ediblestranger

I did indicate interest in work-study on my FAFSA. I have heard of students negotiating for better offers, but I'm not sure I would know where to begin. Oh well. Still pretty exciting!

I don't know if this is true for all schools, but at my undergraduate institution I was advised that any changes made to the FAFSA will bump you down the list for need-based aid, since they end up receiving two copies and go by the date of the most recent submission.

Congratulations, Joy! Did you submit your FAFSA? I am hoping that these are just merit scholarships, and that they will consider that many of us were unable to submit our FAFSAs until we got our W2's. Although you can submit your FAFSA without it and update it later, most schools will only consider your most recent submission date when awarding aid as it's first-come, first-serve.

I was going to ask whether or not you had submitted your FAFSA. I got a similar scholarship offer ($15K/2 years) and I think it was likely because I did not submit my FAFSA until last week as it took awhile for me to receive my W2's. I sent the school an email asking whether or not I could still be considered for need-based aid this point. While my expectations are low, I am hoping that they can offer me something more as without additional aid this program would cost around $100,000! BTW - Congratulations!

Check your statuses, you guys. I think they may have programmed decisions to come out at midnight - because I just checked the website to find that I was accepted!

Congratulations RC! I would flip out too! I applied about a month before you and still haven't heard anything back, so I can guess where this is going.

My top choices are UMich, UChicago, WUSTL, and UWashington - so having been accepted into one already takes a lot of the pressure off. If I get into more than one of these schools, it will be really tough to decide, but these are good problems to have!

It can be done, but it depends on which schools you're interested in applying to. Some accept transfers, and some do not.

Aww, well don't give up hope just yet. Much of MSW admissions remains a mystery. I certainly did not expect to get accepted.

I could be mistaken, but I'm almost certain the official transcript request did not appear in the self-service center, for me, until shortly before I was accepted. How does it look for everyone else? I applied on 12/01. I also applied for the Integrated Healthcare Scholarship, which I am still waiting to hear back on.

I got my first acceptance from the University of Michigan! For those of you still waiting, here's a little tip. In the self-service center, under credentials, a new line for official transcripts will appear (as "not received") before your status may actually be updated - if you are accepted. I noticed that much earlier today and then I got the status update. Good luck everyone!

Thanks for the information! As for the 30K from Case - that doesn't include funds from the paid field stipend, does it? Did they give you any idea what they'll be giving you for that? I believe it's supposed to be vary per applicant as it's based on experience. I'm hoping to get a decent stipend because I have almost two years' worth of case management experience in community mental health. For Pitt, I still plan on applying for the Cannon Fellowship since it's not due until March 1st, but I'd venture to guess that it's pretty competitive.

So I noticed! Good luck with all of your applications! Just out of curiosity, how was Case's scholarship offer? Their scholarships are supposed to be pretty substantial. Any word on funding from Pitt yet? For those of us who are guaranteed* admission I know we're supposed to get a guaranteed merit scholarship - I'm just wondering what that might look like. *There literally was an asterisk like this where it said "guaranteed admission" on the website, with no explanation of what that is supposed to mean.

I emailed them last week because my application was still marked as "incomplete" in the self-service center, even though I had submitted all application materials. It showed that my application fee had not been received, which I was previously advised was a normal error that would go away once they begun processing my application. I emailed them again after a month and a half had gone by with no changes. Apparently, this was not normal and it prevented my application from being processed on time. So I was advised that my application was being "expedited" and that I should hear back by February 1st. So I am assuming that early decision applicants should be made aware of their status around that time or sooner.

Some of the schools' websites' curriculum descriptions are more specific than others. I am having a particularly hard time finding out what practice methods are taught at UCLA Luskin, other than courses offering a general overview of various methods and one on CBT. Anyone care to share what they know about the practice methods emphasized at UCLA? Feel free to list any other schools and the practice methods they teach, as I think this could be incredibly useful for everyone on this forum - digging up this information can be a little challenging depending on the school.

I have been trying to answer the same question. Unfortunately, I've had to go through each program individually to get a sense of that. Since most all programs offer a clinical concentration, this can be kind of tough. I have found it helpful to look through the curriculum. Programs that have a heavy research component (more than two courses), a thesis, etc. can generally be considered more policy oriented, although not necessarily; some programs deliberately emphasize a balanced curriculum. I have been inclined to think that programs with lots of course offerings on assessment, crisis intervention, grief, trauma, etc. are more clinical. But there doesn't seem to be an easy way to judge that. If you figure out a better way, let me know!

I have a question about letters of recommendation, especially for those with experience applying to schools of social work. I want to give my supervisors and professors as much of a head's up as possible, but I haven't completely decided which schools I'm applying to. Do LORs typically follow a school-specific format, consisting of a list of questions? Or do they generally consist of whatever the recommending person wants to write? The reason I ask is because this will likely factor into when I send my requests for LORs - I can do it now, if all they need to write is one general letter. But if they'll be answering specific questions that vary school-to-school, I'll obviously need to narrow down my school choices first. Thanks in advance!

