studentaffairsgrad

1.) Where do you see yourself in x amount of years?
- Even if they give you a specific number of years, make sure you describe where you see yourself both in the short-term span (this will show you are realistic) and in the long term span (this will show you have high-reaching goals.) You don't want to roll in there looking unrealistic, or like a slacker.

2.) Why do you pick this program?
- Pretty straight forward, just be honest. Pick specific things about the program that sets it apart from other programs. For example, "This program really stuck out to me b/c while it has great academics, it also has a lot more opportunities for practical experience than other programs out there."

3.) Why do you think you would be a good fit for the program?
- This is a chance to brag on yourself a bit. Also, let them know what makes you unique compared to the other hundreds of students applying. Tailor your talents to the specifics of the program.

My last piece of advise...don't be arrogant about it, but try to think along the lines of you are interviewing the school as well. You want to let the interviewer know that you want to make sure the school is the right fit for you. Do this by asking discriminating questions...what sets this school apart from other programs? How has this program evolved over the last 20 years in its field? What is this program doing to stay competitive? Some people might disagree, but I went into my interviews with the attitude of, look, I know my qualifications, and any school would be lucky to have me. I want to make sure they are worthy of my talents. I know it sounds arrogant, but it made me feel less nervous to look at it as if I was the one interviewing them. Be confident, but not arrogant. It is a thin line. My interviewers even mentioned that they found my confidence appealing. If you have faith in yourself, they will put their faith in you.

The worst thing you can do is go into an interview being unsure of yourself. My program did an interview weekend, where you were with other candidates the whole time. Some people can get intimidated, and get down on themselves when they hear other applications bragging about their amazing qualifications. Know that 1.) They are all embellishing and 2.) If they really were that amazing, they wouldn't feel the necessity to brag about it. They are only bragging b/c they know they are lacking. Just nod and smile.

Just know that you deserve the best education, because you are a talented, intelligent person, and you will rock the interview

Questions you should ask should be on the lines of
Hey Babe, wanna go out for a movie later?

The situation with employers might just be me, then. On the other hand, my employer also used some very shady business practices and treated me like crap anyway, so take what I said about work and school with a grain of salt, I guess. I just love how my program is called a "program for working people," but with all the crap they load you with for homework, I don't know how they expect someone to have a job/career AND do all this nonsense. I don't even have a job and I can barely make the deadlines.

And unfortunately, I cannot address UnlikelyGrad's comments without sounding too snarky, and I don't want to derail the topic. psycholinguist, I've been so bloody busy with not only school work (hello six projects due for July), but also two clients who want work done and a family friend who needed their site updated. Gah, I'm surprised I even have time to use the bathroom! But sadly, no progress being made...mostly because there's even more drama in the house as of late (not my doing) and it's making things even more difficult.

I did have a job, but I was fired from it for many reasons...one of them being my need to take time off for school. But I was also verbally and mentally abused at that job, so it was not a big loss. I honestly almost hit my boss because I thought I could have a little escape from the abuses I suffer at home. But I got them worse at work on top of my home life and I genuinely wanted to hurt her badly. And I honestly have nothing in savings. All I have right now is maybe fifty dollars and that is going toward homework (need lots of posters printed).

And I have read the advice offered here, and I admit I'm afraid to take it because deep down, I really do feel like nothing will work. I feel deep down anything I do will backfire and just make my life even more miserable when I end up right back here. I feel like any domestic violence shelter would laugh me out the door because I'm not being abused by a spouse. Maybe I'm just so used to the crap I deal with regularly that I have learned how to overall cope with it,and I've learned that my life is simply not mine to live and it never has been. I feel a sense of defeat only because that's all I've experienced - there have been no small victories to encourage me further down the path to freedom. It's all just been a bunch of failures when I step outside the little box people expect me to stay in. Besides, I couldn't live for the rest of my life in a shelter.

Unfortunately, since I live with my mother, there's no way for her to not know how much money I bring in from any job. Believe me, my mother has been poor her whole life. I am poor. Living frugally has never been an issue because we've never had another option. Also,I'm not saying I personally am holding out for a six-figure job - my mother is the one who believes a master's degree will guarantee me a $100,000 job. I just want to be able to afford to live - I couldn't do that at my last job, at which I was making less than $10K annually. And yes, my mother maybe did at one time have my best interests at heart - maybe when I was five and I was prone to doing silly kid things that might harm me. But now she's at a point where she just feels she is right and must reign over me that if I deviate from the plan she's got laid out for me, I will hear about it. I wish for one second she would think about whether or not I actually want to do something...or more importantly, if I can afford to do it to begin with.

