wisdomspeaks

@Happysoul I hate standardized testing. The first time I took the GRE my quant score was in the 37th percentile, so like a crazy person, I spent 1000+ dollars on a personal tutor with unused student loan reimbursements and took ten full length tests. I studied for 4 months and still got a pretty mediocre quant score. But having the high verbal and aw scores kinda helped my case because I couldn't really afford to do poorly on the GRE, considering how behind I was in having formal research experience. the scores don't mean anything because the GRE is pretty much a test of time and strategy. Just because you can't perform your best in a ridiculously short amount of time or easily learn all the stupid tricks that are necessary to improving your speed, doesn't mean you're less capable than others. I think most admissions departments understand that standardized testing isn't for everyone and isn't always reflective of ability. I wouldn't stress about the scores because they don't really speak to your potential overall. People have gotten into some great schools with some pretty low scores, lookin at the results section. I am sure there are a ton of other things about your app that make it amazing and I'm glad this forum has eased your worries a bit. Where did you apply? my phone is not letting me scroll up to search for previous comments atm and this thread has gotten lengthy

@MCinephileThanks!! We just can't get our acts together. My fiancé works different hours than I do because she is a chef, so we don't have much time to actually go to the venue together and much of our planning requires a better understanding of the space itself. We rented a campground and there is no refrigeration so not sure how we are gonna pull dinner off... i have definitely been living in the same rabbit hole for awhile now. Welcome! I literally created an excel spreadsheet from the past five years of results for each of my schools and have a pretty good idea of when we should hear back. your interests are very important, though! You're right. There is definitely a huge gap between policy and practice across so many dimensions, but especially with regard to IPV and sexual violence at the intersection of race and gender. For the most part, policymakers are detached from what that actually looks like for women in general, but specifically for women of color and trans women. Not just the experience itself, but interactions with agencies, the criminal justice system, etc. i am broadly interested in cultural identity development, and more specifically interested in transracial placements in adoption and foster care and the legal barriers we face in developing healthy cultural identities. Thus, I'm more concerned with law and social policy than I am with micro level social work. For example, one of my biggest interests is in confidentiality statutes (re: closed records in domestic adoptions) and coercion/cultural erasure in international adoption placements. There are so many families overseas who are completely unaware of what they are getting themselves into when they give up their children to adoptive parents in the U.S. And a lot of times are practically manipulated into making that choice due to language barriers between the adoptive and biological families. Adoptions often take place within a context where the affected parties do not actually communicate and the translators aren't being honest about that their children are permanently leaving the country. That's something I would like to address, but recently I have done more stuff with closed records because even domestic adoption is so complicated and I haven't really seen my own experiences reflected in the literature.

Hi @MCinephile congrats on your engagement! I'm also getting married in July and applied to the joint social work sociology program at U-M. Good luck! Not just on getting into a school, but on planning both a move and a wedding. I know how stressful that is... I recently had a dream that we woke up on the day of our wedding at 2 pm and had done nothing to prepare at all and it was a total disaster. That's how behind we are on planning with everything else going on... Anyway, It sounds like you've done a lot of awesome things. I wouldn't be worried about your Quant score at all. your scores are still pretty competitive. Mine have that huge V-Q gap too and it seems to be pretty common.

Hey! I would say definitely put your values first in your decision. Tbh, I was strongly leaning toward UB even though it's less prestigious for those reasons. The director of the program is a woman of color whose interests are in gender studies and I was able to actually be myself and be real with her about academia and how we feel about it. PhD programs are what you put into them. It's the real beginning of your career as a scholar. if you are being productive and doing important work, you could be just as successful at a top 25 school as you would be at a top 10. Also, it's social work. It's the work we do that matters and part of that is raising consciousness about higher education as an institution that is, quite honestly, a breeding ground for oppressive practices. Ratings have practically no value and are purely based on prestige, as I said. involvement in scholarly work is a privilege in itself. I really love your interests, btw. mine are in transracial/transcultural adoption and since I will be in Buffalo, I would love to do work in Canada with native communities there. A lot of unethical adoptions take place across that border and it's really messed up. I would like to use my research to shatter the unethical in adoption placements and that's the purpose of this, really, right?!

Thanks!! I'm very grateful for it @wongjcz I didn't expect to get in anywhere because of my lack of research experience. I have high GRE scores, a 4.0 masters GPA in an applied discipline (counseling), excellent LORs and a ton of practice/supervisory experience. However, I had only one year of prior undergraduate research experience and not much to show for it at the time I submitted my application. My undergrad GPA was also kinda mediocre (3.64) because I struggled financially/with homelessness and couldn't really cope with it well when I was younger. I'm one of those people who has everything going for them except for a few fatal flaws, and the combined MSW/PhD programs are crazy competitive. If I had waited another year to apply, I would have had a totally different applicant profile due to opportunities I have had to present, publish, etc. through my job at hopkins, where I am actually involved in research now. I'm also 27 and did not want to wait. It sucks because it's difficult to prove your potential against institutional barriers that have kept Ya down for years, but UB draws a more radical crowd, anyway. It's important to me that I go somewhere where I can learn how to navigate academia tactfully, while staying true to a lot of my radical views on race, class, gender, etc. UB highly valued those views, despite past shortcomings. maybe it's a sign that going to a school that supports equitable access to higher education is the right choice for me.

