HGSE 2016

[nrvsandexcited94]

I saw that the master's acceptance rate is about 50%. Does anybody know if acceptance rates vary between master's programs? If so, any idea about L&L?

[Vulpix]

2 minutes ago, nrvsandexcited94 said:

I saw that the master's acceptance rate is about 50%. Does anybody know if acceptance rates vary between master's programs? If so, any idea about L&L?

I would say yes, because some programs are much bigger/smaller than others.  I really don't know about L&L.  Is that a more teaching-based program?  I'm tempted to say those are on the higher end of acceptance rate compared to policy type programs, but that just might be anecdotal...

[Vulpix]

39 minutes ago, graciasadios said:

Profiles of the last three years of Grad School Cafers who were admitted to HGSE complete with minimums, maximums, and averages.

Muchas gracias!  You know what would be equally interesting... the rejection stats!   Which, often times, are identical to the acceptance stats... makes you want to bang your head against the wall 

[JWalters]

I think that the similarities between accepted and rejected based on these metrics point strongly to the fact that SOP and LOR mean a lot. I once heard a statistic that MIT could have a class every year of students with perfect scores on SATs... Harvard's in a similar boat.

[Vulpix]

56 minutes ago, JWalters said:

I think that the similarities between accepted and rejected based on these metrics point strongly to the fact that SOP and LOR mean a lot. I once heard a statistic that MIT could have a class every year of students with perfect scores on SATs... Harvard's in a similar boat.

This makes sense.  Certainly everyone who gets perfect scores applies to these types of schools, and you'd certainly get enough to fill a class.

I still *really* wonder about LORs.  I was able to read 1 of my 3.  I don't know how detailed or personal my other 2 were, and I really have no way of knowing how much effort they put into it.  I certainly picked them because I thought they could uniquely speak to skills I developed while working with them, but that doesn't mean they were able to write something moving or different for the admissions committee.  I assume the best LORs tell something about the candidate that wasn't otherwise obvious from the SOP or resume, and I know my first LOR did that, with a lot of special anecdotes about me... otherwise, who knows.

[graciasadios]

That's a good point. I did this when I was bored. If I get bored again, then maybe I'll make spreadsheet of the rejection profiles from the last few years! I think it was helpful to see different types of students who were admitted. For example, HGSE does not seem to be afraid of taking someone straight from their undergraduate or someone with no "education experience." Also, I wanted to see if there was a "cut off point" for GRE or GPA. The minimums I found in this very, very small sample size were: 153 Verbal, 149 Quantitative, 4.0 Analytical Writing, and 3.3 undergraduate GPA.

3 hours ago, Heather1011 said:

Muchas gracias!  You know what would be equally interesting... the rejection stats!   Which, often times, are identical to the acceptance stats... makes you want to bang your head against the wall 

 

[Vulpix]

38 minutes ago, graciasadios said:

That's a good point. I did this when I was bored. If I get bored again, then maybe I'll make spreadsheet of the rejection profiles from the last few years! I think it was helpful to see different types of students who were admitted. For example, HGSE does not seem to be afraid of taking someone straight from their undergraduate or someone with no "education experience." Also, I wanted to see if there was a "cut off point" for GRE or GPA. The minimums I found in this very, very small sample size were: 153 Verbal, 149 Quantitative, 4.0 Analytical Writing, and 3.3 undergraduate GPA.

 

Thank you so much for doing this!  I really appreciate it.  (And you're totally not crazy.... not at all...   I would have done the same crazy thing when bored).  I think the V/Q scores indicate that those are not highly valued, but the 4.0 AW score is pretty telling as a minimum.  

It's comforting to know that you don't need a ton of experience in the field already to be accepted (after all, I'm using this masters as an introduction to get INTO the field!)  But still, I can't help but feel like the majority of students will have the numbers AND the experience, and you have to be "extra special" to get in with less than that.  This is Harvard after all... there's just no shortage of qualified applicants.

I really wish I had *any* clue as to how many applicants they get each year.  Whether to HGSE as a whole, or each department more specifically.

[HBDXB]

4 hours ago, Heather1011 said:

I really wish I had *any* clue as to how many applicants they get each year.  Whether to HGSE as a whole, or each department more specifically

US News publishes percentage acceptance for HGSE masters as a whole ...towards the end of the report (within the index for each program).

Edited January 14, 2016 by HBDXB

[Vulpix]

8 hours ago, HBDXB said:

US News publishes percentage acceptance for HGSE masters as a whole ...towards the end of the report (within the index for each program).

