UCLA GSEIS *or* SSCE 2014

[Coconut Water]

Would be great to see some others here who are involved with:

 

* GSEIS (Graduate School of Education and Information Studies) 

 

and/or the 

 

* SSCE (Social Sciences and Comparative Education) Division

 

hence,  this new thread.

 

I will be coming in as a Master's student in SSCE, sub-specialization in Cultural Studies (it's very media oriented). Currently wondering what to roughly, possibly base my thesis on. Am gearing up to contact my advisor ahead of time. But am still getting up to speed on grad student etiquette, just want to be considerate of how and when is the best way to correspond. Worked hard to get into my dream program, don't want to mess anything up. A tad nervous. Maybe even shy!

 

 

[bakalamba]

Congratulations. I got my MA in SSCE, specializing in Cultural Studies, in 2011. I'd be happy to share my experiences, PM me.

[natxio]

I am an undergraduate at UCLA interested in SSCE, but I don't know if my application is strong enough. What are some things you recommend? Sorry I know it's unrelated to your question.

[bakalamba]

natxio, have you met with any of the SSCE faculty? That would be a good place to start. It's a really interdisciplinary program, so what would really strengthen your application is a good match with one of the faculty members (and this is true of any graduate program). I'm not sure how much weight they put on GPA or GRE. There were a few grads in my cohort that went directly from their UCLA Bachelors into the program.

 

If you don't mind me asking, why are you interested in SSCE and not the Teacher Educaiton Program? Is your goal teaching, educational research, social work, or something else?

[natxio]

I am interested in the SSCE program because I love the literature on CRT and cultural capital especially within the context of education. I actually am not interested in teaching k-12 at all, I would like to go into academia or policy. I am also a Gates Scholar and SSCE is fully funded for me. I am somewhat torn between HEOC though because most of my research has been done within the context of higher education, access and retention, but pulling in the socio-historical factors as well. 

[Coconut Water]

I am an undergraduate at UCLA interested in SSCE, but I don't know if my application is strong enough. What are some things you recommend? Sorry I know it's unrelated to your question.

Go to an Information Session - since you are local you absolutely should. I attended not one, but two. And it was extremely informative regarding the application process and what to aim for in the GRE. You can ask about the GPA in a session. I had also emailed a professor ahead of time just to see if he was accepting new advisees, and he ended up offering to meet with me in person (this doesn't always happen though)! This was extremely helpful! Take advantage of being local, it really gave me that much more of an edge. I feel kind of bad, though for those who did not have this advantage. The Statement of Purpose is *very* important, as I was told by the professor.

[Coconut Water]

Congratulations. I got my MA in SSCE, specializing in Cultural Studies, in 2011. I'd be happy to share my experiences, PM me.

Hi bakalamba, 

Will do.

[natxio]

Go to an Information Session - since you are local you absolutely should. I attended not one, but two. And it was extremely informative regarding the application process and what to aim for in the GRE. You can ask about the GPA in a session. I had also emailed a professor ahead of time just to see if he was accepting new advisees, and he ended up offering to meet with me in person (this doesn't always happen though)! This was extremely helpful! Take advantage of being local, it really gave me that much more of an edge. I feel kind of bad, though for those who did not have this advantage. The Statement of Purpose is *very* important, as I was told by the professor.

Thanks! Yeah I'm waiting for the info sessions to start up this coming fall. I've actually tried emailing professors multiple times and I've gotten no response. I might just have one of their colleagues introduce me in an email since I am close to people in other offices who know them. I've done research under the human development department within gseis with Dr. Mistry as well, so I may ask her to introduce me to someone in the specific department I am interested in. I'm still really torn between both social science and comparative Ed and higher ed since I love both so much.

[Coconut Water]

Thanks! Yeah I'm waiting for the info sessions to start up this coming fall. I've actually tried emailing professors multiple times and I've gotten no response. I might just have one of their colleagues introduce me in an email since I am close to people in other offices who know them. I've done research under the human development department within gseis with Dr. Mistry as well, so I may ask her to introduce me to someone in the specific department I am interested in. I'm still really torn between both social science and comparative Ed and higher ed since I love both so much.

Use your connections! I understand it's common for professors not to get back to prospective applicants. 

 

I was extra careful about emailing -  and did not even expect to hear back, honestly. They're all busy, and who was I, a total stranger to invade their inbox? But I first looked into etiquette, etc. And I treated it as almost a (brief) introduction, almost like a job application cover letter, offering a bit of a snapshot as to why I'm genuinely interested in the program. And I first read essays and such by the person I was emailing, so by the time I reached out, I was able to express my very sincere interest in the areas of research.

 

I didn't do this at UCLA, but perhaps you reach out to the dept. to see if you could sit in on a class to help you decide? You could contact the Office of Student Services at GSEIS. And let them know you are planning to apply, and what you are interested in doing.

 

Good luck!

[bakalamba]

I am interested in the SSCE program because I love the literature on CRT and cultural capital especially within the context of education. I actually am not interested in teaching k-12 at all, I would like to go into academia or policy. I am also a Gates Scholar and SSCE is fully funded for me. I am somewhat torn between HEOC though because most of my research has been done within the context of higher education, access and retention, but pulling in the socio-historical factors as well. 

 

It seems like you interests fit well. I think you'd do well with either SSCE or HEOC, there's significant overlap between these two programs, and students take classes in the other program pretty frequently. The faculty of the two even publish together (specifically Robert Rhoads and Carlos Torres). When I was there, there's many students interested in Higher Ed in SSCE; because of the Comparative Education focus, many have interest in studying colleges and universities internationally. I think the K-12 / Higher Ed split is kind of an artificial separation that was made somewhere in the formation of education graduate schools, but I think SSCE bridges it pretty well. If you're applying for the MA, I think either would be great. For the PhD, you'd be better if you figured out which faculty member you want to advise you, and choose their program.

 

I don't want to drop names, but the SSCE Graduate Advisor is very helpful - if she can't help you with sitting in a class, I'm sure she could refer you to the right person. And if faculty meets you, I think they're more likely to respond to emails in the future (or you could just ask your questions after class). Ask them about other faculty members who might share your interests: then you can email them with a "Prof. So-and-so referred me to you" comment.

 

Good luck

[Coconut Water]

Anyone else out there have advice or experience to share on figuring out what their thesis will be/was/is?