flowerthor

Made sure you get your 2 more years of Post MSW experience. 

I received my acceptance from Hunter!!! The stress of getting in is over. Now to worry about moving to NYC *yikes*
 
Good luck to everyone who is still waiting to hear back from any schools.

@Emaroukcongratulations on getting the interview! I didn't get an email but I'm glad to know where they are in the process now. Thank you for the update. 

I completed my MSW at a Cal State University in California. Now this may just apply to California students, but there is a program call Title IV-E Child Welfare. The program is both for 2 year and 3 year track students. It is a loan given by CalSWEC for students who are interested in working in child welfare. If you are given the loan (stipend) it will cover for tuition and still have some spending money as well. The only catch is, you will have to work in Child welfare (cps) after you graduate in order to "pay back" the loan. So if you receive it for 2 years, you will have to work 2 years in CPS. During the payback you will still get paid like a regular job but they just forgive the loan as you continue to work as a CPS social worker.
 
2/3 years goes by super fast and with the high demand (fast burn out rate) you'll very likely find employment after graduation. If you are attending a college in Cali, I encourage you look into this and apply.

This advice is based on my own interviews and sit downs with professors, so it may not apply to your situation: But I would say prepare yourself to describe your interest area clearly. Possibly also prepare yourself with a research question YOU want to explore as a part of your own research goals and agenda, in other words, what innovative questions do you have? This is often missing as students tend to describe what they know, rather than what they want to explore. Then prepare to reference how your interests intersect with the program, in particular the professor you have identified as a collaborator and any institutes or units therein where you would train. Also having a targeted description of your post-graduate plans seems to matter significantly as the training they offer is better for certain career paths than others.  So, being able to articulate if your path will likely be academic, policy-based, governmental, etc. is helpful.
Then, if the interview allows, ask about what makes their program unique? What opportunities are there to grow your interest area? How is the advisor-student relationship managed? What types of positions do graduates secure? Etc.
 

Hey, I have been looking  at gradcafe for years. Sorry I am posting late in the process, but I have seen some post I would like to respond to. Admissions to PhD programs are done in stages for some universities. People that received  notice in Jan most likely received a University wide fellowship. This is money that will fund students from the provost office or graduate school. This saves the SW programs money because they do not have to pay to fund these students. I know this because I have worked at a university and I spoke to a lot of faculty through this process. So if you have not heard back from a school and you see in the results others have does not mean you are not getting in. I see people have been accepted into a program I want to attend, but I know for a fact all the decisions have not been made. The director of the PhD programs will tell you the general date they will make decisions. I see people have gotten into a program I want to attend and the director looked me in the eyes and told me decisions will be made later this month. Not sure why they lie, I guess so they will not scare  off other students they may want but they did not nominate for university wide fellowships etc. Just sharing my thoughts about the topics that have been posted. 

I got this from UW this morning! I'm so glad to have heard something, but SO nervous about this interview. I have zero time to prepare....

Thank you for your interest in the University of Washington PhD in Social Welfare program.  I am writing to notify you that you have been selected for a phone interview with two faculty members from the PhD in Social Welfare Admissions Committee.   
 
In order to facilitate the scheduling of the interview, I would appreciate it if you could  please let me know if you would be available tomorrow, Thursday, February 16th between 10-12 for a 20 minute phone interview.  Please let me know which 20 minute time slot works best for you within the 10-12 time frame.
 
We look forward to speaking with you this Thursday.  

@Emaroukthank you for the clarification! There is still hope! Good luck ? 

Ugh. At this point I just want the wait to be OVER. 

I did get impatient and email someone on the steering committee on Friday.... she told me that she didn't think all the decisions would be out until mid or even late February so maybe we can still hold out hope? I agree though--it's tough to not lose a little hope.... Also please don't say the results will be out "mid-February, maybe earlier" unless you KNOW they are coming out before 2/15.....because that's just cruel. Ha.

I graduated from a state university in California. From my experience, the prestige of the school does not matter. However, there are some programs that will allow you to get your PPS credential as well. If working at elementary/high schools is also something you would like to do in the future, I recommend looking into programs that offer this.
If medical social worker and LCSW is your plan, I can say that the MSW programs will assist & the prepare you in that goal with the courses and the internships they offer. 

So far I applied to Wayne state university "accepted", university of Pittsburgh "accepted", university of Pennsylvania "rejected". The rest are university of Michigan, toledo, Chicago, and case western reserve. Haven't heard anything about funding for the first two but I do get instate tutition for being in the military so that should have out a bit. I'm going try and do rotc which should take care of part of my tuition or room and board. 

Applied to online BU, Rutgers, Simmons and campus Portland State university(home town so instate tuition). Got admit from Simmons. Waiting for the rest of the schools to share their admit decisions ...anxious. Hoping for BU or RUTGERS

Just received my acceptance to the Social Work/Women's Studies and Gender Studies program at Loyola University Chicago! 
I'm waiting to hear about funding, but it looks like that won't happen until the March 1 priority deadline has passed. In the meantime, I'm going to apply for external scholarships and fellowships.