Lisbeth

Yeah, I've been thinking lately about this. For instance, SFSU (not that I'm even accepted yet) but they gave me work study, so it might be a little easier w/ that to pick up a very minimal part time job. Sometimes it's not easy to even land those though, so we'll see. Even if I don't get offered work study wherever I end up, I will try my best to get paid fieldwork. I know this can be very difficult too, and maybe it won't happen in the first semester but hopefully by the second semester I'd have some time to find a place that would pay me and be able to go through the paperwork in time to be an official fieldwork location for me. We'll see, fingers crossed. I think the first semester I'll see how everything goes without working just since I won't know how difficult things are etc.

Yes you make a great point, thanks. It is true that Way too many people have gotten and are going to get themselves into way too much debt. Hopefully my post makes a few more who are on the fence about ridiculously high tuition think a third time (afterall, interest growing on 30 and 40K a year is bad on top of the baseline these people take out). You're right, it's the next financial bubble....yikes.

One more thing, has anyone else been rudely awakened to the fact that there are No Longer graduate Subsidized Loans?? I mean holy CRAP....I called SFSU and was wondering heyyy why wasn't I awarded my max limit of subsidized loans if my contribution is like Nothing, and the woman explained that starting this Summer 2012, there are no longer federal subsidized loans for graduate students!!! (only still those for undergrads)...WOW this does suck. Now every single one of us will be accruing our interest on all of our federal loans the whole time we're in school instead of starting some of that accrual after graduating. I'm editing this to add these just in case someone wants a quick description: Subsidized loans are awarded on the basis of financial need. You won't be charged any interest before you begin repaying the loan because the federal government subsidizes the interest during this time. Unsubsidized loans charge interest from the time the money is first disbursed until it is paid in full. The interest is capitalized, meaning that you pay interest on any interest that has already accrued. One way to minimize how much interest accrues is to pay the interest as it accumulates.

Hi NJC82, I mentioned something about this right above your post, in regards to the financial aid being said to us before being accepted and how I called to ask abt. accepting by the May 1st deadline even if we're not accepted yet. As for a Cal Grant, there are no Cal Grants for graduate school, the cal grant is only given to undergraduate majors in california, those pursuing a vocational program, and those getting teacher certificates. Same for the Pell grant, but these are only for undergrads who have not earned a professional degree and sometimes they are also given for people in teacher certificate programs as well. There is no "free" money for grad school except through stipends and other scholarships, both of which you have to apply to yourself and these are based on merit and or financial needs.

Hey there, thanks for the info. I have the same on my website login as well, and now I have my financial aid award as well. I called the financial aid office and asked if I should accept it by the May 1st deadline even if I'm not accepted yet to the MSW program, and the woman said that I shouldn't until I am accepted. I asked then what if it passes the deadline and then I'm accepted, and she said at that point there will be a button to reinstate my financial aid. Has anyone else been thinking about this as a question and called to ask? I just want to make sure someone else calls or maybe I'll call again to Double check since sometimes people do mess up w/ information like this and you (me) end up making a mistake and not having financial aid is umm not an option lol. And since you work there, it's interesting because someone else on here said they go there but that we will all know by the end of April but you've now pointed out it will be at the earliest the end of April...meaning we might actually keep onnnn waitttingggg?? ah....

Oh ok from another topic, I thought you meant on this specific topic since I couldn't remember seeing anyone on this one. Ok thanks, good to know. It's interesting that she said she got an email...hmm I wonder if something was wrong with her admissions packet because usually they send a rejection/acceptance through formal letter in the mail. I think at least that's what we'll receive but at least it will finally be this month!

Are you sure someone on here said they heard from SFSU? I think I've read this whole forum and have been following it and no one's said they've been accepted or rejected from them or heard period yet...totally could have missed it, but that's the one school I haven't seen anyone hear from. SJSU there's been a few but I still haven't heard.

Yup me too! Same as what Manubarack wrote out...I was going to ask you guys too, but I couldn't remember if it had been there before or not. Now I know it wasn't, so thanks! And the financial aid link on mine tells me it's still in progress but allows me to click on and view a sentence that says I'll be e-mailed my financial aid award within a week? Weird...but I don't think it has anything to do with getting in. I do think it's funny that the pasting of the HEPB made a sunglasses face lol.

