HGSE 2017

[DChgse]

Hey everyone! Got my acceptance to EPM last Friday with y'all! Super stoked and am 100% I'll be attending HGSE in the fall. With that, do you all think the Open House is worth traveling to Boston for? If I was deciding between programs, I'd go for sure but knowing that this is where I'll be has me questioning it a bit. Thoughts?

[boscojoba]

5 hours ago, cavenue said:

Not here to get into a debate, but I'd just like to point out that everything you are saying is nothing more than hearsay, so I think anyone reading it should take it as such. You are very critical of a program and organizations like TFA (of which, yes, I am an alum) without ever having experienced them for yourself. That tells me everything I need to know about your posts. 

1. I have experienced programs like TFA.

2. Of course this is hearsay. A lot of info posted on these forums is hearsay. No one here can substantiate anything anyone says someone else told them. My post is no more nor less reliable than anyone else's whose content shares something someone else told them. I suspect you simply don't like what I've written, which is fine by me. Anyone reading can take it any way they like. On a related note, in view of recent realities about echo chambers, people could do with being aware of differing experiences.

[boscojoba]

1 hour ago, tgcaccount said:

I have to second cavenue's prior statement. As a second year Corps Member in TFA who is not white, I think you need to re-evaluate your judgement and perspectives quite a bit. It is one thing to be in the program (or an alumni from the program) and make judgement statements around it, but it is another thing to be a bystander who is listening to only a few samples of thousands of people. I do have to say that TFA has a lot to change, but they are definitely not a program that is creating a "white man's burden vibe." In all actuality, it is a program that is constantly changing and improving, and has made positive impact in disenfranchised communities.

Also, I really hate your constant, blanket statements. It has the similar cognitive mindset of a racist individual. Just saying.

Is there such a thing as a non-cognitive mindset, I wonder?

I have no intention to discuss TFA. This isn't the forum or thread for it.  I don't think I said TFA is creating a white man's burden vibe. What I did want to say is that from what I've heard, the most vocal individuals in IEP program classroom discussions are TFA and Peace Corps alums who talk about development and education in such ill-informed and paternalistic ways stemming from an overinflated sense of messianic self-importance as to create the sort of general white man's burden vibe that's in place. To me, what's lent credence to this are the experiences the international students have shared about how they have been treated by white Americans.

Also, of course I am listening to a few samples of experiences. Did I say otherwise? Am I a researcher evaluating this program who needs to be setting up rigorous controls for validity and reliability? Is anyone on here? I'm just sharing what I know with no more nor less claims of truthfulness than anyone else on this forum. Like I just posted, you can take it or leave it. You or anyone else simply not liking the contents of my post doesn't change its reliability relative to anyone else posting stuff they've heard from people in the program (or elsewhere that's relevant). "Hate" whatever you want to and say I'm a racist. It's no skin off my nose.

[cavenue]

58 minutes ago, boscojoba said:

Is there such a thing as a non-cognitive mindset, I wonder?

I have no intention to discuss TFA. This isn't the forum or thread for it.  I don't think I said TFA is creating a white man's burden vibe. What I did want to say is that from what I've heard, the most vocal individuals in IEP program classroom discussions are TFA and Peace Corps alums who talk about development and education in such ill-informed and paternalistic ways stemming from an overinflated sense of messianic self-importance as to create the sort of general white man's burden vibe that's in place. To me, what's lent credence to this are the experiences the international students have shared about how they have been treated by white Americans.

Also, of course I am listening to a few samples of experiences. Did I say otherwise? Am I a researcher evaluating this program who needs to be setting up rigorous controls for validity and reliability? Is anyone on here? I'm just sharing what I know with no more nor less claims of truthfulness than anyone else on this forum. Like I just posted, you can take it or leave it. You or anyone else simply not liking the contents of my post doesn't change its reliability relative to anyone else posting stuff they've heard from people in the program (or elsewhere that's relevant). "Hate" whatever you want to and say I'm a racist. It's no skin off my nose.

I surely don't like the content of your post, and I'd be curious to know the extent of your experience with TFA (coming from someone who has been both a corps member and a TFA staff member). It's just strange that every time you expand on your thoughts, your language becomes even more descriptive (e.g. "ill-informed" "paternalistic" "overinflated sense of messianic self-importance") - doesn't really sound like "someone commenting on something he/she heard from someone else". Rather, I'd have to agree that it sounds like someone with an axe to grind. 

Anywho, you're right that it's not the place for this type of discussion, so I'll leave it at that!

[boscojoba]

1 hour ago, cavenue said:

I surely don't like the content of your post, and I'd be curious to know the extent of your experience with TFA (coming from someone who has been both a corps member and a TFA staff member). It's just strange that every time you expand on your thoughts, your language becomes even more descriptive (e.g. "ill-informed" "paternalistic" "overinflated sense of messianic self-importance") - doesn't really sound like "someone commenting on something he/she heard from someone else". Rather, I'd have to agree that it sounds like someone with an axe to grind. 

