I have a confession to make: I really like to plan. I like to research grad programs, career ideas and internships. I like to record my findings in lists and, if I’m feeling a little crazy, spreadsheets. I like to be able to see all the possibilities, so that when I set my sights on a few opportunities, I know that they’re the best for me.

(The downside of this is that I’m always living in the future, but this post is not about that.)

My work experience at Scripps opened my eyes to careers in higher education. After my Fulbright, I’d like to get more work experience in admissions or study abroad programming, but there’s not much I can do until spring. Even so, I occasionally trawl the waters of HigherEdJobs.com, the Forum on Education Abroad, and the Association of International Educators job board, just to read job descriptions and get an idea of what’s out there.

What I have been doing is planning for grad school. Getting my Masters degree is solidly within my 5-year plan, which is why I took the GRE this June. I wanted to have the test done before I was out of school mode, but I gave myself a month after graduation to study. Having a deadline helped motivate my study, and having something to keep me occupied after graduation helped keep me sane. I am happy with my scores, but if I had to do it again I would change how I studied. I used Barron’s New GRE test prep (which I do recommend) and studied writing, then verbal, then math. I’m convinced I would have improved my score if I had started with my most rusty subject, math, and moved forward from there, instead of leaving it until the end when I was burnt out and in crunch mode.

The last week has been marked by daily afternoon thunderstorms, so while I stay inside and catch up on season two of Nikita (no shame), I have been making notes on higher education administration (HEA) programs around the country. This became easier when I found the grad school database hosted by NASPA, the association for Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. It’s not an exhaustive database, but it helped me immensely in putting together a starting list of 19 schools.

HEA programs come in all shapes and sizes. They can be titled M.A., M.Ed. or, less frequently, M.S. They range from nine months to two years. There are small and large cohorts. Some programs prefer research and theory to practice. Some programs cover tuition 100% with graduate assistantships, other programs are reputed as “cash cows” for their schools. Sometimes it is called Higher Education, sometimes it is Postsecondary Administration and Student Affairs, and sometimes it is Policy, Planning & Administration with a concentration in Higher Education. Among these options, I don’t know what I want yet.

Luckily, graduates of these types of programs are abundant at Scripps. I can research as much as I want on the internet, but having real people to ask about the honest pros and cons of their experience is priceless. They have the kind of insights I won’t find in marketing materials.

This all leaves me with choices to make and narrowing down to do. I have plenty of time before I make any decisions, but I like to be prepared.