I just have to say thank god you did this for me lol. I don't even have all the time to read allllll of the posts, but have read a lot and wow...to say the least. But you summed my feelings up the best here so, thank you! And @ Allyba too, thank you too, good point that this person is most likely going through some things and also will benefit most by simply growing up and learning through living. And yes if it was you too or someone else who pointed out that english definitely has tone and writing is an amazing art and expression form and it should be respected for being able to certainly have tone among other things. I have to also say a little bit about gpa, not because I think all of you guys don't already get it, but just in case there is another pretty young person on here or I dunno, someone who's been influenced by their peers or others. GPA is a mathematical calculation and by the nature of the calculation, it becomes increasingly harder to up your average after having many units at a certain average. Anyways, I just have to say that a person's undergraduate gpa can vary so much based on so many things other than their intelligence and anyone who does not understand that simple fact really isn't very logical. A gpa is completely just a number and as a whole over a long period of time shows how much effort you've been able to put into something, but still shows nothing about one's intelligence. It is a measure of one's effort and abilities at one time period and in no way has ever been used to show intelligence. My gpa dropped a lot when I studied a specialized biology major for a year and this was because I chose to not put as much effort as I could have, I had a lot going on in my life at the time, and it just wasn't the right time for me to be focusing on biological sciences. Later, when I decided to focus on nursing I went to take a microbiology course and was able to earn an A while working a lot, because I put a TON of time into that class, period. It had nothing to do with anything other than time and effort. There's a reason why children from low income neighborhoods who don't have as much time afforded to them through afterschool programs can have lower gpas than those who are afforded those better opportunities! Hint: It's not because they are not intelligent. If the world was ending and I could either save my life and hoard food/supplies & practice shooting so I could protect my life out in the wild, but risk getting an F in a course from missing a test, the intelligent thing would be to miss that fricken class and learn to survive! There are So many examples other than that silly last one, but gpa simply is not abt. intelligence. My bf went to school for years off and on, and had some ridicuously horrible gpa. At 24 he decided to go back to school and had the time and interest and energy, now he has a 3.8gpa over three years total, which to me is amazing, but it has nothing to do with him being more intelligent than he was before. It has everything to do with his maturity/focus/effort and ability to afford going to school and his interest in doing something further which requires a degree. And lastly, thank goodness social work values the experience we all have and will continue to gain throughout and after our MSW, because man would I hate to have some social worker help me who had straight As in school and hardly any experience! What a horrible thought! There's a reason why all health professions that have a license option require many many many hours of clinical experience before obtaining those licenses!!

For those of you who haven't, you can check out the forum on here "A professor's insight: micro/macro, state vs ivy league- a long post"....it's something like what I said but from someone you might believe more and respect more because they've been there done that. Even if you disagree still after that, those of you who are on the fence with various schools or these ideas, would probably benefit from this posting a lot more than my rambles!

