Ayana's Site On Teaching and Learning!

Introduction

    The 2004-2005 school year was the worst of times and the best of times for me. The worst was that my partner and I split up; it's official, divorce sucks. The best was that I was accepted to the doctoral program in Education Practice and Leadership at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education (and received a fabulous fellowship, without which I couldn’t have afforded to attend). So here I am writing to you, with zero recommendations on how to make a marriage work, but plenty to share about what worked for me for applying to graduate school.
    First, I started about a year in advance of my application deadlines and it actually took all that time. Second, a guide book that is working unbelievably well for me is Getting What You Came For : The Smart Student's Guide to Earning an M.A. or a Ph.D. by Robert Peters. Don’t let the outdated computer stuff distract you; the advice, encouragement, and doses of reality Dr. Peters gave are what made my applications so successful. Third, on this page is my perspective on applying to grad school, especially doctoral programs.  I've tried to be specific and personal, simply because that's the kind of advice I like getting.  Please don’t just take my word for things- find out for yourself.  And last, but not least, this process reminded me that with Higher Power’s help, anything is possible.

Back to Top

Before Applying: Questions to Ponder
 

What are my goals?
 

• What do I want to be doing ten years from now? Two years from now? Tomorrow?
• Do I need grad school to accomplish my goals?
• What are my interests? What would I be doing if I weren’t at school during the day? What do I do during the summer? In my free time, do I voluntarily do any of the things associated with a particular college major? In my free time, do I do any of the things associated with being a grad student (reading, writing, attending lectures, profession-related conversations)?
• How would grad school affect my family and community life?
• How might pursuing a degree affect me spiritually and psychologically?

Back to Top

Paying the Piper

• For masters: Am I willing and able to pay what school will likely cost?
• For masters while working full-time: Am I willing and able to spend about 20 hours each week on grad school? Sketch out a log showing how you spend your time in a typical week. What am I willing to give up doing? Does what I’m willing to give up add up to about 20 hours?
• For doctoral: Am I willing and able to spend between four and seven years in a doctoral program? What would I be giving up? What would I be gaining? Would it be worth it?

Back to Top

Where should I apply?

• Which schools have the faculty whom I want to learn from? I looked at my professional library. Who are some of my favorite authors? Where do they teach? I looked at articles I had read and liked. Where do the authors teach? Who are the Doctors with a capital D in my interest area? Where do they teach?
• What do others think about various schools\programs in my interest area?
• Where do the kinds of people I want to be colleagues with go? What are current students studying and doing?
• Which schools seem to match with my learning style, personality, and social needs? Where do I feel that I could fit in?
• What logistical considerations do I need to take into account?

Back to Top

Completing the Application: Things That Helped
 

A Really Detailed Resumé or Curriculum Vitae, Just for Me:
 

It helped me to do this first. That way my info was right there in one place. Be as thorough as you can about what you have done—you never know how those tidbit jobs and interests might blend together into a metaphorical picture of who you are that can be used in an essay paragraph. You can narrow the resumé down and pretty it up to send it with your application, if the school allows resumés to be sent.

Back to Top

The Actual Admissions Application Form:

Read this over thoroughly, read the instructions thoroughly, and call the school about anything you don’t understand. I think one of my applications was hindered because I misunderstood the directions and didn’t follow up for clarification. If it’s paper, type it. Of course finding a typewriter in this day and age can be a challenge. You can type directly onto some downloadable pdf forms; otherwise I typed it in a word processor, manually cut and pasted, and then photocopied the result for a clean-looking application. If the form is online, draft a paper one first. Then write it in a word-processor so you can spell-check more easily. After you cut and paste onto the actual online application form, check your entries carefully for formatting and cropping. Some online forms don?t like ?smart quotes? or have character limits, so proofread carefu

Back to Top

Grades & Transcripts:
 

Grades are important. Grades a student receives in upper-level undergraduate classes and graduate classes can be predictors of the grades they’ll get in grad school. But predictions don’t necessarily determine the future. If in the past, your grades were low (B- or less), taking and doing well in a grad-level class can show that you can do well, and give you a taste for what it might be like to be back in school. As an undergrad, my average was a solid B. As a master’s student I had an A+ average. In post-masters coursework, I’ve received various varieties of As.  Definitely send away for those transcripts early.  You'll pay less for them and you won't end up with transcript-sized anxiety, like I did.

Back to Top

Letters of Recommendation:
 

You’ll get better letters from people who know you better. I got letters from my mentor at Mercy College, a literacy coach who I had worked with for two years who had become a mentor for me, and a teacher I worked with who had become a good friend.  Be kind to your recommenders by giving them plenty of time (i.e. three months) and making their job as easy as possible. Consider junk mail from credit card companies.  They make it so easy to apply for a card. Likewise, I tried to make things easy for my recommenders. I made packets for each of them so all they had to do was write the letters, put them in the letter-sized envelopes I had included, put the envelopes in the big stamped envelope I had included, and drop the envelope in the mail.

Back to Top

Essay(s):
 

My essays went through several drafts. Three people read my final essay that went to Harvard. A former English professor gave excellent content and structural suggestions (thank you, mom!), a friend with an eye for copy-editing looked specifically at grammar, punctuation, and spelling, and my sister, who is not an educator, read various drafts and served as my jargon-detector. Each reader gave me very useful overall feedback, as well as specifics. Each school I applied to received essays designed specifically for their program and faculty.
Here is my Harvard application essay, edited and annotated for the web:  Harvard Statement of Purpose.
Back to Top

The GRE:
 

    I’ve taken the GRE five times. I took it many moons ago when I was an undergrad and thought I was going to be a research psychologist. Rockin’ scores, but too old to use. I took it in 2002 when I thought I might be ready for a doctoral program, but wasn’t. O.K. scores, but taken before ETS changed the test, so not usable. Starting in about August, I studied using a pricey online course from a major test prep company. Then I took the GRE three times over the course of the fall, until I had the scores I felt I needed.
    My experiences with the GRE taught me that standardized test performance has less to do with ability than with how much money and time a person is able to spend on test prep. This raises real questions about equity and access. Do we really want grad school to be available only to people with hundreds of dollars to spend on preparing and taking a test? For more on why grad schools should drop the GRE as a measure, see: http://www.fairtest.org/facts/gre.htm 

Back to Top

Do the Financial Aid Form, Too:
 

It’s much easier to turn down money you’re offered, than to get money after the financial aid deadline has passed. No one loves having loans up to their gills, but consider that interest rates make federal school loans the cheapest money you can get, aside from loans for home-owners. Of course free money is best, two books which are helping me with this are:
How to Go to College Almost for Free by Ben Kaplan and
Debt-Free College by Robert A. Sparks and Mamantha Vaddi

Back to Top

Back to Top

19th Grade, Here I Come!

Best of Luck, Applicants!