Verloren

@PatientlyWaiting wait, wait, you interviewed last wednesday? As in on the 13th? I interviewed then too! Were you in the 12-2pm timeslot? Haha, sorry I'm getting so excited over this. It would be so cool to have met someone already though cause everyone there that day was awesome.

Hey, So I'm not applying to a phD program, but thought I would stop by and give some input anyway. In my experience, many professors like to see that beyond just working in a lab, you have started a project of your own. Even if you haven't published, maybe you did a senior thesis or something? My lab coordinators are both planning to apply to phD programs next cycle, and were told by the professor that if possible, you should have lab management experience. You have a lot of experience as a research assistant, maybe you can apply to head one of these labs for a semester? This will also give you some nice connections with staff and graduate students who are working on their doctorate in the lab.

I'm the first in my family to pursue higher education (undergrad and grad). My parents were immigrants and were raised in poverty (HS and grade school education), but I was lucky enough to experience a pretty middle classed childhood. They've always pushed me to go as far as I could academically, so I'm lucky that they've been as supportive as they can be. And though I know even with my education I will not make as much as they do (because of their long hours and such), I appreciate the opportunity they have given me to experience life through this lens.

Hey, so I'm not in really in the same situation you're in, but I'll give you my thoughts anyway since I happened upon this post. I'd say it depends on the person, for me, I don't mind a small space as space is secondary to me compared to privacy. If you happen to have a lot of stuff, or if you value being able to change things up often, this might not be a good deal for you. My experience on houseguests is that it depends on the housing situation. If you are sharing a room in a house with other students, I find that no one really cares as long as they are not bothered. If you're renting a room in the home of the landlord, they might have rules or restrictions, most often that the guest cannot stay overnight, some have more. I would definitely ask them. And 100-125 for me would not be worth sacrificing a more comfortable living situation, but again, that depends on your financial availability and the area. If you're working to make ends meet and that 100 or so could be used on something more important, it might be worth it. If you would rather sacrifice that (whether i be eating out, gym, etc) and have more freedom in personal living space, that would depend on your personality. How much do you value company, privacy, savings? And my most similar experience to what you're describing was deciding between sharing a five bedroom house with other students or renting a studio at a higher cost (about 120 more). In the end, for me I valued my privacy and personal space more than the savings. I'm not good with sharing spaces especially if people don't clean up, and for me the more expensive option made sense. But ask yourself what matter most to you and go with the option that works more in your favor.

Hey Everyone, So sorry for spamming the board a little! I know this is probably not the right place, but if anyone knows anything or can point me in the right direction, it would be great! Does anyone know anyone whose entering the program and is also going to be looking for a place to stay/housemates? I live way too far from the city now so I'm going to have to move there for the program and don't really know anyone. I've been looking on craigslist, but I think we all know how sketchy those can be at times. It would be awesome to be able to share with someone in the same program. And we could totally chat for a while to make sure we're a good fit before anything if anyone has ideas. Again, sorry for the many posts! Let me know if anyone has questions about the application or the program. My friend just heard back friday, so don't lose hope! Best of luck to everyone!! =)

Just wanted to post that I just got my acceptance email! I'm so excited!! I still have not made a final decision (got into a few others as well) as I would have to move to the city and uproot my entire life, but chances are I will end up accepting. For those who are still waiting, he process really speeds up once you are invited, before that it's a mess.

@livenlaf I wish I could give a more concrete answer but I only went to one interview. No idea if it depends on the interviewer, but I assume there has to be a guideline so it's fair. And I didn't say you aren't expected to answer, I said you don't have to answer. I'm sure answering more questions helps them get a better sense of who you are as a person. And though I do believe the interviewer when she said it was to affirm our spots, I'm sure there are people who do get rejected after the interview because they decide that they might not be able to deal with the program due to their answers. For example, if you write a good statement, but then you go into the interview and give a very generic answer of why you are going into social work (helping people, and nothing to back that up), they might feel that you don't know what you're getting into or something. I'm rambling, but my goal is something along the lines of they want to know you are prepared to deal with the mental and educational stress that being a social worker requires. (After all, all of us know someone who wants to go into a profession for the wrong reason, like being a doctor for the money, and that never ends well). I hope I helped, if not, feel free to ask me about specifics, but that's the gist of what I got out of my own personal experience so far. Just keep in my mind that my experience does not mean everyone went through the same thing, or that I even got in (I'm still waiting a decision). =)