That's not what he asked. He was asking whether or not there was a demand, not whether or not it'd give him a competitive edge. Males are drastically underrepresented in social work. African Americans, especially males, are underrepresented in graduate studies more generally. This is both problematic not only for reducing disparities in patient care, but for reducing the race-patterned inequalities that are so extreme in the United States. Besides, race/ethnicity can only be considered as a "plus" factor in addition to other qualifications; a student with stats that are lower than another student's cannot be given preferential treatment in admissions. Affirmative action measures as a means for reducing disparities must also meet a strict scrutiny test, which means proving that there is compelling interest, it is narrowly tailored, and there are no other more effective ways to achieve this. So, not exactly a walk in the park. As decided in University of California v. Bakke, diversity among medical students (generalizable to professional students) does constitute a compelling interest. There is also gobs and gobs of evidence that racial/ethnic concordance in the patient-provider relationship, much moreso than the culturally competent approach utilized by mainstream doctors, is effective in reducing disparities in care. This is because even well-meaning physicians bring their biases, stereotypes, and inevitably cultural gaps into the relationships, which has been linked to minorities' reduced likelihood of being offered or receiving treatment, even after controlling for patient characteristics. A level playing field is one in which players have equal opportunity. But when marginalized groups start out on the lower rungs, in terms of income, wealth, education, morbidity, mortality, and more variables than I can possibly expound upon here, while other groups reap their cumulative advantage, that is not a level playing field. To claim that everyone has equal opportunity to succeed is asinine. People should be considered on the basis of ability alone, you say? Well isn't it interesting that such seemingly inherent traits, such as IQ, are altered during childhood, for better or worse, due to the quality of communications from parents? And there is evidence that many learning disabilities develop during childhood due again to these environmental factors which are beyond the individual's control, such as poor nutrition and weak relationships with parents that limit a child's vocabulary, and thereby the connections in their brain. Yet they're expected to compete with those who have been nourished and enriched in a stimulating environment, steeped in years and years and often generations of privilege. And that's supposed to be an even playing field? About that...

Thanks. That does make me feel a little bit better. As to why those medical bills have appeared on my credit report, that is a great question. I have no idea! It may have been because it was an emergency room procedure, so there was little information collected about my guardian... or because my neither my guardian nor I had health insurance at the time. It is something that I plan on looking into though, because it doesn't sound right to me either.

Oh, and as far as the Graduate Plus loans go, I have some doubts about my eligibility due to having an adverse credit history from medical bills that date back to when I was a young teen. I plan to look into it some more, though.

See, that is where I'm coming from too, Lifesaver. I have received a lot of negative feedback from people in general about my interest in attending an excellent program while putting worries about loan debt on the back burner for now. I am mainly concerned with being able to afford the program with any combination of funding sources, it really doesn't matter to me, as long as it's enough for me to attend, focus on my fieldwork, and not have to take on meaningless part-time jobs to sustain me. I think that if you are dedicated enough, you will find work... and if you are diligent enough, and don't mind a minimalistic lifestyle, then you will have no problem paying it back. I feel that it is somewhat of an imposition for people to give unsolicited advice about what you should or shouldn't do as far as your future is concerned. I personally feel that, for me, the benefits of attending one of the most highly ranked programs, especially those located in a big city, outweigh the costs... in terms of short-term benefits, such as location and greater opportunities, and potentially long-term benefits, such as greater opportunities, greater networking potential, and prestige. But I'm not going to impose that point of view on anyone because grad school isn't a one-size-fits-all scenario. It's a huge decision that only you can make. Anyway...

You have some valid points, and I am glad that you find the program at Ohio State up to snuff. I know that it's considered to be pretty decent, but I have very little interest in attending OSU. That's where I have done undergrad and I am just bored with the culture here. Nor am I interested in returning to Columbus to practice. So you find it silly to take out $40,000 in student loans per year? Thanks for sharing. But, that's not what this thread is about. This thread is an inquiry into schools that offer significant scholarships, field placements, and other unique sources of funding because, as I stated previously, the Stafford loan cap is at $20,500 a year and other potential loans for students with no credit, such as the Perkins loan, are negligible. So thanks for giving your opinion, but I am not really asking for opinions or advice... I'm asking about funding. Currently looking into: UChicago, Michigan, WUSTL, UPitt, UWashington, CWRU

Yes. Case Western is actually one of the schools that I am most interested in, I am just looking to compile somewhat of a list... lol.

Thanks hj. I'm not interested in too many schools in my state for a couple of reasons... one issue is that there are no highly ranked top 10 or even 25 public schools in Ohio, at which I could redeem that super cheap in-state tuition. Another factor is that some schools, often those which are private, offer enough funding in scholarships to compete with the overall costs of attending an in-state public school. For these reasons, I am interested in narrowing down the programs to which I apply by negotiating a compromise between interest, reputation, and funding potential.

That is definitely useful to know. Although I guess you never really know what kind of funding you might get, I know that certain schools, like WUSTL, offer huge financial aid packages to their admitted students, while others are known for having very little to give in the way of scholarships. As someone for whom funding is going to be a major concern, this information would be useful to have prior to shoveling out hundreds of dollars on graduate school applications to schools that it'll be impossible to attend. So thank you. I would love for people to continue to post their insights on this issue...