BackNSchool83

Adel you are going to rock that event at Parliament Hill, congratulations on being selected, says a lot about you.

First of all, very sorry that you got that news, must be hard, and I'm sure I would be very upset as well. This is bound to happen to each of us with some schools for one reason or another. You sound perfectly qualified and I'm sure other programs will accept you, I just hope you chose to apply to multiple programs. Personally I'm applying to 3 programs and I feel like I'm cutting it close, but those are the programs I'm interested in so hope one takes me and I hope another school takes you. To get an interview you were probably someone they liked, and it must have been a very hard call for them. It's possible that it came down to several of you and the others had more experience. There is nothing wrong with going to a CC at all, that's actually a good thing I believe, because it better prepares students for upper division. I would go to the LPC program for sure and see how it goes. There is nothing wrong with you at all, you have a great record, and your age is actually I think a huge advantage because people generally like to talk with peers or people who are mature about serious stuff over someone who is young, that's just human nature I suppose, we go to our parents and elders for advice, so you being still young but yet a mature age was not the reason. I think the only reason it could have been is that you sound like you have reentered school later on just like I have, and don't have a ton of field experience. You again are a total bad ass, great GPA, great background, but if you are up against people who have worked in the field and are trying to refocus their efforts with an MFT license or something then you may simply be out gunned by that. I can so relate to something like this becoming a big deal in my head, existential adventure I hear ya, but from the outside looking in, you are golden, you just gotta apply to more programs because one will eventually take you for sure.

Bumping this thread because applications will be opening October 1st, with info sessions kicking off in mid September. Anyone applying to the CSU system for MSW for the fall 18 cohort, lets stick together and support each other through the process.

Bumping this thread because applications will be opening around September 28th, with the first info session on Saturday the 16th. Anyone applying to UCLA for the fall 18 cohort, lets stick together and support each other through the process.

Hey if you are still prepping to apply to this school, I just was reading about influential social workers and found that Karen Haynes is (or was when the article was written) the president of CSUSM and is a very influential social worker, heres what it says about her " Karen Haynes is the president of California State University, San Marcos. A former dean and professor of social work, Haynes has authored and co-authored numerous books, articles, and publications on political social work. She received her PhD from the University of Texas and currently serves as the Presidential Sponsor for the American Council on Education’s Southern California Network of Women in Higher Education. She has been awarded numerous honors, including the Most Admired CEO award and Women Who Move the City. Haynes is an advocate of community engagement and believes in making transformational regional impact." that may help you to mention her in your SOP maybe, good luck.

Ugh I spent like 7 hours working on my SOP today. It's UCLAs and they ask you to cram a lot into 3 double space pages. Anyways, I'm applying to 3 cal states and UCLA, think I'm just going to not bother with USC, even if I got in and got a ride I'm not a big fan of private schools like SC.

If I was, I'd go for the clinical mental health or whatever it is called there, might be integrated health.

Yeah they always say it's that ratio, but I think it depends on the student.

I know someone who got into UCLA with a lower GPA, circumstances matter. Some of the CSUs out here in Cali require a 2.75 or higher.

Yeah I know that you need a license, I'm asking how long it takes people to get one after their PhD or PsyD. By the way you can practice psychotherapy under the supervision of a licensed supervisor, that's how a person earns their clinical hours towards licensure. For masters level clinicians, they have about 3200 hours to earn before they can sit for the licensing tests.

So I have no research either but have clinical experience as a counselor, I mean I've done research in research classes but not on a team. I've got great grades somehow which I guess would help but I'm worried about the gre and am aiming for MSW programs at this point. I want to be a therapist for a while and see how I like that. How long is the licensure process after the 5 year degree?

Well it's different depending on its focus and if you pursue licensure. An LCSW is equal therapist wise to an LMFT or LPCC and often even make a little more, you can open a private practice. You would want that clinical mental health focus though. So big difference in pay as a therapist at many agencies something like 55 to 60k, more like 75 to 80 when licensed, and once licensed could go into clinical director work or private practice which pay even more or do whatever you like. It's also cheaper, a 2 year masters degree vs a 5 year doctorate, and many people I've talked to about it say if you just basically want to do therapy that masters level is fine. If you want to do testing, interpret psych tests, and do therapy with more severe populations the PsyD might be better but again those often cost into the 100k plus range, and getting licensed will take years after the degree is done. You could try for a PhD but those are highly competitive and usually require the applicant have a research history, even PsyD programs are more and more like this.

