MSW_MK

I just got notice that I was rejected from UNC. The letter was very vague/from the Dean of the grad school so nothing as to why. It's the only school I applied to because it was the only that really fit my interests. I'm not super surprised. My GRE score is a 296. I only will have 2 years post-MSW in August, and neither job post-grad is directly in social work. Might try the GRE again and re-apply in a few years. Good luck to everyone else!

Do you all think it's a bad idea to contact the director of admissions for a program? I emailed the professor who sponsored my application, and she said she'd reach out to the Head of the Admissions Committee/Admissions Director for the Doc program (idk the title) for me. It's been ~5 days. The professor sponsoring me asked in her reply to my email if I had reached out to the Director. I just thought that'd be inappropriate.

Congrats!!

Has anyone heard anything from UNC? Slightly losing my shit. Only slightly.

Does anyone have a timeline of when they expect to hear back? What's the latest they can tell you?

My statement for UNC's PhD SW was 13 pages including 3 pages of references. They had like 8-9 questions I think. And I basically had to outline all prior research in the area I'm interested in and then what exactly I'd want to do my research in during the program.

I can weigh in on University of Michigan. I applied in my last year of undergrad (got a BSW, so it was for the advanced standing program). I am an out-of-state applicant. I got in. They only gave ~9.5k in aid. I deferred to Michigan for two years, and planned to work to save money (lol, I did not save any money living in NYC for two years). When I did the FAFSA the second time I was no longer being claimed my parents on their taxes and I was making under ~$40k a year. Michigan gave me a $39.5k scholarship towards my tuition. It was unreal to get that letter. I had a 3.36 GPA/3.89 in my major (social work), good research experience, but at the time I got the larger scholarship money I had already gotten accepted so I don't know if it was a factor. I had a phenomenal experience at Michigan, even though it was short (one year for AS students). I also would've paid more had I lived at home and gone to my in-state MSW program. I tried to apply to research assistant positions but they're usually reserved for doctoral students. I got a "paid" field placement instead (it paid $10/hour for 20 hours a week so it barely covered my rent). I did take out federal loans and mostly lived off those. It was financially challenging for sure, and I'll probably be paying loans till I'm 40 but I can honestly say I have no regrets. Hope this helps, and good luck!

Me too! Right now UNC-CH is my first choice, but also considering Penn and UW in Seattle. Research interests are international social development/use of technology to alleviate social and economic disparities in low-resource communities/participatory action research. My GRE score is just under 300. I've taken it twice and gotten the same exact score. I don't think I'm going to have time to study and take it again before this cycle, so we'll see how it goes. I have a BSW from the University of Vermont '14 and an MSW '17 from the University of Michigan. I did an independent research study as an undergrad and got published as a first author, hoping this counts more than the GRE. Does anyone have any insights on minimum GRE scores at these schools? Good luck all!