<p>Okay, so I applied to a very healthy mix of colleges and thus far my results have been:
Admitted:
Swarthmore (full pay)
Dickinson (15k/year scholarship)
Goucher (full tuition scholarship)
Bryn Mawr (20k/year scholarship)
Vermont (7.5k/year scholarship)
Delaware (instate 4k/year scholarship)
Brandeis (full pay)</p>
<p>Waitlisted:
Wesleyan</p>
<p>Denied:
Georgetown </p>
<p>My passion is education reform and policy. Of the schools to which I was accepted, only Swarthmore and Brandeis have majors in Education Studies (aka not teaching, more like philosophy of education). Bryn Mawr and Delaware both have minors in Educational Studies. The other schools all offer teacher certification, but that's not really what I'm looking for. My long-term goals are to join Teach for America and then pursue my PhD in Educational Policy. My parents are willing to pay ~200k for my education total. So I could use up all of my funds on undergrad or spread them across my undergrad and graduate studies. </p>
<p>My favorite school by far is Swarthmore but I'm worried that I'll be stuck in a lot of debt when I want to go to graduate school. </p>
<p>What do you all think? I'd love some help here.</p>
<p>First of all, don’t take on debt if you can avoid it. Secondly, there’s no need to major in Ed Studies to do what you want; you’ll do that in grad school. Major in whatever you like for undergrad.</p>
<p>That said, Swarthmore is very, very special, and if you’re passionate about this field, you’ll likely be able to cover grad school tuition in Schools of Education through graduate assistantships. As far as the others go, the amount of your scholarship isn’t significant - it’s the total cost after scholarship that you need to consider. For instance, Delaware - $4K may be less expensive than Bryn Mawr - $20K.</p>
<p>Yes, Delaware is much less expensive. But, I really want to study Education Studies undergrad. That is really important to me. I want to start pursuing now. </p>
<p>From the research I’ve done though, it seems like masters programs are expensive but PhD programs are paid for mostly. I feel like it would be more difficult to go straight from ugrad to PhD if I were in a completely different field of study.</p>
<p>If you are dead-set on majoring in Education Studies, I think you should go to Swarthmore. If your parents are willing to contribute 200k on your studies, I think you should spend it here if it’s what you really want, since your PhD studies would be free.</p>
<p>I bet if you want to do Teach for America between then that would give you some sort of a boost. But I really have no idea; I am not familiar with Education Studies PhD admissions lol</p>
<p>The folks in the department at Swarthmore can tell you what their graduates usually do. In my observation, people usually work for several years in some aspect of the education industry before going to a PhD program. Which is a good idea. The classroom teachers whose work you would hope to influence by changing the direction of educational policy do not like to be told how to do what they do “better” by people who haven’t spent time in the trenches with them. And, in all honesty, they are correct. Policy makers who haven’t spent much time in classrooms cannot understand what that is like.</p>
<p>I totally agree. That’s why I eventually want to pursue a PhD after working in urban schools for at least a few years. I still want to make sure I can go straight to PhD without getting a master’s degree.</p>
<p>Many PhD programs are direct admit, and you collect a Masters degree along the way. You do not have to complete your Masters degree first and then apply to a PhD program.</p>
<p>Since you want to teach, you really ought to consider fulfilling the requirements for preliminary teacher certification while you are an undergrad. Bryn Mawr does have a teacher certification program so I expect Swarthmore does too. You could leave the actual student teaching for after graduation from college. I have a friend who graduated from Wellesley with her teacher certification, who now is working in an urban school in Philly. Send me a PM if you’d like to have her contact information. </p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>P.S. I’d vote for BMC, but then I’m partial to my alma mater!</p>
<p>^Okay that makes me feel MUCH better. Both schools do offer teacher certification as do all the schools I applied to except Wesleyan and Georgetown (funny that I didn’t get into either, I guess it really is all about FIT). I guess it’s not uber critical that I have a major in my field so long as I have certification and a school that fits me well. If you don’t mind me asking, when did you graduate from BMC?</p>
<p>To make the extra cost of Swarthmore worthwhile, I’d recommend that you contact the department chair in Ed Studies and talk about your plans and their program. I advise you to do this not so much for the information you might receive regarding the program, but to gauge whether she (or another full-time faculty member in the department) will take a personal interest in you and serve as your mentor. If the major is unusual and their faculty well-connected in that field, and if their advocacy could eventually help you get into a strong doctoral program that gives generous assistantships and fellowships, then Swat could be a unique opportunity.</p>
<p>raiderade, I graduated so far back in the last century that I have classmates whose daughters have already joined the alumnae association! The Wellesley grad I mentioned is the daughter of another BMC friend.</p>
<p>My daughter is an education major. She attended a Teach for America information session and came away with the feeling that the program did not want people who had studied education as undergrads because they want to mold teachers in their own image, which is easier to do with people who have not studied education theory in college. You should check on that as it might impact your plans.</p>
<p>On another note, if you do decide to take education undergraduate, you will likely need to student teach in order to graduate and get initial certification. </p>
<p>Educational administration/philosophy is a wonderful field. My H is already trying to convince our D to go into admin, but she wants to be a classroom teacher. </p>
<p>I second the idea that going straight into a Ph.D. without significant classroom experience may backfire on you. You need to have “street cred” in order to lead and you need to have experience in the trenches to understand what you need to do.</p>
<p>If Swarthmore offers the graduate program you want, you might be better to get a teaching degree at one of the less expensive schools and save your 200K for grad school. Fellowships and/or graduate assistantships might not cover it all and you might not get one. My DD’s school has about 12 of those positions for all departments. You should check the availability of GA and F’s before you make up your mind.</p>
<p>^Thanks so much! I do definitely plan on teaching for a while. I didn’t know that about Teach for America, but I suppose I can always teach in an urban/in-need school (I mean they are needy)! From the reading I’ve done, every PhD is fully funded. I would love to get my PhD either at Penn, Stanford, or Northwestern but I know that is very far away. Eventually I want to go into administration and/or policy making.</p>