>> Krista Coleman: I think this is a message that we send to all students,
but especially for anyone who has decided they're interested in going
to Student Affairs, just getting involved.
It's interesting because students don't really come into college thinking, "Oh,
I want to work in Student Affairs."
That's not even really something that's on most people's radars, just because it's --
you know, if you're not in college you don't usually make connections
with those kinds of people.
But maybe someone might think it would be cool to be a dean one day.
It's cool.
So for students who are already kind of starting to explore the path, I would really say,
"Just get a variety of different experiences
and understand what it means to really be a college student."
And, you know, be involved in different offices, whether it's, you know,
working with LGBT students, and addressing social justice issues, or just kind of finding
that niche where you really feel like you belong.
And I think that happens naturally, but just let that kind of help you figure out your path.
And then when applying to graduate programs, which is what a lot of students will end
up doing to go into Student Affairs, I would definitely recommend looking at a variety
of different schools and programs, because I would never have known how much I love Rutgers,
and how much I wanted to work at a place like Rutgers, if I didn't go to these other schools,
NYU, Fordham, Montclair, all great places,
but definitely gave me a completely different perspective.
So it's hard for someone to always be at Rutgers and not broaden their horizon.
So that's something I would definitely encourage people to do.
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