Very conflicted, any advice would be great

[lovinghhh]

Hello,

 

So I have just recently graduated with my undergraduate degree. I had a really great undergraduate career. I started off pretty roughly in undergrad due to family issues but was able to then grow as an academic. I excelled and did well in my classes and was even inducted into the honor society for my major. A semester before my final semester in undergrad I was kicked out of my house because my parents found out that I was gay. This really shook me and it affected my grades in my last semester. I ended up graduating with a 2.8 GPA when I had a 3.0 before and was planning and trying to raise that. While I was in undergrad I was heavily involved and held various leadership positions and was well known on my campus for being someone who works hard.

Now since I was so well known one of my professor recommended me to apply for a Masters program with the same university that I completed my undergrad with. I was recommended to the program by my professor and was contacted by that department. Since I was so eager to continue my education I applied and was accepted with some scholarships. The only thing is this Masters programs is in an area that I can do well in and have some interest, I would rather study something else. But since this was basically my only option especially so late in the year already I took and applied. All the other deadlines ti places have passed and I wouldn't even be considered.

My question is in order to be accepted into a Masters program of my choice, with an assistantship or fellowship that would pay for me to go, should I do a year in this Masters program and work hard and get high marks then look to transfer to somewhere else? Will having a graduate level GPA help me to prove that I am ready for graduate programs, will having that high level graduate GPA show that my low undergrad GPA was only due to the external misfortunate that happened to me. Will this help to show that I am hard working and serious about my academic career?

Or would it be more beneficial for me to focus on getting a job, work hard in my job and work on writing publications and conducting research that I can present at conferences and hopefully get published to improve my academic resume that way. So this way I would still be improving my academic resume but outside of the classroom.

Which would be more beneficial for me to do in order to be able to apply and get accepted in my program of choice will full funding preferably?

I'm really torn over this and just want to do what's best in order for me to continue with my academic career and pursue what I love learning.

 

[I am studying communication/media studies - I am in the humanities / social sciences field - not a med or engineering or business student just to clarify in case that helps to understand my questions more.]