<p>Hi Everyone,
I am new here so I might be posting in the wrong area. I am a recent graduate from the University of California, Berkeley. I am moving to Tennessee to do Teach For America starting this summer. I am looking into graduate schools as well and want to apply to Vandy's M.P.P. (masters in education policy) program. I know they are the best education program in the country and their GRE average is 1150. I seem to be unable to find what their average GPA is. I have a 3.3 from Berkeley, and double majored in Political Science and Legal Studies. I worked the entire 4 years I was in college, interned at Justice Corps, researched for 2 years and volunteered a whole lot. I guess I am just trying to find out what sort of people they are looking for. Except for their admissions page there does not seem to be many discussions about this (at least none I can find).
Any information will be helpful. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Hey gradschool-I’m responding because I know how rare info. is on these programs. To be honest, I don’t know anything specific about Vandy’s admissions for the policy program; however, from what you described, I would be shocked if you were not admitted to the program. Ed schools are probably the least selective grad programs. Vandy has one of the top programs in the nation, but as long as you perform adequately on the GRE and you complete your TFA experience you should be able to get into most programs. I would tell you not to limit yourself just to Vandy and over the next couple years in TFA you will be exposed to a myriad of issues that you may find interesting from teacher preparation to school financing issues to postsecondary issues. I would advise you to enjoy your experience and not worry too much about grad school. Once you find the specific issues that you’re passionate about, find out which scholars are the lead in the field and apply to those programs. I am currently in the POLS program at Stanford and it has incredible faculty and resources in a variety of fields. Also, be conscious of the growing trend that many CMO and education non-profits are leaning to hiring MBA and JD grads rather than school of ed grads. You may find out later you want to pursue a joint degree program with both MBA/MA or MBA/MPP programs. Just a thought. Good luck next year and hang in there when it gets rough.</p>