dame

Congratulations! After reading so much about students struggling with these decisions, I think you will be happy saving the money and you will have a great experience at GMU. I also declined Syracuse, as they only offered me a 6 credit scholarship. While I am so thankful to have been given anything at all, that didn't even make a dent in the overall cost. I will be attending Rutgers this fall, and I am very happy with that decision. Best of luck to you at GMU, and if you end up in the NY/NJ area, hit me up!

Good to know! It is so hard to make a choice with all these unknowns. Do you want to stay in state post-graduation? I have received a lot of advice about attending a program where you hope to live for networking purposes. That makes sense to me, but I have been doing a lot of research and had to get real about what I might have to pay in student loan payments after graduation. I want to live in the NJ/NY area, and I just don't think I can manage the payments after the Syracuse tuition and have a good quality of life. Have you used loan repayment calculators to compare your options (assuming you are going to take loans)? When I narrowed down programs I wasn't being realistic about the cost vs. what I will make after university, but after looking at the financials I have definitely decided against Syracuse.

I was also admitted. The cost is so high that I might choose the MSW at Rutgers. Syracuse is my top choice, however, so I hope to can come back here after getting some news on the funding front to say that I am going! I was speaking to an alum of Syracuse and she seemed to think that if the admitting program doesn't offer an assistantship, that there are other opportunities to apply for assistantship positions outside the program. Does anyone know if that is the case?

I was also admitted to the dual program at Syracuse. My end goal is also therapy practice. I obviously can't give any insight regarding how the program is received when entering the workforce, but after researching both MFT and MSW programs, the allure of the dual program for me is having the ability to find related work while earning supervised hours and building a practice. The cost is really the only reason I am leaning towards attending a more affordable program that I was admitted to. I spoke with the director of the Syracuse MFT program and came away thinking the chances of receiving any more than a few credits worth of scholarship is pretty slim. I am not hearing back from the MSW program as quickly as I would like, but I am guessing the funding offered will be similar. Have you heard anything regarding assistance? The director also mentioned that some students find that the program is too expensive/too much work halfway through and decide to only get one of the degrees. That might also be a possibility for you if you start with the MFT and decide the MSW is too much/unnecessary.