christian121

When I was a young man I was stupid and a knucklehead, and eventually got administratively separated from the U.S. Marine Corps for insubordination. After much therapy and growing up, I've now gotten older and wiser, regret my previous stupidity, and am now in college slated to graduate with a 3.6 GPA and a Philosophy degree. I spent a year abroad in Barcelona, Spain learning Spanish to a conversational level and have several years of officer experience working in activist groups and organizations dedicated to improving the lives of people of color and poor folks. And if it is of any relevance; I am a biracial, bisexual man who grew up in poverty and in a family of veterans where I saw firsthand the wonderful and lifesaving work done by social workers, therapists, and other advocates. I really want to become a social worker and help out others the way other people have helped me and my family, but I am afraid that something my stupid 19 year old self did might harm this. Would my OTH harm me in any meaningful way? I've read that social workers with their own personal histories of struggles are actually liked more in fields like substance abuse or prison work and I am wondering if this would be a negative or even a positive for me. Should I even put my Marine Corps experience in my application and work history if it is a negative? I was thinking that maybe me being a veteran would be one more thing I could have in common with our clients when I work with veterans for instance, but I want to hear from you folks first. Thank you very much for the advice in advance and have a blessed day! EDIT: And for what it's worth, I have a disabled veteran father and live in California so that means I can be the recipient of the Cal Vet Tuition Waiver program, which gives me free tuition at all California State sponsored universities. So I have much more financial freedom in trying to apply to schools like UC Berkeley or UCLA.

I have Cal Vet Plan B; and I would like to point out to the community that since the maximum yearly income to qualify for Cal Vet Plan B is the ever rising poverty level, full time students should not worry too hard about making too much to qualify, even with parental support counting against you, because the income you report is your Adjusted Gross Income, which is cut down significantly by the standard deduction or itemized deductions available to taxpayers. So, while not as helpful as Cal Vet Plan A, Plan B is still a good source of assistance if you qualify for it! Those who are children, of any age, of ANY disabled veteran, even one with a 0% disability rating, which could amount to something as minor as some scars, qualify for 100% free tuition at ANY California public educational program, undergraduate or graduate. You could even get free law school tuition if you would like! Just a heads up to the community! My main interests lie in macroscopic work/advocacy, which I have been getting the feeling is a career path helped by the prestige factor of a university name. However, advocacy does not seem to pay as well as say something like clinical mental health work, though I stand to be corrected, which would interestingly enough mean that one who takes up advocacy would want as few student loans as possible. This appears to create a tug between the allure of cheap tuition at a CSU and the prestige of a UC. Is this my thought process correct in all this? Thank you for your time and information everyone.

Aw man oh man briefinterviews! I think you helped me confirm my suspicions that those interested in macro work are actually helped in their career aspirations by the prestige of where they get their MSW. But at the same time the utility of far cheaper tuition at a Cal State calls to me! Such things to wring my head over! When you graduated from UC Berkeley, how much debt did you bring with you, if you do not mind me asking? And did you feel that the macro concentration at Berkeley focused more on actual community organizing and advocacy or more on *research* in social work? I have read that research is emphasized more at the UC MSW's, is this true?

As I understand it, and correct me if I am wrong, it does "not really matter" where one gets one's MSW from,to paraphrase some of the posts I have read on here, as so long as one networks effectively, studies their coursework effectively, and does their field work enthusiastically. Now with that possibility in mind, aside from the prestige of being able to say that one graduated from a UC with a MSW in hand, what could getting a MSW from a UC give me that a Cal State could not at MUCH cheaper tuition? All I can tell from my (albeit limited) perspective is that a UC MSW would come with extra student loans attached to it. Am I incorrect with this inference, or is there some sort of benefit to a prestige school in say Macroscopic Social Work or something to that effect? Thank you all for an outstanding and especially helpful forum.

Yes. My apologies.

Because I have a Cal Vet tuition waiver, tuition is not a concern for me AT ALL, hence why I would want to go to a University of California without a BSW and pursue other academic pursuits, rather than go to a Cal State University, get a BSW, and save a year on my MSW program. It just is not necessary in my situation. I am now of the understanding that if I have a good all around application with a high GPA and good volunteer experience that I will be fine admitting into a MSW program with a BSW. Unless I am wrong, of course? Now what MSW programs from among the public universities in California would the community recommend to me? Thank you all for your time.

Hello everyone and thank you for such a splendid little forum with so much helpful information on it! My question comes down to this, I had originally wanted to go to a four year university to pursue a BSW and then apply to a MSW program after that, however as I have spent more time in community college I have discovered that I have fallen in love with other academic subjects that I cannot help but feel would be neglected if I were to actually *major* in Social Work at the undergraduate level at the expense of them. I am planning on accruing years of experience volunteering in clinical and behavioral settings in my local area and perhaps some assistance to a few social justice advocates as well. I would very much like a MSW program that offers concentrations in these fields in the state of California owing a tuition waiver I receive here due to stroke of luck on my part. Would I be good to go in my plans? Thank you all very much for answering my problems, everyone!