Yeah, we know percentages but we don't know the number of applicants.  I did just see this on Peterson, but I wish it was broken down Masters vs. PhD

 

• • Acceptance Rate
    • Applied2,891
    • Accepted941
    • Acceptance Rate32%
    •  

Edited January 14, 2016 by Heather1011

[HBDXB]

29 minutes ago, Heather1011 said:

Yeah, we know percentages but we don't know the number of applicants.  I did just see this on Peterson, but I wish it was broken down Masters vs. PhD

 

• • Acceptance Rate
    • Applied2,891
    • Accepted941
    • Acceptance Rate32%
    •  

Sorry...maybe I am misunderstanding the point.

But, if HGSE master program takes 650 students (say) in a batch, and the acceptance percentage is 50% (say), then one can work back the total number of applicants as 650 divided 50% = 1,300 applicants...isn't it?

[Shlee467]

5 hours ago, HBDXB said:

Sorry...maybe I am misunderstanding the point.

But, if HGSE master program takes 650 students (say) in a batch, and the acceptance percentage is 50% (say), then one can work back the total number of applicants as 650 divided 50% = 1,300 applicants...isn't it?

It's probably about 50%. The PhD and EdLD programs are like 5% which heavily skews that data. I know that 500 some people apply for the 25 EdLD spots every year. 

As far as test scores and GPAs go, I really think the are the lowest of things that matter. You could have a perfect score and be rejected. It's just a simple minimum requirement piece to see that you understand basic math and writing. They know what they are looking for. I think it's important not to worry about things like numbers and just trust that you argued your strongest case in your SOP and that your resume speaks to your capabilities. HGSE doesn't even give you a GPA when you graduate. At all. Anywhere. And they tell you not to make it up. I think that shows how little they care about the numbers themselves. 

Fun fact, once you're in, a B- is the lowest grade you're going to get on anything. The grading scale for most projects is A, A-, B+, B, B- with no numerical value attached. It's just "OK you did the assignment, you did it correctly, you did it decently, you did it well, you did it excellently." 

[Vulpix]

6 hours ago, HBDXB said:

Sorry...maybe I am misunderstanding the point.

But, if HGSE master program takes 650 students (say) in a batch, and the acceptance percentage is 50% (say), then one can work back the total number of applicants as 650 divided 50% = 1,300 applicants...isn't it?

But 650 is the number attending, right?  Not the number accepted?  Not sure.  Either way, I think 50% is probably high.... or at least, misleading, in the sense that it's not comparable to a state university undergrad situation where it's 50% of applicants with average credentials... this is 50% of applicants, most of whom have amazing credentials....

Edited January 14, 2016 by Heather1011

[Vulpix]

51 minutes ago, Shlee467 said:

It's probably about 50%. The PhD and EdLD programs are like 5% which heavily skews that data. I know that 500 some people apply for the 25 EdLD spots every year. 

As far as test scores and GPAs go, I really think the are the lowest of things that matter. You could have a perfect score and be rejected. It's just a simple minimum requirement piece to see that you understand basic math and writing. They know what they are looking for. I think it's important not to worry about things like numbers and just trust that you argued your strongest case in your SOP and that your resume speaks to your capabilities. HGSE doesn't even give you a GPA when you graduate. At all. Anywhere. And they tell you not to make it up. I think that shows how little they care about the numbers themselves. 

Fun fact, once you're in, a B- is the lowest grade you're going to get on anything. The grading scale for most projects is A, A-, B+, B, B- with no numerical value attached. It's just "OK you did the assignment, you did it correctly, you did it decently, you did it well, you did it excellently." 

Very interesting!  Is this true of undergrad too?  (I'm flashbacking to legends of George W. Bush at Yale, receiving "Gentleman's C's" instead of F's ).  

As someone with limited experience in the field, though, I like to think that what my resume lacks is compensated for in my AW score/respectable GPA.  I assume the same would go for recent college grads who may not have the resumes but have the SOP passion and demonstrated academic ability.

[nm16]

16 hours ago, Heather1011 said:

Very interesting!  Is this true of undergrad too?  (I'm flashbacking to legends of George W. Bush at Yale, receiving "Gentleman's C's" instead of F's ).  

As someone with limited experience in the field, though, I like to think that what my resume lacks is compensated for in my AW score/respectable GPA.  I assume the same would go for recent college grads who may not have the resumes but have the SOP passion and demonstrated academic ability.

Pretty much. 

This was a pretty recent happening at the College. "Harvard Official: A- is Median Grade and A Most Common Across All Three FAS Divisions and SEAS" -- http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2013/12/5/grade-inflation-divisions-seas/

16 hours ago, Heather1011 said:

But 650 is the number attending, right?  Not the number accepted?  Not sure.  Either way, I think 50% is probably high.... or at least, misleading, in the sense that it's not comparable to a state university undergrad situation where it's 50% of applicants with average credentials... this is 50% of applicants, most of whom have amazing credentials....

