going places.

Last Thursday and Friday I was in San Diego for a conference designed for students who are looking for a career in student affairs. This was the first time I've been to a conference like this and deep down I knew I was ready for it. I felt like I knew what I was doing and that I was able to talk to these professionals from graduate schools and have a substantial conversation. I talked to the Director of Residential Life at University of San Diego for about 15 minutes, which feels like forever, after he critiqued my resume, which by the way he said was flawless haha. We talked about Loyola University Chicago where he went to graduate school and what he does now and etc etc. And then I talked to another professional who went to University of Vermont for like 20-25 minutes at the grad fair and literally just fell in love with the program. My number one choice for graduate school right now is UVM because it has everything I want and more. It offers so many opportunities in diversity development and they have one of the top higher education in student affairs program. Also, it will definitely be a change: new state, cold weather, 80% white people!! Ideally I will get the chance to do my internship in Vermont this summer.

"Over the years we have recognized that there is no linkage or correlation between student's Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores and their ultimate success in the program. This anecdotal data affirms data collected national on alternative measures for assessing student success. Thus our program no longer requires the GRE*."
I talked to other schools like USC, Pacific, and Northridge but none of them really appealed to me at all. I'm excited for next week when I go to the NASPA Regional Conference in San Jose and continue to network.
Looking into grad schools really freak me out. It is so overwhelming thinking about it. I know for a fact that I will not go straight to grad school after undergrad but where does that leave me for the one or two years I take off? Work? ARD? Internship? Home? Santa Barbara? Northern California? Arizona? I don't know! Sometimes I really do miss Garden Grove and how seriously ghetto it is haha but I really hope I get the chance to go back and live there for another year. However, it would probably have to be on my own lol
Ok, in order to go places I need to graduate and in order to graduate I need to pass my classes and in order to pass my classes I need to do homework and in order to do my homework I gotta go. So peace :)