sarahmichellegellar

Agreed with the above. Try applying to some jobs and see what happens. A lot of people at my institution in various roles have master's degrees, but not necessarily in higher education/student affairs. Like olympichopeful said, if you can get your foot in but there's no room for advancement, you might be able to enroll into a higher ed program at the institution you work at. If you can't get in anywhere, then you'll know to apply to full-time master's programs. Also, I don't know if it's common but when I was beginning to research master's programs, I saw some places don't like those who already have master's in other disciplines to apply to their programs (they recommended applying to their corresponding Ed.D/PhD program instead).

Got invited to interview at Bowling Green earlier! I was feeling really iffy about this school, especially after last week's Michigan State rejection, so it made my day to get this email.

Going to a top school will definitely give you a reputation that precedes you (at least, so I've heard from professionals at my institution), but at the end of the day I don't think it matters as much as spending time in a program you really like, gaining experience from assistantships/internships/practica, and doing what you think is best for your situation. Personally, I'd go the route with less debt as I already have a ton of undergrad debt, but that might not be your situation and the funding could be less important to your search and decision comparative to prestige/reputation.

I'm with you. One of my advisors asked if I heard anything else since I last saw him and I told him MSU should have a decision soon but I wasn't feeling too hot about it... About an hour later I got the same email. Oh well! Still have a few more I'm waiting to hear from, but at this point I think I have my decision pretty locked in.

I've been accepted to Florida State and will be going to their Interview Days in February. Was also invited to interview at UConn. Mostly anxious about being around so many other equally qualified candidates and that getting to my head while interviewing for assistantships. I'm working on mock interviews with SA professionals at my university, so I'm hoping that will take some pressure off.

Thank you! And congrats on UVM! I didn't really read about their program until late into my application process and at that point didn't want to send out any more than I already was. I just applied for a summer internship there to try and make it up to myself, though. Fingers crossed!

UConn sent out interview invitations last night. I'm excited I got the invitation but I wish I had applied to UVM as well, though!