MSW Online?

[4EverBluDevils]

Hi people.
As u know I'm caught between a rock and a hard place because I can't go to grad school
until I pay off my university and I can't find a job with my English degree. I'm also
not interested in getting a job I wouldn't like as a means to an end or an end in itself. I spoke
to a counselor who suggested that I get an MSW online. They don't require official transcripts so
hopefully if that goes thru I can pay off my debt once I'm settled into a job I love.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

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[wigflip]

Hi people.
As u know I'm caught between a rock and a hard place because I can't go to grad school
until I pay off my university and I can't find a job with my English degree. I'm also
not interested in getting a job I wouldn't like as a means to an end or an end in itself. I spoke
to a counselor who suggested that I get an MSW online. They don't require official transcripts so
hopefully if that goes thru I can pay off my debt once I'm settled into a job I love.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance!

I'm gonna echo the advice of other folks at sdn who've urged you to just find a way, BAMN, to pay off your uni and free your transcripts. Any online program which requires no transcripts is going to be viewed as suspect, and may not even be accredited.

From what I've gleaned, the only situations in which online clinical ed should be considered is if:

1. You are geographically constrained to a rural or other isolated area where there are no other options, and people working in the field all got degrees from online institutions. But if you move from this area, you'll be competing against alums from brick and mortar schools, which are considered better.

2. You select a prestige school with an online track like BU, USC, etc.

 

[4EverBluDevils]

There is no way I can pay back my school because I can't find a decent job with an English degree. I don' t want to be 35 and still looking for a job with a huge gap in my resume and having to lie on it. I'm also sick of the jobhunting process as it's quite tedious and discouraging.

I want to look at online programs that I know are accredited.

I will look into prestige schools with online tracks.

 

[4EverBluDevils]

Anyone else care to weigh in?

 

[4EverBluDevils]

I guess I just have to buckle down and find a decent job.

 

[Psychadelic2012]

I guess I just have to buckle down and find a decent job.

Everyone has to do this eventually, BluDevils. Going to school to avoid finding a job is the wrong approach. You are putting off the inevitable if you do that--only with significantly more debt after grad school. No one is immune to working a low-paying, less-than-ideal job in this economy. How do you even know that you want to do social work, if you haven't even worked significantly yet? It is questionable whether you will even be admitted with no exposure this field and no transcripts from undergrad. Sure, maybe you can do an online, unaccredited degree, but then good luck getting a job when you do "graduate"--you'll be worse off. Not to mention that you're stealing from your alma mater by not paying them back. And this is not a good example for your future clients, if you ever get them.

 

[4EverBluDevils]

I can't gain experience in this field without a master's degree. I called around and my local schools say it doesn't matter what type of work you did before or what your degree was in. I want to go to Catholic.

 

[wigflip]

How do you even know that you want to do social work, if you haven't even worked significantly yet?

I think this is the most important point. Try before you buy.

It's not necessarily a great sign that your local schools don't care if you have experience--maybe they'll take you without it, but maybe they'll also take you if you know what I mean (take your money but provide you with a subpar education because, as you've suggested above, they'll take folks with no experience or proven track record in the field).

Unless you live in the absolutely most obscure rural setting, I find it impossible to believe that there are no social service volunteer opportunities willing to work with folks with no masters degree. Try suicide hotline, domestic violence, sexual assault hotlines for a start.

 

[momto4girls]

Unless you live in the absolutely most obscure rural setting, I find it impossible to believe that there are no social service volunteer opportunities willing to work with folks with no masters degree. Try suicide hotline, domestic violence, sexual assault hotlines for a start.

I do live in an obscure, rural setting and I still have found volunteer work. I am a crisis counselor at a DV/SA center. There is also a suicide hotline that I am contemplating volunteering at because I find the cause a good one. What about a homeless shelter? And food banks often have more in-depth positions (in addition to the stocking-the-shelves type of work).

Good luck!

 

[4EverBluDevils]

What if I volunteer at a crisis hotline or mental health facility and then got an
MSW from an accredited online university?

 

[wigflip]

What if I volunteer at a crisis hotline or mental health facility and then got an
MSW from an accredited online university?

Okay, usually I at least attempt diplomacy, but I'm having a cranky day.

I only just put it together that Duke = Blue Devils (I don't much care for sports teams or mascots).

From the Duke website:
http://www.admissions.duke.edu/faq/indexf222.html?iQuestionID=526 &iCategoryID=0

Tuition for one year = $40,575
Including room, board, and textbooks = $55,690

So who paid for the rest of your undergraduate degree and why can't you con them into ponying up for the remainder? If they're trying to instill some responsibility in you by making you pay the balance, why not rise to the occasion?

What I'm really dying to know is:

Did you pick your sdn name, "4EverBluDevils" because that's how long Duke is going to have to wait to get their money from you? Forever?!?

Just grow up and pay your debts like the rest of us and stop trying to game the system. You can keep asking and asking but no one here is going to tell you, "Yes, of course you should crap out on paying final fees and get an online counseling degree in order to avoid paying Duke." Mostly you've resisted the advice people here have given you, so why don't you just go ahead and do whatever you want to do anyway?

 

[paramour]

Okay, usually I at least attempt diplomacy, but I'm having a cranky day.

This is why I started to but did not respond to the post earlier. Sleep deprivation for days and weeks on end combined with irritability do not make for a diplomatic me!

<snip>. . . so why don't you just go ahead and do whatever you want to do</snip>

GREAT! So you agree that he should go to an online master's program? Problem solved!

^^ Bets on whether this is the only bit that was processed?

