the only thing you'd lose out on is the deposit to whichever school you don't end up going to (if it has one). I accepted one school and paid the deposit, but now I've been accepted to another. so I may just forfeit the deposit, and go with the other school. they can't really fault you. you won't be penalized. you don't owe them an explanation if you withdraw your name, either. you have the right to do what's best for you.
I've seen people do it but in general, most will advise against it. In my opinion it can come off a bit cheesy. Plus, the program wants to hear what YOU have to say, not someone else!
My ex-boyfriend lived in the neighborhood and I used to be up there every weekend. I really never felt uncomfortable. I'm not sure what population you want to work with, but I feel as though you're going to be in areas similar to East Harlem a lot in the social work field. You can get unwelcome attention no matter where you go, and you're going to find good and bad people anywhere you go also. I wouldn't base my future on a couple of immature guys and preconceived notions of a neighborhood. Maybe go there again one weekend and just explore a bit more. There's fantastic places to eat and shop. Give it another try
I was messaging with someone else and I told her this, thought I'd share here as well...
So last year I applied to UCLA and it was the ONLY place I applied, unfortunately, I was rejected. I was really upset, I don't think I ever cried so hard lol but I set out to do what I needed to, to get in to grad school. For me, I felt my grades from undergrad weren't that great, I messed around in community college and by the time I got my act together at CSU Fresno, the damage was already done. My experience in the field was also pretty minimal, just my one year interning with CPS, mentoring an at-risk kid, and doing an internship overseas as a camp counselor for underprivileged kids. So after graduating with my BA in Social Work in May of 2013, I went back to school as a post-baccalaureate and took 12 units, raised my GPA drastically from a 2.9 to a 3.7, re-took the GRE and earned a better score, really put time (4 months) into my statements, and started working in a group home. Unfortunately, UCLA rejected me again this year, but I applied to 3 other schools this time around, 1 of which has already accepted me with Title IV-E (SFSU) and I have an interview with Berkeley next week for Title IV-E. So don't beat yourself up over UCLA or any other school, I've learned UCLA is one of those programs that really looks at more established individuals, with at least 3-5 years of experience, and doesn't feel the need to give a chance to many people fresh out from their BA who also have major potential. Don't let this hold you back, things happen for a reason, I was told that a lot last year after I got rejected, and I thought it was full of shit lol but seriously, they do happen for a reason. I got a full ride to SFSU and hopefully Berkeley will offer the same, and none of it could have been possible if I didn't go through what I did.
When you re-write your statements, stay away from the sob stories, those panels have heard it all. I would definitely recommend writing about why you want to be a social worker, tying it to your experience, and what you've learned from it. Also what I feel helped me is that I wrote about what I'd like to do my Masters thesis on. That shows you are ready for graduate school and have actually put in some thought as to what you'd like to focus on, which sets you above the other potential applicants. Moreover, make sure you write your statements in a way that you aren't just going to that particular school to learn about social work; you should already know what your place in this field is, the program will merely be an asset to enhance and fine tune your skills, that's all. What I was told was not to sound like a social work text book. They already know what social work is about, they want to see how you interpret it, what you hope to gain from it, and how you plan to implement it.
