Hello human beings.
I am going to try to give you some advice on how to pick the right program for you. I say try because I do not know you all that well. So this is, in one sense, some very generic advice. However, it is advice I have solicited from some very smart people and advice that I am very glad I followed. Some of it is obvious. Some of it might not be. By all means, take it or leave it. I do not write under the assumption that I am the smartest person in the room and I am hopefully assuming that some (or all) of you out there are smarter than I will ever be. So if you already have it figured out, don’t pay much attention to what I have to say. But maybe you don’t. So maybe read this.
David Boyer’s Three Tips on a Successful Life (But more specifically, choosing the “right” Student Affairs/Higher Education Program for you)
3. Ca$h Money: Cash rules everything around me. Remember that song? I don’t know if it’s entirely true but money is an important factor in this decision making process! Did you get an offer for an assistantship that will help pay for the costs of grad school? Are there scholarships available? Can you get a tuition waiver to help offset costs? These are some questions you should be thinking about while you’re picking the “right” school.
2. Comfort Zones: How comfortable do you need to be in order to be successful? Do you need to be a car ride away from your friends and family? Do you need to be in the same time zone as those people? Transitioning from undergrad or the professional world to this world isn’t always easy. I won’t even pretend that now, three years out of undergrad, I’m not jealous that my baby sister gets to go to Indiana University Basketball games and all my favorite bars/restaurants/study spots and I don’t. But I can deal with it because this education is worth it for me. You are going to face a lot of unique challenges in graduate school. People are going to ask a lot of you and then, when you’ve given your all, they’ll probably ask you for a little more. You need to think about your support system and what that is going to look like in a grad program before you commit to that program.
1. Your Gut: Listen to your heart. Remember that song? I definitely do. And maybe that idea applies here. Or maybe not. Let me explain. Sometimes, a place just feels right. Georgia felt right to me. And I ended up picking Georgia. But here’s the thing, other places felt right too! If I had just followed my gut feeling, I would have been so confused. So I kind of listened to my heart. But also, I talked to other folks who went here, I asked a lot of questions, I looked at the financial picture, and I talked to my best friends and family. Between that stuff and my heart, I was able to realize that Georgia was the place for me. I love being a Dawg. I love going here. Turns out, my gut and heart were right. But my instincts only got me so far. Food for thought for your figurative gut.
To help you figure out if UGA is the place for you take some time to watch this video! You will hear from some current CSAA students to hear more about what they love about UGA and the CSAA program!
My name is David Boyer and I am a first year Masters student in the College Student Affairs Administration program at the University of Georgia. I have a graduate assistantship with University Housing here at UGA. I graduated from Indiana University in 2012 and taught 8th grade English for two years before attending UGA.