<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I'm currently in the process of researching which graduate schools to apply to in the fall/winter. I know that I want to study school counseling, and due to geographical limitations will probably need to stay within state, but possibly excluding NYC (or maybe I shouldn't?). </p>
<p>I have no idea what my GREs will look like, but I am at the very top of my class, and by the end of next semester I'll have two semesters of undergraduate research and one semester TAing. </p>
<p>I have found sites that list the schools in-state offering the program, but many are outdated. After screening out programs that don't seem to really offer what I'm looking for or are out of my geographical range, I'm still looking at about 10-15 schools. </p>
<p>Now I'm at a point where I feel completely stuck. I can't find any guides that rank or compare different schools that offer school counseling. In fact, I can't even search by my major on pretty much any major graduate guide site. There was a book recommended in the last thread I made but I looked through the table of contents online and it didn't really seem to offer much if any information regarding school counseling specifically. </p>
<p>I'm also really not sure what to do regarding paying for graduate school, though I suppose that's a question I'll have to look into once I actually see if I'm offered any sort of financial aid at all. I am completely on my own paying for and supporting myself during graduate school, so I'm really worried about what I'll do. I'm looking into applying to two more expensive and selective programs (Syracuse and NYU, though I haven't really found any reference to significant scholarships, assistantships, etc. offered by the first but geographically it is the best place I could be), and the rest at public schools or moderately priced private schools. I'm also not sure if I should be looking into CUNY, because although the tuition is low the savings there might be offset by the expenses of living in or near the city. </p>
<p>So I guess, to summarize and add to my ramblings above, my questions are as follows:</p>
<p>-How do you narrow down your graduate school search within a specific program like this without available rankings to compare by?
-Is now too early to be contacting schools to get more information about their graduate programs and financial aid?
-Should I flat-out ask schools if they offer assistantships, fellowships, and/or scholarships to people in my field of study before I apply?
-How does one go about paying for living expenses while attending graduate school? For my undergraduate experience, I have always been fully funded by grant aid/scholarships/loans, so this has not been a concern before. Although I want to work as much as possible, if that does not cover it, do I pay for my living expenses with loans?
-Will having transferred into psychology and my current school as a junior hurt my chances at admission, since I haven't had as much time to gain experience in the field and network with professors?
-Will my lack of internships basically doom my chances at getting any sort of funding, even though I have other undergraduate experiences, at least one good professor reference and an excellent GPA?</p>
<p>And finally:
-How much is too much to have in loans for a field that makes perhaps 35-40k starting salary in which it may be difficult to find a job? For the record, I have about 6k in Stafford/Perkins loans combined from my undergraduate years. </p>
<p>If anybody could answer any of these questions I would really appreciate it. I'm panicking right now and there's nobody I know to talk to who can really help me beyond saying "You'll be fine."</p>