loans you qualify for. Their web site indicates that they will be sending awards letters twice per week, so you should receive one very soon!
Edugy Posted March 18, 2013 Posted March 18, 2013 Just found out I got in for Instructional Technology and Media! I just started filling out the housing forms, hope it's not too late.
dnanthro Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 I am still waiting for my financial aid package. At the moment, it doesn't look too good for me in terms of being able to afford going. Between tuition and cost of living, I don't see how I can possibly afford the cost without going into mountains of debt. I got into a phd program, which takes longer to complete, assistantships don't give full tuition remission, yearly funding is hard to come by, and the job market in academia is not that great (not that I need to go into academia). I also got into SUNY Buffalo, where I am doing my undergrad, which is much more affordable overall, so I have options. It is just really disheartening to not be able to attend my top choice due to funding.
sharanya89 Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 Hey everyone! For those who have been accepted, did your financial aid decision come with the admission decision or later. I have been accepted to ma developmemtal psych but there s nothing about my finaid decision. Hope it doesnt mean i dont get any at all.
HigherEd2013 Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 My scholarship came included in the letter, but the actual financial aid award letter (that includes grants, loans, work study) hasn't come in yet.
emvtgse Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 I got a scholarship in my acceptance letter and then got the financial aid letter last Friday night. I did find it in my Gmail Spam folder so make sure you are checking there too, good luck!
HigherEd2013 Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 I got a scholarship in my acceptance letter and then got the financial aid letter last Friday night. I did find it in my Gmail Spam folder so make sure you are checking there too, good luck! Great advice! I just checked my spam and found it. Everyone go check your spam!
lothloriensage Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 I got a scholarship in my acceptance letter and then got the financial aid letter last Friday night. I did find it in my Gmail Spam folder so make sure you are checking there too, good luck! Mine was also in my spam folder so I second this!
w4nd3rlu5t Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 In my case there was no mention of financial aid in the acceptance letter-- the award letter came about a week later. The good news is that I got lots more in scholarships than expected. Bad news (maybe?) is that there's no mention of federal loans. Here's hoping that information will come separately since I'd rather not have to deal with private loans. Anyone know if it's possible to get a headstart and begin in the summer session?
lmt007 Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 I was accepted Feb 20th, but still no award letter. I'm afraid I'm going to get the loans only letter, which is a sad, sad thing because, like many of you, I am unwilling to go $100k+ in debt, even for Columbia.
ASzofer Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 Oh no. I always delete my spam folder after very half-heartedly checking. I mean I'm going to HSGE anyway, but I feel like getting money from Columbia would make me think I'm more likely to get money to HSGE, which I won't know for a week or so I think.
ASzofer Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 I do know, btw, dnanthro, that for Vanderbilt some people knew right away about scholarships and mine did not come until a month and half later, but I still got one. So I wouldn't rule it out.
SMF711 Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 My financial aid award letter was also in my spam folder. I did nt receive my scholarship in my acceptance letter but it was included in my award letter. So there's still hope that you could get a scholarship!!
ASzofer Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 When did you guys get this spam letter? I'm pretty sure it's not retrievable at this point for me.
cardinal2013 Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 I received my financial aid letter in spam on Friday. Mine lists the scholarship TC awarded me in my acceptance letter, but doesn't say anything about federal loans. Did others receive info about loans?
emvtgse Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 I got mine at like 8:30 p.m. last Friday night but they also may be doing it in waves per someone else's post on here or by program. Good luck!
emvtgse Posted March 19, 2013 Posted March 19, 2013 Mine has my scholarship (which was also in my acceptance letter) and also has loans and work study information.
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