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Hey there, Before I go too deeply into Berkeley's MSW program, please elaborate on what you'd like to do after obtaining your degree. Clinical competencies can mean a variety of things. Are there certain skills (e.g. CBT, DBT, MI, mini-mental status exam, MOCA, etc.) you're looking to familiarize in grad school? I'm a Berkeley '14 MSW alum and work with colleagues who graduated from SJSU, whom I can consult with, so let me know. Take care, Peter

Hi Kahlah, Congratulations on your acceptance to two very good MSW programs! Cost and prestige aside, your choice comes down to location. While UCB is world reputable, UCB's internship opportunities are primarily in the Bay Area. If your dream involves working in the Bay Area for an agency or an organization, UCB is an easier path to achieving that dream; however, it's not impossible if you were to go to CSULB and pursue the same dream. Investing in an MSW means looking at the opportunities and network available to you through the program. Reviewing the internship opportunities for 1st and 2nd years on each school's website may help edge you one way. I personally went to UCB and loved the people in the program as well as the internship opportunities. UCB hosted a "Welcome Day" for incoming 1st years--if you were able to attend, that may give you some data point about the people you'll be spending 2 years. If CSULB provides the same exposure to your future cohort, it'll give you insight on which program will provide the right fit in terms of peers. Lastly, if the networking opportunities and program fit is a great match, the price of tuition may not be as big of an issue. I have peers who went to USC, UPenn, Columbia who all swear by their program experience and wouldn't change their decision if they had a do-over. Whatever your choice, I wish you much success ~

Hey potential class of 2016 at Berkeley, I'm a 2nd year student in the MSW program and see that you guys are having a very good discussion about program quality. You guys are being proactive in finding out what you might be getting yourselves into and how this program supports or doesn't support your professional and educational goals. What I can tell you guys is that the school is aware of these issues--because current students talk to administration and faculty about our concerns on a regular basis. In fact, the dean and the director of field education meet with the student body to talk about areas for improvement every semester. Thus far, I'm excited to say that the issues that I've experienced (e.g. too much research/not enough practice, strict elective requirements, teaching quality, etc.) is being addressed. When you attend the welcome reception, I encourage you to ask what the school is doing about the problems you've heard and assess whether or not these changes fit with your vision. On a side note, we as social workers will not find ourselves in a perfect system. A good system is one that does more good than harm. A great system is one that constantly re-evaluates, troubleshoots, and readily implements change. For those who do commit to Berkeley, there’s an extremely intelligent, passionate, and effective group of students (class of 2015) currently making headway for you guys. Should you choose to accept, I have no doubt this program will engage you on the same level, develop leadership qualities, and improve the school for future students.

As a first-year at Berkeley, working while going to school is definitely doable. For an assignment, my friend surveyed fellow classmates and discovered that 32.3% of first-years worked while going to school. 22.6% worked between 1-10 hours, 8.1% between 10-20 hours and 1.6% more than 20 hours. I worked around 20 hours on the weekends, had school for two weekdays and fieldwork another two weekdays. Now a reasonable conclusion is that I didn't have a social life or slept very little. I actually got around 6 hours a night, participated in nearly all the social functions in grad school, and elected to be a graduate assembly member. What I sacrificed is doing all the assigned readings--I honestly did only about 20% of them. Nonetheless, with my classmates' help and resources from the school, I did pretty well my first semester. Tips Study groups -- get into study groups with a bunch of smarties before exams. They'll be able to summarize a semester's worth of material if you can't do all the readings. Reading groups -- this can decrease your reading load from several books / articles per week to a chapter. The more people in your reading group, the less reading you'll have to do. 2nd year buddy -- connect with a second year in your concentration. That person will have study guides, notes, textbooks, and essentially, invaluable wisdom on how to navigate through your first year. Peer support groups -- fieldwork can be tough. At Berkeley, support groups provide a space in which students can connect across concentrations and talk about emotional reactions to field placement, stress and burnout, maintaining healthy relationships outside of work/school, vicarious trauma, financial concerns, use of self, and negotiating the micro/macro divide in social work. Organization -- Google calendar everything you plan to do and you'll discover that there's still time for recreation / self-care activities. Grades -- if pursuing a Ph.D. is not in the plans, A's don't really matter. Getting less than a B is pretty hard in grad school. At Berkeley, the professor needs to petition to the Dean before giving a student anything less than a B. Professors -- communicate with professors if you need an extension. They're reasonable human beings invested in your development as a social worker.

Finally heard from CSU East Bay in the mail yesterday. Got in but already committed elsewhere.

MommyMSW, I have not heard back from CSU East Bay. I spoke with another Berkeley-bound student who also applied to CSU East Bay and no word either. It seems like they're really taking their sweet time. E-mail Lynn, the admissions director. She's very nice and responds promptly.

Congratulations! Welcome day is tomorrow. Come out and meet the class of 2013 and 2014!

UC Berkeley!

Rejected. Oh well. UCLA: you missed out on a good thing, which is a heartfelt rejection from me. Lets just be friends.

So it doesn't seem like they pick up the phone or answer to emails. I only applied to UCLA to mess with my friends in LA. Now it seems like the joke is on me and that they'll never respond. That's $60 I could of invested in the Mega Million and the $640 million at stake!!!

When the dust from the application storm settles, email admissions to inquire about your application. Get a sense of what could use some tweaking so its not as much of a guessing game. Admissions director at info sessions encouraged applicants to seek out advice if they weren't accepted. Also make sure the programs that you're applying to gives out-of-state or international students a fair shot. Some programs take the most qualified in-state or even within their region and don't seriously consider out of region applicants. With a year of experience and an even more competitive application, you'll be at an advantage and simply irresistible to many programs.

The different sections (e.g. 200, 205, 241) are not by concentration, so we can pick whichever one fits our schedule best. There's only one section each of 220 and 240, so no choice there. The only one where concentration matters is 400, for the first semester at least. I think the second semester we break off into our concentrations and take more courses together. Your welcome mapletree. Just trying to pay it forward for all the good advice people post on here. Even last year's Cal msw forum

I went into admissions office on Friday to talk to Melanie specifically about scheduling. She was super helpful and got me the Fall 2012 schedule. I think they'll have the Spring 2013 schedule after school starts. 20 hours could be doable depending on the available work hours Mon-Fri.

Hey MommyMSW, I emailed Lyn on March 12 and here is her response. "Hi Peter, The email you are referring to comes directly from the University Admissions Office not from the department. The department will send you a letter in the mail notifying you if you have been accepted or denied. Currently, the committee is reviewing applications that were complete in November & December. Your application was complete on February 15th, so it will likely be another 4-6 weeks before you can expect a response. Sincerely, Lyn"

I'm in that same boat. I have a dream job (for my current qualifications), part-time and the dream school (Cal). Wouldn't it be nice to keep both? So I set out this week to figure it out. Fieldwork is two days (Wed & Thurs next year; 16 hours total / week) and most likely during regular business hours. School is Monday, Tuesday and Friday next year (unlike this year where it was just Tuesday and Thursday for CMH). I got a copy of next year's schedule (should be online in a couple weeks) and will try to create a document like mapletree so everyone can access it now. Scheduling isn't by priority or concentration but rather random assignment in August...I think Berkeley formatted it that way to really discourage people from working at all. How much working are you contemplating?