mapletree

Yay, congrats tschuss!! I wish I could come to the open day tomorrow but I'm out of the country right now. Have fun to the people going!

Sorry to hear the news vmpancucci, MommyMSW, angelamarie32, and Whitty . One of my favorite quotes is "Everything works out in the end. If it hasn't worked out, it's not the end." Not sure if that really helps right now. Regardless, good luck with whatever you decide to do in the future! Aw, you're welcome Yay, congrats SarahSW!! Thanks for sharing this info ATohCe.24!! I checked out the schedule in your signature. It's great to be able to start planning early. I was wondering about the financial aid situation too, so that's also helpful. I'm glad that worked out for you! Just a technicality, not a mistake in their admission decision thank goodness. An update: About a week after submitting my SIR, I got an email from the grad department telling me to activate my Cal ID. Turns out they still have my old student number from undergrad and I didn't have to make a new account. Now let's see if it's possible to get my old Cal email address back..

You're welcome allyba, and I think social work adjacent might be okay. A lot of my experience is in teaching/tutoring underrepresented populations, which is arguably more education based than social work based. Even the most social work-type job I had was in supporting foster youth with their educational goals (case management, no tutoring/teaching), so that was a bit of both. Regarding the dimwitted comment: It wasn't just the use of that word. It was the whole attitude behind it. The example you gave of the word "retarded" is a good one. You said you felt awful and I'm sure you regret using it. You *get it". People make mistakes all the time; it's how you behave after you realize you made a mistake. The other poster does not *get it*. When people started saying (nicely, I might add) that "dimwitted" might be offensive to other people, the poster became very defensive, could not see why anyone would take offense to what he/she said, then spiraled downhill into calling other people names. Not really qualities of a good social worker. I'm sorry if I'm coming on kind of strong here. I don't have a very high tolerance for this kind of behavior. I thought of this example while typing this: One of the youth I'm working with, who is 15, was acting disrespectful to a teacher. I was there to pick him up and witnessed his behavior. He is usually a good kid, with good grades, and was pissed that she took away his cell phone charger. I said to him I thought he was being disrespectful and that it would be a good idea to apologize if he wanted to stay on good terms with the teacher. I left it at that as not to sound too lecturey. We talked about some other stuff, then he brought up the incident again and again. He wanted to know how he was being disrespectful. Why was it considered disrespectful. He wanted to learn about how his actions led to the consequences, and by the end of the meeting, he was no longer referring to the teacher as "stupid" and a "b****". I'm not sure if he went as far as to apologize, but at least he was thinking it through. Even he was making attempts to *get it* and he's a 15-year-old. Thanks roxyshoe. I hope he/she reads it too.

I visited a professor at the Social Welfare department after I got admitted and we talked a little about admissions. I asked him why the email's wording is "School of Social Welfare has recommended you for admission" and he said because it is ultimately the grad division's decision if they want to accept you into Berkeley. After receiving a recommendation from the department, the grad division goes through the application to calculate GPA and look at other info again. But, for the most part, the recommendation basically means you're in "unless Social Welfare messed up the GPA calculation or something, but it is very rare that someone who gets the email does not get in." He also said a lot of students worry that they got in by mistake, lol. It's possible that the grad division just hasn't gotten around to confirming yours yet. In your admissions email from Melanie, did it say "Dear Mr/Ms (your last name)"? If so, I do not think it was a mistake. Someone had to type your name into that email, you know? If you're unsure or stressing over it, email Melanie/the department to double check! I did on Wednesday. I was really surprised that it didn't ask me for a deposit at all. Maybe that comes later? Don't know. I'm really sorry to hear this, especially since you're CMH . I asked one of the admissions people at an info session in 2010 about that, and they said their definition is the equivalent of 40hrs/wk for a year. I was really worried about the full-time definition thing the first time I applied because I had a lot of different pieces of work experience/volunteering/internships, instead of an actual 40hrs/wk full-time job for a year. I wish you luck in whatever you decide to do in the future.

