HGSE Admissions Blog

Work, a subway commute, sleep, errands – whatever you are doing often gets placed on hold when the notification arrives!

Marianna Stepniak
Elkridge, MD
Ed.M, Education Policy & Management
In retrospect, it’s hilarious: I somehow missed the original HGSE acceptance email! I found out that I was accepted while waiting for my students to come to school. A little backstory: I served with AmeriCorps City Year Sacramento last year. Part of my City Year team’s before-school responsibilities at our elementary school involved the “Walking School Bus,” during which we strategically placed ourselves around the local neighborhood and busy intersections to be a smiling, welcoming face for students to see on their way to school. This particular morning, there were no students around me, so I checked my email quickly–only to open up an invitation to an event for admitted HGSE students. I thought to myself, “That’s such a weird way to tell me that I got in. Did I get in? Did I miss something?” I went through past emails and–there it was! The little confetti on the screen! The “Congratulations!” Needless to say, I was even more enthusiastic than usual as I greeted students who walked by on their way to school that morning.

Sarah Garfinkel
Sacramento, California
Language and Literacy
was commuting home to Brooklyn after work. It had been a busy week, and I was struggling to keep my eyes open on the long subway ride home. To stay awake, I pulled out my phone to check my email and saw the subject line “Your HGSE Application.” That definitely woke me up! There was no WiFi on the subway, so I got off at the next stop, Wall Street, and flew up the stairs to check my application status. That Friday afternoon, I’m pretty sure I was the most excited person on Wall Street. I made some very happy phone calls and then got back on the subway to go home. I didn’t struggle to stay awake one bit the whole way back.

Alisha Miranda
India
Learning and Teaching
My sister and I were driving back home from the gym and had taken an unusually long route that day. We stopped as she had to run a quick errand. I checked my phone as I was waiting for her and received a text message from another applicant that she had heard from HGSE. Checked my email and life hasn’t been the same again 🙂

Liana Bishop
Merritt Island, Florida
Ed.M TIE
I was living in Washington, DC, and was hosting my parents for the weekend. I had been following the GradCafe threads obsessively, and there was an indication that I would hear back on Friday, March 1. I went out to lunch with my mom and was hardly paying attention to her at all—I was too busy refreshing the GradCafe thread. We were going to an event later that night, and we were in Drybar getting a blowout. We wanted to sit together but due to a bridal party taking up most of the space, we had to sit apart. While my stylist was working on my hair, I saw a message on GradCafe saying something along the lines of “The decision is up.” Time started moving slowly as I nervously opened the web portal up, saw that a decision had been rendered, and clicked. I saw confetti on the screen and the words “congratulations.” I immediately bolted to my mom’s seat and wordlessly shoved the phone in front of her face. She’d been sitting with her eyes closed and it took a second for her to realize what was in front of her. “Is this what I think it is?” I responded “I GOT INTO HARVARD!” We both started screaming, and the bridal party and hair stylists congratulated me. I feel so lucky that I was able to celebrate such wonderful news with my parents later that night. It was a beautiful moment, and one I hope to remember for the rest of my life.

Prerna Munoth
India
Learning and Teaching
I remember it was 5 a.m back in India, I had gotten up randomly and checked my mail on my phone (which I don’t usually do). I saw the mail from Harvard admissions and typed in my credentials with my eyes half closed. I clicked on the link and waited for the page to load (time seemed to move the slowest then), I read the first two sentences, “Congratulations, I am delighted” and immediately woke up my mom who was next to me and screamed I got into Harvard, and my mother rewarded me with a big kiss! Needless to say, I couldn’t get back to sleep after reading the results! That day remains one of the happiest days of my life.