<p>I first came here when DD was looking for undergrad schools. She ended up to to swarthmore college and has had a fantastic journey there! no regrets as we near graduation date!</p>
<p>so here we are 4 years later and dd is going on to grad school. She has received offers from all 5 grad schools that she applied to but has narrowed it down to:</p>
<p>brown or michigan. </p>
<p>Upenn is third on dd’s list but I added it to the discussion to see what your thoughts were. </p>
<p>DD will be studying elem education and has received a fellowship that can be fulfilled at all three institutions. So the funding is not really the problem. I am more interesting in knowing which institution will give her the most credibilty/knowledge/run for the money etc… going forward in her life. I should add that she plans to do a Ph D as well…(not sure if that makes a difference in grad school decisions).</p>
<p>So where would you go to to study elem education at the graduate level: Brown or Umich?</p>
<p>thanks in advance for your input.</p>
<p>(ps - she has to make a decision this week!)</p>
<p>I would defer admissions to grad school until she has at least 2 years of teaching under her belt. Coming into the education world with no experience and a master’s degree is pretty much the kiss of death. They have to pay a significantly higher salary to a teacher with no experience and most schools, especially in this economy, just won’t do that. Probably not what you wanted to hear but it is what it is. Most teachers are expected to get a master’s degree, but not start with a masters.</p>
<p>thanks SteveMA for the advise. DD had the same concerns and she was actually going to do TFA which she got into. However, soon after she was offered a prestigious fellowship with significant funding for grad school - so all bets were off! </p>
<p>DD is definately going to grad school and she will teach for 3 years after completion as part of her obligation to the fellowship. kiss of death or not, that’s her chosen journey!</p>
<p>It won’t matter. Both are highly regarded. If you live in the NE, Brown probably has a little more cachet, but academically/prestige-wise, no difference.</p>
<p>I agree with bluebayou-it won’t matter which school she attends, the pay scale will be the same no matter where she goes. Pick the one that will cost her the least amount of money if she plans further schooling.</p>
<p>At this point, I’d think about weather and community. I don’t know the size of departments and number of grad students, nor how many courses each grad school offers. I would have DD do a spread sheet of factors that are important to her.</p>