I think the latter part of what you said is definitely true. The applicant pool is already self-selected, to some degree, due to stats, background, and personal circumstances. This is straight from the HGSE admissions blog (https://hgseadmissions.wordpress.com/2014/11/21/application-advice/):

You are considering applying for Harvard: that speaks volumes.  It’s a self-selecting applicant pool.  Chances are, you have a compelling story to tell about why you want to work in the field of education, have done some amazing things in the last few years, and have an equally good reason for wanting to complete further studies.

[elveintiocho]

On 7 de enero de 2016 at 10:36 PM, HBDXB said:

Applying for Ed. M. 
Program: Special Studies
GRE Score: V 160, Q 167, AWA: 4.5 
GPA: 3.9 (Masters degree in Finance - passed with top 10% GPA). 
Last University: Business school ranked amongst top 5 globally.  
Work Experience: NO experience in education. Currently: Partner in an boutique investment and advisory firm (outside of US).  Total 15 years of experience by Aug 2016. 

Area of concern: Lack of experience in education. Of course, SOP explains rationale for wanting to pursue a masters degree in education at age of 40!! Has anyone heard of students being admitted to the Special Studies program without any experience in education?

 

Wow, there is an Ed.M. student this year with a profile almost identical as yours (business background, in her 40s, international, no previous experience in education but an amazing mission and great reasons for pursuing this master's). So if you were able to convey all of this in your SoP, I think your chances are pretty good, if not better than more "traditional" candidates'. HGSE tries really hard to have a well-rounded cohort with students from many different backgrounds. 

[Huskyboy2015]

Just wondering if anyone knows when do we fill out the online HGSE financial aid application. The website states that HGSE will contact us, has anyone received an email from financial aid? Also should I fill out my FAFSA now?? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

[dotori]

Program: Mind, Brain, & Education (MBE)
GRE Score: V 151, Q 160, AWA: 6.0
GPA: 3.72
Work Experience: Strategy Consulting, neuroscience research
Undergrad Institution (Public, Private, Ivy, etc..): Private Top 20.
Research Experience: Behavioral neuroscience research at Columbia, Neuroscience research at Cleveland Clinic, Current neuroscience research at a law school
What Other Schools Are You Applying To: Columbia Neuroscience & Education

I'm freaking out because after submitting, I kept reading my statement of purpose and I realized that it was horrible. I have about four paragraphs just rehashing my resume, nothing specific to HGSE, and my motivation is decent, at best. I'm really, Really concerned and I know most of you will say there's nothing you can do about it and don't think about it. But I'm wondering more of, do you think a bad statement of purpose (well not bad, but bland) will get me rejected? I remember someone here said that they try and look of reasons to keep people in...

I guess the few things going for me are that MBE isn't really high applicant pool and my interest is in criminal law and how education and neuroscience impacts it. I called the admissions office before I even thought about applying and they said that's pretty unique and I would be a good fit.

Also, from research, i found out that the acceptance rate is around 40-55% for M.S.Ed, but from the grad cafe forums it looks like around 80% get accepted and 66.6% each year. I don't know what to think!!!!! Someone help?

Edited January 17, 2016 by dotori

[Vulpix]

1 hour ago, Huskyboy2015 said:

Just wondering if anyone knows when do we fill out the online HGSE financial aid application. The website states that HGSE will contact us, has anyone received an email from financial aid? Also should I fill out my FAFSA now?? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

I haven't received any info regarding HGSE's financial aid app, but I did already submit my FAFSA (without my 2015 tax return.... you can submit it and estimate your income based on 2014 if it's similar, and then adjust later once your taxes are filed).  You can definitely fill out your FAFSA now!  Seeing as the FAFSA deadline will probably happen before I get all my tax information, I knew I might as well fill it out early.

Also, is it just me, or did the FAFSA take at most 15 minutes to complete?  I was so daunted by it, but all I had to do was look at last year's tax return and they literally tell you which lines to look at and report.  I'm pretty financially illiterate when it comes to IRS stuff, but that online FAFSA seemed incredibly user friendly to me.

