GradGirl90

Anyone??

Hello all! I am currently finishing up my first year in my MSW program. I am excited to finally be starting my advanced coursework (even though they'll be online..thanks COVID!). Anyway, I wanted to hear your thoughts on the PhD versus DSW. I already know that PhD is research oriented and DSW is practice/leadership oriented. I want to know about the "value" of the DSW. I was told by someone at my university that a PhD is much more marketable (but she was kind of a meh prof), and i'm not so sure about that. I am more clinical minded. It would make me happy if i could stick to a DSW, but I don't want to waste time and a lot of money getting a degree if the "real world" doesn't place much value on it. Other forums have told me that they've never heard of anyone with a DSW, and they don't see a point in getting one over your LCSW (basically the DSW being a cash cow for a university). What are your thoughts?

I've been accepted to Sam Houston with full funding, and quite honestly this school seems like a terrific fit for me. Still waiting on UMass Lowell, FSU, and UCF. From what I've been told, everyone has already received their acceptance/rejections from FSU, so it sounds like I have been waitlisted....I just don't understand why they wouldn't let me know

This waiting game is killing me. I've only heard back from one school so far. Ugh!!

Sent you a message about it!

Don't beat yourself up. I had shitty GRE scores and a lack of pubs, but I just received an invite to Sam Houston's preview weekend. I know...it's stressful as hell. I keep calling schools and checking my email!!

Same. I got an email from them to use Payment works. I've never filled out one of the forms they are asking for so that's been interesting. We should meet up!

Hey guys! Thought I would chime in with my anxiousness! I am still waiting to hear from U of Cincinnati, UMass Lowell, UCF, and FSU. I just had a phone call yesterday from Sam Houston and was invited to their school on March 1st! Looks like I'll be seeing ya there @Mopar18

Thanks for the response! I'm glad someone could give me some input. I'm mostly wondering about how to frame the statement of purpose for every school, since you are highlighting why you want to go to that particular school. It would make sense to me to incorporate research areas that at least some of the faculty are doing. I've been told if your areas of interest don't line up with any of the faculty, there's no way they'll admit you to the program. So if I'm interested in working with the professors at Rutgers who specialize in wildlife crime, and then I'm also interested in the faculty working on biosocial research at FSU, wouldn't it make sense to speak to that? Basically, tailoring your SOP to that particular school makes the most sense to me. I will look into the book you posted.

Anyone have any suggestions?

I have a slightly complicated question, but it revolves around framing my SOP for PhD programs. I am interested in so many different areas of criminal justice and criminology. I seem to be uncovering more and more areas that interest me. For instance, i just discovered that "wildlife crime" is an area of CJ research! That is very exciting to me. I still, however, have many more interests (biosocial crim, lifecourse crim, mental illness in prisons, etc). So my question is this - how do you frame your SOP when you have quite a few areas of interest? For example, would i address my interests in lifecourse crim and violence to UMD and then address my interest in wildlife crime and crime mapping for Rutgers? I guess a simpler way of putting it is this - should i be tailoring my SOP to the faculty at that particular school? Also, how do you explain all of this to your professors who are writing your letter of recommendation? Do you just tell them you have "various research interests" and list off a few of them? I don't want to seem like i can't make up my mind about what i want to research. I'm just passionate about many different things. Thanks all!

Thank you for all of the replies. @maelia8 I am currently in GA but i have no idea where i will end up doing my PhD. @akraticfanatic Yes, i totally agree and understand that if i am doing government work i will be drug tested. No question there. I was mostly wondering about academia because i really had never heard of grad students or professors being drug tested.

Hi all, I am really interested in biosocial crim and neurocrim, and i will therefore be applying to schools that have faculty actively involved in researching those topics. The main schools i know of for this are UPenn, FSU, and UCin. Luckily, there is also a new professor here (i'm in GA) at GSU who researches those areas, so i'm going to apply there too. I have not taken my GRE yet, but i am going to be taking it in May. I was wondering if anyone has been admitted to UPenn and FSU with funding? I know all schools are competitive, but i feel that UPenn and FSU are especially competitive. UPenn emphasizes research experience (i've only done volunteer work in an advocacy group) and FSU wants certain GRE scores. I've heard from some of you that FSU is picky about offering funding. If anyone has been admitted to those two schools, (with funding) could you possibly tell me about your student profile? I'm nervous since i have a MS and no research experience. I do have a 3.788 grad GPA though and the advocacy volunteer experience. I feel like UPenn isn't going to acknowledge me with my lack of research, and i'd rather not waste money applying there if that is the case. Thanks!

I have a question about this. How did you sort the schools? I looked on the Carnegie classification website, and there seems to be a few options on how to sort the list. Based upon what you said, i assume you just looked at the 'Doctoral Rankings: Highest Research Activity". But how do you know if these schools are doing a lot of research in CJ/crim specifically? Does it only matter that they are ranked highly for research in general? If that's the case, it makes me very happy to see Georgia State University on there because that is the school closest to my location

Those are interesting questions. I'm curious to know what others think as well.