@CrimsonEyes I also got rejected from Berkeley today, if you find that helpful. By the way, I also applied to USC, UCLA Luskin, University at Buffalo, Boston College, and U-M, all MSW/PhD programs, so verrrry competitive I was accepted at UB and am visiting late February.

Hi, not a part of this thread originally, but I got rejected from UW-Madison today. That might make you feel better! I think they send out their acceptances in February/March. I also applied to Chicago and Michigan and have heard nothing back from either of those schools. We will probably start hearing back next week!

Wow today must be the day for rejections! I was rejected from UC Berkeley today, as well. I was actually expecting this one, so it did not hurt as much. Again, there were no amazing fits between my interests and those of faculty, and it is highly competitive. There were some definite overlaps and I liked that they offer a critical theory graduate certificate, but I am sure others' interests fit better with those of faculty. I am just grateful to have gotten into one school so far because I am not sure how forgiving others will be about my lack of research experience and extremely practice-heavy background

Thanks for the kind words! I think just the act of being rejected is difficult for everyone. However, I also recognize that rejection will always be a huge part of my life, given my career path. I actually feel I am taking the rejection quite well! btw, you will not hear about the status of your application on wolverine access. My dumb ass tried contacting them to ask about why it still said it wasn't complete and I was reprimanded for contacting the office to check on the status of my application. The individual with whom I spoke quoted what was stated on the admissions site (don't contact the office; all communication you will receive regarding status of application will come from this office directly or whatever), even though I already had reviewed that info. I just found it confusing to have received an automated email telling me that my wolverine account would also provide me with this information. They really should explicitly say that they don't update wolverine, because that's what I ended up finding out from that awkward exchange. That would minimize the confusion and reduce the amount of contacts they seem to loathe so much lol I did find it a little rude because I wasn't really checking on the status of my app. I had a question about wolverine and I truly don't understand why they are so unapproachable to prospective students. I guess you can do that when you're at the top and everyone wants you!

Hey everyone, I just got my first rejection from Wisconsin-Madison. It was still upsetting, although it definitely was not my top choice. My interests were not as in line with their faculty as others' interests were, I'm sure. I still felt a pang of hurt! -Allison

Hi you two, I do not have any information on Wayne State I am sorry. I did not apply to that school. I would suggest taking a look at the results page for past years to see if they staggered their interviews. I wouldn't get discouraged yet because many admissions committees sometimes do that. Has anyone heard from U-M yet?

Hey @AMStudent what's up? I haven't heard back from any other schools yet! Our fate is approaching. Have you heard back from Penn State yet? This is unrelated but I am curious to know of others' plans: how do you intend to get your two years of post-MSW practice experience? I am quite concerned about that actually! I was thinking of part-time work in the last two years of the PhD program and then going for a post-doc and continuing to slowly build those two years (maybe 20-30 hours a week). My fear is not publishing during that time period, so that's why I am considering that path.

Hey, welcome! I feel you on that one... Did you apply to any other schools, or is your heart set on U-M? And yes, it would definitely be awesome to meet future peers on thegradcafe. If we do not end up in the same place, there is always a chance we will later (especially for those of us who would like to stay in academia).

Hi! Thank you for your replies, and no problem. You can thank my neuroticism! AMStudent: Congrats on your phone interview, too! Which school? I am excited about Buffalo and might actually go there. Their program is based on a trauma-informed approach and their PhD curriculum is super interdisciplinary, which I like a lot. I have a few friends who have applied to psych PhD programs and have been getting phone interviews. It seems like the SW schools are a little late to the game... every year. Where would you like to go? JointPhD-Social Work Guy: I applied to the joint Social Work/Sociology program. The joint program is very competitive, so I doubt I will make the cut with that one. Awesome combination, though. Do you have a degree in anthropology? Good luck to you both! Let me know if you hear anything good this week.

Hi everyone! I wanted to start a lively thread for all social work PhD and MSW/PhD hopefuls, where we can build solidarity as we play the waiting game together. I have created a guide using results from past years for the schools to which I have applied (MSW/PhD dual degree): University of Southern California: Applicants were invited for in-person interviews between Feb 4th and Feb 21st. Most were contacted early Feb. Boston College: Applicants were invited to attend a Skype or phone interview as early as Jan 9th and as late as Feb 12th, and notified of their acceptance Feb 13th-Feb 22nd. University of Michigan (Joint PhD and Social Science/Social Work PhD): Applicants were accepted Feb 15th-21st University of Chicago (AM/PhD): Applicants were accepted Feb 7th-Feb 13th University of Wisconsin-Madison: Applicants were accepted Jan 24th-Jan 31st, but data was sparse (only 2 results were found) I also applied to UC Berkeley and UCLA, but could find no results on these schools. I applied to University at Buffalo and was accepted 12/14, offered a generous funding package and nominated for a fellowship, and invited to campus. My application: GRE: 164V/154Q/5.0AW; Undergraduate GPA: 3.657; Graduate GPA (I spent one year in the JHU counseling program): 4.0; Field and supervisory experience: 5 years; Research experience: 1 year (undergraduate) and I have been working at Hopkins School of Medicine for the past few months. No publications, but my writing sample was a sole-authored manuscript currently under review; Strong LORs and essays, but none were from faculty with whom I conducted research (that's my weak point). Overall, my background is verrryyy practice-heavy with a lot of supervisory experience and grant writing, which might set me apart from others. However, my lack of research experience, relative to my peers, is my biggest worry! Feel free to comment, talk about your application, add to the data sheet, or post updates on admission status!