AZmsw

First of all, rankings don't matter. They make little to no difference for an MSW grad, with a few exceptions. What employers will be looking for is licensure. If you'd prefer to pay $50,000-70,000 more for a name, that's your prerogative but I certainly wouldn't. I ran into cost issues in making my decision, and what may help is crunching the numbers on your loans. Go to bankrate.com and there is a loan calculator under College Finance. For example, let's say you take out $100,000 in loans. You'll probably take out more after room, board, living expenses, etc. but for the sake of simplicity we'll say 100. At a rate of 6.8% (Stafford loan interest) it will take you 15 years of $900 a month payments to pay that off. Keep in mind that the interest rate will be higher because most of your loans will probably be Grad PLUS, which I think is 8.5%. On a $50,000 a year salary (which is generous) you'll be earning roughly $3,000 a month and paying $1,000 to $1,500 a month out of that for the next 15 years. It's a little easier to make the decision when you're presented with the real numbers.

hewhzw is right, they have an excellent global practice concentration which I applied to and was accepted. I can't really speak to the rest of the program but I know I would have gone if I had gotten more free money. Definitely an expensive school.

I was hoping to be able to escape a portion of the southern Arizona summer but since classes start at the end of September I really should stay here through the end of August to save up a little more dough. From what I hear Wallingford is a nice area to live, I think I might focus my search there when I arrive. I also hear good things about Montlake, Green Lake, and Eastlake. I gotta tell you though, all these 'lake' names are starting to get me a bit mixed up. I have to drive about 80 miles to find a lake around here. Kardell, I hope you get off the waiting list! I'm always interested to find someone else who wants to get into international social work, and I too applied to U of Denver for that reason. They've got a great international program; it was just too expensive. Any idea how you're going to tackle the international career goals? From the research I've done it seems that we'll need to blaze our own trails to a certain extent.

You're right indeed, I'm coming from Tucson AZ. I visited Seattle once about 10 years ago and enjoyed it very much. I got into the Day Program and I'm looking at a concentration in Community Centered Integrative Practice because I think it might fit my interests (refugee mental health and international social work) pretty well. What about you?

I just confirmed my acceptance to UW today! (I got an extension on the deadline so I let them know later than most.) Very excited. Did you attend any of the open houses or whatever they had going on at the beginning of the month? I'm out of state so I'm not sure I'll be able to make it up there before the fall.

I have not heard anything about financial aid. I emailed Mr. Fooks after being accepted a few weeks ago and he said that he "will be in contact with admitted students about financial aid options soon," which tells me absolutely nothing. My guess is that acceptances are still rolling out and that financial aid isn't even on their radar yet. It's more than a little frustrating since they've had 4 months to get all this in order.

I received a modest fellowship a few weeks ago. According to an email sent out about a week and a half ago, they've notified everyone who will be getting one. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the upside is that I don't think I will be attending Berkeley so maybe you'll get my fellowship!

I have similar feelings about DU. I got in and was awarded a $28,000 merit scholarship (14 per year), but that leaves about 26 grand a year just for tuition. I'll probably end up going to U of Washington myself. As to the insight or advice you're looking for, I suppose it would depend on what exactly your professional goals are and how precisely the faculty's interests align with your own. I know that DU has one of the very few programs in animal-assisted therapy, so if you're dead set on something like that and can live with the debt it might be worth it. I personally applied to DU because they have a number of options for international social work, including international field placements. However I couldn't really justify the price tag when I can find a way to get international social work experience in other programs that aren't nearly as expensive. If there are cheaper options that would prepare you well enough to pursue your professional interests I would advise against taking on that much debt. Given the average salary in the field, taking out $50,000+ in loans isn't the most advisable course of action. Denver is a very good school with expertise in some very unique areas in social work. If you really can't get what you need academically anywhere else and you can make ends meet, go for it. At least you'll be doing what you really love while you pay it off.

The Office of Financial Aid said that graduate students should get a financial aid package sometime in early April. There's no guarantee that it will be by April 8th, but it's something. Financial Aid only administers loans and a few grants, though. Fellowships and scholarships are through the SSW and we won't hear about those until May. I guess that's all we're going to get....

I also got into Berkeley and UW. The Office of Admissions at Berkeley said that people who were awarded fellowships would hear by the end of this week... I've heard nothing yet. I got into the day program at UW and I have the same deadline for giving them a decision (April 8th). It's unfortunate that the scholarship/fellowship deadlines are April 1st because we evidently won't hear back about those until May. I'm going to call the Social Work department and Financial Aid office today so see if they can help me come up with some money now so that I don't have to confirm my acceptance blindly with no word about aid.... I'd REALLY rather not do that. If anyone has any ideas or hears anything about financial aid for UW, can they post it here?

Well, if I can figure out how to pay for Berkeley (I'm out of state) I'll do it. But I'm still waiting on UCLA, U of Denver, U of Washington, Boston College and WUSTL. We'll see!

I ended up turning down the interview. I wanted more flexibility in my studies and field work and the IV-E program would have restricted me more than I'd like. When the project coordinator called she told me I had been accepted to the Children & Families concentration; that I could interview for IV-E without giving up my spot in the C&F concentration and then pick one or the other if I was offered the stipend. I guess if you just applied to the IV-E program they would be the only ones to consider your application. So you have one less person competing with you for the stipend. Good luck, I hope you get it!

FYI for the Berkeley applicants: Just got a call from the Title IV-E project coordinator (although I didn't apply to the program) asking if I was interested in interviewing for a stipend. She also confirmed that I was accepted to the Children & Families concentration.... decision time! Some of you C&F people might be getting calls before Friday. Good luck to all!

I applied to UCLA and UC Berkeley in December, UW in early January, ASU and U of Denver in late January. Sent off my Boston College app just last week so I didn't expect to have heard from them yet. But you heard from Pitt 5 days after you applied?? If only all admissions departments took care of things that quickly....

Am I the only one who hasn't heard from any schools yet? I applied to six MSW programs: Arizona State, U of Washington, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Boston College and U of Denver. Is everyone else who's heard back already a PhD applicant?