Anywho, you're right that it's not the place for this type of discussion, so I'll leave it at that!

K

[bluesea1981]

TFA corps members and anti-TFA folks, as an alum of TNTP (the founder was a TFA alum, so the models are very similar), I think that people have a right to their opinions. TFA and TNTP have their flaws - we all know that. High turnover being one such issue and the intent of SOME entering corps members being another. But, there's also a lot of good in these programs. Let's just take those opinions with a grain of salt and not go on the defensive by pointing out how "offended" we feel about the use of certain words. Let's, instead, correct the misconceptions with objectivity. I'm not trying to play Pollyanna or mediator. I'm just saying that we're all too old for elitist mentalities or grievances (on both sides of the argument).

Edited March 9, 2017 by bluesea1981

[BhagBetty]

17 hours ago, DChgse said:

Hey everyone! Got my acceptance to EPM last Friday with y'all! Super stoked and am 100% I'll be attending HGSE in the fall. With that, do you all think the Open House is worth traveling to Boston for? If I was deciding between programs, I'd go for sure but knowing that this is where I'll be has me questioning it a bit. Thoughts?

Hello DcHgse,

I definitely think it's worth it to make the trip if you are able. I think there will be a lot of helpful information, networking, and to truly get a sense of the campus. I never visited the campus so I am definitely excited to get an opportunity to really experience what I will be looking forward to come August. 

[universe]

On 3/7/2017 at 5:26 PM, barboza said:

How much were they offering? 

 

Not sure; but what it looks like is you send them a request and they'll look at it and either deny/accept

[HisGrace]

So I sent HGSE my financial aid app like a day or two after February10th... the deadline. I sent the FAFSA in on time. 

Have others still received aid despite being a bit after the priority deadline?  

 

[FieldDayChamp]

Hello all!

If anyone would like a perspective on the EPM program feel free to DM me. I do alumni admissions help for HGSE and EPM and am open to sharing an honest perspective on the program for those of you who have been recently admitted. 

This is a throwaway account instead of the one I used when I was applying but I can assure you that the user name is an accurate reflection of my time at HGSE 

As an aside, some words of reflection from those of you who didn't get the news you were hoping for. First, I can say with 100% certainty that the admission decision is in no way a reflection of your viability for Harvard or the program. I honestly think it is somewhat ridiculous that students of this caliber are judged solely on what the fill in an application and I personally think this is confirmed by the wide spectrum of individuals that do and do not make it through admissions. While that probably doesn't make you feel better it might in the long run. Second, if you are still interested in pursuing HGSE there is no harm in honing your personal statement and letters of recommendation for next year (which I personally think are the most important parts of the application). Just yesterday I was in a meeting where admissions committee members (non-EPM) said this year's letters of rec were some of the most passionate and exceptional they had ever read. When I was applying, I found out that someone I was very close with and trusted dearly had phoned in their letter of rec for me which was ready to be submitted. After that I thought long and hard about who would be able to speak on my behalf and not just who I thought would be able to check off a box for me.

Either way, HGSE will still be there next year but you will be a changed and more developed person. Decide how you want the next year to go and how you want to tell your story for the second time around. And at the end of it all, you're the type of person who tries for something unknown, daring, and beyond challenging. That says more than enough about you and what you are capable of in education already. 

 

[Jazmin_gee]

On 3/8/2017 at 4:11 PM, DChgse said:

Hey everyone! Got my acceptance to EPM last Friday with y'all! Super stoked and am 100% I'll be attending HGSE in the fall. With that, do you all think the Open House is worth traveling to Boston for? If I was deciding between programs, I'd go for sure but knowing that this is where I'll be has me questioning it a bit. Thoughts?

Hi! As BhagBetty mentioned, I think it would be a great idea to attend Open House because not only will you meet students admitted to your program, but you will receive a lot of useful information. I'll be attending Open House, and I'm excited to familiarize myself with the campus and the city!

[HisGrace]

@vulpix your insight has been great.  Do you have a general sense of what the alumni/recent grads end up doing/going career wise? Is it hard to leverage the Harvard EdM outside of the education sector? Does anyone do consulting? 

[Levon3]

3 hours ago, HisGrace said:

@vulpix your insight has been great.  Do you have a general sense of what the alumni/recent grads end up doing/going career wise? Is it hard to leverage the Harvard EdM outside of the education sector? Does anyone do consulting? 

Which program? I've worked with a few HGSE grads, serving as admin for schools or charter networks. Some have degrees in teaching and learning, and others in policy. 

[HisGrace]

2 hours ago, Levon3 said:

Which program? I've worked with a few HGSE grads, serving as admin for schools or charter networks. Some have degrees in teaching and learning, and others in policy. 