Hi, I'm interested in addiction and clinical as well, LGBT community deserve all the support we can give them too. Depends where you live, where you will apply for licensure, what schools are you looking at? If the Bay Area is San Fran then I have some insight into California cause I'm from here too, but LA. I'd look into the CSUs and for sure UCB. What are your undergrad stats and experience as well if you don't mind? I suggest if you care about addiction enough to really want to learn about it, you pursue a secondary certification. CAADE certifies addiction counselors, and if you have a BA in a behavioral health or SW related field of study, you only need to take 15 units and do a 160 hour internship to get the same credential I had to take 47 units for an AS degree in addiction studies and a 250 hour internship to get, CATC III, will be a CATC IV with a masters. It prepares you well and can give you a specialty. You need to accrue hours to be fully certified, but you will do that in practicum and in the years after if you work in addiction field for a little bit. My friends who have MSWs some of whome were in the CATC classes with me said they only had 1 class on addiction, and it was an elective. I'm working with a team of MSWs now who say they do t know anything about addiction, at least nothing very in depth. You can always educate yourself, check out the SAMHSA website and download free publications and or order books for free on many topics related to addiction.

I'd say based on their stats I've seen you have a shot.

Seems like usually you choose from public policy and community type focus to medical health field, child welfare, senior care, and mental health. There is an integrated health as well which I believe is like a combo of health and mental health. Personally since I want to become licensed and do clinical work including therapy I'm going for mental health or integrated.

I hear Berkely is top notch, more than the others. USC is great but costly, UCLA is decent but not on par with Berkely. If you are open to USC look at Stanford.

It's really not like the good old days our parents grew up in where you worked at some basic job and made enough money to pay rent, tuition, eat, and every 5 years buy a new car. Seriously if you live in a populous state it's insane how expensive living is. You hear stories about people who somehow managed to be full time med students on the deans list while working 2 jobs full time and raising a child, plus walking up hill both on the way to and from grad school. There are only so many hours in a week. We all need to sleep so we can think, that's at least 6 hours a day ideally 8. We need a day to decompress a little, I mean you should have at least 1 day you can kinda chill, unless you want to burn out. How well do you think people do in a 5 day a week, 5 classes a quarter masters program when there is zero self care. If you need to work to survive, so be it, but if you have a roof over your head and can take out some loans, apply for stipend programs and grants etc, you don't have to work over night and go crazy. I mean maybe you are tougher than me, no friggin way I'd be doing a full time MSW and working over night plus weekends. Like 75 percent of school work is done at home, it's reading, researching, writing, you know all too well. These things take time. In undergrad you can stretch it a bit, you can wing it sometimes, but this is important now. I just think many of the imaginary standards we hold ourselves to are unrealistic and unhealthy. I'm going to personally maybe work 1 day a week while I'm in the MSW program, full time in the summer, take out loans, apply for aid and grants and take advantage of the fact that I'm super lucky to have a place I can live for next to nothing staying with my mom. I hate living with my mom, she loves it, I love her, but it's very awkward. The deal is though it's worth it, cause 2 years in the grad scheme ain't crap, I'll be earning a livable wage after that 2 year point and the rest will be history. I say cut yourself some slack, give yourself enough room to do a good job and learn something while you are in school, and people who have a problem with it probably don't really know what they are talking about and over exaggerate their uphill battle of pulling themselves up by their boot straps. It's not 1955 anymore, it's not 1985, it's 2017 and it sucks. Thank you and God bless America.

You would be amazed how many people your age and older stay with their parents, and you have a good excuse. Even a part time MSW program is going to have the 2-3 days of interning every week for 2 years after a year of part time 3 classes a semester or quarter work. 2 years will fly by and you will be done. You can freak out and try to find a way to make everything happen all on hour own, or go with the flow, have a rich experience in grad school, and move out when you are done and earning more money with your MSW.

Stats Cumulative Transferable GPA last 90 quarter or 60 semester: 4.0 GRE: Not taking it Undergraduate Major(s) and Minor(s): Psychology Major Criminology Minor Additional degrees, certifications, awards: AA Psychology AS Addiction Studies Honors: Phi Theta Kappa, Psi Beta, Psi Chi Clubs/Societies: Psi Chi Work Experience: Addiction Treatment Facility Support Staff 6 months FT (2013). Current, Addiction Treatment Center Counselor P/T 16 hr/wk ongoing Intern Experience: AOD Facility Counselor Intern 250 hours, Foster Agency Case Manager 100 hrs Volunteer Experience: Homeless Shelter Group Facilitator 50 hrs Strength of Personal Statement: N/A Languages you speak: English Age, Gender, Ethnicity: 35, Male, White Additional: N/A Your intended area of focus: mental health, plans to go into clinical work in the AODand mental health field. Your story: In recovery, clean and sober over 3 years

