KNik

I've been really enjoying Penn! Everyone's been welcoming and helpful, and I hope to see that continue throughout the year! As far as your credits go, I really don't know. I'm not an admissions expert, and as diverse as social work is, you can never be sure as to what any given school is looking for. I will say this: find the specifics you like about each program. And by that I mean don't simply apply somewhere because you heard it has a good reputation. Find a school that tailors to your specific needs, and go from there. You might be surprised as to where you end up. Social work programs take a great variety of applicants. I will say this about NYU- be patient with them. Their application process is incredibly slow, and even if you submit it early chances are you will not hear back until early march. Best of luck!

Hey Everyone, I'm a first year MSW candidate at UPenn, and having recently gone through this process, I can definitely relate to how you're feeling. If you ever need any advice or help, please feel free to ask. While I chose to attend UPenn, I also got accepted at Columbia, NYU, Wisconsin-Madison, USC, and Pitt. So I can also try and answer questions about those applications should you need help. Good luck!

This article is a little old (written in '06), but I think it does a decent job of explaining what you do and do not want in a SOP. http://psychology.unl.edu/psichi/Graduate_School_Application_Kisses_of_Death.pdf Check the section "damaging personal statements"

1. I would tell your references the app is due Dec. 1. Give them as much time as possible. 2. Columbia is not rolling admissions. If you get your app done by Dec 1. they send out each round of acceptances in "waves" so a bunch of people hear at the same time. Good luck!

I got about $10,000 from NYU. $7,000 in scholarship and $3,000 in work study. My GPA was around a 3.6, I worked in a few research labs, co-authored a published research article, worked a job, and finished my bachelors in 3 years. Hope that helps some!

My only question would be how do you do field placements if you're getting a degree online? Can those be coordinated based on where you're living?

I'm fairly certain NYU does, but you'd have to look around. I'm from the midwest and applied to primarily midwest and east coast schools.

A. You try to improve your GPA or gain more experience while you wait. B. Apply to a greater variety of schools! Also, some schools accept new applications at the semester. So you could try to start in January.

Penn!

That is something I have never heard of. You might want to give them a call. However, I do believe each school has the ability to allocate funding however they wish. So while schools will give out of state students funding, UW might have a different policy. Your best bet is to get in contact with someone in financial aid.

I applied to USC for Fall 2014 and got accepted there. My GPA was a 3.6 with a part-time job, a few research internships, and an article published in an academic journal. I'm not really sure if that helps. You have plenty of experience and even with a GPA a little on the lower side, you still have as much of a chance as anyone. Good luck!

I have actually visited both campuses. I am visiting one more, but I think I have an idea which way I am going to lean. Best of luck with you and your decision!

This is some of the best and worse advice I have ever gotten: Flip a coin. Make school 1 heads and school 2 tails. Then, if you don't like the result of the flip you know to go with the opposite choice. My next suggestion is really look at the funding situation. Out of the 6 schools I applied to, 4 of them offered my scholarship money, and I am not a genius by any means. Lastly, a common trend has been that prestige matters very little in social work. No one is making millions of dollars, and where you go to school is not as important as your experience in the field. So don't let that be a primary influence for why you want to go somewhere. Ultimately, though, go with your gut. No one knows what you want better than you.

I'm actually a MI native, so I get the rankings thing, although I'd take them with a grain of salt. You never really know who is actually "ranking" each school. A lot of it is opinion based. Honestly, just go with your gut, when you know, you know. There is no magic formula for picking the perfect school.

Really? I still haven't gotten an email response from them.... but that's good news!