Hey well just to clarify, I did not ever say that one would have their head up their *** if they go to a program that they identify as most closely meeting their own career and educational goals, in fact I actually said the opposite in my very first sentence. What I did say is that I've come across a lot of people who I really don't understand, that think that literally a name of a school will make the biggest difference in their life. I'm not saying ANY of you on this board have ever even hinted at that, but I was bringing it up because i live in LA and people who attend USC and people who apply to schools on the east coast, such as some of the ivy leagues literally have told me that they are going to attend these schools because they think the name is worth it. I just think there is a huge naive nature to those types of thought processes, and I did not mean to put my 2 cents directed at all of you or the two of you who, like me, have taken time and thought about these things and I appreciate it. I do agree that the whole american dream crap is also a horrible argument and I didn't mean to be hinting at that either. I really had a hard time coming to a conclusion that made sense but that wouldn't come off wrong or directed at others here lol, so I did my best! I honestly know that not everyone can do anything they want and there are large socio economic and ethinic, cultural, sexual orientation etc barriers for many groups of people still, and it is a HUGE reality that social workers need to understand in order to be able to do their jobs. I was speaking to those of us on this website about MSW programs though, so you must know that I'm speaking to people who have or will have obtained a college degree. I'm clearly speaking to people who will be getting a graduate degree and go on to get better paying jobs than the majority of BSW counterparts who do most of the social work jobs around us. But if I must go there, I do believe as it pertains to us who have degrees already, and who are fortunate to have families who care or friends and loved ones and have been afforded the monetary abilities to proceed with even further education and determination because of all of the reasons that each of us have been able to, that we can actually go on to do what we want to. I do believe that anyone on this website who has their college degree and is willing to gain the necessary experience in their field of interest can go on to get their PhD or do research or work for the government etc. if they want. I do not believe that you can if you don't have the right support though, or the housing and mental stability around you even if you have that degree. But that if you have already earned a college degree, then you've been able to accomplish that because of the support around you and you will most likely be able to do the same again going further...eventually with the right experience and same support. And it seems that most people on here have already applied and have the necessities that it takes to go on, so for those who I was speaking to, yes I believe they can do those things regardless of where they go to school. In fact I know they can because I can look at faculty at all of the schools and I can read research from people who have attended many different schools and I can see who works in the US government too! What I meant was simply that in the end of the day there have been a lot more people who have not gone to ivy league schools and who have not gone to "prestigious" schools who have gone on to do those things like work in the government agencies, do amazing research, teach at great programs etc. and that ever since I moved to LA and started hearing how people think about certain schools without knowing anything at all about the school itself other than what people around them say, it bugs me to think that I would be part of a culture that harvests one track only notions of how to be successful. I do appreciate that for some of you, you will go to these schools for real reasons because a program is great for you and you want to work with a specific person etc. And also because that name may get you that job that you wanted, which is a real thing and I recognize that this happens and we sometimes wish it wasn't the case but it is. I get that, I'm not blind to these things by any means. But why does everyone also seem to think that it's ok to just sit around and say "oh well it is this way, too bad". Wouldn't you want to be hired because of something other than a school name (this is not to any of you directly) I mean that it's been mentioned many times above that sometimes you need that school's name to get that gov. job or opportunity etc. so why not let it help you. OK I get that, we agree it happens, great. But why does everyone seem fine that it just "happens" why doesn't anyone on here see that you are just feeding into that idea and letting it continue to happen instead of being more open to realizing that plenty of others who attend state and other private universities land those jobs as well, and they do amazing community macro work and macro research etc. too, and that maybe it's time to prove that these things that just are a reality which we all sit here and say "while I may wish that in a more perfect world prestige would matter less" why don't some of you realize that you are not wishing that, because you are continuing that very fact. Really if you wish that really wasn't the case, then you might actually not go to one of these schools, and you might actually try to prove that it doesn't matter as much by doing the same research you otherwise would have, and working gaining the lower experience you need to get any job you have your sights on and wouldn't that be good for us all since you'd have more experience..not just a school that got you a job? Maybe that would be actually not playing by these so called rules of landing macro jobs. This topic is so broad and encompasses a lot more than just the idea of prestige, these schools make a lot of money and they give a lot of opportunities for research because of that, and that it is their Business model to attract certain people who will make them more money with that research etc. so this really is about money in the end of the day and the politics behind "ivy league" and prestigious schools, and what I really just wanted to get out there is that yes it is possible if you have all the support you do need and resources, to go to other schools and land the same jobs. The ivy league schools will tell you otherwise by hiring more of their own than others, but it is possilbe to complete the same research and it is possible to land great paying jobs while attending the other universities. That is it, that's really all I wanted to say. I also come from a family that includes people who've once thought the opposite, so I have the benefit of speaking to them too. I have a grandfather who is a professor emeritis at Caltech who studied all his college and PhD at MIT, and a grandmother who graduated from Wellesley as well as Brandeis, and both of them agree that in todays world, with so many great universities and colleges available that as long as you're able to go to college and you have the time/afforded the ability to spend the time to study, it's more about getting that degree you want first, and getting started, getting experience or studying than it is about where you go. But again, if a certain school that is prestigious is the best fit for you and they have more money for the research you do etc. or you don't care and actually love the fact that you might land a job some day because of you going there, then more more more power to you! Seriously no joke, I was just here to keep things real and say "there are also many other ways...". Afterall, I've already worked for the government doing research myself, and I went to a State school!

