oshea_eastbay

Hi all, I'm considering applying to dual MSW/MPP programs next fall, and I was wondering if anyone had advice on what I should do to make myself more competitive. I studied International Studies and Economics as an undergrad, and I have a fairly strong statistics background. My undergrad institution is a small, public liberal arts school that doesn't assign grades, but rather all students receive a narrative evaluation for each course completed. Most of my narrative evaluations of are quite good, but I'm not sure that admissions committees will read them. I figure I'll have to do very well on the GREs to make up for not having a GPA. Additionally, I don't have any full-time work experience in policy. I graduated in May 2015; for my first year out of undergrad I was an AmeriCorps volunteer doing direct service in a housing program for immigrant families. I now work in a prenatal program at a clinic that serves immigrant families, doing psychosocial/health assessments, resource referrals and pregnancy options counseling. I really enjoy working directly with people, which is why I took another direct service position after AmeriCorps, but now I'm not sure if it's what I want to do for the rest of my career. Plus I'd like to not waste my education in political science and economics that I got in undergrad. So, I feel like my lack of grades and full-time policy work experience are two huge marks against me - is it even worth it to apply to an MPP program? I know that my experience working directly with people would influence how I approach studying/working in policy, but would admissions committees buy it? I've heard of people getting into MPP programs who previously worked in non-policy-related jobs in the private sector, and honestly I feel like my direct social service experience gives me a better understanding of social policy than many people who have exclusively been in the private sector. In terms of qualities that may help in MPP applications: I'm fluent in Spanish, have lived abroad for one year, have had internships in non-profits doing grant writing and program development, and I have part-time work experience as a statistics tutor and research assistant. I'm sorry for the long post - I'm just feeling a little lost and I'm not sure what to do! Any advice on any part of this post would be much appreciated (also happy Thanksgiving to everyone!)

Thank you for the advice! I want to go to grad school sooner rather than later, but I might also delay it to gain some experience in policy work to make my applications stronger/make me a good candidate for the dual degree. The $$ of a dual degree scares me a bit, but it'll probably result in higher earnings in the end (I hope!).

Hi all, I'm not planning to apply for MSW schools until next Fall, but I feel like I need to start making decisions soon to figure what I want to do. I want to eventually work in a policy/administrative role, but I also enjoy working directly with people. I have a BA in International Studies with a minor in Economics and have a lot of academic preparation for policy work, but my post-graduate work experience is in more direct service roles. I had a case management position working in a transitional housing program for immigrant families for my first post-grad year, and now I work as a case manager in a prenatal program in a clinic that serves a mostly Latin American immigrant population. After speaking with and learning about the work that LCSWs in my workplace do, I don't think I would want to do clinical social work as a career. While I enjoy working with people, the parts I enjoy most about my job are learning about different health and social programs in the county and transferring this knowledge to clients - I don't really want to do psychotherapy. I've heard the term mezzo social work thrown around but never got a good idea of what a mezzo social work job would look like - something with a combination of direct and macro practice? That seems ideal to me but I'm unsure how many of these jobs actually exist. I also have a fairly strong stats/quant background and experience as a research assistant - I don't want to waste all that I learned in undergrad. I've thought about applying to macro MSW programs, but I'm afraid that my lack of macro work experience wouldn't make me a strong candidate. Would I still be able to get a macro/mezzo job post-MSW with a clinical track but if I pursued leadership/research opportunities? I also am afraid of missing out on learning clinical skills with a macro track that would be useful to know when evaluating programs/doing community organizing/etc. Has anyone here pursued a clinical MSW track but ended up working in a macro/mezzo job? Alternatively, has anyone applied and gotten in to a macro track program with just direct practice work experience? Any advice is appreciated, thank you!!