She expects me to do everything her way, but if I want something, I either can't have it or I have to endure lots of screaming and sobbing to get it. Like visiting a friend of mine a few hours away. I don't ask for money, don't ask for a ride, nothing. But I literally have to put up a fight and be so stressed out just to do something that in no way inconveniences my mother. And frankly, I am at a point where I am just sick of fighting for myself - I can do it for friends, but not for me. Otherwise, I would be fighting every single moment of every single day for the rest of my life. I can fight, but not that much. I know because I've tried, and eventually I weaken, crumble, and end up defeated. I only feel this way based on what I have been experiencing my entire life: Giving in and fighting yield the same result, but fighting makes it a lot more difficult for me.

Despite all of it, I honestly do find joy in little things, and my friends and significant other keep me going each day. I only hope they will continue to have that effect; I worry one day even my friends won't be enough to make me want to keep on living. I honestly kind of hope one day I go absolutely insane and get admitted to the psych ward. That way, maybe my mother can see just how much she has damaged me and maybe be able to talk to someone about it and they can see I'm not truly insane - just someone who is broken.

So what, exactly, are you trying to accomplish with this topic? What's the point of the discussion? Or is this just a PSA about how we're all screwed?

Since we are all in different programs, let me give you a little background my situation before I get to the question...apologies if I am being too thorough in my explanation.

I'm going to grad school for higher education (student affairs) in the fall. Everyone in my program HAS to have an assistantship. If you aren't offered an assistantship, then you don't get into the program. The assistantship interview is weighted way more than the faculty interview. An assistantship in this field could range from academic advising, to Greek life, to housing, to hundreds of other things. The way interview weekend was set-up at my program, was you get a list of assistantships, apply to the ones you want, they pick who they want to interview, then you preference your top 3 choices.

Housing is always the most competitive, b/c they come with a free apartment and meal plan, a much higher stipend, as well as free parking. Also, a lot of people going into this field were like myself, former resident advisers, and they want to stay in housing. I believe about 5 times as many people interviewed for this position over all the others, and preferenced it as their #1.

I got picked to have a housing assistantship. I'm super excited, but over the course of assistantship interview weekend, I remember a lot of people talking about how they really wanted this position...some people even freaked out and cried b/c they were worried their housing assistantship interview went bad.

So, a Facebook group was started for my cohort, and I noticed some of the people who were making the biggest deal and being dramatic about wanting a housing position DID NOT get the position. Just to illustrate the desperation...at one point after the interviews, one guy who was near tears said, "I need this position. I live and breath housing. If you cut me, I will bleed housing." Um, yeah.

I've been thinking about how this is all going to play out come fall, and I'm wondering if any of you think that jealousy/resentment will be a problem. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I know I wouldn't be too excited if I got stuck with one of the other assistanships. On top of everything else, the 5 housing grad assistants all come back a month before everyone else. I'm sure some type of bond will form, which might be intimidating to the rest of the cohort when they show up weeks later for orientation. I just don't want the, "Oh look at them, they think they're better than everyone else." crap to start.

I'm not the kind of person to rub it in, or talk about my assistantship 24/7...but I'm not sure about the other housing GAs. Do you guys think I will have to deal with jealousy? If so, any advice? I know few of you are in this field, but maybe something similar or relate-able has happened to you.

From her point of view, you don't sound very mature, hardworking, or helpful. She gave you a couple projects, and you sound like you are intentionally failing because you are very judgmental of your supervisor. Why should she trust you? She told you to contact the customer services guy at the corporation that sold the instrument, and you didn't do that. Why not? It sounds like a no-brainer. Just contact them. They owe you.

So what if she's hiring her boyfriend? Big deal? You're caught in the middle of what? Just get your work done. Get your own girlfriend so you aren't judging people who have social lives.

You sound like you are intentionally failing, being immature and judgmental about things unrelated to the project, and running to save your career at the expense of showing loyalty to someone who gave you a chance. I wouldn't want to work with you.

The employees at Enron were small cogs with limited responsibilities in a larger machine. Same thing with the people working for mortgage lenders. Many of them stood to gain nothing but honesty by telling their employers the truth about what was going on in their businesses. They would have lost their jobs. And the Enron crisis and the financial mortgage crisis would not have been prevented. People still would have been hurt and lost significant savings in both places. But lying just to save your own job is pretty small. Sometimes snark is just hurt feelings but sometimes it is fraud and dishonesty. When more people refused to put self-interest before telling the truth then the fraud and dishonesty will be mitigated and lessened. Enron wasn't just the one big guy who went to jail. It was all of the smaller employees who signed off on documents that didn't look right then cashed their paycheck.

