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SDSU was my top choice and I spent almost 2 years preparing so it's great that you're planning ahead. I was a transfer student and got my BS from UCSD in clinical psychology with a minor in sociology. My best advice to a future applicant would be to get experience. I have always had a clinical interest but I was able gain experience in multiple areas which caused my shift from a psychology clinical focus to a social work one. Some of my experience includes: clinical research assistant for hoarding and anxiety disorders, group facilitator for an eating disorder prevention program for middle school girls, research assistant for an after school program at an elementary school, in class and after school tutor for refugee students, monthly visits to orphanages in tijuana, supervised visitation monitor (only paid experience. I started as an intern then was hired) and more. My experience fits for clinical, or a SW focus like child welfare which helped tremendously. I was also an officer for Psi Chi for 2 years, but I don't think I was able to incorporate that into my application. From what I gathered from SDSU, they value cultural experience and working with diverse populations. They don't care about research in the way that other masters do. For example, the old personal statement prompt asked: 1. Tell us what motivated you to consider the field of social work 2. Describe your capacity to work with diverse populations, include but not limited to at least 3 of the following: race, ethnicity, culture, disabilities, immigration issues, SES, sexual orientation, religion, gender. The last application cycle asked to describe your motivation for pursuing a masters degree in social work, and I forgot what the 2nd question was. In my personal statement I did mention my interest in clinical work, as well as becoming and LCSW. I made sure to show why I chose social work and not a different clinical degree. For the application, they do rolling admissions so the sooner you apply the better your chances. If you apply closer to the deadline there are more qualified applicants competing for less spots so the bar is raised. They grade your application based on a point system. Out of 100, 50 is for your GPA which is either your last 2 years GPA, or your overall. Whichever is higher and the average is a 3.5. Another big chunk is the GRE. This counts for 15/100. They only look at your writing score. I literally just picked random answers for the other sections and had studied my ass off for the writing. A score of 4 is the average. So if you have a weak spot in your application you can definitely benefit from getting a high GRE score. The rest of the points go to references, experience, and personal statement. I was admitted in the direct practice track, offered the Title IV-E stipend, and I am also getting my PPS. SDSU is one of the only schools in CA that will let you combine those which is great. If you have any more questions I'll be glad to answer them!

@MSW2016For SDSU graduate admissions we had till April. But the SW department gave us a form with the acceptance letter that said to return within 7 days to "retain/reserve your place in the 2 year program." The form asked if we plan to enroll and if not, then the reasons for not accepting. So if we dont turn that form in, then the April date doesnt matter because we won't have our spot in a program. By the 6th day, they even sent me an email and PDF of the form and told me to email it back for my acceptance verification. I hope that clears up that confusion. From what I understand from the info session, they place people in tiers based on overall application and when the application was turned in. Once the first wave responds, they'll count spots and send out another batch or so and then lastly the waitlist.

@MSW2016 they only gave us 7 days to respond with our decision. So I'm sure we were the first wave and they're going to keep filling spots. I hope you hear back soon!!

@BreezyHeart if you log into your decision desk where you originally submitted your application, go to the bottom of your checklist where it says "review and resubmit application." Then on the next page below your name click "documents." There should be a document named after your red-id and says scores. It shows the GPAs the school calculated for you

Hi All! Thank you! Good luck to you both @Karenn @MSW2016 !! My application was complete 11/12 - including transcripts and LORs I'm currenly getting my BS in Clinical Psychology from UCSD according to score pdf on decision desk my stats are: Overall: 3.54 Last 60: 3.67 GRE AWA: 4.5 At the time of applying I had 2300 hours of experience. Volunteer and paid.

@BreezyHeart Congrats!! I was admitted to the 2 year Direct Practice too! I'm still in undergrad so I just have to finish a calculus class then I'm official (the pressure is on)!! I can't wait to receive the letter in the mail. I started crying too when I saw my webportal hahal! SDSU has been my top choice!!!

Wanted to let you all know I logged into webportal and had a message of acceptance dated 2/04. I didn't get an email yet. I know they do rolling admissions and I applied early so I hope you all will hear back soon!!! The wait was rough! Good luck to you all!!

Yay! Thanks for making a SDSU thread! I have already memorized the ones from previous years, haha. SDSU is my top choice!! I had all my transcripts,application, and all LORs submitted by Nov 12th so I'm hoping to hear back sooner since I applied early. These past 2 months have been hard and will only get worse, especially when other people start hearing back.

Hi!! I just turned in my application on the 6th! I went to their info session last june and they talked about their accreditation. They seemed pretty confident so I went ahead and applied. It should be cleared by summer. There are some people on the board who are already attending, would love to hear about their experiences in the program. One thing I should mention about CSUSM if you hadn't noticed, is that their program costs about double what the other CSU's cost. I didn't realize this until the info session. It's because they're through the extension site at the university. This also means that the classes are more intimate and there are less professors so you build better relationships with everyone. Could be a good thing, but the tag still turned me off. I'll definitely accept if I don't get into SDSU though! Good luck!

Yay! I've been a lurker for like 2 years so I'm excited to start talking about actually applying, haha! I'm applying to SDSU, CSUSM, CSUF, CSULA and weighing on a 5th choice. I just took the GRE for SDSU Friday but they only care about the writing score which I'm still waiting on. All my applications open on Oct.1 so I am currently working on my personal statement for SDSU (top choice) and will hopefully have it done this week as my professor requested it before he writes my LOR.

I remember hearing that they wanted above a 4 and that your GPA is 50% of what they look for. They are having an info session on the 9th this month so you could go to get more info and ask about exceptions with your high GPA. Also, if they consider applicants with AWA scores lower than a 4, then your personal statement is another opportunity to show them how you write.