Re: Ed.D programs -- what are my chances?

[harris_t.r.]

Hello -- this is my first post, but I've been eavesdropping on these forums for a while now.  I'm a secondary-school teacher with some administrative experience in private international schools in the Middle East (Arab countries and Israel).  My administrative experience and teaching experience is in the IB curriculum and am hoping to continue a career working for the actual IBO -- ultimate career goal is secondary-school administration + IBO senior administration post (such as Chief Academic Officer or Senior Assessment Officer, Director General, etc.)  

 

I'm aiming high, but I've noticed a lot of people who work with the IBO have leadership experience working for international schools that offer the IB curriculum.  I'd like to potentially work my way up to a school director or head, but I'm plotting my next move while I continue to work.

 

As it stands now I have 5 total years teaching experience (+ 2 years as Graduate TA that I don't count) -- 4 of those years international, 1 year regular teaching, 2 as Head of Department and 1 as a Coordinator.  I will likely continue teaching and working as an administrator/coordinator for the next 3-5 years before I actually apply to Ed.D programs.  I have an excellent job at the moment and am reluctant to leave anytime soon. 

 

I'm also wondering about taking 1 year to 18 months to manage an education NGO once I have more managerial experience from my current post.  This would give me about 6-8 years administrative/management experience in international education when I apply.  

 

Stats:

 

• Have a B.A. in History from an average state school (3.4 GPA)
• Have an M.A. in history + teaching credential from a different average state school (3.9 GPA)
• Haven't taken GREs for a while, but had average verbal, below average quant., 5.5 AW
• Haven't been in contact with letters of rec from graduate program, but I should have 1 decent academic reference and hopefully a very good professional reference or 2 from work experience
• What else?

 

I'm looking at the best programs I can find for the Ed.D -- list includes:  Stanford, Harvard, UPenn, Vanderbilt, UVA -- potentially UNC, UCLA or Indiana.

 

Am I competitive without an M.A. in the field of education?  Do I have a chance with these schools?  Would I be more competitive if I earned an additional master's in international education?  Does my career trajectory make sense?

[harris_t.r.]

I'll simply my question since no one has responded.  

 

1).  Would I be more competitive for top Ed.D programs with a master's degree in education?  I have a master's in history.

2).  Is my experience sufficient -- how much experience do most in these programs have?

3).  Am I competitive given my stats.

[confusedkate]

I don't know much about your background, but I will try to answer your questions based off what these schools are looking for.

1) I don't think getting a masters in education will do much more for you. I think you've already shown a dedication to being educated by pursuing a masters. In my opinion, getting another would mostly be a waste of money/time that could be spent heading into the education field.

2) I think you have a lot of experience, but I also think it's important to look at what these schools want in terms of experience. You are looking at the highest ranked schools in the country for this field. I applied to most of these and my experience was that a school like UPenn or Harvard (one year programs) are looking for people that have more experience and have already been in the field. On the other hand, schools like Vanderbilt are looking to take a very young population and the majority of admitted students were 0-3 years out of undergrad and had less "real world experience" but a lot of experience with higher ed/student affairs type work while in undergrad.

3) Again, you are applying to the top programs in the country. Your gpa (especially masters) seems good. But you need to be "above average" on the GRE. I would start studying and get your quant to at least average and your verbal to above average. If you look at the results page people applying to these schools/programs are usually in the 160s with one section and at least high 150s with the other. You didn't specifically say where you fall, but this is the minimum of where you should aim to be--and even then there will be a good amount of people applying with almost 170s in both categories (especially to Harvard and Stanford). Also, I only applied to masters programs, but since you want an EdD the scores may need to be higher than what I posted above. As for your references professional ones are good, but make sure that you do have at least that one academic reference and that it is a strong one. Usually these programs look more towards the academic references than the professional ones.

Hope this helps. Feel free to pm me with more questions.

[harris_t.r.]

Thank you confusedKate for your feedback!  Helps me think through this a lot --  I know you're right in that I should study hard for the GRE.  Seems like GRE quant section is fairly easy ... just need to focus. 

 

[hj2012]

I don't think Stanford or Harvard offers Ed.D. programs, and I don't think your background really "fits" for a PhD at either of those places, where research experience is probably the most important factor. 

 

Perhaps Harvard's Ed.L.D. program? If you already have a job that you're settled in, you might also consider distance programs like the Ed.D. at Hopkins.

Edited June 23, 2014 by hj2012

[harris_t.r.]

Thanks to MAC2809 & hj2012 for the advice.

 

That's right!  I'm rusty with my research on Ed.D programs ... Stanford POLS program is only M.A. and Harvard has the Ed.L.D. thing.  I don't believe I want to do the Ph.D although I had originally thought the POLS program (Me.D or whatever the abbrev. is) would be a fit given my interests.  Maybe Stanford will offer some sort of Ed.D or Ed.L.D. equivalent by the time I apply?

 

I really like the cohort model offered at UCLA and (I believe) Penn -- not sure I like the Hopkins online option.  I live in Tel Aviv at the moment, but would like to move back to the states in 4 years or so.  Appreciate everyone's input!

 

One last question:  so are most people in Ed.D programs having more than 6-7 years experience in administration?  Are most in their mid- to late-30s?

Edited June 24, 2014 by harris_t.r.