morlvera

I don't particularly like that not only are the internships unpaid, but you're also paying tuition for them. I'm paying to work?! I guess another way to see it is that I'm paying to learn valuable skills, but that's still a hard pill to swallow. If I have to pay for it, I'm going to make sure that I get quality placements and not just accept whatever scraps are thrown my way.

I'm headed to Pitt. I applied for a joint degree program (MPH/MSW) and got a good scholarship for the social work side. The public health program doesn't offer anything but loans, though, so I'm still looking at a pretty hefty price tag when considering the total cost of attendance.

The public health folks said I won't be getting a financial aid package until the summer (June/July) because that's when Pitt will set it's tuition rates for 2016/2017. That's a bit late, but I know all I'm getting from them are loans so there won't be any surprises. If you defer admissions, do you get to keep your current scholarship?

I wouldn't hesitate to ask if it meant having to defer enrollment. What would you have to lose, right?

I would definitely try asking for more money. If people who received scholarships decide to go elsewhere, maybe they'd find more money for you if they knew that Pitt was your top choice. Wow - that's terrible! Is the difference enough that Pitt doesn't make sense now compared to your other options?

I know they're having an info session on March 19th from 10am - 1pm. Not a very long session, but you could make a weekend of it to explore the area. Don't quote me on it, but I think there are about 70 people registered to attend so far.

I'm definitely attending, but social work won't be my primary program for the 1st year so I'll only be taking a couple of MSW classes.

I was told that the first opportunity to change courses would be over the summer during the registration period. I applied as direct practice, but I'm seriously considering switching over to COSA. Congrats to everyone on their scholarships! I don't envy you all having to decide where to go. That's one bonus for only applying to a single school.

Yep, add them together to get the amount for the year.

My scholarship letter arrived today. I already knew what I'd be getting (posted above), but at least I can confirm for others that they were indeed mailed.

I got the physical letter about a week after the online acceptance appeared.

I have very little experience. I'm changing careers and work full-time, so my primary experience has been volunteering at a hospital and with an HIV/AIDS organization. My undergrad GPA was about 3.8 and my grad GPA was a 4.0. Those degrees had absolutely nothing to do with anything related to social work. I have no idea how they work out scholarship amounts, so maybe experience will get you more. I think I saw someone in last year's thread who got $18K/year. However it works, at least you'll find out soon!

I called in response to the email and was told that I received a $12,000 per year scholarship. I'm in-state so tuition is about $21K per year. Not a bad discount! Hope everyone gets their letters sooner rather than later! There's also a $10K fellowship (1 year) for the joint degree program I applied for. The timing of the fellowship doesn't work for me, though, so I won't be applying.

This particular paid visit is definitely not for all accepted students. I don't know if others will be offered, though.

Got the email -- they're paying for a visit. I might have a scheduling conflict, but if it works out, I'm definitely taking them up on their offer. I've never been to Pittsburgh so it'd be nice to have a look around.

I applied for a joint degree (MPH/MSW). So maybe it's something about that. While everything I've received so far from the public health folks mentions the joint degree, the MSW acceptance letter didn't say anything about it. Whatever it is, I'll report back on Monday. And I'm sure it'll be nowhere near as interesting as the long awaited scholarship letter. I'm in-state so I'm hoping it shows up early in the week. Show me the money!

Mysterious for sure! I do wish he would have said what it was about in the message. Because my patience level? 100% depleted. Oh well. Here's hoping it's good news!

I missed a called from the admissions director. He said that scholarship letters had been mailed and should be received by the 20th. He also I'd receive an email on Monday that contained important info. Anybody answer the call and know what Monday's email is about?

in terms of decision-making, cost for sure is the biggest concern. I only applied to 1 school, though. If I don't get enough in scholarships for the MSW, I'm still doing the MPH. There's no funding at all for that degree, but I'd at least be able to easily work part-time because I won't be juggling field placements + courses.

Ugh, it's the end of February now? February 15th was so close, but the 29th seems like ages from now. Never again will I count myself as being a patient person. I haven't visited Pittsburgh yet either, but I've heard/read it's a decent place to live. I'm hoping the social work program has an admitted students day or something. So far the public health folks have done a much better job of acting like they want me to attend.

No, the application portal notice for Pitt didn't say anything about the scholarship. I don't have the hard copy materials on hand, but I think all they said was that if you applied by the priority deadline (Dec. 31?) and had the required GPA, you'd hear back about your scholarship by February 15th. I was planning to do an MSW/MPH, but that might just be a little too pricey for me. So I'm not so patiently waiting on that scholarship amount so I can figure out if keeping the MSW portion is worth it.

I gave thank you cards and Starbucks gift cards because they're all addicts. Nothing extravagant because I'll be poor soon. The gift cards were much appreciated, but definitely not necessary. They all said they were just happy to help me out.

I know this feeling because I've only applied to 1 school at this point. It's tempered by my work on scholarship applications, though. No more essays!

Thanks for sharing those experiences! I've already been accepted into a program, but I'm waiting on the scholarship information for the MSW portion. I know I'll have to pay everything completely out of pocket for the year where I'm primarily doing the MPH. I definitely don't want to take out too much in student loans so I'm already trying to figure out options for lessening my financial pain in the long run.

I'm curious about this bit. In what way were they screwed?