Undergrad Senior Looking for a Grad School

[RushRealSlow]

Hey everybody,

I'm currently in my senior year of SUNY Fredonia (NY) where I am finishing up my degree in English Adolescent Education with my minor in Spanish. I come from a long line of blue collar workers and both my parents are disabled; for this reason, I want to get into the best grad school I can. I've been looking at Columbia and Middlebury (for English). I'm looking to get my degree in English Ed or English (if they the GRE isn't mandatory) for my professional certification for teaching. Here is some information to help you out:

I have a 3.79 overall GPA, which is the same as my program GPA. I've been an Resident Assistant for 2 years (all male Freshman building, did involve volunteer work) and a Spanish & Writing tutor for 3 years at my school's tutoring center. I'm in Alpha Lambda Delta (Freshman honor society), Golden Key Society, and Sigma Tau Delta (English honor society). I was the social chair for Teacher Education Club for 2 semesters, Special Events Chair for Spectrum Entertainment for 2 semesters (was in charge of a 35,000 dollar budget), Fredonia Fest planing committee for 4 semesters (brought Cartel and O.A.R.), and I was the advisor for Hall Council for 2 years. I also won the Maytum-Strong Scholarship, which is given to third year English Ed. majors who show great potential and show high financial need. I'm also gay, but I don't think that will count me as a minority since it seems to be primarily based on race.

I really appreciate your time and answers! I'm just so very confused about grad school and I don't want to apply to schools which I have no chance of getting into, thus wasting my time and money!

[Justaplaneaway]

I went to TC and UPenn; you seem to have a good chance at Teachers College, and I would apply. Good luck!

[Ed_Doc]

Sorry to probe, but I have a few of questions:

-With such a strong academic record, why are you opposed to taking the GRE (or, why are you focusing on programs where it isn't required?)

-Does the English Education degree at SUNY not lead to certification?

-In what state are you seeking certification? (You listed a school in NY and a school in VT)

Your GPA, honors, and activities are all very strong. I'd highly recommend the Teacher Education Program (TEP) Master of Education degree from Harvard. It's an intensive year-long program that leads to MA state certification. There's also a very neat Masters program at Yale that leads to CT certification and has a funding option available if you sign on to teach in the New Haven public school system for a set amount of time post graduation.

There's nothing wrong with applying to schools you think are "out of your league." Think of it as testing your Zone of Proximal Development.

Good luck!

[green_tea09]

I think you should definitely apply to schools you think are out of your league. It sounds like you could write a compelling personal statement and it sounds like you would be a competitive applicant based on the info you provided. Note that UPenn's education department does not charge an application fee. They do require the GRE though...so why not take it? It wold give you more options when applying to programs. Also, when you have a list of schools that you want to apply to, I would recommend talking to someone in admissions about your financial situation and see if they might be able to waive the application fee. I am pretty sure some schools do that if you can prove that you don't have the financial resources to pay.