[HELP! Does this constitute as relevant experience?]

Hey everyone!

I'm just recently becoming very interested in an MSW degree after graduation. I'm a Psychology student at a major state university, and I just recently picked up a social work minor. I'm interested in becoming a LCSW in a large city up north.

One thing I am extremely confused about is what constitutes as relevant experience. I work at a preschool as an assistant teacher, and I will continue to work there for the for the time until i graduate (I'm currently a junior, will be applying next fall for Fall 2017). If working at a preschool is considered relevant, I will have tons of experience (I've already got 400+ hours from this semester alone)

However, if it is not considered relevant, I'm worried about the experience I have outside of that. I work in an eating disorders research clinic, and at the end of this year that will be two semester worth of experience there. I also am in an organization within the university that works alongside the University Counseling Center (we work as peer educators, doing presentations and individual instructional sessions on topics like healthy relationships, stress management, time management, etc.) On top of this, I plan on picking up an internship this summer at a multidisciplinary center where I would be working with school age children (preschool all the way through high school age) in direct mental health services as a counselor. It would last the summer and fall semesters.

Is this, even without my job at the preschool, enough? Does working at a preschool count as relevant?

[Clinical emphasis in California]

Does anyone have any suggestions for a school in California that has a clinical track or emphasis? My long term goal is to become a LCSW in Boston, Chicago or San Francisco. I've found plenty of schools of interest in Boston and Chicago (Boston College, Simmons, Bridgewater State, Uchicago, UIC, and Loyola.) 

im having a really rough time finding a clinical emphasis in California. It seems like there aren't any in Northern California. However, I wouldn't be opposed to getting my MSW in southern Cali then just moving to San Fran. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Info on possible safety schools in Boston and Chicago areas]

On 11/15/2015 at 10:37 PM, pippapants said:

I wouldn't worry too much about spending app money safety schools; you're very likely to get in to at least one of those schools, if not several -- if that's where you want to go.  MSW programs have some of the highest acceptances rates of any graduate programs, and acceptance rates do not correspond to "rankings" in anyway (I'm not actually sure what "rankings" correspond to).  As I mentioned in another post, some of the highest ranked and most expensive schools have the highest acceptance rates, because their actual yield is so low (i.e. very few people can actually afford to attend, so they accept large pools of students knowing that most will turn the offer down).  Something like only 30%-40% of the MSW students admitted to Boston U, BC, NYU, Fordham, and Penn actually end up there.  I don't have stats for all the schools you listed, but Chicago's acceptance has been up around 70%, same as the University of Michigan and Washington University in St. Louis.

I didn't know any of that haha thank you! Do you know what University of Illinois at Chicago's acceptance rate is? Or smith? I can't decide how many to cut off my list (because, in reality, the list of schools I'm interested in is much longer than what I put here) because I'm worried that if I only apply to like 5 well known schools, I won't get into any.

[Berkeley MSW]

7 minutes ago, esimanon said:

Berkeley is not a clinical track by any means. It's primarily social justice oriented. 

Okay thats really helpful thank you so much

[Info on possible safety schools in Boston and Chicago areas]

Hello everyone!

I'm looking into narrowing down my list of MSW programs to apply to. I know that i definitely want to apply to Boston College, Smith, UChicago, and University of Illinois at Chicago. If it wasn't obvious, I'm particular to being in Boston or Chicago. Possibly Philadelphia.

However, I realize that all of the programs previously mentioned are extremely high ranked, so I am looking into some safety schools. I am particularly interested in going into clinical social work, and I can't seem to find any reliable info on the reputation of these schools:

Rhode Island College, Salem State University, Bridgewater State University, Chicago State University and West Chester University (In Pennsylvania)

Does anyone have any info at all on any of these schools? Or possibly even some recommendations of schools I haven't mentioned that are in those areas?

[Berkeley MSW]

On 10/25/2015, 11:44:37, esimanon said:

Current MSW at Berkeley student here - what are your questions?

 

If you wouldn't mind, I also have a question about the program!

I'm interested in going into clinical social work. Does Berkeley have a strong clinical base or is it more research or administration focused?