56 minutes ago, dotori said:

Program: Mind, Brain, & Education (MBE)
GRE Score: V 151, Q 160, AWA: 6.0
GPA: 3.72
Work Experience: Strategy Consulting, neuroscience research
Undergrad Institution (Public, Private, Ivy, etc..): Private Top 20.
Research Experience: Behavioral neuroscience research at Columbia, Neuroscience research at Cleveland Clinic, Current neuroscience research at a law school
What Other Schools Are You Applying To: Columbia Neuroscience & Education

I'm freaking out because after submitting, I kept reading my statement of purpose and I realized that it was horrible. I have about four paragraphs just rehashing my resume, nothing specific to HGSE, and my motivation is decent, at best. I'm really, Really concerned and I know most of you will say there's nothing you can do about it and don't think about it. But I'm wondering more of, do you think a bad statement of purpose (well not bad, but bland) will get me rejected? I remember someone here said that they try and look of reasons to keep people in...

I guess the few things going for me are that MBE isn't really high applicant pool and my interest is in criminal law and how education and neuroscience impacts it. I called the admissions office before I even thought about applying and they said that's pretty unique and I would be a good fit.

Also, from research, i found out that the acceptance rate is around 40-55% for M.S.Ed, but from the grad cafe forums it looks like around 80% get accepted and 66.6% each year. I don't know what to think!!!!! Someone help?

Here's my two cents.  I think the SOP is the most important thing they look at, and a "bad" one (btw, I'm sure you're overthinking it) could be a reason to get rejected.  I'd be happy to read yours and give an outside opinion.  But, looking at your experience and unique background, I'm sure that shines through and is valid to the committee, and will definitely elevate their opinions of you as a candidate.  As long as your SOP added some degree of new insight into you that your resume didn't, at any point, it has additional value.  I was also concerned that my SOP rehashed my resume, because I'm certain that maybe 40% of my SOP does rehash my resume, but I made sure that the seminal points of the rest of it were newly insightful (aka could not be gleaned from my resume/academic background because they were personal, anecdotal, or aspirational).  I also made sure that whenever I felt like I was rehashing my resume too much, I would tie it back to HGSE.  Something to consider: did you think about the need to *not* rehash your resume before you wrote it, or was it just after the fact that you realized that was a bad idea?  I feel fortunate that I read through previous HGSE threads here (because I have no life) and therefore knew from other candidates what HGSE wants to see, which is *why them* *why you* *why now*, and don't rehash your resume.  But like I said, that's not an automatic disqualifier, and I think especially for the MBE program, you'd be in good standing.

On a completely separate note, I have also noticed that a greater majority of gradcafe posters are accepted than rejected (as you said, 60-80% perhaps), and that certainly has to do with the fact that we are obviously among the more obsessed/invested people in our own application process, so much so that we felt the need to commune and seek each other's counsel about it.  I also think gradcafe can be attributed for a lot of the strengths I feel I put into my own application, because without this site I wouldn't really know much about HGSE or what admissions looks for.  Obviously, this site is not representative of the nameless hundreds (thousands?) who also apply to these schools.  So, it's worth some inward reflection whether or not you consider yourself one of the *crazy* invested applicants.  I'd been thinking about my application for 6 months before I applied.  Now, I still haven't gotten accepted, (just newly confident after getting into Penn, which I think is actually more competitive than HGSE for my particular program), so I have no idea how much investment and passion for the application process ultimately pays off, but I did feel like I knew exactly what HGSE was looking for in the SOP.

FWIW, I think confidence goes a long way in SOPs.  I remember applying to college 9 years ago and praying I'd get accepted to my dream school, and thinking "it's not possible but I also wholeheartedly believe it's the right place for me to be."  I approached my SOPs in much the same way, because I wasn't treating HGSE as a "please take me, I don't really believe in myself that much that I deserve to go to you."  I treated HGSE as a perfect match, that we are both deserving of each other.  I like to think that confidence in our "relationship" is convincing.  It definitely got me into a reach college the first time, and has worked so far in this graduate admissions process.

Edited January 17, 2016 by Heather1011

[elveintiocho]

21 hours ago, Huskyboy2015 said:

Just wondering if anyone knows when do we fill out the online HGSE financial aid application. The website states that HGSE will contact us, has anyone received an email from financial aid? Also should I fill out my FAFSA now?? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

I just checked and last year we got an email on January 16, so you should be hearing from the Financial Aid office anytime soon. 

[rg123]

Hi all,

Been reading this for a while and figured I should join in on the fun

 

Applying for: Ed.M. 
Program: Language and Literacy: Reading Specialist Strand
GRE Score: V 150, Q 152, AWA: 4.0
Undergrad GPA:  3.18 in a public university
Work Experience: 2 years in Teach for America, working in a charter school as an elementary school teacher. This year I was the reading comprehension specialist for my grade level. 

