JBums1028

To answer your follow up question with anecdotes from my own personal experience, overlap between both degrees is definitely possible. I know a handful of people working in student affairs divisions who have counseling backgrounds. My former Hall Director from when I was an RA had an MA in Counseling and I also worked with a few people in admissions who came from traditional counseling backgrounds. Likewise, I know a handful people who did a HESA type program and then went into academic advising. With this said if you are trying to decide which of these programs is the best fit for you, I'd recommend contacting the departments and asking them to explain the differences in greater detail. Then I'd apply for the one that you think is the best fit for you both academically and professionally. You will also probably want to make sure that assistantship opportunities are available students in both programs, since that is usually a pretty big factor in the decision making process for people looking to go into student affairs.

Hello! I'm planning on attending Kent State University for their Master's in Higher Education Administration. I was offered a full tuition + stipend assistantship position. It was the only school I was offered a GA at, so not a difficult choice but luckily it was one of my top choice positions. Congratulations to everyone on your acceptances/offers!

Sure, I'll send you a message!

So most of the schools I have come across have limited the number you can select in some way, so I haven't really had the problem of trying to figure out what is a good number to apply for. My advice would be to limit the number you pick to positions that you are actually interested in having. This would include your top choices and ones that aren't top choices, but you wouldn't mind working in that position. I wouldn't apply to positions that you don't want just for the sake of applying for it.

Has anyone gotten any acceptances yet? Just found out I got into Western Michigan today. They called to let me know before the holidays. Wasn't expecting it this early, especially since I'm still working on my application for Kent State. Just wondering if anyone else has gotten good news

I'll message you the answers to your questions

I agree with this and this is actually a valuable skill to learn. You will encounter many situations where you have to work with/be friendly with people who you wouldn't choose to be friends with in other circumstances. No sense forcing a friendship with someone you'd rather not be friends with, but be amicable with one another in class, group projects, etc.

As a follow up question to this that is somewhat on topic: my undergrad institution recently renamed my undergraduate major, so it is now under a different name than what is printed on my transcript. When interviewing, updating my resume, etc. is this something I should be noting?

I had a professor in undergrad who earned his BA, MA, and PhD from the same University. Likewise one of the new directors who was hired where I work earned all her degrees and all of her previous work experience took place within one University system. I don't think it's unheard of and I feel like there are pros and cons in both scenarios. I think it's best to choose the program that is the best fit for you, even if it's where you attended for a previous degree.

Luckily my first one isn't due until Dec 15, so a little bit of extra time left! I went to the interview weekend for UConn last year. Wasn't selected for a GA and decided not to reapply this year. If you have specific questions about how the interview weekend went or anything let me know! I'll do my best to help

From your list I know UConn requires an in person interview (unless they've changed their policy from last year). The others might allow a skype or phone interview instead, but it will depend on the program. I personally think there are a lot of benefits to doing the in person interview, which is why I'm trying to avoid applying to programs with overlapping interview weekends. It gives you the opportunity to see the campus, interact with faculty and potential cohort mates. Seeing everything in person can also change your views on a program. What you thought was your top choice program might not be the best fit, where as a program that you weren't expecting to like ends up being a top contender.

I'm trying to keep the reapplication process pretty simple. I've deferred at Grand Valley, MSU, and Eastern Mich. I'm adding Kent State and Western Mich for a total of five schools. I feel like that's a pretty reasonable number to work with.

Hey mrsmithut! Which program did you end up picking?

I actually have more than three who can write for me. It's mainly just wanting to minimize the work for both myself and the writers and also spread out the work as much as possible amongst everyone. To give you some background on why, I actually applied this past cycle. I'm deferred at a few places (MSU is included in that group). Prior to that I applied to a job that required LORs. So for a few of them, this will be the third time I've requested LORs. I think they'd still do it for me, I just feel bad that I've asked so many times. Hence why I'm trying to make it as easy as possible for them for this time around.

I can imagine any "big name" program will see close to those numbers (i.e. Vanderbilt, Harvard, U of M, etc) as well. I don't have stats on these schools, it's mostly just a hunch.

So... while this was a very interesting discussion of higher ed in California, I'm going to attempt to bring the thread back to the original topic. Thanks!

I applied to UConn, MSU, Eastern Michigan, and Grand Valley. None of them required it. It's also looking like my list this year probably won't look at it either.

So in my experience from last year, I actually ended up picking only schools that didn't require the GRE, even after taking it. It's not a bad idea to take it as a just in case, but I also wouldn't stress about it too much.

I'm wondering if anyone can point out to me some HESA programs that either 1) require less than three letters of rec or 2) only require a recommendation form instead of a letter? This is my second time going through the application process. I'm going to be honest in saying that I'm kind of starting to get burnt out over the grad school process, so I'm trying to minimize the work on my end as much as possible. I've also asked many of my references to write me LORs already for grad school and various jobs over the past year. So ideally I'd like to minimize the work on their end as well In terms of location and other things I'm looking for, I'd prefer to stay near Michigan, so ideally a school in the Midwest or relatively close to the Midwest. The programs must still offer GA positions. Let me know if you have any suggestions! I'm currently already looking at Western Michigan and Kent State, in addition to the three schools I'm deferred at from last year (Eastern Michigan, GVSU, and MSU).

In terms of post graduate jobs, admissions is generally the easiest to enter with just a Bachelor's. I've heard it can also be a good transition into academic advising as well. I was also advised to look at community colleges because they generally tend to be more likely to hire someone with just a Bachelor's degree. It will take a little more digging, but they're out there!

I agree with what a lot of the others have said. I think you would really benefit from taking a few years to gain work experience at a college or university before jumping into a graduate program (there are still positions out there that only require a bachelors degree), as others have mentioned. I also think that your plans to get volunteer experience will definitely help. I also agree with curly hair that you should aim for experinences where you will be working directly with students at this point. Have you asked about being able to help with orientation at your CC? Since it's summer time those should be coming up pretty soon... One thing that I will add here is that I think will be a major factor for you is going to be how you sell yourself in interviews and your personal statements. As a nontraditional student, you can actually offer a diverse perspective on what it means to be a college student that many of your future cohort mates won't have (the overwhelming majority of people in these programs had traditional undergraduate experiences). So I think if you explain the challenges you faced in completing your education and how that's inspired you to help others in your situation achieve their goals, that could help make you a more compelling candidate. It will also explain to the admissions committee why you are lacking in the traditional student affairs experience that they typically see from other applicants.

I'm not exactly sure why your hall directors leaving would prevent you from asking them for an LOR. Can you explain that a little bit better? I think the bottom line is if you didn't know someone well, at best they can only write you either a vague LOR or they will just ask people who did know you well for input. In which case, you might as well just ask the people you know well.

I also agree with this advice. Admissions is probably one of the easiest student affairs areas to get hired with just a bachelor's. Also, if you end up at a school where there is a HESA program, you might be able to get a break on tuition and continue to work there while you complete the program. Otherwise, I'd just look for programs that offer GA positions in Admissions.

Agreed, a person who can speak to your work ethic and reference specific things you've done will definitely write a stronger overall letter of rec.

I would say that the "jeans and a nice sweater" combo is probably going to become your new "yoga pants and a sweatshirt." I think it's advisable to look a little more put together in grad school. You'll want to distinguish yourself from the undergrads on campus and as someone mentioned up thread you never know when you'll run into someone important. In terms of shoes, flats and casual boots are probably good to start off with.