So for the longest time, I was gunning toward law school and was interested in practicing family law. Long story short, I realized the legal market sucks and that being a lawyer wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
So I met up with a friend who works for the local DCFS and we talked about social work. He told me about the nature of the work and I liked it, especially since I had some experience working with family services in the past (er...kinda, you'll see).
So anyways, I have a few concerns. I'm a graduating senior and will be taking a year off from school. I'm mainly interested in applying to UCLA, UC Berkeley, CSU Fullerton, CSU LA, and CSU Long Beach for my MSW. I don't know about long term goals, but for now, I'd like to work for DCFS as a children's social worker. My concerns are my work experience and major.
In terms of GPA, I have a 3.6, which is decent...right? but my major is in History. When I looked at the admissions page for the schools I listed, I saw that I completed or will have completed all the pre reqs (I'm taking stats now) so that's not an issue. But I guess being a History is atypical since I imagine most people are Psychology or Sociology majors. Will this affect me in my admissions?
Also, I don't have much work experience or volunteer experience necessarily relevant to child and family services or social work. I served 1 year as an AmeriCorps member working with low income families and their legal work in the courts, and my other jobs were just legal office jobs.
I hope and hope I'll be able to find something after I graduate that's relevant, but who knows?
What do you guys think? Do I even have a fair shot of getting into any of these schools? I have no idea how hard it is to get into an MSW program.
So I met up with a friend who works for the local DCFS and we talked about social work. He told me about the nature of the work and I liked it, especially since I had some experience working with family services in the past (er...kinda, you'll see).
So anyways, I have a few concerns. I'm a graduating senior and will be taking a year off from school. I'm mainly interested in applying to UCLA, UC Berkeley, CSU Fullerton, CSU LA, and CSU Long Beach for my MSW. I don't know about long term goals, but for now, I'd like to work for DCFS as a children's social worker. My concerns are my work experience and major.
In terms of GPA, I have a 3.6, which is decent...right? but my major is in History. When I looked at the admissions page for the schools I listed, I saw that I completed or will have completed all the pre reqs (I'm taking stats now) so that's not an issue. But I guess being a History is atypical since I imagine most people are Psychology or Sociology majors. Will this affect me in my admissions?
Also, I don't have much work experience or volunteer experience necessarily relevant to child and family services or social work. I served 1 year as an AmeriCorps member working with low income families and their legal work in the courts, and my other jobs were just legal office jobs.
I hope and hope I'll be able to find something after I graduate that's relevant, but who knows?
What do you guys think? Do I even have a fair shot of getting into any of these schools? I have no idea how hard it is to get into an MSW program.
