SOCW_Noel

Amazing thread, also I am Interested in hearing people's experiences in the social sciences (linguistics) @ Stanford, Northwestern and UC Berkley! 

I am a Chemistry PhD applicant and am curious about people's experiences (any program) at UChicago, U Cal schools, and University of Washington!

I just wanted to start a form for black applicants and grad students which advice on different programs, where we are going, and climate!

Hi everyone! I'm working on my essay now, and Im really excited about going back to school. I received my MSW in 2015 from NYU.  

I'll do a full blog post about this at some point, but I think that the number of applications you submit could(should?) be based on how strong your application is, and how selective your desired schools are. If you've got your heart set on 1 school with an acceptance rate below 5%, you're setting yourself up for stress and disappointment. If you don't get in, you don't even really have enough data to decide how to proceed forward:  it could be that your desired advisor is going on sabbatical, or that last year your concentration accepted 1 more student than usual, and this year it'll be one less. It could be that the lab you're trying to join was specifically looking for someone with psychometric research experience, and while you'd likely be accepted next year, this year you're rejected. More applications give you more data and also make it more likely that you'll get in somewhere. A win/win. Whatever you do, don't spend money and time on applying to schools that you're sure that you don't want to go to. ( For future applicants who end up reading this post)
Personally, I applied to 5: 3 in the top 5, and two local programs with higher acceptance rates that wouldn't require me to move.
 
 

Hi everyone! Just wanted to provide an update. I was accepted to U Michigan's Epi PhD program today. I was surprised to hear from them so soon, as they stated in the interview that decisions would be released by mid-March. I'm very excited! I hope others will continue to receive great news. 

I think getting your MSW at a university you might intend to get your PhD in is a huge help- you'll know faculty, you'll have an "in", you'll be able to speak to a lot in your SOPs. That said- i've also seen a lot of posters say they did NOT get into their uni/school's PHD program despite having gotten their master's there so its not 100% guaranteed. In general what i like about SW is that they're not too elitist in terms of colleges/university's and i think it more has to do with research/experience/fit with faculty, etc. 
I've thought about applying to a PhD at my MSW institution but my interests over time have really drifted away from what a lot of their faculty do so i'll definitely not be a great fit there.

Anyone have information on when decisions go out for MSW programs (Fall 2021)
 
..applied to 
Virginia Commonwealth University
Radford University
University of South Carolina
Ohio State
University of Michigan

Same boat for me. I heard one rejection and the rest are under review. One program hasn’t started sending anything back yet according to the results page, and the rest have seen a few admits. I talked to POIs at almost every university before submitting an application, so I’d hope that is the reason I haven’t been contacted for interviews. Keeping my fingers crossed and trying to just forget about it, but failing miserably lol. 

I concur with everything that has been said — the waiting game has left me with anxiety. I only applied to three PhD programs because I was overwhelmed with work. As I hear about increased applications and lower intakes for 2021, I feel my chances are pretty low. Haven't heard back from any of my schools yet as they plan to reach out some time this month. My top choice has invited a few candidates for interview, but I haven't heard anything yet, which is disheartening. At times, I wish I can just receive my rejection emails so that I plan the next step. Sigh. 

Thanks for wishes and sharing your research interests!! Wishing everyone the very best! My research interests include caregiving, quality of life and palliative care. 
And I just got the second invite from another POI with BC. I am not sure how many professors we are supposed to talk. Does anyone also get multiple invites from BC's professors? 
 

@ALL 
Does anyone have feedback on a full day interview event/recruitment event prior to gaining admission?
After interviewing twice: once with POI and second one with admissions they extended a final day long interview and I have no idea what that looks like and was wondering how I can be most successful in this? Any feedback is appreciated. Supposedly is to meet other faculty and current students before admission decisions are reached. 
 

Congrats! I also got an interview for BC!

YES!!!! Lets go MSWs!!! Also hahaha I hear ya, burnout is real...That is so cool, I did program management for half a year and missed my micro work XD 
ALSO FYI everyone I got an interview with BC just now from a professor

I received an interview invite from BC yesterday - so if you haven't already, you should hear something soon!

Hey everyone, I am sending positive vibes all your way. I know that the waiting game is tough, but I am hopeful that in a few months we will all get some good news!

There are so many unspoken rules in academia it's hard to keep up!

Hi everyone, happy holidays! For the work experience section of MSW applications, do you copy and paste your bullet points from your resume, or do you write out a full-fledged description for each job? Thanks for your help!

I would just check out the one in the state you're in now. In-state tuition is always cheaper. I know many social workers from a few of the state schools in my state, and they are all fantastic.  

For either of those, your state university will be sufficient. Applying to the higher priced big-name schools (like Columbia) is really only a leg up when you want to work for big NGOs and things like that where networking is a huge deal to get your foot in the door. Social workers are notoriously underpaid and most state schools have solid training, so you don't want to put yourself in a ton of extra debt if you don't have to. 

Hey guys! I applied for a PhD in Urban Planning and Development at USC last November but still haven' heard a single news on the current admission process, let alone an interview invitation. I'm honestly getting really anxious, especially seeing how some of the PhD applicants in other departments have already received offers. Anyone here got any updates?? 

