Lifesaver

If you can only walk 20-30 paces in between breaks, you need to get your health on track. Picking a grad school shouldn't be your top priority.

That's awful. And a huge pain in the ass. So sorry.
 
 
Nothing new on the home front, really. I'm still painfully exhausted. And one of my friends just asked me to last minute dog sit her annoying as hell, untrained, not housebroken, and often smelly Chihauhau this weekend. Sorry, no. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs (especially mine), but your dog is a jerk. I feel bad, but no.

If you can only walk 20-30 paces in between breaks, you need to get your health on track. Picking a grad school shouldn't be your top priority.

If it makes anyone sleep easier at night, I applied with an undergrad GPA of 2.4 and a grad school GPA of 3.83 and got into all but one of the seven schools I applied to. Ivy included. I also managed to get pretty hefty scholarships at three of those schools. I didn't even send my [good] MAT scores, I probably would have, had I had more money. A strong application package and good interview skills go a long way in terms of MSW addmitance. Much more so than blah undergrad GPAs. Especially if a chunk of time has gone by since graduation.

If you can only walk 20-30 paces in between breaks, you need to get your health on track. Picking a grad school shouldn't be your top priority.

I transferred twice. The first time, after my first semester as a freshman. The second time, as a rising junior beginning my third year of college. I've never had any negative repercussions from transferring. But I would suggest you stay were you are.

I feel like you know that what you're doing is more than a little messed up. You want to do social work and therapy and all that, yet you don't feel like you can confide in your own therapist because you might get embarrassed? That's asinine, and it sounds like self-sabotage.
 
Telling your therapist stuff you can't tell anyone else is what makes those sessions so unique and ground-breaking for anxious/depressed people. Holding stuff back during a session is almost doubly unhealthy, since you're probably rationalizing all the stuff you're withholding ("she won't think I'm weird this way", "now I won't offend her") but still feeling better after a session.
 
Let it all out [there, not here, heh]. There's clearly some repressed stuff, here.

If it makes anyone sleep easier at night, I applied with an undergrad GPA of 2.4 and a grad school GPA of 3.83 and got into all but one of the seven schools I applied to. Ivy included. I also managed to get pretty hefty scholarships at three of those schools. I didn't even send my [good] MAT scores, I probably would have, had I had more money. A strong application package and good interview skills go a long way in terms of MSW addmitance. Much more so than blah undergrad GPAs. Especially if a chunk of time has gone by since graduation.

i should not be allowed on this website while on zopiclone

In episode 9 of season 5 of The Simpsons, The Last Temptation of Homer, our lovable antihero quips "another day, another box of stolen pens". To me, that box of stolen pens is a lot like a Masters of social work.

First you have the box, the box is the glue that holds the box of stolen pens together. Without the box, the pens would be strewn about, many lying in the gutter. I aim to use my masters of social work to become that box, that holds the stolen pens of society together.

The pens, as you may infer, are the clients. Pens have a few parts, a cap and a pen. A pen is a lot like a man. A cap is like a man's hat. And a man without his hat is no man, much like a poem without a cap us no pen. A pen also has an ink stick which can run out of ink. Ink is a lot like social work if toy run out of ink, you call me. I'll ink that pen, cap that pen, and box that pen. The holy triumvirate of this pen analogy.

Homer also said the pens were stolen. Stealing can mean taking something that is not to yours. What was stolen from these pens? The answer is there soul. I will work hard to get the souls back to all of my uh clients.

Finally, homer says "another day". Suggesting this is a repetitive process. Homer may be a narcoleptic who is stealing an insane amount if pens and has to be stopped. A good way to stop him might be to catch him in some sort of trap. Another way to stop a person is with violence.

In conclusion, I really like wanna so my master if social work at Unusually Flat Ass University. Lemme please.

Thanks,

Love,

Daisydukes

I think, in addition to all the BS going on in my life and the huge differences between the two programs, I finally figured out why I'm not enjoying this masters as much as I enjoyed the last. I'm in adrenaline withdrawal. As much as my job ran me ragged and made me crazy, I miss it now. Being stationary in class for so many hours and then spending countless hours sitting doing homework is boring the hell out of me. I have copious amounts of work that keeps me very occupied, but my brain isn't going through the adrenaline peaks and plateaus that it used to go through when I was working. I have no motivation to do anything right now. It's bad.

