Wishing

Hi everyone, I am hoping to get some feedback about my stats / chances of getting into MSW programs. As you can see, I didn't take the most "standard route" to pursuing social work as a career and I'm finding myself plagued by anxiety that I will appear too random, unqualified, or directionless when the admissions committees are reviewing my application. I'm specifically hoping to focus on macro social work/public policy and am particularly interested in the foster care system, child welfare, at-risk youth, educational issues, and queer youth. I plan to apply to MSW programs in the fall of 2013 so I have time to clean up my act if necessary! Any thoughts you have are welcome! STATS School: Top 25 ranked liberal arts college Major: Political Science (honors thesis) Minor: Gender Studies GPA: 3.75 overall (magna cum laude) GPA in major: 3.9 Received major scholarship for leadership and civic engagement. My undergraduate coursework had a broad theoretical base and was very heavy on social justice issues. My honors thesis focused on the construction of American citizenship through discourses relating to public policy, specifically in education and public assistance. GRE: Abysmal scores, I plan to apply only to schools that won't need to see it (Taking it again isn't an option... I flunked the SATs too and it wasn't a good predictor of my college success anyways.) About me: Low-income/working class family background, overcame significant health-related obstacles during college, married lesbian. Recommendations: Strong academic recommendations from professors I took multiple courses with and who I remain in touch with. Strong employment and volunteer recommendations from past and current positions. Employment: I worked 2 work-study jobs during college, one as an office assistant for my academic department and another as en event coordinator for student programs. I graduated in 2009 and have since taken a position with AmeriCorps in California. I serve full time as an elementary level reading and literacy tutor as well as a volunteer coordinator tasked with promoting community involvement in the underserved school with which I work and developing sustainable volunteer relationships to support the school in the future. I do a lot of community organizing, volunteer recruitment and training, working with local government to drum up support for the program, etc. I am also taken on significant leadership within the program itself, serving as the chair of one of our major committees which oversees community outreach and service projects to benefit the community in areas of need such as educational materials for underfunded schools, clothing and materials drives for homeless youth and their families, and collaboration with other local organizations to maximize our effectiveness in these areas. This summer I will max out my allowable time with AmeriCorps and will be looking for other work. No concrete plans yet, but hopefully something human-services related if I can swing it (job market is abysmal here, so we'll see). Volunteering: In college I was the Treasurer and Vice-President of the American Civil Liberties Union student organization on campus. After graduation I volunteered for a year at Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic and am now volunteering with Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children as an advocate for a foster youth in my county. My work with CASA will continue until I apply to graduate school, which is awhile away, probably in the fall of 2013. I will have been doing CASA 4-10 hours/week for almost two years by the time I apply, and longer by the time I start an MSW program. I also have an internship lined up this summer at a local nonprofit which promotes equity in our community along the lines of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. I can add more volunteer work if I need to. Skills: My most significant work experience is obviously my AmeriCorps position, which has given me exposure to working with diverse populations and working to solve significant educational and social problems in the community in which I work. My tutoring job has developed my case management skills and provided me with experience and knowledge of community resources and how to refer students for services they need both within the school and outside it. As a volunteer coordinator I have gained important community organizing skills and a strengths perspective standpoint from which I am able to assess community needs and work with members of the community to facilitate addressing those needs without running the whole show myself. The work has been very collaborative. My work with CASA is similar in that it involves a lot of advocating for the needs of the "client" (I don't much like clinical terms, but there you go) and working with diverse, interdisciplinary teams of professionals, families, and other individuals who are involved in the child welfare case. On both counts I have supplemented my academic knowledge of policy, law, courts, etc. with practical experience navigating those systems, working to change them from within, and advocating for the needs of children within them. In every position I've demonstrated concrete leadership skills, an ability to follow through and be effective with leadership and dedication to my job. My recommendations will certainly attest to this and will be amazing if my performance reviews are any indication. Trajectory: Obviously political science is not the typical undergrad major for a future MSW student, but I do feel that my coursework prepares me somewhat for thinking about the kids of macro issues I'm hoping to focus on as a student and practitioner of social work. I am pretty well-rounded academically but don't have a lot of experience with psychology or sociology which seem to be the more traditional majors feeding into social work. I basically decided I wanted to be a social worker after experiencing the amazing feeling of actually making a tangible difference in children's lives with my work in AmeriCorps. Prior to that I thought I would go into law or public policy or academia (socio legal studies) but I find I can't walk away from doing essentially what I am doing now--helping people help themselves. I wish I could say I'd go back and do it again with a different major, but I honestly wouldn't trade my background for the world. My coursework and knowledge from undergrad has had a profound impact on how I view the world and I'm happy I know all of these things. Personally I think it will make me an effective social worker in tune with the realities of the sociopolitical world that generally governs/impacts social workers, and I definitely think it will give me the background I need to be successful as a policymaker (and conversely I think hands-on experience in social welfare will give me the skills I need to be an effective policymaker if that is what I choose to do.) I love that an MSW gives me the flexibility to focus in a micro or macro area but also gain skills in other approaches. I love that I will be trained to DO something rather than just think about or theorize about doing something or what should be done. I like that I will be able to combine practical experience with a theoretical grounding. And most of all, I love the profession's call to social action and commitment to social justice. I also love the flexibility of an MSW in terms of career options, the possibility that I could get a PhD someday and become a professor if I am so inclined, the range of job possibilities... haha, I love it all in case you can't tell! I'm sure I can write a convincing "trajectory" personal statement about my journey to discovering my calling to social work if necessary. The question is, will the admissions committees see all this the same way I do? Am I just deluding myself here in thinking I may be qualified? Do I need more experience? And if so, what? Am I overthinking this? I am planning to take some pre-requisite coursework this coming year at a local community college, most of which is in psychology--intro to psych, stats for the behavioral sciences, human development, quantitative research methods, and a whole bunch of Spanish classes (the idea is to become fluent eventually, fingers crossed). Other than that is there something I need to do differently? Schools I plan to apply to: Columbia (hands down first choice due to their strong macro program and minor in law) Boston University Fordham Simmons University of Southern California Berkeley (Yeah, I know I said no schools that want the GRE, but I'm a resident and the tuition is cheap!) Bryn Mawr U.Connecticut or SF State (Do I need a "fallback" school?) So, after that novel... experts, what do you think? Can I get in?