Greetings all,
Current Social Welfare PhD student here. Joined the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice in Fall 2020, so I’m now in the very first semester of my doctoral studies.
During last year’s app cycle, I remember all too vividly the constant anxiety of waiting for status updates, interview invitations, etc. I checked the gradcafe forum every. single. day, looking for any news to help me piece together realistic university response timeframes and better understand my chances for admission. If you are now going through the same kinds of things: You are definitely, absolutely not alone. 
 
Anyway, I’m coming back to this thread now, when I’m on the other side of the whole PhD app process, to (hopefully) provide some useful info for applicants currently in the mix, and for folks who might be considering the doctoral track but who haven’t yet applied. 
 
Some background: I applied to 4 doctoral programs (UPenn; VCU; U of Maryland; UNC Chapel Hill) for Fall 2020 admission. I was accepted w full funding to Penn and U of Maryland, and ultimately chose Penn, as I’ve mentioned. (For anyone interested: I had a 3.67 / 4.0    undergrad / graduate gpa; 154 quant, 170 verbal, 5.5 writing scores for the GRE;  one “publication” [first-author poster presentation @ SSWR 2020 conference];  and several years of clinical & macro social work experience, mostly in child welfare. I applied to PhD programs shortly before I earned my MSW, so although I had plenty of work experience in general, I did not have the 2 years post-MSW experience some places want you to show.) 
 
In no particular order, here are a few things I wish I’d known about, or better understood, as I navigated the PhD application, interview, and selection processes. 
 
(a) Your faculty match matters above all else, usually - even more than your publications, grades, test scores, etc. As long as those other elements aren’t abysmally low, you’ll be fine... but the faculty match is key. When you reach out to prospective faculty mentors & express your interest in the university/program, you’re giving yourself a massive advantage. Having an advocate to support your application makes all the difference - especially given the low doctoral program admission rates most applicants face today.  Gaining a faculty ally at any university can seem like a pretty daunting challenge, for sure. I’ve found, though, that many faculty members are delighted when a prospective PhD student cold-emails them out of the blue — IF the message is well-crafted, that is. Avoid sending boilerplate nondescript “express my interest in the program at [name] for the upcoming academic year” messages. Those are quickly forgotten and may even be somewhat detrimental for your application. Instead, just be sure to personalize your message even a little bit. This does not need to be overly lengthy or complex — in fact, brevity is usually very much appreciated. But tie in your research interests to those of the potential faculty mentor. Mention a specific journal article or project of theirs and briefly explain how you hope to learn from & engage in that kind of work.  

(B) Most, if not all, Social Work / Social Welfare doctoral programs will have a PhD Program Coordinator. This person is your lifeline if anything goes wrong with your app, if you need to check on the status of a certain letter of rec, etc. Establish contact with this person & schedule a brief consultation call, even though you (probably at this point) already know all the basic program details. This is well worth your time because you’ll be creating another point of familiarity within that program’s horizon. The more people who know your name the better. Also, and superimportantly, the PhD prog. coord. who knows your name, has exchanged emails w you & spoken to you over the phone, etc., is much more likely to help you w technical snags and cut you some slack if needed. 
 
(C) Regarding your chances of program admission: a lot of this depends not so much on your personal/academic achievements, your test scores, or your publications & research experience — but rather depends quite a lot on program-specific factors that are completely beyond your control. For example, you’ve identified and possibly already established relationships with potential faculty mentors at each school to which you’ve applied (or plan to apply). And that’s certainly a prerequisite for success—it shows that you’re serious about doctoral work, that you’re committed to the application process, & that you take initiative. But even if those faculty members actively support your application, you’ll still be at the mercy of academia’s internal clocks and scorecards. Your particular faculty match needs to have availability (& willingness, of course) to take on a new doctoral student, and it needs to be their “turn.” At most schools there is a rotating timetable for faculty-student mentoring assignments such that faculty members do not take on new PhD students in rapid succession (I.e., one after another, with a seamless transition from one student’s dissertation defense in May to a new student entering their first doctoral semester in August the same year. 

(D) If you’re wondering about app status timelines & interviews: I submitted most of my apps by 1/15/20, and I received replies by late March/early April. The two acceptances & two rejections I received were communicated directly: I didn’t ever receive any interview invitations. Each of my two offers included a stipend (25k vs 30.5k), health insurance, and a research assistantship. 
Anyway—my apologies for rambling. I hope this was at least somewhat useful for some of you guys. There’s a lot more to consider (personal statement, letters of rec, CV structure, etc) and there’s a lot more I’d like to say, but time runs short. If you want to connect individually, I’m happy to arrange that. (PhD students were very generous with their time when I was a prospective student, and I’d really like to pay that forward—so please feel free to ask / reply to this post.)

Didn't see a thread so thought I would start one!
 
Anyone applying for a PhD in social work? Joint MSW/PhD programs? What is your story?

Yes! I've been accepted to the PhD program at the University of Denver for Fall 2021. They had a very early application deadline this year. I'll be moving from Philly to Denver next summer with my partner!