TheCrow

I'm entering UChicago SSA straight from undergrad with a significant scholarship. The top schools of social work are, on the whole, less concerned with full-time work experience and particular prerequisite courses than lower-ranked schools of social work.

Congrats! I just finished undergrad at Emory. I'm heading somewhere else in the fall for grad school, but let me know if I might be any help answering questions.

Finally committed to coming! I'm in the same boat in terms of looking for housing.

It's great to have finally committed to a school!

If you have a chance, I would visit both. I didn't apply for Columbia, but its school of social work is twice the size of Chicago and 75% of Columbia's faculty are part-time whereas 40% at Chicago are. Columbia also admits 20% more students that Chicago. On the other hand, Columbia may make it easier to work in NY. Here's my sources: http://www.petersons.com/graduate-schools/columbia-university-school-of-social-work-000_10014163.aspx http://www.petersons.com/graduate-schools/university-of-chicago-school-of-social-service-administration-000_10013608.aspx

165/156/5.5. I applied for MSW/PhD programs, but looks like I'll be attending an MSW-only program.

They attach a second letter if you got a significant merit-based award.

Accepted! I asked for a little more money, but this looks like where I'll go.

I got into the MSW/MPA program. I'm trying to decide between UNC and UChicago. So far--and I'm pretty shocked--Chicago's winning, even though UNC is instate.

I was admitted and will likely enroll here, though I'm waiting on a few more places. Anyone else heavily considered here or has already said yes?

If you have a better offer from a peer school, you can use that. You can also share with them any legit reason why you might need more money than they might know (e.g., kids, plans to go for a PhD).

Rejected from the PhD program. Waiting to hear back from the MSW program.

Haven't heard anything from their AM program either.

Nope. Just one e-mail that says "Your admissions decision is ready. Click here to view." I haven't even been able to get anyone at the School of Social Work to pick up their phones to answer some questions. On the other hand, I am really annoyed to keep getting promotion "APPLY!" and "LOOK HOW WONDERFUL OUR PROGRAM IS!" spam via e-mail and snail mail from USC and Michigan. I'm like, I applied three months ago. You know that. Stop spamming me and give me a decision.

In general, I think ranking doesn't matter much at all if you want to do clinical. Insurance companies pay the same, no matter where you went. On the other hand, I think the lay prestige of the school overall is far more important to macro students, probably more so than the ranking of the social work program itself. (I have concerns, for example, about whether Case Western is known well enough in policy spaces, even though it's a top 10 in social work.) Also, less highly ranked schools may not have significant coursework in policy and you may not have classmates interested in that either. Ranking I think also matters much more if you want a PhD in the field and you may benefit from attending a program that has a doctoral program for your MSW. One of the great things about UNC is how affordable it is instate. I knew a clinical social worker in the middle of nowhere NC who went to Columbia and she wasn't making anymore money than those who went to not nearly as impressive schools.

Bquinn, I am definitely not a representative applicant and this forum is already a self-selecting page--you should definitely apply. Again, the average GPA of admitted students is around a 3.3. The average GRE scores are around the 50th percentile for each second. These aren't especially daunting numbers, especially for a top 5 program. It also means that somewhere in the neighbor of half the admitted applicants had a GPA below 3.3 and that somewhere around half the applicants had GRE scores below the 50th percentile (it's not exactly half, because it's the average, not the median, but GRE scores and GPA are bounded on such a scale that outliers that would skew the data are less likely to happen). Also, work experience is highly valued in MSW programs--far more than GPA and GRE.

GRE V: 165; GRE Q: 156; AWA: 5.5 My GPA wasn't as much north of a 3.0 as I would have liked, but I had a very rigorous, traditionally grade-deflation major from a top school My extracurriculars were pretty absurd, to the extent they're personally identifying (boards, commissions, government policy author, etc.), but applied directly from undergrad Strong ties to NC and UNC; Letters of Recommendation were very strong and from public leaders the school would have recognized I'm a male and a macro applicant, which I think helped (90% of students are female; most applicants to social work programs are clinically oriented) If you haven't seen yet, their website says that the average GPA of admitted students is around a 3.3 and the average GRE scores are more around the 50th percentile of each section.

Yep, I applied for the two-year program.

I'm the person from the other thread who got admitted last week too. I applied early January. I applied to the MSW/MPA program, so I'm waiting to hear back from the MPA program too (I had a face-to-face interview).

I applied for the MSW/PhD program and the admissions office seems all types of confused. First, they changed my name so they couldn't find my information. Second, they called me saying my application was incomplete, only to find out they were using a list months old. Third, they put me on hold for over 30 minutes to get their admissions office to fix confusions and mix ups. Then, they e-mailed me to ask if I was still interested in dual degree program and, if so, if I had already applied. Which is silly, because I submitted both applications for the December 1st deadline and both degrees are in the school of social work.

It's actually not a law; it's a resolution. http://gradschool.unc.edu/pdf/CGS_Resolution.pdf

I don't think I submitted it until like January 15th because I was waiting until I had my degree posted on my transcript to send. It was not under messages. I got an e-mail that said that my admissions decision was available and provided a link to the application. The decision link is then posted below all the rest of your application recap, like "GRE received, Transcripts received."

I interviewed at UNC recently. Anyone have any thoughts on the program?

Admitted to UNC yesterday! Any other applicants?

I had a Case Western faculty member reach out to me directly, stating that they thought that the program was an excellent fit for me and offering to answer any questions while they waited for the admissions committee to make a decision.