Higher Ed and Student Affairs Programs- Need Help!

[JBums1028]

Hello! I'm new to these message boards, but I need some advice. I just recently graduated from Michigan State University. My undergraduate degree is in Human Development and Family Studies. I'm taking the next year off to work for AmeriCorps and Michigan Campus Compact. After that though, I really want to get started on my Master's degree. I'm in the process of researching schools that I'm interested in applying to for fall of Fall of 2014. I need help though narrowing my list, or quite frankly in searching for programs. It's so difficult because each SA or Higher Ed program is so different that it can get really confusing keeping them all straight!

 

Here is the list of schools I'm considering:

1) Michigan State University- East Lansing, MI (Their MA in Student Affairs, not the HALE program)

2) U of M- Ann Arbor, MI

3) Grand Valley State University- Grand Rapids Area, MI

4) Rutgers University- New Brunswick, NJ

5) University of Southern California- Los Angeles, CA

6) University of Washington- Seattle, WA

 

I originally tried to post this with a really long description of my academic credentials, but I've updated my signature to contain that information (I noticed others have done that)...

 

My long term career goal is to become an academic adviser. However, I know that is a difficult field to break into so I'm open to other student affairs areas (admissions, career services, service learning/civic engagement, etc. The only area I'd prefer not to work in is ResLife). I should specify I want to be a practioner and work directly with students. I also have no plans to do a PhD since I can reasonably do what I want to with just a Master's. I don't have undergraduate research experience, but I'm open to working on research in grad school. But since I'm not planning on doing a PhD, I'd place experiential learning (field placements, internships, etc) as a much higher priority.

 

I'm wondering if anyone who is either attending or has attended (or knows a lot about) one of these programs could share their thoughts. Do you think that I'll be able to reach my long term goals in that program? What are my chances of getting in? How's the area that the school is located in (this is mostly for the out of state schools, as a MI resident I'm familiar with the areas the MI schools are in)? What type of financial aid is available? etc. These might seem like questions to ask the school, but I'm hoping to get honest answers from. Also a few of these schools are not responding to my requests for more information (USC and UW specifically), and I won't be able to visit out of state schools until after I've applied. Also, if there are maybe other programs that I should consider let me know!

 

This post got kind of long, so I appreciate anyone who is willing to take the time to provide feedback!

Edited July 1, 2013 by JBums1028