I really don't know how to express how I'm feeling after reading these types of discussions. I feel like everyone should pick a school that fits their personal interests as best as they can. Social work is soooooo broad that any one program will never teach you enough, and that's why as you work more and more your job prospects increase and doors will open more than any school will get you in a door. If you are creative and innovative and want to make things happen, you will do that, period. If you are determined and you have unique ideas that will benefit whatever you are trying to change, then you truly just need the basics. That means you need to know how to run a program or create one or administer one or it might mean you need to know about finances, or how to connect certain resources and who is best equipped to help you do that...etc. etc. But if you are that creative person and you learn your basics in a program that centers around your interests and goals, you will eventually find a way with that creativity to make your ideas a reality. I'm not sure why people sometimes have their head so far up their a** that they think that one name of a school will somehow make you change the whole world. If you change the world, in whatever small or large way you do, then it is not going to be because of the name of a school. It will be because of your efforts, your connections that you personally chose to pursue, the innovation that came out of your brain, and the books you chose to read and who around you helped you learn those things. All of the other universities have professors who went to both ivy league and public and other private/nonprofit schools. I do understand you might land a job because of a name on a paper, and I do understand when someone wants to work under a certain someone because of their ideas and that's fine. But what I'm speaking to is larger, in that generally speaking your future is based on how hard you will work and gain the experience you need to do whatever it is you want to do. Two years or four years is nothing compared to a lifetime of work and reading and networking and being whoever it is that you are. The only reason any of those ivy league schools are held to such high standards are because the people who attend them are determined and they get shit done. They study a lot, they focus on their goals and they do what it is that the school expects of them. So if you want to be like that, do it. Don't forget that we are studying social work, and that where your school is located could be even more important than the name of a school. Your fieldwork may be some of the most important experience and learning you'll do before starting a career in the field if you haven't already. The people, whether a community, a country or an individual are who you will be working for...whether directly or indirectly. In terms of money, I get it if you want to get the connection to get the hookups in jobs because ivy-leagues or other "great" universities can pull the popular people and therefore your connections will be better. As someone above already pointed out though, social work will on average never be really that high paying...yes some administration jobs get pretty high up there, but again are you going to a program so that you can make more money or because you think you can actually do some good for us all/others? If so (going into a program thinking it will make you more money), that's fine I do respect you, but I also think you are a piece of large problems in our world.

Hey there, I'm not even applying to Boston University, but I would like to see the continuation of that convo. if possibly lol. It might help since it's about paying back loans and I am curious how people have thought of planning this etc. Thanks!

Hey there, congrats on SJSU, I'm stil waiting on them, when do you have to reply by?? It might help me see when I might hear by lol. Basically if you accept SJSU and then backout because you get into berkeley, SJSU will utilize Their waitlist and pull someone ASAP once you tell them. It's always that they say tell us ASAP because they want to give other people who are on their top list of their waitlist a chance first (they might not be able to once these top listers pick another school and move out of state for them like in july/august) so yeah...they might not love you for waiting, but it happens just like people have family emergencies and someone gets their spot. Good luck for berkeley and I'll gladly take your SJSU spot if that happens LOL.

Omg this stuff sounds like a nightmare! I mean the two of you who say that chico and long beach said your apps were incomplete? Ok angelamarie32 I would totally fight those two reasons if I were you (although it might be too late?) But common if it states what you learned in the class I would e-mail the director of the program, and at least one or two others who are professors or some title that matters who might look at apps. The assistant who I spoke with at CSULB months ago was a total you know what, I had to go around her and find another assistant to a diff. part of the department and then eventually found a good nice professor to answer my questions and make me feel better. I never did finish applying there (wasted $50 bucks! CSUmentor) because I really didn't like their attitude. My question dealt with wheather or not it would be ok to have one of my work references use personal letterhead since he works for LAUSD right now, but they are not permitted to write on LAUSD letterhead unless the person they are writing for also works for LAUSD and they also have to have an ethics committee usually review the letter. Anyways the admin assistant was really rude and told me in all the years she's worked there they've never had a person not turn in a letter on "official letterhead" and I was like "OK but you understand that this has to do with LAUSD a really huge school system and that my reference could get in trouble?" He couldn't use where we both used to work either as letterhead because he didn't work there anymore & they have strict policies too...anyways, they basically made me feel like this issue (which wasn't anyone's fault anyway) was going to prevent me from getting in!! A professor did eventually say it should be fine and didn't seem worried at all, but even she didn't answer that right away, but played phone tag for like two weeks first. Whatever, point is try to fight something lame like that at least once or twice to make sure they are serious and they didn't make some silly mistake...sometimes the people in charge of opening things and looking over things don't do them right! Also, when I was accepted to CSUDH the admin assistant there (who is actually realy nice) computed my last 90 quarter/60 semester unit GPA Wrong...goshhhh I was really upset, I actually called to make sure she did correctly because the last courses I took at a JC for nursing count and she sure enough didn't count them...but luckily in this case the conversation ended with her saying "well it really doesn't matter because you got into the program"....and I was like Excuse Me? lol So I didn't even get to find out through mail, she just heard how annoyed I was because the GPA was 2 whole points off and she's like ok well you got in. Definitely call them up! Double check at least since there's a lot of human error.

