Harvard GSD Masters in Design Engineering (MDE)

[dopehawk61]

Has anyone applied to the Harvard Masters in Design Engineering program or got accepted for Fall of 2017? 

GSD states they notify people in early March. Oddly enough on the GradCafe decision wire, there is an applicant who stated they got an interview via email but as far as I know they don't have an interview process. They accepted about 20 applicants last year so it's possible. Any thoughts or info?

[AspiringDesigner]

Hey Dopehawk61,

I applied to the MDE program this year. Waiting now as well, and I haven't heard anything from Harvard. Additionally, I also applied to the IDM program at MIT. Haven't heard from them either. Although, I did hear from the RISD for the MID program. Anyone who's heard from either of these programs ? 

From what I've heard, MDE does have interviews. 

[CometCommander]

Hey @dopehawk61 and @AspiringDesigner

I applied to the MDE program too. I did have an interview around mid-Feb. Haven't heard back from them after yet. 

Same with RISD MID program. Hopefully will be hearing from them soon.

Where are you guys from btw?

[AspiringDesigner]

Hey @CometCommander,

I haven't heard from MDE at all, not even a squeak. Could this be because one of my recommenders has still not submitted his recommendation ? It should be done this week. 

How was your interview with RISD ? Was it around your application ? 

I'm in Bombay. 

[CometCommander]

The RISD interview was around my application and portfolio.

It's possible that they considered your application incomplete because of the late submission of the recommendation. Did you inform them that your recommendation was reaching late? 

[AspiringDesigner]

I've sent them an email, but no response yet. Fingers crossed ! 

Did RISD tell you by when they'll send out acceptance letters ? 

[CometCommander]

Nope. But from past trends they send it out in the next two weeks. Did they tell you anything? How was your interview? 

[AspiringDesigner]

I didn't have an interview as such. In fact, it was pretty strange. It was a call with a current student and he said they liked my application, and I can expect a formal letter soon. 

But I haven't received any formal communication from RISD itself. So I'm a little confused now. Do you think I should write to the RISD adcom ? 

[CometCommander]

29 minutes ago, AspiringDesigner said:

I didn't have an interview as such. In fact, it was pretty strange. It was a call with a current student and he said they liked my application, and I can expect a formal letter soon. 

But I haven't received any formal communication from RISD itself. So I'm a little confused now. Do you think I should write to the RISD adcom ? 

I would suggest waiting the next couple of weeks. They said something similar to me too.

MDE you should know within the next week I think.

[eastcoast]

Hey everyone, I applied to the MDE program as well. 

@CometCommander How did the interview go? Who was it with? And how long was it? Did it seem like a make or break interview or was it more of a formality to put a personality to the applicants?

Best of luck to everyone!

 

[CometCommander]

@eastcoast Personally, I did not think the interview went well. Since it was my first one of the season, I was very nervous and didn't speak as much as I wanted to. So I am hoping against hope.

It was with a Professor with Harvard SEAS and was for 20 mins long. It did seem like a make or break interview since I think there were around 30 interviews in those 2 days, but I cannot be sure.

What other courses have you applied to?

[eastcoast]

@CometCommander

I know it might be silly but the MDE is the only program I applied to. It's the only program I'm interested in at this moment. I also had an interview but with a GSD Professor. It was short and straight to the point. Very casual conversation without any pressing questions. It was hard to tell after if it went well or not. Seemed like it was just a way to get a sense of our personalities as it was too short to get anything substantial. We should be finding out soon, I believe in the next week. Possibly by Friday. Best of luck to everyone!

 

[CometCommander]

@eastcoast Well, you put it better than me there when you said it was hard to tell after if it went well or otherwise.

All the best to you too and the others in the thread! Keep us posted.

[CometCommander]

Hello everyone! 

I got a mail from Harvard GSD a couple of hours back asking me to check a status update on my application. Aaaaand..... 

I got it! 

All the best to you guys too. 

[SolderBob]

18 hours ago, CometCommander said:

Hello everyone! 

I got a mail from Harvard GSD a couple of hours back asking me to check a status update on my application. Aaaaand..... 

I got it! 

All the best to you guys too. 

Congratulations!!

[Worried Grad Applicant]

I know this is a year later but I am applying to the MDE program for Fall 2018. Some of you mentioned that the GSD faculty called you for an interview in mid-Feb. @CometCommander   @eastcoast  do you remember the specific dates when they sent out the email for the MDE interviews ? It is mid-feb now and I haven't heard from the program so I'm really stressing out. Any information would be really helpful. Thanks! 

[juststayingcalm]

me too! I submitted in the last hour so guessing it will take time to process my app. Nothing yet.

[DCap]

@Worried Grad Applicant, @juststayingcalm, I had an interview in the 2nd week of February. Didn't go too well though. 

[juststayingcalm]

@DCap oh no! why do you think it didn't go well?

alos, when did you submit your application? I got nothing yet so kinda stressed now.

[DCap]

@juststayingcalm

It was a 12-15 min conversation and my internet broke down, so basically it turned into a telephonic conversation. Besides, the questions were very general and I basically have no way of assessing how it went.

 

Wasn't the MDE deadline in January? Did you inform them of the late submission?