I'll try to be brief (which isn't one of my strong suits).
I had originally applied for an MSW program in my current town(the only option). Well, it turns out I'm moving to the east coast and now have the choice of the MSW programs in pretty much any large city from SC to MA. So I'm pushing school back a year. (starting n the fall of 2011)
My career goal is to be a Social Worker with the VA and, once the kids are grown, explore international options (last kid won't be out of the house for 15 years so this is not an immediate concern).
My immediate concern is this-my undergraduate and previous graduate GPA's sucked. Undergrad and Grad both were about 2.8. My grad is an MDiv and the ten or so ancient Greek and Hebrew classes killed it. Plus I had some family issues that kept me away from the books in both undergrad and grad school.
My work/life experience seems to be good. I have experience counseling (marriage, family, individual), general social work type stuff (I was pastoring a congregation in an economically depressed and culturally diverse area), and currently am a case worker for the State.
So, as an MSW candidate I have poor academics but good life experience (excellent letters of recommendation). Oh, and for what's it worth I test way above my GPA. My GRE's were in the 85th-95th percentiles.
Now on to my question. What are my realistic options for admissions? I've made the following list that includes all accredited MSW schools located near VA Medical Center locations in my geographic area. I took out schools that had a hard and fast GPA requirement 3.0 or greater (according to their website). I also took out a couple that I knew I didn't want to live in that location and was left with the following:
UNC Chapel Hill
Washington University in St. Louis
UM-Baltimore
University of South Carolina
Rutgers
Norfolk State
Fordham University
Boston U
Wheelock C
Boston College
Catholic University
NYU
Columbia University
Basically I assume some are out of my league (Columbia and NYU for example) while others I should be able to get into (like Norfolk State). But, what I'm looking for from you all are which schools are the best (challenging and preparing for career goal) ones that I'm likely to get into.
Thanks!