More Q&A from prospective students

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
American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education	$5,000
American Indian Graduate Center	Varies
American Students of Arab Descent	Varies
Association on American Indian Affairs	Varies
BlackStudents.com	Varies
Grant$ 4 Women	Varies
Hispanic Scholarship Fund	$5,000
Japanese American Citizens League	Varies
National Association of Hispanic & Latino Studies	$15,000
Paul & Daisy Soros Foundation for New Americans	$25,000
Scholarships for Women	Varies
International Students
Aga Khan International Fellowship Program	Varies
Cyprus Children’s Fund	$1,000
Dolores Zohab Liebmann Fund	Varies
Emergency Student Fund	Varies
International Student Voice Magazine	Varies
John Mott Scholarship	$10,000
Aspiring Teachers, Community Involvement & Research
Davis Putter Scholarship Fund	Varies
James Madison Memorial Fellowship	$24,000
Joseph B. & Toby Gitler Prize	$25,000
Knowles Science Teaching Foundation	Varies
National Academy of Education	$25,000
Scholarships for Teachers	Varies
The Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Child Psychology Fellowship	$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.

Lastly--for prospective students for Fall 2016 (wow!), there is an event coming up on April 25th. Get excited!!

Almost famous...if only it was a more flattering picture!

Policy Brief? CHECK! I officially submitted mine yesterday while I sat in my library carrell for the fourth time all year. Yes yes, the pictures of cute kids makes ALL the difference! Let's hope my professors think so! I basically finished on Saturday but wanted a few days to let it sit before I looked at it with new eyes--glad I did because I had "give" instead of "five" at some point. Oooops.

I woke up on Sunday all leisurely because I only had a bit of reading to do and ended up staying in bed until noon while I caught up on emails then went to campus JUST TO HANG OUT. I thought, "This is what life is like after the policy brief." Jaja, no really, I was not that stressed about it to begin with and had to roll my eyes a little at the heated discussions on our facebook group about word count and label names. I'm sure when we do our presentation walk-about in a few weeks, we will forget what we even wrote about!

There is a slight lull at the moment, at least for me, before the finals really get started. So, what does one do during such lulls? Hang out with friends, purposely seek out and consume free food, and sit in the sun while watching TED talks. At least, that's what I have been doing! I am sure that by tomorrow (or even in a few hours), I will actually realize that I have a 30 minute presentation in two weeks plus a lot of other things on the horizon, but sometimes it is necessary to smell the wonderful Spring air...

Also---IEDP is on the GSE webpage!!!

 There are definitely better pictures of us! Or at least, of me! (I am in the sideways zero on the right making an awkward face.) Others are definitely showing off their many (modeling) talents...

For Thursday's Proseminar class for IEDP, we started by writing anything that we were still concerned about related to development. These included: identity, equity, valuing local knowledge, language...many many concerns still. We had a general discussion about some of these concerns and issues. Many of us were acknowledging our own development since beginning the program, and how our own views have changed. I would say many of us are more critical of not just others language and assumptions, but also our own. How will we navigate this area of work in the future as we step out of the classroom and into our internships?

And most importantly...where is everyone going this summer?? Stay tuned!

Done is better than perfect!

Spring has sprung (or is springing) at Penn! Granted, there's definitely some rain heading our way, but all of us are SO glad to shed our winter coats and hats. There are little sprouts and buds popping up along Locust Walk and I have gotten TWO granola bars this week just from having good timing while walking on Locust.

It is also Policy Brief cram time! The official deadline is April 10th, but we are all eager to finalize drafts and turn it in. I am at the point where I just need Friday to do a full edit after getting some great feedback from a professor, and hopefully another exchange just to make sure there are no odd-spellings/sentences, and then....maybe I can submit it early next week. IEDPers have been getting together for some writing sessions. They are always kind of late for me and I just cannot function after class ends at 7pm, but here are some gems from a writing session last night:

The new IEDP motto "Done is better than perfect." Yes, we are all kind of perfectionists in some way, but considering all the things we have coming up this month...the motto holds true. I feel like I have an assembly line of assignments and readings, so I just do one and then submit and onto the next one! Grad school teaches you how to: prioritize, label documents correctly, be efficient and purposefully skim...and take advantage of anything free! 

They ordered five pizzas from Zesto. So. Yummy. I was jealous...the veg pizza is super amazing. The admissions team had ordered some at the end of last semester.










Critical opinions, probably regarding formatting.


