Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
In 2024 I won the Intellectual Contribution Award for my master's programme at Harvard's Graduate School of Education (nominated by classmates, selected by faculty, two winners per programme). Fifteen years earlier, every university I applied to rejected me. This video is about what helped, and what an award like that actually measures.
Harvard GSE write-up: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/news/24/05/creating-spaces-growth-and-equity
Become a founding member of The Compass Collective - keshavbhatt.com/compass-collective
**The reading questions I mention (with thanks to Professor Nina Bascia):**
Your reading should be engaged, thorough, and reflective. Respond to these as you read:
1. What is the main point of the reading? What sub-points contribute to this main point?
2. What "conversation" (intellectual/political context) does the reading enter into or respond to?
3. What methods are used? How do the authors describe the rationale, benefits, and challenges of their choices?
4. What evidence do the authors base their claims upon?
5. Is the argument credible? What makes it so (or not so)?
6. Who is the intended audience?
7. What/whose points of view are presented or represented? What/whose are missing?
8. How do the authors make ethical decisions? What challenges do they encounter?
9. What experiences, information, or exposure influence how you read this piece? Where are your reactions coming from?
10. What are the practical and/or intellectual implications for you? For others?
In 2024 I won the Intellectual Contribution Award for my master's programme at Harvard's Graduate School of Education (nominated by classmates, selected by faculty, two winners per programme). Fifteen years earlier, every university I applied to rejected me. This video is about what helped, and what an award like that actually measures.
Harvard GSE write-up: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/news/24/05/creating-spaces-growth-and-equity
Become a founding member of The Compass Collective - keshavbhatt.com/compass-collective
**The reading questions I mention (with thanks to Professor Nina Bascia):**
Your reading should be engaged, thorough, and reflective. Respond to these as you read:
1. What is the main point of the reading? What sub-points contribute to this main point?
2. What "conversation" (intellectual/political context) does the reading enter into or respond to?
3. What methods are used? How do the authors describe the rationale, benefits, and challenges of their choices?
4. What evidence do the authors base their claims upon?
5. Is the argument credible? What makes it so (or not so)?
6. Who is the intended audience?
7. What/whose points of view are presented or represented? What/whose are missing?
8. How do the authors make ethical decisions? What challenges do they encounter?
9. What experiences, information, or exposure influence how you read this piece? Where are your reactions coming from?
10. What are the practical and/or intellectual implications for you? For others?
