University of Georgia Bound

It has certainly been a whirlwind of a journey over the past year when it comes to graduate school programs. I knew I was interested in attending and furthering my education, but there were moments of self-doubt in terms of what degree I wanted to pursue, whether I wanted to once again pick-up and move to a whole new place so quickly, and whether I medically could handle the demands of graduate school.

Additionally, I wanted to make sure I made the best decision financially for me, academically for me, mentally for me, and socially for me.

I had incredible fully funded offers for 5 out of 7 institutions I applied to (some of them I had two offers for fully funded opportunities. 1 school I heard back from after I had committed to a program (so not sure what my offer would have been), and I did get rejected from 1 university as well.

Nonetheless, I was medically struggling when it came time for a decision, and I had not yet received the offer I was longing for. I was very very very close to medically deferring and saving up even more money before beginning a program next year.

But the phone call eventually came for the assistantship I was praying for at the school that had caught my eye more than any other graduate program. I just could not turn down the opportunity to balance my interests in higher education, student affairs, and hospitality with an assistantship in residential life assistantship while pursuing a Masters’ degree in communications.

The assistantship offers full tuition, my own on-campus apartment, and a monthly stipend. Additionally, I plan to continue to work on my blog and work minimum hours at Starbucks. I love my job at Starbucks and would love to have more money for travel, savings, food etc.

Working at Starbucks has always been a mental health booster and helps me take a break from schoolwork when I need to pry myself away from the computer.

Now that the decision has been made, I am so excited to announce that I will be attending the University of Georgia on a fully funded assistantship. I will be pursuing my master's degree at the Grady College of Mass Communications and Journalism with a focus in Public Relations while working as a Graduate Resident for Residential Life in the high rises' community. ⁣

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I cannot wait to continue to further my education in a way that combines my passions of higher education,⁣ student affairs, and communications.⁣ Additionally, I cannot wait to make an impact on my students in my housing role.

So, I am officially a Georgia Bulldog and Go Dawgs is a statement you will hear me say often. A fun little note is that my primary school was also the bulldogs, so I started and may as well end my education as a bulldog.

Furthermore, I also had a dog mascot as an undergraduate as a Pace Setter. It was just meant to be.

I will say I did not have the opportunity to visit campus, so it will certainly be a whole new experience for me. I am very much so looking forward to exploring Athens, GA, and the surrounding areas such as Atlanta. And I’m extremely excited to finally attend a school that is good at football (Back2Back Natty champs).

I head to campus right after the fourth of July to begin training for my role as a graduate resident. While I wish I had a bit more time at home with my family and friends, I am glad I will have time to adjust to my own apartment, a new place/environment, and new people before the semester officially begins in August.

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