Normally I'd agree that one day/week is too soon to make the determination that the field placement isn't suiting, and the field director in my program asked us not to do that (and to give it more time), but given that OP's placement didn't even have an on-site social worker is a bit concerning, since she is learning how to be a social worker. I'm sure it wasn't as extreme as this, but for arguments sake... If I'm in social work school, interning at a chemical plant under the direction of an engineer wouldn't do me any good.

My parents collect "writing instruments," so I have been given a few really nice pens for various graduations. I have two Cross pens and a Mont Blanc pen. I have one of each, ballpoint, rollerball, and fountain. I use the rollerball most often, but I am quite a fan of all three of them.

As far as cheap pens go, I too like the RSVP pens.

My parents collect "writing instruments," so I have been given a few really nice pens for various graduations. I have two Cross pens and a Mont Blanc pen. I have one of each, ballpoint, rollerball, and fountain. I use the rollerball most often, but I am quite a fan of all three of them.

As far as cheap pens go, I too like the RSVP pens.

I find it VERY easy to believe that people would have no idea Columbia is an Ivy in large swaths of the West Coast. 
 
My High school counselor in charge of arranging college admissions information sessions, and inviting recruiters didn't know (and couldn't name) the Ivy leagues but did know the Big Ten (and then, the Pac-10) schools. I found this out because I went to a University of Penn session, which the counselor thought was actually for Penn State, and introduced it as one of the Big Ten (sports) schools. 
 
Both I, and the UPenn rep had to correct her that it was actually not part of the Big Ten, but UPenn is an Ivy. Stanford was simply a much bigger deal because it was closer by, and frankly, almost no one I knew cared about Ivies, baby Ivies, or otherwise. Certainly some of the students cared, but other than a passing "oh that's really cool" comments, the East coast held little caché for most of us. 
 
Simply put, while rank and so on is important - not everyone cares or has the Ivies memorized by heart. 
 
eta: i have this saved for such purposes. 
 

No. It is not in good form to do so. There should be some statistical information for applicants, or at the very least, a page with prerequesities for admission on the program's website.

That's awful. And a huge pain in the ass. So sorry.
 
 
Nothing new on the home front, really. I'm still painfully exhausted. And one of my friends just asked me to last minute dog sit her annoying as hell, untrained, not housebroken, and often smelly Chihauhau this weekend. Sorry, no. Don't get me wrong, I love dogs (especially mine), but your dog is a jerk. I feel bad, but no.

I wish I could find my troll gif.

I wish I could find my troll gif.

*sigh* this thread won't be good.
 
So you went to Columbia.  As you have mentioned, people on the West Coast are unfamiliar with Columbia despite it being a prestigious school.  This is because Columbia is largely unimportant to them.  They probably don't know a ton of people from there; they do not live in New York or the Northeast, and have no reason to be familiar with Columbia's strength (although I find it hard to believe people don't recognize the name at all).  But why should you care what they are familiar with?  Are they in a position to hire you?  Are they going to give you money if they recognize and value your school's name via casual conversation?  The answer to the two of these is likely no, so forget about it.
 
And so it is with UCSD.  Top 15 is very good indeed.  And a quick look at the NRC rankings show that UCSD might very well be in the top 10 (its S-rank ranged from 2-12, higher than Berkeley, higher than Caltech, higher than Columbia and UCLA and Penn).  This is a very good, very well-known neuroscience program.  The name might not be as recognizable to a non-academic as  you might like.  But you do not (should not) care about that, because these people are not going to hire you.  Their opinion is worth little in terms of actual benefit to you.  Presumably you want to go into a research career; if your department is the BEST place to do what you are doing, then others in your field will know that.  They will not care that you went to Brown if Brown's program in your field is crappy.
 
