We had a google hangout on Tuesday (which I forgot to post about! And did not attend because I had class), but most of the topics that came up are addressed in a previous Q&A post. Of course, more questions means more answers! GSEers LOVE questions, so here are some more answers. Feel free to email if others come up (and please excuse any redundancies).
1.
In one of the points you had written that IEDP is more focused on the in and
outs of development unlike other international education programs that are more
focused on education policy and management. Does IEDP have any policy related
courses?
There is another
program (Education Policy) at GSE so you can definitely get your policy fill! I would say
that one difference is that many of the policy classes are focused on the US,
but there are some that look at international policy. Knowing those classes and
prioritizing them in your schedule/plan will definitely help you if that is a
route that you want to take. Also, some classes (even if they are not
specifically policy-focused) require students to write policy memos and we do
write a policy brief for the capstone paper, so that genre of writing is
definitely covered in the program.
Here are some of the
policy classes that IEDPers have taken this academic year:
-Policy Planning in International
Educational Development
-Comprehensive School
Reform As Applied Public Policy
-Economics of Education
-Teachers and teaching
policy
Here is the link to all the courses offered at GSE. They may
not be offered every year, but it gives you an idea and sometimes new courses
are added (very last minute) so they really do vary each year. Besides GSE,
people take courses at Wharton, Penn Law, Social Policy and Practice...there
are tons of options! The trick is finding out about them before it is too late.
There was this "Women's Microfinance in India" course taught at the
Fels school and they traveled to India during winter break to learn directly about microfinancing.
2.
I have been going through the summer internship positions of students and they
seem very interesting. What I understand from your post that most of the
internships are unpaid but the university provides some grants. What is the
average funding for summer internship that most of the students get?
This year, we are receiving up to $3,000 towards travel, housing and room and board. Depending what organization you end up with, they may offer different things, but this depends, so definitely do
not count on it. Going somewhere where you have friends/family to stay
with can help offset the costs and you can voice those requests
early in the internship process.
3.
Can I apply for external scholarships to help fund the Master’s?
Depending on
your nationality, you may be able to receive some government funding and for
Americans, there are a lot of private scholarships you can apply for. Also, Philadelphia is a pretty cheap city and you definitely can try to
cut costs or work a part-time job on campus or in the area. I found it helpful
to make a budget of living expenses and then compare it to how much Penn
suggests you will need. They definitely overestimate and if you are determined
enough to find cheap housing and stick it to a budget, then your costs will be
lower than in other cities like DC and NY. However, do what is smartest for
you. I figured, if I was going to go to a Master's program, I would do the best
one for me, even if it was more costly than other options, but everyone's
situation is different.
Being a GA in the student houses as another option for
additional funding. Here is the link. It
covers housing and meals. It is something definitely worth pursuing.
Also, admissions has a document of external scholarships that we recommend to students who wish to pursue them. However, GSE cannot provide assistance or advice in applying for these awards.
General Scholarship Clearinghouses:
www.fastweb.com; www.zinch.com; www.finaid.org; www.graduateprograms.com/scholarship/
Here are some agencies that also give out scholarships & the amount:
Agency
|
Amount
|
|
|
$5,000
|
|
|
Varies
|
|
|
Varies
|
|
|
Varies
|
|
|
Varies
|
|
|
Varies
|
|
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$5,000
|
|
|
Varies
|
|
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$15,000
|
|
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$25,000
|
|
|
Varies
|
International Students
|
|
|
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Varies
|
|
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$1,000
|
|
|
Varies
|
|
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Varies
|
|
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Varies
|
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$10,000
|
|
|
Aspiring Teachers, Community Involvement & Research
|
|
|
|
|
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Varies
|
|
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$24,000
|
|
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$25,000
|
|
|
Varies
|
|
|
$25,000
|
|
|
Varies
|
|
|
$25,000
|
4.
You mentioned about being more proactive about finding out the courses before
it’s too late. Will I have somebody (from the faculty or a senior student) to
guide me on this? Ideally by when (which month) should one figure out about
these courses to create a better study structure?
Unfortunately, you
just have to talk with a lot of people about what classes they are taking. But, it's a great way to start bonding with your cohort members!
Advisors do help, but may not know about ALL the wonderful classes in GSE or at
Penn in general. Advisors are assigned
during the summer and often schedule meetings at the end of August to go over
your interests and your general plan of classes you would like to take. This is a helpful mapping and narrowing down process of your interests.
It takes patience to sort through and search online for
classes and a lot of "shopping" aka go to the first and/or second
class and see how you like it. My cohort created a spreadsheet and people put
in the classes they were looking at and did a kind of "class share"
online. That was helpful and just asking about everyone's impressions of
classes is helpful.
5.
Just curious about how you have tailor made your course structure, what
prompted you to take up certain courses that you have taken and primarily what
led you to Penn IEDP over other universities.
I actually
didn't apply to other schools. I found the other school programs did not speak
to me or seem all that practical. I looked into Anthropology and Education
programs and found they were too theoretical. Instead I chose IEDP because of
the internship, the practical experience aspect found in many classes, and
because it seemed like everyone really CARES about your success and experience.
I have found this to be very true and professors want you to get the most
from your experiences. Not all, but the majority do. I shop a lot of classes
and weigh the workloads and the professors while choosing classes. If it is a
lot of work but the professor is amazing and the topic is an interest of mine,
I make sure to take it. I also have other classes that I just enjoyed the
overall experience and it gave me a little "break" from the IEDP
classes. Everyone ends up picking classes differently and ultimately, you do
what is best for you.
My week started off with a presentation in an Australian accent. For the Curriculum and Pedagogy in International Contexts class, we each signed up to do learning experiences, which is an hour of class that your group can do activities and discussions related to the topic for that week. My group was focused on Teacher Education and what better way to generate a fun class with stimulating discussion than with accents, role-plays, math, and chocolate! When my group was meeting, I suggested that we teach a math strategy during a teacher workshop and thought of this multiplication strategy with lines. I pulled up a video to show my two classmates and he had an Australian accent! I was a total lost cause and we were in the little group study room doing all these accents and laughing hysterically. (This was pre-policy brief deadline, so we were all getting a bit weird...) I kept practicing it in my head all week, but my group-members were afraid it would be too distracting and I didn't think I could maintain it for the full 15 minutes of the workshop. Then my classmate introduced the workshop and role play, saying that we were all in Australia for the workshop, so after that....I did what every good teacher would do--I rolled with it. "Good-day, mates!" It made the class really fun and since the others were supposed to be teachers from the context of their curriculum projects (Tajikistan, South Africa, and Ethiopia), a few even did accents during the whole-group discussion. Plus, I was throwing candy at those who participated, which always brightens up a Monday.