HigherEd2013

With the Penn master's application due tomorrow... Does anyone else have an incomplete application status when you know everything is turned in? It's showing up that they received every transcript, LOR, application submission, and GRE score. Underneath it says completed (yay!) as of such and such time and date. However, the bold "incomplete" in bigger letters at the top of my page is freaking me out. The only thing I can think of is that my recommenders turned everything in only a few days ago and the grad school might have to manually change the application to complete. Also, I can't tell if this is a legitimate concern or if I'm officially going crazy. That is honestly what is keeping me from contacting admissions about it.The next two months are going to be rough :/.

I learned how to do the cups song from Pitch Perfect. Several hours passed before I thought about grad school results .

I waited two years before applying again and completely changed what I wanted to study and the degree. As sad as I was at the time, getting rejected the first time was the best thing that ever happened to me. Instead of going straight to grad school after undergrad, I got some work experience and found something that fit me more. This time around I think I have a much stronger application. Same GRE scores, but I was happy with them the first time. My undergrad GPA went up my last two semesters so that was a bonus. I did much more research on the programs I applied to, did many informational interviews with people in my field, attended all online info sessions, visited a few of the programs and spent more time tailoring the SOP. Also, I started my SOP about 6 months in advance and got many people to review it. It was a painful process, but I'm really happy with the final product. Lastly, the first time I applied, one of my recommenders put in her recommendation a month late for every single program. I have a different one this time around that has unfortunately kept me biting my nails, but he always submits on the day the ap is due so I guess that's what counts. I'm more nervous this time around because I care more about the programs I applied to. However, I am proud of my applications (as opposed to "winging it" last time) and know that if they reject me, it wasn't meant to be. Good luck to everyone applying!!! The wait will be over before we know it!

Is it just me, or are they taking awhile to update the status check page? I know they said they will try to update master's program pages by February 1st, but other schools say similar things and have everything already updated... Darn their long winter break!

Try to get a third one. You will be extremely limited in the programs you can apply to based on that criteria. With that being said, I know UVA only requires two for their program.

Hi all, I'm going to be applying to Student Affairs/Higher Education Administration programs for the Fall 2013. I'm having some difficulty because I'm not sure if I should apply to programs with more of a higher education administration focus or student affairs focus. It seems like they overlap alot so I'm having trouble figuring out the difference between the two types of programs and narrowing down schools for this reason. I know I want a one-year program that will help me in my journey to create/maintain progams to help first-year students (particularly those with first generation status from low-income families). I'm also interested in academic advising. However, since I'm only going to have 2 years of higher education work experience (not including undergrad experience), it woud be nice to have an overview of the history/improvements being made in higher education as well, as long as there isn't too big of a focus on policy. Ideally, I would want to attend a program that isn't research focused and would allow me to have an internship at the same time. I guess my problem is that alot of the higher education administration/student affairs programs seem really similar. Many are not as research focused, will let me have an internship/assistantship, and have really interesting courses that will both give me an overview and help me learn more about retention rates and the type of students I would like to work with. I was originally looking at applying to Harvard, UCLA, UPenn, Boston College, Stanford and University of Virginia. Do these sound like good options or would you suggest I look elsewhere?

It seems like there are a bunch of outside scholarships for grad students who want to teach at high-needs high schools, but what about outside funding for higher ed admin? I'm not applying to schools until next year, but I honestly don't know where to start looking. It doesn't seem smart to only rely on the school funding (or lack thereof) when I'm only wanting a masters degree. Thoughts? Where did you look for outside funding?

Not to be mean or anything, just trying to be informative: The term public ivy is actually used to describe large, public universities that give an education comparable to more expensive private ivy league schools. According to Wikipedia, Richard Moll coined the term http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy. While it isn't necessarily a term used by the schools themselves, it is definitely a term that people use colloquially. I've even heard school administrators use it.

This may be a stupid question, but is the application for a Masters program the same as PhD? When I applied to PhD programs in psychology, I was applying to work with particular professors rather than simply the school. Therefore, one of the most important considerations was how closely my research interests matched those of the professors. So when applying to masters programs, should I be looking for a particular mentor (ie. I should tailor my personal statement to them)? Or was that just a suggestion to note the types of professors who would be teaching the classes? Thanks!

Hi all, I'm already thinking about where I want to apply next year (to begin a grad program in Fall 2012) and I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions especially since many of you just went through the application process and have gotten a chance to visit schools. Stats: - graduating from a good public university this May with a 3.78 overall GPA, 4.0 major GPA (Psychology) - GRE: 670V, 740M, 5.0 writing - research experience (all in psych): 2 semesters in two different labs, senior thesis that could sort of be applied to education, conference presentation, undergraduate research fellow (basically just given some money to do my thesis) - applied experience: peer advisor for 3 years; mentor and tutor for 1; will have 1 year of working experience with high school students as a college adviser (ie. advising them how to pick a college, how to do financial aid etc.) - various leadership roles, honor societies etc. I realize that LOR and SOP are almost more important than all of that but I figured my stats wouldn't hurt. I think I'm most interested in having a career in student affairs/higher education where I would be able to work with college students in some sort of administrative role. Maybe eventually running some sort of honors program or program for at risk students? I'm starting to look at MEd. programs. I was thinking about WashU's Graduate Program in Higher Education. Ideas? Suggestions? Thanks!

Has anyone heard anything from U Denver?