I'm applying to a UCLA graduate program and am trying to figure out how to answer their GPA question. The online application for the university asks only for the last 90 units because they are only really interested in our Junior and Senior year GPAs. I just finished Junior year at my UC where I am getting my undergrad and was a transfer student from a CC. While I have been at the UC I have taken 3 classes per quarter instead of 4, for my Junior year. The reason I didn't take more is that I was also full time at a community college finishing a second AS degree in addiction studies for certification as a counselor, and this took up a lot of time because it included internships and basically every quarter I was enrolled in 3 or more classes at the community college at the same time. So if they want the last 90 units, do I need to include grades from my community college? If I am going to include grades from my community college should I just send them grades from all these addiction counseling classes I took that is separate from my major at the UC I am at, or should I send them grades from classes related to my major at the UC that are older. I have an AA in psychology and my major is psychology at the UC, if that makes sense? I don't want them to look at my record and think that I only am a part time student, I'm more than full time when you consider the concurrent enrollment. My GPA would not change if I am considering the past 90 / 60 units so I'm not worried about that, they just have this chart they want me to fill out that lists the classes. Thank you!

Hello! This thread is for prospective students of the Luskin School of Public Affairs Master of Social Welfare (MSW) Fall 2018 cohort. Applicants may begin to work on their application in September, so let's be prepared and support eachother through this process. I'm going to ask that we always include our stats when we report an admission decision. Even if the decision is not what you wanted, please share your stats at that time and your admission status. All of us are nervous about this and the best thing to reduce that is to be well informed. What I really hope this group can do is to remember to post their stats when they are given the admission decision, too often people just get excited and say "I got in" then bail. Here is what I suggest as stats to share, and perhaps this can be a good way to get started with introductions for the Fall 18 applicants here on Grad Cafe by filling out the stats you presently can. Best wishes to each of you, let's get through this together! - BackNSchool83 Stats Cumulative Transferrable GPA: Cumulative Transferrable GPA last 90 quarter or 60 semester: GRE: did you take it? Would you like to share your score? Undergraduate Major(s) and Minor(s): Additional degrees, certifications, awards: Honors: Clubs/Societies: Work Experience: (description and how much time) Intern Experience: (description and how much time) Volunteer Experience: (description and how much time) Strength of Personal Statement: 1-10 (was it reviewed?) Languages you speak: Age, Gender, Ethnicity: (sometimes this matters to admissions) Additional: Your intended area of focus: mental health, child welfare, public policy etc Your story: Anything else you would like to share, or things you feel may be considered about your journey in life by the admissions committee.

Here is the scenario I'm trying to work out in my head... I'm applying to like 5 CSUs for their MSW programs, all programs have an application period from October to late January. Notifications are often on a rolling basis, meaning you apply early you hear back early. You also have an advantage by applying early because there are more open spots and it sounds like it becomes more competitive the closer to the deadline admission notification goes. Some people hear back as early as February, many hear back in March. All of the MSW grad programs have a time limit to accept, usually between one and two weeks after notification. So if I am to find out the good news that I was accepted to CSULA in mid February, I would have till basically the 1st of March to decide, but that means I would be missing out on other schools that notify later, like UCLA. The UCLA MSW program is my top choice. UCLA does not send out acceptance notifications till mid to late March. I'm worried I will hear back from a few great CSU grad programs with good news early because I plan to apply early to give myself that advantage, but then will have to give up on UCLA. UCLA might not even take me, but there is a good chance as I have a high GPA and some pretty good experience, it would be a dream come true to go there but you never know, they might not admit me. What is the penalty for accepting admission to a CSU MSW program and then cancelling it after finding out you got into UCLA? What are your thoughts about this problem?

When is the last day you can accept admission for the MSW programs for CSUs?

For the CSUs, if you receive notification early say in February or early March, how long do you have to decide if you want to accept admission? I'm applying to UCs as well and they don't release decisions till mid to late March. Anyone here apply to both CSUs and UCs and have a problem with this?

So I'm applying for CSU DH, F, LA, LB, and maybe SM. I've looked at the online programs but think I'm gonna skip that. I'm looking to do a part time program though, just prefer classroom instruction. I'm a transfer at UCI majoring in psychology and social behavior. Im also an addiction counselor, or about to be once my current internship is over. That was an extra 45 units and all human services classes that I took concurrently at a community college while going to UCI. I'm hoping that although I have not accrued a ton of hours yet of experience they will still give me a chance. I'll be working part time as a counselor starting in the winter quarter, but that's after the application deadline. I'll have about 6 months FT work as a tech, plus about 350 intern hours counseling and doing case management when I apply, plus be certified through CAADE. I'm in my 30s and have lived experience as well, and have somehow maintained a 4.0. I'm wondering what you think they will say about my experience since so many of you worked for years before going to grad school. How do they review applications in terms of grades? When I applied to UCI I had to send transcripts once at initial application the fall prior to transferring, once after fall was done, and once after spring. Do the CSUs just do one check in fall or track you? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, any insight at all, things you wish you knew etc. I'm applying for the fall 2018 cohort.