HGSE Fall 2015

[mctsw]

ummmm...rhfer...HGSE has programs with an acceptance rate over 50%. I wouldn't worry.

 

Which HGSE masters programs have an acceptance rate over 50%? I think I have borderline stats (worse than mostly everybody's on this forum.

[la_manda_panda]

Which HGSE masters programs have an acceptance rate over 50%? I think I have borderline stats (worse than mostly everybody's on this forum.

 

mctsw - I'm not sure exactly which have an acceptance rate over 50% - but according to this website, they have a 47% acceptance rate across all of the master's programs. 

 

http://www.petersons.com/graduate-schools/harvard-university-graduate-school-of-education-masters-programs-in-education-000_10035777.aspx

 

Sort of surprising, considering that it is Harvard ... but maybe there isn't a terribly huge pool of people in education who are interested in moving across country to attend grad school? 

 

Either way - good luck! EVERYONE keeps on saying that the GRE scores won't make or break you. I wouldn't worry too much about the GRE scores. 

 

This page gives the stats for admitted students & might be a more useful gauge for you:

 

http://www.gse.harvard.edu/doctorate/life/who-studies 

[Prayerocks]

Hi, I have a quick question: did anyone attended the virtue session for PhD deferral option? I'm not sure about the statement of interest for the deferral.

Can it be the same as my SoP for PhD application in terms of the research questions and reasons to choose HGSE? I find it's a bit weird, considering it might be the same committee to review both the PhD SoP and the deferral statement. Anyone has a clue? Thx!  

Edited December 22, 2014 by lila709

[awalrus]

^ I've been wondering this as well. Is the 500-word EdM referral SOP seen as an addendum to the 1000-word PhD SOP, or is the PhD SOP discarded and the EdM referral SOP looked at independently? Does anyone know?

[BigDreams]

Just submitted my application and so now my waiting begins. Best wishes to you all!

[omnomnam]

Current student here. A lot of what is in this thread is complete hearsay (not to discourage you!)...

 

HGSE does not release acceptance rates for its individual programs, nor does the admissions staff ever release such information to prospective students...anything you read or hear about a program's "greater than 50% acceptance rate" or "lower than 5% acceptance rate" is not necessarily accurate. Anyways, the numbers change significantly from year to year.

 

I think it's also important to realize that acceptance rate is not really as meaningful in the graduate school context as it is in the undergraduate context...a lot more "self-selection" goes on.

 

It seems a lot of people miss this important page on HGSE's site: http://www.gse.harvard.edu/masters/life/who-studies Lots of good info regarding the average student can be found there.

 

The importance of the Statement of Purpose cannot be emphasized enough, but some of the posts in this thread are implying that the GRE is unimportant...and that is not necessarily the case. HGSE approaches the GRE as most grad schools do: it's one part of a larger holistic application.

 

@awalrus If the doctoral program admissions committee decides to refer you to a master's program, the master's admissions committee will see both your original statement of purpose and the Ed.M. addendum.

 

If anyone has any questions, feel free to PM me! I applied directly out of undergrad, in case anyone has questions regarding that experience.

Edited December 28, 2014 by omnomnam

[la_manda_panda]

 

5) I hated the racial tensions that is apparent to everyone but nobody ever talks about. Sshh,,, it is a little secret that we NE liberals don't like to talk about. 

 

MAC2809 - Could you elaborate a little bit on this? I was honestly a little worried about racial tensions in Boston, but it didn't seem like something that I could bring up to admissions. I didn't want them to think I was paranoid ... but at the same time, I have some reservations about bringing my Latina / Filipina daughters to a place where they could be made to feel uncomfortable. 

 

Do you think we'd have something to worry about?

[la_manda_panda]

Current student here. A lot of what is in this thread is complete hearsay (not to discourage you!)...

 

HGSE does not release acceptance rates for its individual programs, nor does the admissions staff ever release such information to prospective students...anything you read or hear about a program's "greater than 50% acceptance rate" or "lower than 5% acceptance rate" is not necessarily accurate. Anyways, the numbers change significantly from year to year.

 

Omnomnam, not to be a know-it-all, as you're admitted and I clearly am not, but this is directly from an email that I received from the admissions office: 

 

Finally, because of its unique nature and small cohort size, the Ed.L.D. program is definitely selective. Historically we have received around 500 applications each year. However, we do not focus on admission rates and the like because it obscures the number one factor in the application process: fit. We have a holistic application review process that looks at all components of a student’s application. We want to ensure applicants can do rigorous doctoral work, but we also look for experience, willingness to learn, passion, and diversity of experience. If you see yourself as a fit for the program I recommend that you consider applying.

 

At least for the Ed.L.D. program, the admission rate is for sure around 5%. Of course, though, as you mentioned, the number of applications could fluctuate.

