MSW: Is school worth investing in?

[Young Grasshoppa]

Hey everyone!
I'm applying to MSW/MFT/Counseling programs now.

I could go to a program that takes itself seriously and expects you to work hard. I'd spend 50K and work a lot harder. Or I could go to a school that charges 18K - also CSWE accredited - not work as hard - and get the same paper at the end.

I would be willing to pay more for a better education. But LCSWs/LMFTs keep telling me that I will learn NOTHING in school. If that's the case I certainly wouldn't want to pay more for an equally useless education.

Did anyone here feel that they ACTUALLY learned enough useful information in the Master's program they attended that it would be worth an extra 30K, 300 extra internship hours and much more demanding professors?

The answer I'd like to hear is yes, but give it to me straight.

What was your experience?

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[summerbabe]

I could go to a program that takes itself seriously and expects you to work hard. I'd spend 50K and work a lot harder. Or I could go to a school that charges 18K - also CSWE accredited - not work as hard - and get the same paper at the end.

How do you know the $50k program expects their students to work harder and is more serious? How are you operationalizing the differences?

Even if there is truth to this difference, what’s to say that a very motivated and engaged student at the $18k program can’t have a better educational experience or have that path fit their needs better?

I would really try to compare objective differences between programs such as curriculum, prep towards desired career goals, modalities of education, etc rather than generalities if possible.

But LCSWs/LMFTs keep telling me that I will learn NOTHING in school.

I’m a psychologist who attended an LPC eligible MS program before my doctorate. I agree that a good majority of what I’ve learned about the ‘art’ of therapy was not in the classroom and a lot occurred post-graduation.

But that doesn’t mean I got nothing out of coursework on theories, general counseling processes, professional ethics, and other topics since those helped to establish foundations that I continue to build upon. Short of a program being a literal diploma mill or incredibly dysfunctional, learning should happen.

And ultimately, it is a credential to song matters like cost and completion requirements are important.

Good luck with your choice!

 

[R. Matey]

Did anyone here feel that they ACTUALLY learned enough useful information in the Master's program they attended that it would be worth an extra 30K, 300 extra internship hours and much more demanding professors?

The extra internship hours might help, but my guess is the correlation between quality of the educational experience and the cost is either nil or negative. Having attended a private institution myself for my M.A. counseling degree, I would say what helped me most develop as a therapist was excellent clinical supervision.

 

[Young Grasshoppa]

How do you know the $50k program expects their students to work harder and is more serious? How are you operationalizing the differences?

Even if there is truth to this difference, what’s to say that a very motivated and engaged student at the $18k program can’t have a better educational experience or have that path fit their needs better?

I would really try to compare objective differences between programs such as curriculum, prep towards desired career goals, modalities of education, etc rather than generalities if possible.

Thanks for the response.

Good points. The $50K program told me that they expect me to work hard, be more vulnerable than I already am (they almost didn't accept me for this) and to take internships that are serious, not just babysitting a kid with ASD. My wife did online college at a place that would let everything fly, and my gut here is that they really mean what they're saying.

Their response to my question of how they supposedly offer a program that's actually useful: They only employ successful clinicians and they adjust all of their classes to be useful for someone going into private practice. They "don't believe in teaching things that aren't useful." They are clearly marketing themselves to clientele who are interested in going into private practice.

The curriculum on paper is the same as most other programs - probably due to CSWE requirements.

 

[Sanman]

The question here is what are you paying for? The curriculum is the curriculum. What are the rates of folks achieving full/ highest level licensure and your desired career goals at both programs? What kind of mentorship or program level guidance/help are they offering to get you there (connections to supervisors to gain your post-grad hours or are you on your own)? Then decide is that is worth the extra money to you.