Education policy and management

[DChgse]

Is anyone going to the DC event this Tuesday?

[elpoh51]

Is anyone going to the NYC event this Wednesday?

[BhagBetty]

I will be attending the NYC event Wednesday 3/15 unless it's cancelled due to the results of this storm we will be getting

[Vulpix]

On 3/12/2017 at 11:21 AM, HisGrace said:

@vulpix your insight has been great.  Do you have a general sense of what the alumni/recent grads end up doing/going career wise? Is it hard to leverage the Harvard EdM outside of the education sector? Does anyone do consulting? 

It really varies by program, but the reach is far and alumni are extremely helpful in connecting students with job opportunities.

[forgetful26]

1 hour ago, cavenue said:

In other news, HGSE just became the top education school in the country (passing Stanford for the number 1 spot)! Of course rankings don't really matter, but I'm a bit of a rankings nerd. 

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-education-schools 

It'd be nice if anyone has the desagreggrated indicators by area  

[Levon3]

On 3/14/2017 at 10:34 AM, forgetful26 said:

It'd be nice if anyone has the desagreggrated indicators by area  

They're on the website. https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-education-schools just scroll down to "Education Programs and Specialties."

[mg91]

Hey all. I need some help deciding. In addition to being admitted to HGSE's Specialized Studies program, I've been admitted into UC Berkeley and SFSU's Joint PhD program in Special Education. Both are amazing programs but two very different commitments. I believe my end goal is a Ph.D., and the Berkeley/SFSU program is a wonderful one for my research interests and needs. However, I wasn't eligible to many PhD programs this time around since I didn't have a masters, and am wondering if it's worth taking a year to do the Harvard program so that I would be eligible for more PhDs next time around... what do you think? A bird in the hand? My research interests are really specific and UCB/SFSU is really open and supportive to what I want to do... it seems like the right decision, but I'm having trouble imagining turning down a masters from Harvard and imagining all of the "what if" scenarios that could happen if I go that route... Help? Thank you!!

[midmarsh]

I was admitted to the IEP program and while I can't make a decision without hearing back about the financial aid information from Harvard, I'd like to hear more about what current students think about HGSE (and the IEP program, if possible). I'll be honest, the earlier posts in this forum were kind of unsettling but I'm taking it with a grain of salt.

So, my questions for current students:

1) What kind of relationship do you have with your cohort? Do you feel "close" with each other/supported by one another?

2) What's the process like for finding internships/jobs during the school year? Are any of them paid? How does the Field Experience Program work, exactly? Do you HAVE to enroll in the S997 or whatever course?

3) What's the quality of coursework like? Have you been able to build good relationships with your professors or are classes too large/impersonal to be able to do that?

4) I read somewhere in the backlogs that something like 80% of HGSE graduates have a job (or at least offers) by May. What kind of places are most students working at? On the IEP website, it has a pretty impressive list of UN agencies and other organizations but realistically, how many students are actually getting job offers from these places?

[Vulpix]

21 hours ago, midmarsh said:

I was admitted to the IEP program and while I can't make a decision without hearing back about the financial aid information from Harvard, I'd like to hear more about what current students think about HGSE (and the IEP program, if possible). I'll be honest, the earlier posts in this forum were kind of unsettling but I'm taking it with a grain of salt.

So, my questions for current students:

1) What kind of relationship do you have with your cohort? Do you feel "close" with each other/supported by one another?

2) What's the process like for finding internships/jobs during the school year? Are any of them paid? How does the Field Experience Program work, exactly? Do you HAVE to enroll in the S997 or whatever course?

3) What's the quality of coursework like? Have you been able to build good relationships with your professors or are classes too large/impersonal to be able to do that?

4) I read somewhere in the backlogs that something like 80% of HGSE graduates have a job (or at least offers) by May. What kind of places are most students working at? On the IEP website, it has a pretty impressive list of UN agencies and other organizations but realistically, how many students are actually getting job offers from these places?

I'm in IEP right now

1) Everyone in the cohort is very close. I think those who attended IPSIE, the summer program, are even more connected. There are a lot of people in it but it's a really cool bond.

2) There are a lot of internships, some of them are paid. You do NOT have to enroll in S997 (and most would not recommend doing so unless your internship is many hours a week and you just need to get credit for it).  I would say at least half of people in IEP have, or had in the fall, an internship. Almost no one did S997. Some of these internships are "remote" for organizations located elsewhere, but many are in Boston, at Harvard, at MIT, etc. I've had about 4 internships this year! (2 in each semester of varying commitment times) It's been a very important part of my experience and has definitely boosted my resume and connected me with potential jobs. I'm currently hoping to get a job in my current internship, and I also know that even if I don't, the experience is helping me tremendously.

