Phd in Higher Education Chances?

[armedwithamind]

Hello all,

 

I'm new to gradcafe and am in the preliminary stages of planning to apply for Phd programs for higher education. I principally want to gain a realistic expectation of what my chances are for Phd programs.

 

A bit of background,

 

I started my undergraduate career at a community college at which I had a GPA of around 3.4. I then transferred to a quality (though not well known) state university and graduated in 2012 with a double major in Public Policy & Administration and History with a minor in Classical Studies. My GPA was 3.1 at this institution.

 

I took the GRE in February of 2012 with absolutely no studying and scored the following:

 

163 verbal

146 quantitative

4.5 writing

 

I am confident with studying I can raise my quantitative to around 155 and possibly bump my writing up to 5. Despite my low quantitative score on the GRE I have fairly decent statistical abilities and am capable of using software such as SPSS Statistics for research.

 

I currently am a financial aid administrator at a top 3 public university and have been in this position for 9 months.  Before that, as a student, I worked part time as a prospect research assistant and had an internship with a community development office at a local government. 

 

I am working on narrowing down my research interests but some of the more broad interests I have are:

-Higher education development/philanthropy/endowment policy

-Financial aid policy/access issues

-Higher education infrastructure

-Student/alumni engagement strategies

-Greater public policy's interaction with higher education policy.

 

Again, these are just some broad interests I have and would, to the best of my ability, involve them in application materials.

 

As  previously mentioned I'm trying to gauge my chances at admission to Phd programs. Do I have a realistic shot at any of the top tier universities (Stanford, Harvard, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Penn etc) or should I set my sights lower? Should I gain a few more years of work experience before I bother applying?

 

Any advice/suggestions would be much appreciated. Also, not that I don't intend to dig through countless professor bios and scholarly articles, but if anyone has any suggestions for universities that have professors that have considerable research in my fields of interest (in particular higher education philanthropy and financial aid policy) I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction.

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited August 5, 2013 by armedwithamind

[hesadork]

It's difficult, if not impossible, to get admitted to PhD/EdD programs in HE without a master's in the field.  If you're serious about a doctorate the next step should be a master's degree, which will give you the credential, allow you to up your GPA and greatly focus your research interests.

 

Absent distinguished performance in a master's program I think it would be exceedingly difficult to get admitted to a doctoral program (with funding) given your credentials and work experience.  But don't despair!  There are lots of amazing master's programs that would set you up for further study.

 

This issue comes up from time to time on this board...you might check out older threads along the "masters before PhD" lines to get a flavor for the discussions.

 

Best of luck.

Edited August 6, 2013 by ADLNYC

[ZeChocMoose]

Based on your level of full-time experience in the field (less than a year) and lack of master's degree, I would say your chances of getting into a competitive higher ed PhD program are going to be extremely difficult and honestly maybe impossible.  Instead, I would recommend what ADLNYC has also suggested to seek out a master's degree in higher education.  This will also help narrow your research interests and write a more convincing SOP.  

 

You also don't indicate why you want a PhD in higher ed.  Are you hoping to secure a faculty position? policy? administration?  Different higher ed programs have different focuses for their PhD graduates.  You want to be in a program where you are going to receive the right type of training and mentoring for your career goals.

 

For your GRE scores, I would focus more on raising your quantitative score as opposed to the writing score especially if you are seeking to do a quantitative dissertation.

[armedwithamind]

Thanks for the reality check (no sarcasm)!

Im going to begin to study for the GRE and my hopes are to hit, at the very least, a 163 Verbal and 150 (ideally 155) on the quantitative.

I think the biggest reason I wanted to bypass the masters was not wanting to incur much (if any) debt. I enjoy administrative functions but ultimately I want to be in higher education policy/teaching higher education.

I live in Virginia and there are a number of schools with masters in Higher Education (UVA, William and Mary, Va Tech, ODU). The best of these, IMO, is UVA.

Since finances are a major concern of mine, I'm interested in knowing what Masters programs provide the best funding for accepted masters applicants. Any suggestions?

Given my strong interest in Development/Advancement/Philosophy I am particularly interested in Michigan.

[hesadork]

Again, take a peak through some of the recent HESA threads on this board for tips on who offers fully funded master's.  Recent threads have discussed UConn and Rutgers-New Brunswick among many others.  Bear in mind that some of these programs are heavily focused on student affairs, which may not fit with your interests.

 

I think you're smart to start with public universities in your home state.  Even if they don't provide a full ride, in-state tuition will be very helpful.

 

Finally, bear in mind that most of the faculty who teach HE have significant professional experience (in or out of HE) under their belt that informs their approach.  This is a very practice-oriented field (even at the doctoral/faculty level) -- so you may find that it will be wise to get a few solid years of work experience after your master's before jumping into a doctorate.  And if development/advancement is truly an interest, that may be where to focus to get some real experience to inform your research.

[ZeChocMoose]

I think the biggest reason I wanted to bypass the masters was not wanting to incur much (if any) debt. 

Since finances are a major concern of mine, I'm interested in knowing what Masters programs provide the best funding for accepted masters applicants. Any suggestions?

 

I got my master's degree fully funded for higher ed.  That is actually one of the best things about the field is there are a lot of master's degree programs that offer tuition remission, a stipend, and healthcare.  The fully funded programs tend to be at public universities.  I am not sure if I know of any private universities that fully fund all of their incoming students.  Private universities tend to offer partial funding or a limited number of full scholarships for higher ed master's degrees.

 

If you look at previous posts, generally you can get a sense of what these programs are or sometimes it is just easier to contact the programs that you are interested in to see what options that are for scholarships/assistantships.

[michigan girl]

OP, while it is understandable that you don't want to incur additional debt, it will be advantageous for you to pursue the master's degree in higher education. If your interests change over time, you can use the master's degree to explain your transition. This will make you into a stronger candidate for doctoral admissions. At my program, nearly all the doctoral students have a master's degree in higher education or related field OR a minimum of five years professional experience in student affairs, higher education policy, and institutional research. Typically, higher education doctoral programs are reluctant to accept anyone under the age of 26. Unlike traditional disciplines, higher education is a field based on theory and practice. Faculty want to see applicants who have a firm understanding of what the enterprise of higher education entails along with relevant professional experience in higher education. 

Edited September 20, 2013 by michigan girl