teacup

So, to keep this as short as possible: sometimes my time management skills are not the best, and I was sort of pushing it to get my application in to SSA by the January 15th deadline. Then I ended up in the hospital and missed the deadline completely. On their website they STRONGLY recommend getting in your application by January 15th and not using the April 1st deadline. Does anyone know exactly how much chances of acceptance are diminished by using the April 1st deadline? I know the advice will most likely be, "Apply anyway...you still might get in." It's my top-choice program, but I'm not sure I should even bother. Does anyone have any words of encouragement or discouragement? Any late-deadline success stories?

Yeah, Hyde Park is much more car-friendly than other neighborhoods. Street parking is more plentiful than in other parts - I know I've heard of people who paid more for parking in some parts of the city than rent. That's gross. I know parking's a disaster in the Loop, but HP seemed more open. I don't know about a lot of rental places, but I lived in a MAC property. We called it the House of the Destitute. I had to sweep every day or so the giant chunks of ceiling that fell to the floor. So probably steer clear of MAC. I lived on 53rd Street. It was a few blocks north of campus, walking distance from grocery stores, close to public transport, a nice stroll to the lake where there were lovely views of the Chicago skyline. I was always interested in looking at the Flamingo. I'm pretty sure that's in Hyde Park, although it might be in South Shore? SS is a bit dicier. But I never looked at it, so it could be a huge dump - who knows? MAN I miss Hyde Park. You guys are lucky! Thinking about it makes me super hope I'll get in when I apply! Congratulations, you lucky, lucky future Hyde Parkers!

Hey, thought I'd jump in. I used to live in Chicago and would strongly advise against living in Lakeview if you're going to school in Hyde Park. I lived in both Lakeview and Hyde Park and even though geographically they're only a few miles apart (my guess is 12 or 13?), public transportation would take FOREVER. When I lived in Hyde Park, it took about forty minutes to get to the Loop on the red or green lines. I worked in the Loop when I lived in Lakeview and it took an hour...and Lakeview and Hyde Park are on opposite sides of the Loop, so you're looking at a nearly two-hour commute. Hyde Park is a lovely, lovely, lovely area. It has lots and lots of things to do, wonderful bookstores, some really cool dive bars (Jimmy's Woodlawn Tap!), and lots of ethnic restaurants. Not to mention Hyde Park Produce, aka the best grocery store in the world...for produce. Anything else you get there is horrifically expensive but the variety and price of the fruits and veg is outstanding. It's a very interesting community - you have the U of C intellectual set with all the east coast, 'shroom-doing rich kids, and then you have impoverished single moms struggling to raise five kids on a part-time job with the CTA. Best neighborhood in Chicago...the Loop is overrated anyway Hope that helped. Good luck with your housing search!

Hey, so it seems like there's a pretty decent population of U of C admits on this thread. I am thinking of applying there for fall 2012 and it's my #1 choice. Their program offers classes touching on every point of social work I could ever possibly be interested in learning. Chicago is close enough to my family to not feel like I'm moving a world away, I have friends in Chicago, and I used to live in Hyde Park (and miss it desperately!). Would some of you with acceptances mind sharing your stats? Aaaand if I'm allowed to be nosy enough, could you share if you went to a "name-brand" undergrad school? You don't have to say which one, but when I look at the Student Profiles of the better MSW programs (including George Warren Brown), they all seem to have gone to Swarthmore and Stanford and Grinnell. I didn't go to clown college, but I went to a large (and middle-of-the-road) public university. My GPA is about what they're looking for, but does it count a little less if I got it from kind of a party school instead of an Ivy or public Ivy? I worry about this. Another question: my best academic reference would come from a professor not even remotely related to my field. U of C wants four recs, and I have two glowing ones (from work - in a totally relevant, social worky agency I've been at for a year), one that should be pretty good from psych research labs I did, and then I can either get a kind of "She got an A in my class...what more do you want?" from a psych professor (so it would be relevant), or a "This girl is fairly awesomesauce," from a Russian professor. So is it more important for all the recs to be relevant or for all to be glowing? Just thought I'd pop in and be neurotic and overthinky for a second...thanks.

Hi. So I'm new to the idea of library science, which sounds bad, I know. But I feel it's like one of those situations in romantic comedies where the heroine thinks she's in love with a hunk, then bam! there's her schlubbily cute best friend, suddenly not so schlubby anymore. It was there the whole time. Okay, anyway: I'm really into library science now. As I am late to the game, a lot of schools are out of contention for the fall. So far I have the University of Missouri and the University of Michigan. I should be able to get into Mizzou, as that's where I got my undergrad. But I'm curious about Michigan. According to their website, they admit about 85% of their applicants. That should say good things, right? Their average GPA is a little under 3.5 (so is mine, but if you take just the last 2 or 3 years, it's a 3.8), and average GRE V = 587 (I got a 600) and Q = 680 (640...embarrassing), A = 5.0 (same). So, even though my Quantitative score is a bit shameful (I consider my whole score to be shameful, but I am the WORST when it comes to taking tests early in the morning...and taking tests in general), I'm not completely out of my league. I have a B.A. in Psychology and work with people on the autism spectrum. The most rewarding part of my job has been teaching people to read, far more than the behavioral aspects of what I do. In college I was involved with the local Literacy Council, distributing books and doing classroom readings and such. Research-wise, I am most interested in the distribution of information to marginalized populations (which matches one of the faculty at Michigan), particularly libraries' literacy programs. So I'm thinking of a specialization in Information Policy in addition to the strictly-library stuff. I have never worked or volunteered in a library. Will this hurt me? I did a lot of research-assistant stuff in college and have plenty of experience with the collection, manipulation, and categorization of data. But no libraries. None. I graduated in 2008 and have applied to multiple grad schools since then, to no avail. True, those were Ph.D programs with 4% acceptance rates, but I'm not super-stoked about the prospect of spending another $100 on another rejection letter. So if you think I have no chance, please tell me. Like I said, I'm new to the library science idea and don't know how much experience figures into the acceptance equation. Thanks!