This is why Bernard Madoff ripped off so many people, why there was a financial crisis, why there was Enron. It was "smart" to ignore the lies, duplicity, dishonesty, fraud, manipulation, bullying to keep your job. There is so much fraud and dishonesty in these professions because people like you think it's "sophisticated" to keep quiet when you see clear fraud and bullying.

If you don't understand the key term in this hypothetical, then why are you answering my question? Sharing your ignorance is less valuable than you think.

It is sad that students are so pre-professional that when they hear of dishonesty and bullying in academia their response is to look the other way. This is why Enron and the financial crisis happened. The people who knew something was wrong did nothing.

Thanks for the advice! Decided to go the roomie route. It will be a crazy year for you, but I think it will be worth it!

Since we are all in different programs, let me give you a little background my situation before I get to the question...apologies if I am being too thorough in my explanation.

I'm going to grad school for higher education (student affairs) in the fall. Everyone in my program HAS to have an assistantship. If you aren't offered an assistantship, then you don't get into the program. The assistantship interview is weighted way more than the faculty interview. An assistantship in this field could range from academic advising, to Greek life, to housing, to hundreds of other things. The way interview weekend was set-up at my program, was you get a list of assistantships, apply to the ones you want, they pick who they want to interview, then you preference your top 3 choices.

Housing is always the most competitive, b/c they come with a free apartment and meal plan, a much higher stipend, as well as free parking. Also, a lot of people going into this field were like myself, former resident advisers, and they want to stay in housing. I believe about 5 times as many people interviewed for this position over all the others, and preferenced it as their #1.

I got picked to have a housing assistantship. I'm super excited, but over the course of assistantship interview weekend, I remember a lot of people talking about how they really wanted this position...some people even freaked out and cried b/c they were worried their housing assistantship interview went bad.

So, a Facebook group was started for my cohort, and I noticed some of the people who were making the biggest deal and being dramatic about wanting a housing position DID NOT get the position. Just to illustrate the desperation...at one point after the interviews, one guy who was near tears said, "I need this position. I live and breath housing. If you cut me, I will bleed housing." Um, yeah.

I've been thinking about how this is all going to play out come fall, and I'm wondering if any of you think that jealousy/resentment will be a problem. I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I know I wouldn't be too excited if I got stuck with one of the other assistanships. On top of everything else, the 5 housing grad assistants all come back a month before everyone else. I'm sure some type of bond will form, which might be intimidating to the rest of the cohort when they show up weeks later for orientation. I just don't want the, "Oh look at them, they think they're better than everyone else." crap to start.

I'm not the kind of person to rub it in, or talk about my assistantship 24/7...but I'm not sure about the other housing GAs. Do you guys think I will have to deal with jealousy? If so, any advice? I know few of you are in this field, but maybe something similar or relate-able has happened to you.

You can't really do anything about it. Just be yourself. If you're cool, people will catch your good vibes. If not, it's clearly not your fault, so just let them suffer.

It is all too common for those who are suffering to project their negativity onto others.

Yikes, I wouldn't want to be in your position. People can get jealous and mean even when it's not your 'fault'. On the whole, I'd follow Arcadian's advice- just play it cool, be yourself, etc. Usually I try to keep the news relatively quiet when I get a fellowship or something that I know somebody else wants. So, whatever you do, don't go on that forum and post "yeah, I got housing, I'm so stoked! Woohooo!" (I'm sure you weren't going to do that anyway, but just in case...)

Although it probably doesn't seem like it now, the majority of them will get over it. They will start their own assistantships, enjoy them, and can't imagine having another position. They will find off campus housing and start loving their apartments. They will bond with members of their cohort and make new friends. Their initial disappointments will fade away into the excitement of starting a new program.

I honestly won't stress about how they will react. For the reasonable, it will be a non-issue. It is possible that a couple people will let it fester, but there is not much you can do about it. Some people are not happy no matter what the situation. If they let this defeat them, it's sad-- but it is not your problem. Surround yourself with people who will be happy for your successes and return the support/accolades when they are successful. That is how you survive grad school and build a strong professional network.

Good luck!

Another explanation: In early typesetting, where the letters were cast in mirror-images to then produce the correct letter on the printed page, the reversal of lowercase Ps and Qs was a big problem since they were already mirror images of each other. Thus, "Minding your 'p's and 'q's" was a practical consideration that turned into advice to be aware of the fine details that might have larger and more lasting consequences.

In that light, you could even argue that it's a precursor to "Don't get it twisted."