Grad students: Higher Education -- Student Affairs

juillet
Tue, 07 May 2013 12:02:39 +0000

1) You’ll want to narrow your focus down to a narrower broad area, if that makes sense. You don’t have to know exactly what job you want to do, but knowing that you want to work in student affairs directly with student advising will probably work. In other words, your focus is plenty fine.

2) That depends on the program. I have a lot of higher ed friends (because I’m working a student affairs paraprofessional job right now) and most of them had higher ed experience (I go to Columbia). Not years and years of it, but maybe like 2-3 years of experience before coming here. Some programs may be more amenable to you just coming from undergrad, especially given your involvement in lots of res life things. I have a former supervisor who went straight into a higher ed master’s at NYU from undergrad; he was an RA for 3 years and realized that was what he wanted to do.

3) Maybe. Although my supervisor’s supervisor ran a restaurant before she came to student affairs, and her boss has an MSW. I’ve noticed that a lot of people in student affairs come from all different kinds of backgrounds. Can you try to find a student affairs job nearby you? Still apply, though!

4) That’s great. Don’t worry about that.

I’m not an SA applicant, but I’m a residential hall director as I study in a different kind of graduate program.