Sankey Diagram of grad app results
This feels surreal. I’ve followed this thread for a long time, always wondering when it might be my turn to share good news. And now it is: I’m going to Harvard this fall for a master’s program.
TL;DR: I genuinely love my full-time job, but I knew I’d regret not pursuing a higher degree. So I only applied to programs that would truly be worth leaving my job for.
I wouldn’t necessarily recommend doing what I did. I didn’t apply to any safety schools. I bet on myself, trusted my background and experience, and believed I could get into at least one program (and ended up getting into 4 out of 5).
To everyone applying: good luck! you’ve got this.
Happy to chat more via DMs. I applied mostly to design engineering and product development programs: CMU MIIPS, UC Berkeley MDes, UPenn M:IPD, Stanford MS Design, and Harvard MDE.