HGSE Partners With Hamilton College on Early Assurance Pathway

The Harvard Graduate School of Education will offer students applying to Hamilton College early assurance of a pathway to a master’s degree, allowing them to secure a route to graduate study before they begin their undergraduate degrees.

The partnership, announced Sept. 16, will place roughly five to 10 Hamilton students a year on a pathway to one of three Ed.M. programs at HGSE: Teaching and Teacher Leadership, Human Development and Education, or Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology.

Students entering Hamilton in fall 2027 and in later classes will be eligible.

The process begins during the college application process, when prospective Hamilton students can indicate on the Common Application that they wish to be considered for one of the college’s six partner graduate-schools, including the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, and Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

Those selected receive a welcome letter from Hamilton alongside an “early assurance” letter from their chosen graduate school.

But the letter does not guarantee admission: students must remain in good academic standing and meet the requirements and benchmarks the partnership establishes over their four years at Hamilton in order to be recommended. They must also complete HGSE’s regular admissions process, and an admissions committee will review their applications.

Frank Arce, HGSE’s assistant dean for admission and financial aid, said the collaboration will give the Ed School a way to build its applicant pipeline earlier.

“We saw an opportunity to reach talented students earlier, introduce them to education as a field, and create a clearer pathway from undergraduate study to graduate education,” he wrote in a statement.

Arce added that HGSE has seen more students apply to graduate school directly after finishing their undergraduate degrees.

“HGSE students are getting younger,” he wrote. “This kind of collaboration is another opportunity for us to build that pipeline, but also, if we know applicants are already coming directly out of undergrad, be proactive with students earlier.”

The partnership idea originated at Hamilton, which has no graduate programs of its own. John McLaughlin, Hamilton’s vice president for enrollment and dean of admission, said the college had been seeking partners that could offer students a fifth year toward a master’s degree.

“I thought that there was an opportunity to try and make connections with a number of different graduate schools to offer programmatic pathways that align with the interest of our students at Hamilton,” McLaughlin said.

The early-assurance model, he added, could also change how students approach their undergraduate years.

“I hope by providing students in these programs with some degree of certainty, that they may feel more empowered to explore, to take advantage of the open curriculum that we have at Hamilton without the pressure of trying to package themselves for graduate applications,” he said.

The partnership does not bind students to graduate study. If they change their mind, they can leave the program without penalty, according to McLaughlin.

Arce wrote that HGSE hopes to learn from the Hamilton cohort as it explores similar arrangements elsewhere.

“We want to learn how students engage with the pathway, what programming and support they need, and how effectively the experience prepares them to transition into graduate study,” he wrote. “Those lessons will help us determine how similar opportunities might be developed with other mission-aligned institutions.”

—Staff writer Mahpara Faatin can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @mahparafaatin.