Duck!

Jeez, I can't believe you didn't get in! Your undergrad GPA wasn't great but that was so long ago, and the recent 4.0 should make up for it. Two years of Americorps, plus volunteering in the foster care and homeless systems...wow, I didn't have that much on my application when I applied. Unless you forgot to send your transcripts or just absolutely bombed your personal statement, I can't see why you would have been rejected by five schools. Can you call up these schools, make an appointment to speak with someone in advising, and ask them how to strengthen your application? Also, are your recommendation letters strong? I assume that they are from your supervisor at Americorps, your supervisor at the volunteer sites, and a prof at the community college, yes? Can you have some social workers take a look at your essay? Best of luck with it.

I didn’t have to write this kind of essay when applying to grad school, but I’ve been a social worker for over 12 years, so here are my thoughts: A phrase you’ll hear in social work is “case to cause”. It refers to the importance of moving from a focus on an individual’s personal stressors (ex., being homeless) to the social/systemic reasons for their stressors (ex., lack of affordable housing, underfunding of homeless shelters, etc). I imagine that the schools want to see if you can make this jump in perspective in your essay; that is, if you had “the power and resources” would you be able to conceptualize the systemic factors at work behind a social problem and be able to offer ways to address those factors. I’m not sure, but I highly doubt they want you to come up with an original solution; likely they want to see if you can research, critically assess, and synthesize information about causes and current interventive models on a case and cause level, and to draw a conclusion from this about how you would approach the issue. That is, they likely want to see if you have the critical skills to think about problems systemically, to understand basic articles that are written from this perspective, and to ground your ideas in some basic research and reading. And, yes, you should credit all sources that you draw upon; it’s a basic requirement of any academic writing, and it will help your essay’s credibility. Best, Duck!

Hi, I've been a clinical social worker for 13+ years (15+ counting grad school); here's my take on the field and your questions: 1. Go to the most affordable school you can get into. If you're currently residents of NYC, that would be Hunter. Social work salaries aren't great, so you don't want to rack up huge debt. 2. No one cares what school you went to, at least for clinical work. I've been part of the hiring process for several clinicans, and we look for their field placements mostly because that's where you get your skills. Ex., if we need a clinician with lots of child experience, we'll look for someone who was placed in a school setting, doesn't matter where they went to school. The MSW cirriculum is fairly standardized so all schools teach pretty much the same things. (However, most of the socal work schools in NYC are pretty good, so we are safe hiring people from them. Not sure how Westfield State University would be viewed. Maybe contact some agencies and set up an informational interview and ask?) 3. Yes, go to a school that is accredited. 4. In NYS there is a social work tuition reimbursement bill that's been passed, but I don't think it offers too much $. Some agencies like ACS offer reimbursement if you work there for a few years. Maybe the military or the VA, do some research about that. 5. The main contacts you'll make will come from your field placements and the faculty. (I took a course on social work in hospitals and the prof, who was the director of soc wk in a major hospital, invited me to interview for a job close to graduation.) Good luck, Duck!

Hi, I graduated from Hunter's MSW program in 2000, and I had less experience going in than you, so I say you have a really good shot! Volunteer work + internship + job in social services + good references + decent gpa = competitive application. Good luck, Duck!