Besides everyone's focus on the policy brief, we are also realizing that in five weeks--WE WILL BE DONE WITH SPRING SEMESTER. It really has sped by. I was reflecting back on how I felt in September and was like "policy brief? concept note? log frame? Whhhaaattt???" and now I feel so much more competent. The only real way to learn is by doing, and that's a component of almost all GSE programs.

Yesterday we met with someone to discuss the international internship paperwork that we need to do prior to departing to our various locations. Gosh, it was overwhelming, but we were also in disbelief practically. Some people still have no found out where they are going, most have been placed or have solid leads. At the beginning of the discussion, someone shouted, "It's finally happening!!!" All this year, we have discussed the internship and it is a large reason many of us chose IEDP and not it IS finally happening. Some are even leaving late-May since many go on vacation in August so there is not much activity. Thankfully for me, that is not the case and I will be leaving later than most. One component of the internship experience is to blog about it so I am looking forward to reading about my cohort member's experiences.

There is still a lot that must happen before departure and there are still loads of assignments to complete and presentations...but at this point, we know how to work smart and it will get done because it must.

On that note....HAPPY SPRING!!

Adventures & Possibilities

Because of Master's Admitted Student Preview Day, I am being reminded rather frequently that this blog has a "following" of sorts. A little intimidating, but I shall try to continue walking the fine line between entertaining, honest, and informational. And trying to blog more!

This week has been like most others: busy busy busy. It is easy to lose perspective when you are surrounded by the same people and under the same weird hanging lights of GSE and the library. However, I have some news to share...

Yep, I spoke with a woman yesterday in the Monitor and Evaluation area of Fundacion Omar Dengo in San Jose, Costa Rica. I shouldn't call it an interview, because it seems that all of the IEDPers expect some formal interview and instead the potential-internship boss starts asking about dates so...it's more like a conversation to figure out if you're a right fit for each other. Yes, this was in Spanish so...I was a bit nervous.

The funny thing is, I took like 15 of these selfies with my small lablet (laptop-tablet) because I do not have a smart phone and my camera broke recently. BUT I wanted to capture the moment (and the makeup!). I assumed it would be a video skype call so I put in my contacts, put on makeup, fixed my hair...I even cleaned my room!! And what happens? Her video wasn't working. Ohhhh well....because I'M GOING TO COSTA RICA THIS SUMMER. I'll be helping with monitoring and evaluation of their ICT programs in classrooms. Observations, interviews, focus-groups, analysis, recommendations...oh my oh my!

In addition to the extra spring in my step from my news yesterday, today was Master's Preview Day. 7:30am, I was in GSE carting materials over to Claudia Cohen Hall and then we had a panel. Talking about the wonderfulness of GSE and IEDP reminds me how grateful I am that I am here and also reminds me how LUCKY I am to be here.

A student asked about challenges we faced when we first started at Penn. Definitely prepare your eyes!! They will not be the same after grad school because of all the reading and the time you will spend staring at computers! Besides that, making sure that you make (and take) the time for self-care is essential. I am on campus usually from 9am (the latest) until 7pm or so during the week, and usually spend the entire weekend in the library (it opens at 10am so I get to 'sleep in' a little). However, when I leave campus, I see it as my personal time to catch up with friends, what some t.v. shows, call family and friends, do laundry, etc. I don't try to fool myself into working; if I can't focus, then I will do something else and not feel guilty about it. Everyone works differently, but I think it's a challenge many of us face---taking the time you need for yourself, and not apologizing or feeling guilty about it.

Also, a student said that she was very nervous about starting at GSE. Grad school is intimidating, but once you start, you realize it is like riding a bike! You find your niche and get into a groove. Plus, everyone is nervous also! GSE is such a wonderful community. I have yet to encounter GSE students that are not kind, friendly, and real. Yes, you will be pushed beyond your comfort zone, but that is the point! It is a new adventure and it wouldn't be an adventure if it wasn't a bit daunting. I was reading about teacher reform for my curriculum class and there was a quotation that made me reflect on my time at GSE: "Renewal is not simply a recollection of the past but the creation of a third space of possibilities" (Carson, 2009, p. 157). In a way, doing an advanced degree is a kind of a renewal of self and you leave with more possibilities. 

On that note...I have a curriculum to fix, an assignment to start, and a policy brief to polish!

Reference: (I know, I am an APA-formating dork. I have accepted it.)

Carson, T.R. (2009). Internationalizing Curriculum: Globalization and the Worldliness of Curriculum Studies. Curriculum Inquiry, 39(1): 145-158.