Furthermore, as you have already seen, going to a "prestigious" school is no guarantee that people will recognize the name of your college.  You went to a top 5 undergrad program and people are still going "Huh, so where is that?"  You will get similar reactions if you go to a lesser-known Ivy for grad school - basically one that is not Harvard, Yale or Princeton.  A lot of people are also unfamiliar with the shinyness of Berkeley or Stanford, especially on the East Coast.  What will you do if you manage to transfer from UCSD to Brown, for example, and you finish, and people are still like "Brown, where is that?"  Or if you go to Berkeley and get placed on the East Coast, and people are like "Berkeley, isn't that a music school?" or "Berkeley, isn't that a state school?"  Or recall how people frequently confuse Penn for Penn State and vice versa (I am currently at one of them, and people always think I am at the other.)  Will you lose your mind if you go to Penn and people think you went to Penn State when you tell them?
 
You said you won't be happy unless you graduate from a top school.  But you ARE at a top school.  You're at a school that is not only well-ranked in your field but is a well-known, nationally ranked institution.  Since rankings matter so much to you - UCSD's undergraduate programs were ranked 37th in the nation and 8th among public universities.  With 3,000 colleges and universities in the country, this puts it in the top 1-2% of universities nationwide.  It's also been ranked very highly in rankings of world universities (from 14 to 63, depending on which ranking you are using). It's estimated that there are around 20,000 universities in the world, so even being ranked #63 puts UCSD in the top 0.3% of universities worldwide.
  I guess my question is...what do you plan to be getting out of it?  Do you want an academic or research job in your field and to turn out important work?  Or do you want the momentary pleasure of people telling you you must be smart because you went to X school?
  With that said - transferring is likely to be high-risk, low-reward.  The chances of this going through successfully are low, since in order to transfer at the doctoral level you usually have to have a compelling reason to do so. And even if you finish your MA at your current school and drop out, you will essentially be "transferring" in the doctoral program sense of the word - i.e., you will need to explain to your new PIs that you were in a PhD program and you left, but now you want to start a PhD at a different program for a compelling reason.
 
You do not have one - you cannot explain to potential PIs at MIT or Stanford that you want to transfer because their school's name sounds better than your old one.  No one will take you seriously, and you will be deemed immature.  But you also don't have any other really good reason - you admit that the research fit is perfect, so you can't really fudge that, and you can't talk about interpersonal problems (real or otherwise).  You also need support from your current department to transfer programs.  How are you going to explain to your current PI that everything is going swimmingly but you are unhappy because your school's name does not make unimportant people's face light up when you tell them where you are a grad student?
 
 
*
 
FWIW, I have a PhD from an Ivy League university (Columbia, actually).  I do sometimes get the sort of shiny reaction from non-academics ("OMG, Columbia! You must be smart!") that it sounds like you are looking for.  It gives a momentary feeling of pleasure, much akin to someone telling you your shoes are cute or your new haircut is banging.  And then it passes.  It means nothing.  What is really important to me is the way that academics see my degree, and they are less dazzled by the Ivy pedigree and more interested in who I trained with and what I did when I was there.  It also only happens very occasionally, btw, and matters even less as time goes on.

In undergrad, I did mediocre....I had very strong semesters and other not so strong. I was undergoing depression. Now I'm in a PhD program at UCSD and quite frankly I'm embarrassed. I really did not want to start school again after undergrad...I honestly need a break. I graduated from an Ivy League and am deep in debt.
I am embarrassed to be attending UCSD quite frankly. UCSD ranks number 15 or so in my field ...name and prestige really matters. And I went to an Ivy League school that people don't recognize the name of (hint: it's been consistently ranked 4th in US news after Yale) on the west coast. It annoys me because people know about Stanford but my school was ranked just as high, if not better, yet people on the west coast are unfamiliar with it.
My undergrad grades weren't terrible, however, I am going to get straight As in graduate school and quit after I get my masters...it should only take me one year and a quarter.
After that I want to go to an Ivy, MIT, Stanford or Berkeley.
 
I honestly won't be happy unless I graduate from a top school.
People's ignorance about Columbia annoys me...it's an Ivy League school for Christ's sake.
But I remember someone on the west coast saying, "Columbia's the most expensive school? I don't get it..it's not Harvard or anything." I was just too dumbfounded to say anything. And my sibling goes to Harvard and everyone knows about Harvard and it's annoying when I see the reaction when I say my sibling goes to Harvard and people have no reaction about Columbia because they don't realize it's one of the top schools in the country. I love NYC and I wouldn't trade my years there for anything in the world but I'm tired of not being good enough, I know I'm capable.