@livenlafWell, it was a group interview, so it was really conversational. Some people chose to answer almost all the questions, and some just one or two. I don't know for sure that they would accept everyone, but that's what I was told, it made me feel better about the interview itself at any rate. However, I do think that if you are invited, you should just try to be yourself, the interviewers work really hard to make sure that some tension is diffused and the lack of expectations of any specific answer probably helped. They really just want to know how you think and to make sure that you're open to the experiences you will be facing in field placement since from the start, you will be faced with a caseload and a unknown agency/situation. Question wise, I think the biggest question that the person interviewing our cared about was "why social work." They did ask why hunter as well, but honestly most of us gave fairly generic answers and they seemed fine with that (many of us were honest and just admitted that it was due to the location). Other than that, there might a scenario where they want to know your thoughts about how you might react or what thoughts go through your head with a difficult client, but I really think they meant it when they said there's no right answer (they just want to know why you might pick what you do and I think they're just looking to see if you are open to different people). My group was really varied in the way we chose to approach those questions. The writing thing was probably the most stressful, just because they purposefully pick a journal article that is long winded and beats around the bush, but as long as you can understand the main point, you should be fine (you only need to write two paragraphs).

@livenlaf I just finished my interview, and though I have not heard back, it seems that their interview process for a "good fit" is just to make sure you are going into the field for the right reason. If you are invited to a interview, I was told by the person doing our group interview that none of of us were competing for a spot and that we were just reaffirming our positions. Nothing during the interview was really anything that should not have been discussed in your personal statement imo, and I think it's just their way of making sure that you know what you're getting into and that you seem passionate about it. Totally agree about the disorganization, at least in terms of admissions office. And when I signed up for the interview, they had dates all the way to the end of april, with multiple interviews some days, so don't lose hope!

I actually used the email they had listed, I had a hard time getting through on the phone lines too

@SW2016 You make it sound like Hunter is discriminating people based on who they are their origins, (things people cannot control) rather than qualifications. It's true that not many social work programs require interviews, but it is certainly not unacceptable. After all, I work with a HS student who just went on several interviews just to get into college. Many SUNY schools (including the one I go to) has graduate programs which require interviews and additional information from applicants, it's more for the school to make sure that you are a good fit than to discriminate. Anyway, the goal of me replying to you was not to start a argument or anything. We obviously have different views on the matter. If you believe that you have been discriminated against or that something is going on, please, by all means report it. If something pans out, changes will happen. But I will say that both the therapist in charge of my local clinic and the coordinator of crisis services went through the same interview process when they applied over two decades ago. If you submit complaints, I wish you the best of luck and I hope you make the changes you want. I just want to point out that the point of this thread, and of this forum in general, is to support and help students who are applying and who have questions. If you applied, I hope it goes well and that you get in, if not, I hope that you got into whatever you applied for. But please don't make this thread which is meant to help one another into a argument about why this process shouldn't be here since everyone on this thread obviously just wants to get some advice and support on how to get into Hunter in particular. Sorry if that was too lengthy, I ended up just typing my thoughts and not really going over it too much, hopefully it all made sense. Best of luck to everyone on here!

@Ellenesk I haven't gone, but I would assume that all you can really do is hope for the best. If there is a reason (like a physical condition or something they could have provided accommodations for) that you struggled with writing, you might be able to call and talk to them about that. However, if it's just the content that you struggled with (getting the ideas down or conciseness), there's not much to be done unfortunately. Hopefully it's not a big deal or not what they weigh most heavily, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head.

@Jewelz423 Thanks for the info! And no idea if anyone was asking or anything, but they changed my status about two days after I contacted the admissions office about my application. I still haven't gotten a date yet, but I hope I find out soon. And best of luck @nameisheng!

Callabyrdt, as far as I've heard, that should be good news. It seems that Silberman has the majority of their students finish a interview before accepting them. I haven't really heard of too many cases where people are just accepted.

Just wanted to post a quick update. Finally heard back for my two year application. My application was just changed to "pending interview," hopefully I'll be getting more information soon. Hopefully everyone else is also getting some feedback. As far as the interviews, can anyone who knows about them share some information? Like how formally do you have to dress? Business casual (pant suit and formal shirt) or full business suit (blazer too)? What kind of questions should we expect? Anything would be appreciated really. Best of luck everyone, and I'll post if I hear anything else =)