3) Basically all of my professors know my name, and going to office hours helps with that. Even stats that has 100+ people the professors are incredibly approachable and easy to talk to. In fact, I would email a question to my stats professor and he would respond at midnight on a Saturday . The classes do not feel very large and if you raise your hand to contribute something you will almost never be denied. Most of my classes are on average 40 people, some have been much smaller, some much bigger. It really depends what you take.

4) Almost none of us are going to get a job at the UN straight out of Harvard (and if we do, it's because we have significant work experience already, but the average age in the program is 26 with 4 years of experience, so no). I don't think 80% of HGSE grads have offers/jobs by May necessarily, but this also varies by program and also the fact that the education job market tends to open up for September jobs (if you're looking in schools, for example). It is March still, and most of my classmates are currently interviewing/applying for jobs (some are not applying at all yet and are waiting until May because they want to just focus on finishing school and then look afterwards). I am one of those people who really wants to have a job to start right away after graduation. None of us have gotten jobs yet because it's still a bit early but I think it'll start happening in the next month. I would say most people are looking to work for NGOs/non-profits that are not as huge as the UN, like a lot of DC-based or international NGOs. Some are going back (or first) into teaching. We are optimistic. I was just at an HGSE IEP alumni networking event and met with several graduates from 2016 and they all had jobs and said all of their friends had jobs. They were working at various international education NGOs, some of which you've probably heard of if you know the field well. I would say these are the American/European students, mostly. If I might generalize, students from Latin America/Africa/Asia tend to work more for their country's governments and own national initiatives rather than the American/European students who go into development work.  The reasons are fairly obvious.

 

Hope that was helpful

Also, random: I helped two prospective IEPers that I met edit their SOP. One got admitted, the other didn't. In case you were wondering if anyone was getting rejected, the answer is yes.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Vulpix

[midmarsh]

45 minutes ago, Vulpix said:

I'm in IEP right now

1) Everyone in the cohort is very close. I think those who attended IPSIE, the summer program, are even more connected. There are a lot of people in it but it's a really cool bond.

2) There are a lot of internships, some of them are paid. You do NOT have to enroll in S997 (and most would not recommend doing so unless your internship is many hours a week and you just need to get credit for it).  I would say at least half of people in IEP have, or had in the fall, an internship. Almost no one did S997. Some of these internships are "remote" for organizations located elsewhere, but many are in Boston, at Harvard, at MIT, etc. I've had about 4 internships this year! (2 in each semester of varying commitment times) It's been a very important part of my experience and has definitely boosted my resume and connected me with potential jobs. I'm currently hoping to get a job in my current internship, and I also know that even if I don't, the experience is helping me tremendously.

3) Basically all of my professors know my name, and going to office hours helps with that. Even stats that has 100+ people the professors are incredibly approachable and easy to talk to. In fact, I would email a question to my stats professor and he would respond at midnight on a Saturday . The classes do not feel very large and if you raise your hand to contribute something you will almost never be denied. Most of my classes are on average 40 people, some have been much smaller, some much bigger. It really depends what you take.

4) Almost none of us are going to get a job at the UN straight out of Harvard (and if we do, it's because we have significant work experience already, but the average age in the program is 26 with 4 years of experience, so no). I don't think 80% of HGSE grads have offers/jobs by May necessarily, but this also varies by program and also the fact that the education job market tends to open up for September jobs (if you're looking in schools, for example). It is March still, and most of my classmates are currently interviewing/applying for jobs (some are not applying at all yet and are waiting until May because they want to just focus on finishing school and then look afterwards). I am one of those people who really wants to have a job to start right away after graduation. None of us have gotten jobs yet because it's still a bit early but I think it'll start happening in the next month. I would say most people are looking to work for NGOs/non-profits that are not as huge as the UN, like a lot of DC-based or international NGOs. Some are going back (or first) into teaching. We are optimistic. I was just at an HGSE IEP alumni networking event and met with several graduates from 2016 and they all had jobs and said all of their friends had jobs. They were working at various international education NGOs, some of which you've probably heard of if you know the field well. I would say these are the American/European students, mostly. If I might generalize, students from Latin America/Africa/Asia tend to work more for their country's governments and own national initiatives rather than the American/European students who go into development work.  The reasons are fairly obvious.

 

Hope that was helpful

Also, random: I helped two prospective IEPers that I met edit their SOP. One got admitted, the other didn't. In case you were wondering if anyone was getting rejected, the answer is yes.

Thanks! I might PM you with more specific questions later on. This is a great start though!

[matchalatte25]

I was admitted to IEP as well, and other master's program like MPP/MPA (non-Harvard). I am considering to attend HGSE this Fall and study MPP/MPA right after graduation. Any IEP alum pursue other master's program especially MPA at Kennedy school upon graduation or they just wait and work for several years?  

Would school provide visual session of open house for international students who are unable to attend?

Looking forward to meet you all this fall!