 

[4EverBluDevils]

Excuse you stupid, but I wasn't trying to avoid paying Duke for the rest of my life.
The plan was to pay them after I get my masters and am finally able to find a job.
Lots of people defer their loans until they have a CAREER,SO WHAT'S THE
DIFFERENCE? I want to pay them back. You have the LUXURY of being able to pay
your debts because you have a job. I have been jobhunting for a year and can't even
get hired as a receptionist. At this rate I may never get a job and NEVER PAY THEM
BACK. The plan was to get an MSW online as a shortcut to a career as a therpist
SO I *CAN* FINALLY PAY OFF MY DEBTS. I'm not dishonest or irresponsible so don't
you DARE accuse me of trying to pull a con.

Stupid btch.

 

[wigflip]

Excuse you stupid, but I wasn't trying to avoid paying Duke for the rest of my life.
The plan was to pay them after I get my masters and am finally able to find a job.
Lots of people defer their loans until they have a CAREER,SO WHAT'S THE
DIFFERENCE?

If your parents allowed you use student loans to fund a BA degree that cost upwards of $150,000, and you had no concrete thoughts of a future career (as you have indicated previously), they really did you a disservice. And if you got loans, why didn't that money go to Duke?

I want to pay them back.

But not very badly, since you've repeatedly stated that you don't want to get various particular jobs, and as you state in an earlier post:

I'm also not interested in getting a job I wouldn't like as a means to an end or an end in itself.

You have the LUXURY of being able to pay
your debts because you have a job.

Actually, no. I'm a grad student without funding.

I have been jobhunting for a year and can't even
get hired as a receptionist. At this rate I may never get a job and NEVER PAY THEM
BACK. The plan was to get an MSW online as a shortcut to a career as a therpist
SO I *CAN* FINALLY PAY OFF MY DEBTS. I'm not dishonest or irresponsible so don't
you DARE accuse me of trying to pull a con.

Stupid btch.

Lovely.

Interestingly, I found this post from 2007:

I'm a post-bacc. I did well in my math prereqs. Now I'm doing badly in my first course (Bio). I find that this doesn't come naturally to me AT ALL (I'm liberal arts/politics). I dread studying and I'll be lucky if I get a C. But psychiatry to me is the perfect career. It's the apex of the mental health system and the nexus to other medical fields, especially physicians (for example the link between thyroid problems and depression). You do everything a psychologist does but can also prescribe meds which have a huge impact. Also psychology schools are just as competitive, except it is harder to get hired as a psychologist. And to be frank, salary is important. I can't see going to school for 6 years to get a PhD to be making 70K.

I'm not sure what to do. I'm at a crossroads. I thought about the army as a solution. If I join the army it will be easier to get into med school. Of course, the army program may be competitive and I would still have to fair reasonably in pre-med stuff. Any other suggestions?

So four years ago in 2007 you described yourself as a post-bacc with a liberal arts/politics background. Now in 2011 you're an English major. Maybe you double majored in English and politics? Either you've owed Duke already for four years, or you didn't know what "post-bacc" meant four years ago and misused the term. Either way, I don't care enough to keep this up. Pay, continue not to pay, what do I care?

 

[slinger]

I may be off base, but since there is such a reaction here, and personal insults happening now, maybe social work isn't the right profession for you?

I understand your frustration, but you are not the only American with a college degree that has been job hunting for a while. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. I bit it. I was in the Army for a number of years, shooting an M4 at terrorists and sitting in a hooch with shotty satellite internet doing schoolwork, and I still have student loans. Life is tough. Take your Bachelor's degree to a different university that is cheaper, and get a part-time job, and start your Masters. You should have no problem getting accepted with a 4-year degree with decent grades from Duke.

Or, go serve your country.

 

[Qwerk]

I went to a school of similar quality. I also have an English degree. Guess what? I got a job. My partner, same major, also got one. Hard, yes -- but necessary because, well, we're adults. We paid off our loans the year after I graduated. I know that Duke has good financial aid, much like my own school, so I'm having a hard time believing that your loans are so crippling that you need an online grad degree to pay them. If you can't get a job, even a minimum-wage one, it could be because of the attitude you seem have toward feedback. That, or the strange idea that you shouldn't have to work a few bad jobs in your twenties.

I'm going to echo the others and say that you should get some paid or volunteer experience before you decide anything concrete. Not every social services job requires a specialized degree -- mine didn't -- and volunteer work might not require any experience at all.

 

[BlackSkirtTetra]

I agree with those folks who caution against an online degree.

In my current MSW classes we have not one, but TWO students who previously earned Masters in Psychology from online schools and later found that their job opportunities are limited/impossible because their degrees are online. They're starting over (one in her 30s, one in her 50s) because they need a degree from a real school.

 

[Barefootone]

There are these hybrid programs I've noticed - a mix of B&M classes and some distance learning - I believe they can sometimes also be called "low residency" programs.

How are these often viewed? Tks

 

[Qwerk]

There are these hybrid programs I've noticed - a mix of B&M classes and some distance learning - I believe they can sometimes also be called "low residency" programs.

How are these often viewed? Tks

Fordham has something like this -- an online MSW with fieldwork. The tuition is no different, the coursework is supposedly just as rigorous, and I don't believe that a transcript would show that the degree was earned online. If it has to be done online, it's probably best that it comes from a school with an established on-campus MSW program.

 

[Neuropsych2be]

Fordham has something like this -- an online MSW with fieldwork. The tuition is no different, the coursework is supposedly just as rigorous, and I don't believe that a transcript would show that the degree was earned online. If it has to be done online, it's probably best that it comes from a school with an established on-campus MSW program.

Transcripts don't indicate that a degree was earned online. Unless the school is well known as a provider of online education only such as Capella, most employers would not know the mode through which the degree was earned. This is especially true for universities that have on-campus programs. Your credentials and transcripts will look exactly the same as anyone else.