Other relevant experience: was selected to go on a leadership fellowship to Israel with other teachers working for education reform in TFA and from other countries under the Teach for All organization. I will be going back to Israel this summer to teach English in a low-income community. 

 

What do you think my chances are of getting in? 

[Vulpix]

2 hours ago, rg123 said:

Hi all,

Been reading this for a while and figured I should join in on the fun

 

Applying for: Ed.M. 
Program: Language and Literacy: Reading Specialist Strand
GRE Score: V 150, Q 152, AWA: 4.0
Undergrad GPA:  3.18 in a public university
Work Experience: 2 years in Teach for America, working in a charter school as an elementary school teacher. This year I was the reading comprehension specialist for my grade level. 

Other relevant experience: was selected to go on a leadership fellowship to Israel with other teachers working for education reform in TFA and from other countries under the Teach for All organization. I will be going back to Israel this summer to teach English in a low-income community. 

 

What do you think my chances are of getting in? 

I think your GPA is a bit low, but not a deal breaker.  It would not be unheard of for that to be ignored by HGSE if your SOP is really strong!  Do you have LORs from professors who can speak to your academic ability?  That might've been a good idea because HGSE might be wondering how you'd do in classes. 

Edited January 18, 2016 by Heather1011

[JWalters]

2 hours ago, rg123 said:

Hi all,

Been reading this for a while and figured I should join in on the fun

 

Applying for: Ed.M. 
Program: Language and Literacy: Reading Specialist Strand
GRE Score: V 150, Q 152, AWA: 4.0
Undergrad GPA:  3.18 in a public university
Work Experience: 2 years in Teach for America, working in a charter school as an elementary school teacher. This year I was the reading comprehension specialist for my grade level. 

Other relevant experience: was selected to go on a leadership fellowship to Israel with other teachers working for education reform in TFA and from other countries under the Teach for All organization. I will be going back to Israel this summer to teach English in a low-income community. 

 

What do you think my chances are of getting in? 

I think that your scores aren't tremendous, so it's really going to come down to your SOP and your LORs. 

[rg123]

6 minutes ago, Heather1011 said:

I think your GPA is a bit low, but not a deal breaker.  It would not be unheard of for that to be ignored by HGSE if your SOP is really strong!  Do you have LORs from professors who can speak to your academic ability?  That might've been a good idea because HGSE might be wondering how you'd do in classes. 

 

5 minutes ago, JWalters said:

I think that your scores aren't tremendous, so it's really going to come down to your SOP and your LORs. 

 

Hi guys, thanks for replying.

I agree that my scores aren't anything worth admission alone. My SoP is strong. My two of my recs are from mentors/content coaches at the school I'm working at, and one of them is from TFA. I know they are strong recommendations. I know that past HGSE students were saying on this thread that admission seems very holistic, but I was wondering if my scores will negatively impact my chances on getting in, despite having a strong resume, SoP, and recs.

[Vulpix]

17 minutes ago, rg123 said:

 

 

Hi guys, thanks for replying.

I agree that my scores aren't anything worth admission alone. My SoP is strong. My two of my recs are from mentors/content coaches at the school I'm working at, and one of them is from TFA. I know they are strong recommendations. I know that past HGSE students were saying on this thread that admission seems very holistic, but I was wondering if my scores will negatively impact my chances on getting in, despite having a strong resume, SoP, and recs.

I think they *could* negatively impact your chances, because it's been rare to read about someone on these forums getting in with a GPA sub 3.4 or so, without incredible experience and SOP, etc.  I'm sure you have strong everything else, but that's why I said I thought it would be a good idea that 1 of your 3 recommendations comes from an academic reference.  I think Harvard wants to know that you are holistically hard-working and focused (TFA/coach recs), but also needs evidence that you will be able to handle the intense academic workload of HGSE, that you are a strong reader and writer and student in general.  Do you think your application demonstrates that you are academically capable beyond personally capable?  These may be different things, and HGSE wants us to have it all, because they can afford to be picky.  They always say that if one part of your application is lacking, make the rest shine.  It sounds like you made the rest shine and thus gave yourself a good chance  

Also, as someone who also works in charter schools surrounded by TFA alums, I know that HGSE values TFA, because two of my coworkers went to HGSE.  That being said, they also had 7 years of teaching experience by that time, and stellar GPA/scores from Cornell and NYU undergrads, so..... 

Edited January 18, 2016 by Heather1011

[graciasadios]

The Assistant Director of Admissions just emailed me!  Why? To let me know that I need to submit another version of my transcript.  Long story short, the pdf had a built-in expiration date and I had to send another copy. I don't think there is any significance here other than the confirmation that they are reviewing our applications!