As an EMT (ambulance and inpatient ICU), I HATED when I'd encounter a locked phone. None of my patients had emergency cards. If I was lucky, they'd have a drivers license. Unlock your phones or carry a card!

OP, I hope your son is feeling better! It's a little frightening being far from your support system when something is going on. I spent two days in the ER (as a patient) a few weeks ago, alone. Would have been nice to have someone to drive me there!

I'm so sorry to hear that your child was in an accident, but am very glad they are okay and not seriously injured. 
 
I honestly recommend EVERYONE carry around a few very important things in their wallet, on their person, at all times. It can be written on a blank business card or index card. Any thicker piece of paper will do:
 
At the top of the card highlight it in lime green (or something distinguishable) and write MEDICAL (this part should be visible from its pocket in your wallet)  Name, and emergency contact(s). Your DOB should be on an ID card anyways.  Medical conditions (any/all). Include disabilities or other health concerns. Asthmatic? Diabetic? Panic disorder? Epilepsy? Pacemaker? That goes here.  Blood type (I have a rare and weird blood issue so I have that listed in the odd case I need a transfusion.)  Allergies (any and all) important medical history (e.g. had a heart attack, stroke, surgery on something major, etc) Prescriptions -- FULL name, dosage of the Rx in mg, and how often you take it. Include the "as needed" prescriptions. Insurance name.  THEN, list pets [if you have no roommate/they aren't your emergency contact] and/or another emergency contact or school/department. An "If hospitalized, please call/email ____ department." Your emergency contacts should include at least ONE local person (roommate or otherwise), and THEY should be given a similar card with your medical information, your family's contact information, and a list of top priority things to be done (feed your pet), and people to contact, probably your advisor -- with the name of your hospital/ER room/etc. If you don't have a roommate, and DO have a pet/home things which need taking care of you can pre-emptively give your emergency contact a spare key to your apartment, provided you trust them. Otherwise, I would speak to your apartment's landlord/on-site manager/whatever and make them aware of your emergency contact, their name, and that you've instructed this contact to get in touch with the manager/landlord in the case of a dire emergency in order to feed/water/whatever. If your roommate is one contact, have a second one in case you were both in the accident. 
 
This card can be incredibly helpful, and I actually learned this from my 75 year old grandmother. After donating blood one day, we took her out to lunch, and she began to feel woozy and faint, as well as clammy. We were lucky, there was a woman at a nearby table who gave us medical advice, and the EMTs showed up fairly quickly to assess her. But when they started asking me what prescriptions she took, I didn't know the answer. My grandmother was too woozy to think of specific names, but said they were in her wallet. I found the card very quickly, and gave it to the EMTs which made their inspection and checking her vitals much easier because it took out all the guesswork. She was fine (low on fluids, otherwise healthy), but being able to have everything on one card made the entire scenario less terrifying and more efficient. More than just a contact (which can sometimes be garnered from your phone or ID, or other things in your wallet), you also need vital medical information. 
 
I have family nearish (about 20 minutes away, and a Doctor), but I still carry the medical card at all times and have a second contact listed. 

For anyone with an iPhone, I highly recommend the Pomodoro app. It keeps a timer so you work for 25 minutes and rest for 5 minutes in between. It also schedules in longer 15 minute breaks after a series of 4 pomodoros (or 2 hours). You can put how many you want to finish in a day and it helps you visualize how much more time you actually need to work.
 
It has been helping me keep up with reading and without getting too tired from a long stretch of work.

Just wanted to throw this out there for shiznats and giggles.
 
Just because people are paying big bucks at NYU, Columbia, and the like, doesn't mean that they're getting great field placements and are having the time of their life, etiher. Based on the experiences of a handful of friends of mine who went to the aforementioned schools, they were really displeased with their field placements. Due to the amount of MSW programs in NYC, they firmly believed that the market for interns was saturated and they "took what they could get." So don't believe that you're being slighted simply because you aren't at one of the big name schools. Hopefully you will be able to secure a great placement soon. Hard work and determination do pay off. Just make sure you're defending yourself in a respectful manner. Even the slightest big of body language can be seemed as offputting and rude. i'm not accusing you of such, just stating a fact. Be extra sweet, even if they don't deserve it. It'll get you further.