Sarah77

Yes, I had success with appealing to Columbia! I sent their financial aid office a pretty extensive email detailing my financial situation, how much I would be able to contribute in exact numbers, and how much I would need from them to be able to commit. They then had me fill out a form online (as did Penn, though I haven’t heard back from Penn yet). Ultimately my sense is that what made the biggest difference was my competing offer from Michigan, because the number that Columbia ultimately offered was exactly the same as Michigan; they matched it. The offer went up from $36K (for two years) to $50K after the appeal. Feel free to DM if you have any follow up questions!

Hi folks, I was really pleasantly surprised by my scholarship offer from Michigan and am now in a position to have to consider it because of the financial benefit, where I wasn't thinking too much about it before. I'd love to connect with someone else who is interested in Michigan's program & hear about what strengths stand out to you, whether that's here in the forum or via DM!

Hi folks, I was really pleasantly surprised by my scholarship offer from Michigan and am now in a position to have to consider it because of the financial benefit, where I wasn't thinking too much about it before. I'd love to connect with someone else who is interested in Michigan's program & hear about what strengths stand out to you, whether that's here in the forum or via DM!

Congrats on the scholarship! Can you share which portal that was? I got my scholarship offer via an official letter in my email, but I can't see any updates in the application portal Applyweb.com for financial aid. Do you mind sharing how much work study you got? I'm curious about how much Michigan usually offers for that.

I’m not sure about those schools specifically, but this has been the case for all of my offer letters as well and I’ve found the cost of attendance on the school’s website, usually by Googling “XYZ social work tuition and fees” and doing the math to figure out what that gap is.

Hi! I'm assuming you're talking about Ericka Hart and apologize if that isn't the case - I just wanted to clarify that from what I've seen in Ericka's self-descriptions online, Ericka is a non-binary femme. It's definitely important for us to stay in conversation about how CSSW treated them, but I hope we can also use the language they use for themself in our discussion! Thanks

Hmmm I'm not sure what would count as generous. On paper my offer from Penn sounded nice - it was a $32K scholarship over the 2 year program - but that will still leave me with another $100K or so to cover in loans for tuition and living costs. I appealed with an email explaining why my financial situation will be what it will be, and naming specific numbers that I can contribute and what I would need from them to commit. I also discussed an offer I got from another school, naming the numbers for that program. I just sent this in a few days ago so not sure what will come of it. A 2020 grad told me that the folks she knows all took a minimum of $50K-80K in loans even after appealing for more money, so I am worried that the $32K is actually on the upper end and that I won't get much more to make a meaningful dent in my future debt. Hope this helps!

I was really disappointed to hear about Ericka Hart's experience, especially as a nonbinary person of color myself. It's horrifying. Unfortunately, I wasn't very surprised. I think if I had the intentions of staying in New York long-term, I probably would have gone to Hunter because their values as an institution seem to align better with my own, not to mention financially it is a significantly better decision for me vis-a-vis loans. Not sure if this is a pessimistic view, but my sense is that any institution like Columbia (for example Penn, which is the other school I am weighing against Columbia right now) that is predominantly white and immensely powerful is going to be like this. I went to an elite PWI for my undergrad and now, 3 years out, feel a lot of love for the place - mainly its people, and its physical location - despite having a really mixed experience while there, marred by similar experiences of the institution acting in outright racist ways. So now I'm choosing my grad program based on the expectation that there will be professors I can work with / learn from whose values align with mine, that I will meet great people within my program, and based on where I'd want to live. But I think it's a very personal decision what factors come out as most important for you in your grad decision. To be clear, I don't necessarily think that all social work programs will practice their values in the way that Columbia is. But I do think of the more "prestigious" schools as interchangeable in terms of their power and how they use it. I'd be down to chat more via DMing if you'd like to... Don't want to take up too much space in this public forum with my internal process haha.

Thank you, that is so sweet!

Hi y'all! I've been reading this forum for a while and have really appreciated feeling like I'm not totally alone in this wild process. I wanted to share about the schools I've heard from, noting that timing has been a question in many previous messages. Penn: Applied 12/5, Interviewed 1/7, Accepted via phone call and informal email same day 1/7, Official acceptance letter available in portal with scholarship offer 1/14. Columbia: Applied 11/19 with my final recommendation submitted 11/27, Accepted via online portal (with an email letting me know decision was ready) 1/13, Scholarship offer & financial aid info received 1/19. Michigan: Applied 11/15 with final recommendation submitted some time before the early deadline in Dec, Accepted via phone call and informal email on 1/12, Official acceptance letter available in portal 2/5 without scholarship or financial aid information. Denver: Applied 12/23, Accepted via email 1/14, Official letter + Scholarship offer received via portal 1/15. I'm waiting to hear from UC Berkeley and the University of Washington, and wondering if anyone has heard from them yet, or knows anything about their timeline? From what I've read it sounds like I can't expect to hear from UW until March, and Berkeley should let us know before March 1st (soon!)? Do folks know if they typically give out financial/scholarship info in their initial offers? Additionally, does anyone know when Michigan typically sends out scholarship/FA offers? I'm worried because Columbia has only given me an extension until March 15th to accept or reject their offer, and I'm not sure if they will give me another extension... Thank you all!

Hi @AdamG1989, can you share when you applied to Denver and when you heard back? I'm wondering what their timeline is like as I haven't heard back.