Ditto. Congrats missdanielle! It's so unpredictable how Berkeley releases decisions. We had acceptances, waitlisters, rejections, more waitlisters.. It doesn't make much sense! But that's also good news for people who haven't heard back yet! Good luck to everyone still waiting.

I just read this whole thread, and... wow. Thought I'd throw in my 2 cents, even though I'm late. I believe that in social work, perhaps more so than any other profession, experience is a lot more important than GPA. I went to UC Berkeley and graduated with an A- average. I had some experience before graduation, but nothing full-time. Let me tell you - those grades did not help me at my first full-time social work-type job. It was the experience I got on the job. How do you really support someone with bi-polar/borderline/anxiety/clinical depression unless you've spent significant time with them? Sure, you can read all about it in the DSM and ask around, but it's not the same. The people you're helping don't give a flying f*** if you graduated with a 4.0 from the best school in the country. They care about whether you're a good social worker. Are you empathetic, a good listener, and genuinely want to help them? Or are you too busy judging their life choices to get through to them? They can tell. People judge them everyday. They don't need to hear it from you too; they need your support. Those dimwitted students with all that experience who got accepted but have GPAs that aren't as high as yours? They're the ones you're going to learn from in grad school. They're the ones who will have something to contribute in discussion because they've been there. When I reapplied to Berkeley this year after being waitlisted last year, I wrote in my essay that it was a blessing in disguise that I did not get in last year. I really benefited from the extra year of experience. When I first started, I basically didn't know anything about anything (with my A- average from Berkeley! I know, can you believe it?!). I ran into my supervisor's office like 5 times a week with a new dilemma I didn't know how to deal with. A youth getting pregnant by her abusive boyfriend. A youth going AWOL and living on the streets because his family disowned him for being gay. Even a youth telling his teacher to shut up. I did not know what to do, or what the best way to handle each situation was. And now? I'm a lot better. I still have a lot of learning to do, but I'm not checking in with my supervisor all the time because I know what to expect in certain situations. Because I learned from my experiences. I'm not even going to go into the calling people ugly b****** and everything else. If you can't see how wrong that is, it's kind of a lost cause to try and explain it. Please grow up and develop a sense of self-awareness if you're really going into this field. I already feel sorry for the people who are going to be in your future caseloads if your attitude remains the same.

Sorry to hear about your rejection. If it makes you feel any better, when I went to their info session in 2010, I noticed that all the MSW students who were there to answer questions had a few years of experience. I asked one of the admissions people if they let people in straight from undergrad, and she said it's very rare. Good luck next year The Bay Area is a great place to live.

So sorry to hear this :(. Could really tell how much you wanted it. Edited to ask: How much experience did you have? I know MAP, more so than any of the other concentrations, REALLY take into consideration experience. From the website: "Personal Qualifications. Typically, knowledge and commitment to this field are demonstrated by significant (the equivalent of one full year) paid or volunteer employment related to social welfare or human services. This is particularly true for those applying to the Management and Planning concentration. A comprehensive resume will be required of applicants."

rjose and lccsf: You're welcome! The spreadsheet is getting more interesting as people update it. It looks like Berkeley likes psychology majors, in-state, who graduated in the last 5 years. Or.. in-state psychology majors who graduated in the last 5 years like to apply to Berkeley.. Aww, this made me smile. I think you have a great perspective and hope you get in this year. If not, your chances of getting in next year are a lot higher since you were waitlisted this year! I have a feeling the only reason I was even put on the waitlist last year and not out-right rejected (with my woeful 7 months of experience) was because I really stressed how I felt Berkeley was the right school for me. Sorry to hear that Rivka. I had no idea that out-of-state residents were given lower priority, but it does seem to look that way. Good luck at UT Austin or Columbia. It's not over till it's over! Check out the results survey on gradcafe for the last few years. Some people got in way later than others. Berkeley's admission process is pretty unpredictable year by year. Welcome vidacelina and prevail and congrats for getting waitlisted! What is with these schools that don't follow the April 15th deadline thing?! You could try emailing them to ask if they can extend the deadline for you? ATohCe.24 posted this earlier (on the first page): "Health & Management each had roughly 15-17 spots / 100 apps". Good luck!