 

Still, the 5% number is good information for those of us who are applying to the Ed.L.D. program to have - at least in the sense that it keeps things in perspective. Not getting in isn't indicative of someone not being smart / qualified ... at some point, it's just a matter of if there was a spot for you in the cohort dynamic. At least, that's what I'm telling myself as I'm already starting to go crazy from the wait, and we have (at least) 6 more weeks to go! 

 

Are you in the Ed.L.D. program? I'm interested in hearing from someone who is in the Ed.L.D. program as to how the cohort feels. Are the students super competitive with each other? 

Edited December 31, 2014 by la_manda_panda

[csmith14]

Omnomnam, not to be a know-it-all, as you're admitted and I clearly am not, but this is directly from an email that I received from the admissions office: 

 

Finally, because of its unique nature and small cohort size, the Ed.L.D. program is definitely selective. Historically we have received around 500 applications each year. However, we do not focus on admission rates and the like because it obscures the number one factor in the application process: fit. We have a holistic application review process that looks at all components of a student’s application. We want to ensure applicants can do rigorous doctoral work, but we also look for experience, willingness to learn, passion, and diversity of experience. If you see yourself as a fit for the program I recommend that you consider applying.

 

At least for the Ed.L.D. program, the admission rate is for sure around 5%. Of course, though, as you mentioned, the number of applications could fluctuate.

 

Still, the 5% number is good information for those of us who are applying to the Ed.L.D. program to have - at least in the sense that it keeps things in perspective. Not getting in isn't indicative of someone not being smart / qualified ... at some point, it's just a matter of if there was a spot for you in the cohort dynamic. At least, that's what I'm telling myself as I'm already starting to go crazy from the wait, and we have (at least) 6 more weeks to go! 

 

Are you in the Ed.L.D. program? I'm interested in hearing from someone who is in the Ed.L.D. program as to how the cohort feels. Are the students super competitive with each other? 

Hey la_manda_panda! I see on the page that Omnomnam posted that 24 ED.L.D students entered for the 2014-2015 year, but I imagine they admitted at least a bit more than that. Was this the source you were using, or is there another source I am missing?

[omnomnam]

At least for the Ed.L.D. program, the admission rate is for sure around 5%. Of course, though, as you mentioned, the number of applications could fluctuate.

 

I said that HGSE does not release acceptance rates, and the email you quoted indeed mentions no acceptance rate statistics - it even adds that HGSE purposefully withholds information on acceptance rates. So, no, the Ed.L.D. admission rate is not "for sure" around 5%. Sorry if I seem nitpicky - I just don't want anyone to be misinformed, and there is quite a bit of misinformation in this thread.

 

Anyways, @csmith14 is correct in pointing out that dividing 24 by 500 would not give you the true acceptance rate, statistically speaking...so again, any comments on HGSE "acceptance rates" are completely speculative.

Edited January 2, 2015 by omnomnam

[la_manda_panda]

Hey la_manda_panda! I see on the page that Omnomnam posted that 24 ED.L.D students entered for the 2014-2015 year, but I imagine they admitted at least a bit more than that. Was this the source you were using, or is there another source I am missing?

 

csmith14 - Ooooh yeah. Ha. Of course, they admit people who don't matriculate.   

 

I wonder how many "extras"they admit to the program?  I imagine that there would be a pretty high yield rate for a fully-funded doctorate program at Harvard? I guess we're back to just speculating, though. Meh. 

[omnomnam]

And there's nothing wrong with speculating! I don't mean to be a total downer! 

 

 

Well annecodetly,

 

can you admit HGSE isn't terribly hard to get into for the masters program?

 

That's a difficult question to answer...it depends on what you mean by "terribly hard." If you're comparing HGSE to - say -  Harvard undergrad, then no, HGSE is not "terribly hard" to get into. But then again, most graduate programs (in any field) across the country are less selective than the undergraduate admissions process. That being said, graduate admissions is a completely different beast. Most people who apply to HGSE are passionate about education. Most people who apply to Harvard undergrad have no idea what they want to do with their lives.

 

Each Master's program at HGSE has a different admissions committee, so it also depends on which program you're applying for. You can peruse the Grad Cafe survey results to do some "smart speculating."

 

If I had to do my own "smart speculating," I would say it is not "easy" to get into any program at HGSE. In fact, I would guess that HGSE is probably overall the most selective graduate school of education in the U.S (I know, quite a bold statement). So the real question is "are ed schools hard to get into?" And the general answer to that question is "no," but I do think HGSE (and some other institutions commonly discussed here in this forum) is an exception because of its name and history.

 

Furthermore, I think it's pretty common for grad programs to be hush-hush about their admissions statistics. Mostly because - again - they're not very useful.

Edited January 3, 2015 by omnomnam

[rfer]

Good luck everyone!!!!!! 

[jose_lr]

Hi everybody. 

