hi i was wondering how competitive it was to be accepted into msw programs? i noticed there was only one school in my state that offered the graduate level program so i imagined that they would receive lots of applicants. i guess i was just wondering if it was as competitive as other graduate school like 5 year ph.d programs or was it more on the level of counseling graduate schools? i noticed that i met the minimum requirements like my gpa and my degree when i get it but i don't have any experience in the field at all. i am a psychology major in my last year now. i don't have much volunteer experience and my work experience is unrelated. do i have a real chance of being excepted if i apply to a msw program right after i graduate next may 2009? will i be extremely below my competition?
competiveness of msw programs
- Thread starter wut2du
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It varies depending upon the program. Some are pretty competitive... my cohort took 1 out of 5 but it was a unique year that year. I think now they definitely take less than half of all applicants and we have 6 accredited programs in the state.
http://www.gradschools.com/programs/social_work_msw.html
click on the southeast, that should give you some links
You have as much of a chance as anyone of being accepted if you truly demonstrate a commitment to the field. Figure out how to get involved, learn the key foundations of social work, and make sure it's for you before you commit.
Be well and good luck!
http://www.gradschools.com/programs/social_work_msw.html
click on the southeast, that should give you some links
You have as much of a chance as anyone of being accepted if you truly demonstrate a commitment to the field. Figure out how to get involved, learn the key foundations of social work, and make sure it's for you before you commit.
Be well and good luck!
thank you so much for answering me. i looked at the link and there is one other school that offers the masters program in my state. i also wanted to know how long does it take to demonstrate a commitment to the field. for instance lets say i did some volunteer work this summer in the field. do you think that would be enough to make me a compettive applicant? and how many applicants usually apply each year is it like hundreds or thousands or just like fifty?
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I'd say up to hundreds apply, depending on the program. In 1998, my MSW graduating class was 350. Sounds like the other poster's class was significantly smaller. No MSW program will ever be as competitve as a PhD psychology program, although I'm a big advocate of tightening that up for the sake of the profession.....
As far as demonstrating commitment, my best suggestion is to spend your time focusing on making sure you really want to be there. I don't know that anyone can say "six months", "one year", or any other definitive time line. Find opportunities which allow you to see social workers in action, shadow some if you can, talk to them about what they do, get a real sense of what the field is and how we define ourselves. Also find things that get you interacting with lots of different people. Look at your current position and see if it's even peripherally related to social work..
I worked retail at the mall to put myself through the last year of college and then grad school. My grad field placement supervisor used to laugh at me because it was "completely unrelated" to what I was doing. The day I explained to him how my active listening skills and ability to recognize and deescalate someone who's upset were directly related to good customer service, he started to keep it to himself.
As far as demonstrating commitment, my best suggestion is to spend your time focusing on making sure you really want to be there. I don't know that anyone can say "six months", "one year", or any other definitive time line. Find opportunities which allow you to see social workers in action, shadow some if you can, talk to them about what they do, get a real sense of what the field is and how we define ourselves. Also find things that get you interacting with lots of different people. Look at your current position and see if it's even peripherally related to social work..
I worked retail at the mall to put myself through the last year of college and then grad school. My grad field placement supervisor used to laugh at me because it was "completely unrelated" to what I was doing. The day I explained to him how my active listening skills and ability to recognize and deescalate someone who's upset were directly related to good customer service, he started to keep it to himself.
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I love that...
When I started to write my personal statements, I realized (without any cheese-factor or pandering) that quite literally every job I'd ever taken had prepared me to be a social worker. I was equally able to find childhood activities that prepared me for the field. I was always doing social workery type stuff even if it wasn't labeled as such by a job description.
I'd agree with the no time limit on commitment. It is just really connecting with the field and being able to articulate that to other people (your admit committee first) in a way they understand. I once sent someone on the boards a list of my cohort (18 of us) and all of their individual backgrounds before we started our program. Despite multiple geographic regions, ethnicities, ages, and formal career fields... we all had the same sort of goals and that was neat to see in a group of people.
It wasn't as blatantly scary as groupthink... but it was comforting to see an idea get batted around the room like a beach ball at a concert... growing with each person's new perspective and finally, settling over all of us.... building us up. It didn't mean we all agreed... Lord knows we didn't and we had a few discussions that still make me laugh at how silly some of us could be at times.... it just means that this shared goal pushed us all to become better thinkers and active doer's... and their commitment to be there was evident in their participation and enthusiasm for our program.
Confused? Yeah, me too. I need to stop getting on here when I'm so tired.
Second attempt @ an edit: My suggestion is to go ahead and grab the app to the program, fill it out, and see where you stand. You might be surprised at how good you look on paper and like I mentioned... I realized a lot about my dedication to the field of mental health/policy/advocacy just by the process of writing my personal statement. The volunteering won't hurt anything and will help your community... but as far as just an application improvement, you might not need it.
Good luck, have fun!
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You might want to think about (just for yourself) the reasons you want or think you want to go into social work and how much you feel that you know about the realities of the work. I think if you can demonstrate that you have knowledge about the field and have explored your desire to be part of it, you'll be golden.
Well, if I were your admissions person, anyway. I *would* want to see some solid volunteer or work experience that would help you make that decision, but as the other posters said, you may have related experiences that you're not even aware of.I want to thank you all for helping me. I am going to take some of your suggestions and think about why I want to do social work. My career goal is to be a counselor to people but I just want to have a social work masters instead of counseling because people have told me that it was more versatile and that I could have more options yet still have the same opportunities I would have with a counselling degree.
anyway, thanks for your replies. i can see by most of your answers that it really would depend on the school i applied to as far as competiveness is concerned but i just meant in general.
and the only work experience i have is in fast food when i was younger and i have worked full time in retail the past two years so that could show customer service skills or people skills.
so what i have learned so far that i need to start doing (correct if i am wrong):
1. reseach the sw field and decide if its for me by talking to people with experience
2. volunteer or get some work related expereince
3. decide what i want to do in the field and educate myself about all aspects of that area
4. apply to the schools
5. pray
anyway, thanks for your replies. i can see by most of your answers that it really would depend on the school i applied to as far as competiveness is concerned but i just meant in general.
and the only work experience i have is in fast food when i was younger and i have worked full time in retail the past two years so that could show customer service skills or people skills.
so what i have learned so far that i need to start doing (correct if i am wrong):
1. reseach the sw field and decide if its for me by talking to people with experience
2. volunteer or get some work related expereince
3. decide what i want to do in the field and educate myself about all aspects of that area
4. apply to the schools
5. pray