Congrats rjose, mikaful and Jenna for for getting on the waitlist. You all seem very qualified from your stats! Part of the admission email from Melanie said this: "Lastly, we would like to respectfully request that you make your decision as soon as possible. The School of Social Welfare experienced a surge in the number of well-qualified applicants resulting in a long waitlist of applicants we would like to offer admission to if we have a space open up. If you have concerns about making your decision before April 15th, please feel free to contact me." Hopefully admits will decide quickly, before April 15th, and you'll hear back earlier. Good luck!!

Thanks JM12 and lologogo for stats, and congrats tschuss for getting waitlisted! I say congrats because I had the same mentality as you last year: "At least it's better than being denied!" Thank you also to all the people who have filled in more info for the google doc spreadsheet. It's a lot more detailed today than yesterday. I think waitlisted people should go on there too (with a note), since they are are kind of in limbo and could potentially get in. Also, I added the column "attending?" to see who is actually accepting their offer! Finally, I will try to put the link to the document in my signature (if that's possible) for easy access.

I'm working on a google docs spreadsheet that shows the people who have been admitted so far and their stats. Anyone with the link can edit it, so please feel free to add your own info, change details, or remove info if you don't want to be on it. Here it is: https://docs.google....eGF3dkJCejVySHc I'm not too confident about what kind of conclusions we can draw from such a small sample. It does look like they are dealing with California residents first and like people who went to UCs. PS. If you click on the document, you will be anonymous. "​If a document is set by the owner to be viewable or editable by everyone, then Google Docs doesn't show the names of those who choose to view or edit the document. Google Docs displays only the identities of people who are explicitly given permission to view or edit a document (either individually or as part of a group). People who are not given explicit access are labeled Anonymous user."

Congrats Congrats lologogo and ATohCe.24!! (and sorry if I missed anyone!) See you in the fall?! Thank you! I applied to Community Mental Health. I applied on Dec 16th. An update from my earlier post on stats, with more details on experience: What got me waitlisted last year: - 4 months with AmeriCorps working at a youth center that serves foster and homeless youth, a research internship at an alternative high school, a summer internship supporting low-income SF residents with resumes and housing searches, a semester tutoring prisoners through Cal's Teach in Prison program, part of a summer teaching English in rural China as part of a poverty alleviation program, other miscellaneous volunteering in the Bay Area, and a semester as a peer counselor (not at Berkeley). All of this combined was approximately 7 months of full-time work. What got me accepted this year: All of the above, but this time I had 1 year of AmeriCorps experience working with foster youth at the youth center (with an emphasis in supporting youth in furthering their educational goals) and another 6 months working with the same agency as a non-AmeriCorps. My GPA and GRE scores did not change, but I wrote better essays this year and submitted an additional 2 letters of recommendation. I'm really interested in working with youth in an educational setting. I hope to someday become a school counselor or something in that capacity. A lot of the youth I've worked with have mental health issues, and I figured the more I know, the more useful I can be in supporting them. I hope the rest of you waiting to hear back are surviving okay. I seriously hope you all get in!!

Thank you!! Ok, details. I found out by email from Melanie Green at 12.12pm. My status on the grad app did not change, it still says "submitted". Berkeley undergrad, majoring in Sociology and Media Studies. 3.76 overall GPA. GREs - Verbal - bit below average, Math - really crappy, Writing - 4.5. Graduated in 2010. Applied for 2011 with 7 months of combined full-time experience and was waitlisted. Applied this year with more experience. I think that's all I can type right now. Still kind of freaking out. Will update later with more details on experience. Good luck to everyone still waiting!!! *In-state applicant!

I got in!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh