My alma mater offers Higher Education Administration and this is the graduate path of choice.

Like KSU said, you can major in anything. My program had lots of majors, including elementary ed, secondary ed, broadcast communications, accounting, business management, architecture, biology, etc. As long as you have experience in some sort of student activity, your major shouldn't matter too much. The only pre-req I've seen at some programs is a basic psychology course.

I majored in English (concentration in dev't of modern lit.) and just got accepted into the higher ed program at Drexel with a secondary concentration in student affairs and dev't. Anything humanities is a sure bet but I would think communications/marketing/PR would be most helpful.

Bumping for myself, and the new class of GCers who may be interested.

I'm applying for 14-15, but only have a list of 4 schools (a mix of ranked schools, reputation and recommendations from ppl who currently attended or are alum). I'd love your input on any that I've listed or one I've completely missed.

UPenn (I was super impressed with their info session, has been a dream school of mine for a while, and their faculty look really interesting)
Michigan (top ranked but not moved either way on this school. I know nada about Ann Arbor)
MSU (this school keeps popping up everywhere in my searches and conversation. I get a good vibe from this program and am told I could get some really good funding here.
Indiana (same as above)

UConn covers full tuition (as you apply and accept your assistantship) which is worth a look but I wasn't wowed on first glance at their site). I'm also told to look at the following schools, by a soror who (according to her experience working in student affairs, I would practically get in and attend for free):

Penn State
Nebraska
Iowa
Kansas
Urbana-Champaign

Now, let me say that I am a city girl through and through. Philly aside, I am super nervous about leaving NY for the suburbs. (Better get used to it, since post-grad, I could be working anywhere)

For some reason, 6 schools seems like a good number to apply. The only backup I considered is Baruch (CUNY) as they are the only city school with HEA as a Master's program. I'm not moved by its offerings but it would cost me $10k total as an instate resident.

I am a junior in college now going for a B.S. in Public Health Studies with a Community Health concentration but I have plans to go into higher ed. Has anyone gotten a degree in Counseling with a dual concentration: Student Affairs and School Counseling, that way you can be able to work in a high school or college setting? Was just wondering if anyone knew if it was possible/worth it?

How exciting tld221! I am about to start my first year in a HESA program!

I applied to three schools and interviewed at two. Most of the people I know applied to 3 or 4, mostly because of the expense and time-consuming nature of assistantship interviews. I would definitely recommend applying to programs where you have an assistantship, and one that offers some tuition compensation for the assistantship. I would be suspect of a program that didn't have some type of compensation plan, and frankly would not consider a program that doesn't have an assistantship component.

You've got a pretty good list so far - Michigan State and Indiana are both very good, and very competitive. Based on the schools you've listed I think you should also check out the University of Georgia.

I'll PM you with some details!

I'd be interested to know also. I see myself working with HS students in a college-readiness capacity at some point, but I was also interested in an MSW a while ago, so counseling is an interest of mine too.

I bet if I attended a program which allowed electives, I could take counseling courses to fill that desire, right?

Ok, from a "city girl" perspective, if you wanted to eliminate one of the programs in Michigan, I'd eliminate MSU. It is agricultural- often referred to as Moo U. Ann Arbor will feel more city-ish to you although it will be small city-ish. It is easier to travel to Detroit for more city from Ann Arbor than from East Lansing. If that criteria is really important to you, East Lansing might feel too rural.

Darn that's disappointing! Now I'm imagining leaving campus and walking through pastures and roads with no streetlights.

I'd love for other MSU alum to chime in *cough* cheerfulgreek *cough*

Gusteau: re: # of schools, maybe I should narrow it down, for sake of havig to attend preview days/weekends. Philly is an easy 2 hr bus ride, but I'd be shelling out airfare for every other school on my list. And as indecisive as I am, if two schools has their visits overlap I would agonize over which to not attend.

This eerily feels like the NPC recruitment threads :)

I wouldn't necessarily let interview weekend dates alone deter me from applying to a program, but it can help to look at when they are.

When I was applying to school I made a spreadsheet with each school, the application deadline, the interview weekend dates, how many letters of rec were required, etc. I think I started out with seven schools and then used that spreadsheet, and preferences like location and faculty to narrow it down to the three schools I eventually applied to.

Both of those schools had two options for interview dates, but I ended up at the first for each of them and they happened to be back to back. It was a nightmare! I literally landed at home, switched my toiletries from the first interview bag to the pre-packed second interview bag and got in the car to drive to the second interview the next morning.

East Lansing and Lansing aren't rural. The campus is in a city. You're not going to be out at the farms or dairy barns. East Lansing just isn't as urbane/hip as Ann Arbor. I'd focus more on the program, and less on the setting. You won't be on campus that long.

I'm an MSU grad and I've never heard East Lansing/Lansing referred to as rural. Only people from a certain school call it Moo U. Methinks someone is a bit biased. ;)

MSU is a classic Big Ten university located near the state capital. It is not NYC or Boston or Philly. But it is a vibrant community with nearly unlimited opportunities of all kinds. The campus is very nice and huge. The people are unpretentious and pretty much what you would expect in the Midwest. Friendly and open.

MSU is known far and wide for its College of Education. I'm a grad of that college (and the Honors College) and I was very happy with my undergrad education.

Ann Arbor is going to be more liberal and hip (as someone else said). You will get two totally different vibes from the two campi.

MSU was the first Land Grant College and is very proud of its agricultural background and programs. Our graduates do amazing things around the world in this area and make a tremendous difference in the lives of people.

Oh I wasn't letting it be a factor. But thanks for make me feel a little more sane with my massive google drive spreadsheet. I'm up to 8 schools but I think I'm gonna go with my guy and stick with these 3: UPenn, Michigan, MSU.

My only concern is an recommendation from a professor. I've been out of school for 7 years. The people I could really stretch are my advisor, if shes's alive, and maybe my RD when I was an RA. I could beg my old Peer Educator boss who's doing his PhD at UPenn (google and linked in are awesome).

An aside: is it helpful to have recs from ppl who are alum from those schools?

tld221 While Bloomington feels like a college town, a bigger college town albeit, you are about an hour away from Indianapolis and two hours away from Louisville. And you could get a ringside seat for the often discussed, most special snowflakes of all recruitments -- IU. :-) If you have any specific questions, ask.