 

I’m from Peru. I’ve been reading the thread for a few months now. I know it's kind of late but I still wanted to join you guys. I’m applying for the IEP program and finally submitted my application yesterday.

 

GRE Score : V 154 (63%) Q 164 (88%) AWA 4.0 (56%)

TOEFL: 117

GPA UnderGrad: 3.7 (BA Anthropology)

Work and Research Experience: 2 years doing educational research for the Ministry of Education of Peru. 1 year doing research in early childhood development for UNICEF in indigenous communities located in rural Amazon areas. Extensive work in urban and rural public schools applying quantitative and qualitative methods such as classroom observations, interviews with teachers and students, applying academic evaluations and World Bank methodology to evaluate the use of time by teachers. Degree project to obtain the Licentiate in Anthropology through an ethnographic fieldwork in a public urban school.

Undergrad Institution: International Private 

Applying for PhD or Masters: Masters

Program: International Education Policy

 

 

Good luck to everyone! 

Edited January 6, 2015 by jose_lr

[samda]

How'd did everybody's apps go? Everything get submitted in time? I just submitted yesterday but the weight off my shoulders is significant.

 

I've been looking through some past threads and nothing is certain but it does seem like HGSE will post decisions during early March which means we all can enjoy two whole months of waiting starting...now!

[elveintiocho]

@José, welcome to the thread! @Samda, yes, from some of the past threads it does seem like HGSE posts decisions for the Master's programs during the first week of March. I applied about a month ago, so the waiting game has been on for me for a few weeks thus far! I'm trying to concentrate on work to keep my mind off it until March, but I always end up coming back to this thread 

 

Any fellow TIE applicants out there?

[workink]

Has anyone else applied for the school leadership program?

[Sofro]

@José, welcome to the thread! @Samda, yes, from some of the past threads it does seem like HGSE posts decisions for the Master's programs during the first week of March. I applied about a month ago, so the waiting game has been on for me for a few weeks thus far! I'm trying to concentrate on work to keep my mind off it until March, but I always end up coming back to this thread 

 

Any fellow TIE applicants out there?

I just submitted my application on Monday for TIE as well. I waited until the last day to be sure it was exactly how I wanted it to be. The statement of purpose was quite a process, but one that was worth the effort no matter what happens. In fact, the whole process has been a good experience for me. Now I need to focus on financial aid.I wish everyone the best of luck!

[rfer]

Hi! I cant find the financial aid application....

[jose_lr]

Hi! I cant find the financial aid application....

 

Hi, I believe we have to wait for an e-mail that's going to be sent to us from the HGSE Financial Aid Office later this month with those details.

[rfer]

Hi, I believe we have to wait for an e-mail that's going to be sent to us from the HGSE Financial Aid Office later this month with those details.

 Thank you, fellow IEP applicant! Good luck! 

[camly91]

Hi everyone! I'm new on this forum. I'm from France and this is my first time applying to an American institution. I have no idea if I'm a good applicant or not, since the French system is so different from the American one. Hopefully admission committees have good tools to evaluate international students!   As for fit, Harvard is definitely not the closest to my research interests, but I'm applying to other schools, mainly in History of Education. It doesn't seem to be the most popular programs (I see a lot of Education Policy) -- is anyone else applying to the "Cultural / Historical Foundations of Education" type of program?

 

Anyway here is my little summary : 

GRE Score : V 166 (96%) Q 156 (64%) AWA 4.0 (56%)

TOEFL: 115

GPA UnderGrad: N/A [French system : prépa, ENS]

Work and Research Experience: I conduct research at my school (ENS) which belongs to the French government so it's a full time job even though I'm a student. I'm writing a Master's thesis on school desegregation in North Carolina for my French Master's in American History. I taught French at Duke University for a year, and have some volunteering experience. Nothing too significant apart from that, unfortunately.

Undergrad Institution: International Private 

Program: Culture, Institutions, Society PhD 

Other schools I'm applying to: - PhDs: Teachers College, UIUC, Stanford - Master's : NYU, UPenn, UCLA, Berkeley

 

Good luck everyone !!! Hopefully we hear back soon! (I check the Results page all the time but it's always Neuroscience)

[la_manda_panda]

I got an email yesterday saying that my application was complete. I guess that means that they've started looking through the applications! 

 

... And so it begins!

[elveintiocho]

I got an email yesterday saying that my application was complete. I guess that means that they've started looking through the applications! 

 

... And so it begins!

 

 

I haven't received anything yet, so that's probably for doctoral applicants? Has anyone applying for Master's got an email? 

[BigDreams]

So in roughly 8-9 weeks we will know our admissions results! Anyone else having trouble sleeping? lol

 

Question: Could those who have applied to the Special Studies Program please share your unique interests? I plan to create an organization dedicated to experiential career development for high-school students. I would like to know what sorts of things the other SSP applicants are pursuing to gauge how diverse or similiar we are. It would be much appreciated.