Upon reading these forums, I was very happy to find out that undergraduate major doesn't matter. I'm currently a rising senior, and I would like to start a Masters in Student Affairs Program as soon as I graduate. Since I'm going to be working on my applications this summer, I'd like to ask for everyone's help in clearing up a few areas of concern.
First of all, how do I explain my math major? Honestly, I chose math as a major because (1) I like it and (2) I was hoping it would get me a financially secure job if the education grad school and career track did not work out.
And secondly, how do I get my masters program funded? Or what can I do now and during the program to minimize and perferrably eliminate the cost?
Here's a little about me:
Academics:
Major: Mathematics
Education Couses: I take upper division education courses every quarter, but no minor.
GPA: 4.0 (state school), 3.97 (community college)
GRE: I haven't taken yet, but I took a past test for practice and got low 160s Verbal Reasoning and high 160s Quant. I will be studying all summer, so hopefully I will have good scores.
Professional:
Current job: Peer adviser specializing in low-income, minority students. Work part time. Have great evals and quite a few accomplishments.
Previous and current summer job: front-line advising at a community college
Extracurricular:
Counselor, Team Leader, and Trainer for non-profit specializing in at-risk youth.
Personal Background:
Returning student who had to stop college several times for financial and personal reasons.
Recommendations:
1 strong recommendation from a math/stats professor where I was top student.
Don't know about the other two.
Career Goals:
Get my masters in student affairs, then get a job at the same school. If I find something very interesting and financially secure and satisfying, I might stay there for my entire career. If I decide to move on, ideally I'd want to end up a fully tenured STEM counselor at a community college (which would require an additional credential). This would be my settle down job that would give me the work-life balance to raise a family and enjoy life. But fully tenured positions at community college are very very competitive, so I would like to have backup options (thus the math major and the job at the school where I got my masters)
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, especially in writing my personal statement and applying for fellowships/scholarships.