ElizabethWV

I applied to WVU, which doesn't have a very highly ranked MSW program, but does specialize in rural social work and has a great gerentology program, which are my interests. It would also be very inexpensive for me, even if I don't get funding and within WV, WVU is a respected and much-loved institution. If you plan on staying the state in which you attend school, a state school degree can be a sign that you know your population well and are committed to working with them. Columbia might be a great fit for some students, but I think for a lot of us these private schools would just saddle us with unnecessary debt.

I entered grad school directly out of undergrad back in 2005. I spent one year in the program then left for a variety of reasons. I did very well, had a 4.0 GPA and held a research assistantship. It was the pilot year of the program at a small state school in Louisiana and Katrina hit a few weeks after I moved down. The program lost some funding and professors, and was just generally not a good fit for me, so I did not return for a second year. It was a historic preservation-type program, and I am currently applying to MSW programs (undergrad in Sociology). I explained in my SOP my reasons for leaving the past program, including realizing that I was more interested in the actual people than their material culture. After returning from my year of grad school, I did a year of AmeriCorps in the area that I am applying for my MSW. I feel like this could kind of go either way. It shows that I am capable of graduate-level work, but might give the impression that I can't commit. What do you guys think?