Hey yeah so I guess once upon a time when the economy was better, they had a lot more room for acceptance than they do now. I'm assuming the msw facts section is more current since it states they accept abt. 100 people and that this equals abt. 20 to 25% of the total applying. I suppose it used to be higher because UCLA maybe isn't as well known for their MSW in the past, and they had more money so they accepted more at least some of those years, but that is on average...the stats could be that they accepted 200 in 06 and 07 and then dropped down a lot the next years to get that average (173 admit) between 2006 and 2010. Now compared to those years on average, 42% less people are accepted because of budget cuts and other resource restraints (i'm guessing). Thanks for showing me that, now I know that certain departments at UCLA aren't necessarily as difficult as I thought if the economy is good ...although right now it's not so great so maybe my kids will have a better chance lol. Although really, 20 to 25% is actually pretty good odds...but then again it's not that you and I necessarily have those actual odds: I could have a 2.5 GPA and you could have a 4.0 making your odds possibly more like 75% chance and mine zero since they probably have the 3.0gpa mark off like the other schools lol...or similar things that we don't know of like how much they'd want one of us because of our unique experiences, so even though there's those odds out there, your odds could be a lot better...or could be crap in reality. So I guess that's always good to keep in mind, you can probably tell from reading other people's old posts on here (who got in last year) what they studied or did and where they got into, what types of things certain schools are looking for, and that might give us all the best idea of what our personal chances are. Afterall, if the first 100 people who apply to UCLA or CSULA have 3.7 GPAs, 5 years of experience in the specialty they chose and they speak 2 or 3 languages etc., my chance or someone elses could be more like 1% chance of getting in at that point!! lol get it? Statistics are deceiving...

@blueled, Hey I'm not sure where you saw that UCLA's acceptance for MSW was 50% but it's definitely not! On their website for their MSW program, under facts it states: "The department admits approximately 100 students to the MSW program each year. This is about 20- 25% of the applicant pool." So definitely Not 50%, just wanted to let you and anyone else know since i knew they did not have that high of a rate. Did you see other people saying otherwise? I always stick to the school's website or direct info. from the actual departments when finding numbers like that. Since it's UCLA, there's probably never going to be a 50% rate, because they're so well known and it's public and cheaper than most private universities and again it's very well known (UCLA is one of the most known universities in the whole US, it's ranked very well, relatively cheap compared to equally ranked schools and they do amazing research, have a great medical school etc.) so as I stated in that nightmare of a post (lol) abt. competitiveness, people Talk and talk a lot about UCLA and people everywhere (including as far as japan and other countries) want to go there, they move here to LA and go to a junior college for two years and try to get in there lol that's how known they are! oh and i'm adding this, I don't mean to say that you don't know how well known they are lol sorry you probably do, but my point is that any school that you know right off the bat from everyone just talking like harvard, yale, brown, columbia, UCLA, USC bla bla they are going to be hard to get into, but when one of those schools that everyone knows is like 13K for undergrad and 20k for graduate school, it's going to be very unlikely to ever see a 50% acceptance because of those high applicant amounts, simple statistics at play that's all.

Hey did you Just get accepted like on March 9th to CSULA, or was it back in Feb.? Just checking since I was waitlisted today and wondering if they're still sending out acceptances as they go through things or are actually going through all the rest first.

Great advice angelamarie32 thanks! I plan to do Just that, like shadow or work or do fieldwork during an msw in many different fields to get a true feeling for where I belong and change that as my life/feelings change. One of the biggest reasons I chose to apply to MSW programs is because of the very broad subject matter and areas you can work in, I absolutely Love this.

Hey there angelamarie32, Congratulations on the SJSU acceptance!! that's awesome! Was that today (3/12)? And do you have to accept/decline really soon? And lastly did you apply really early or later like nov./dec./jan? Thanks, just wondering abt. stuff like that since I haven't seen anyone talk about sjsu much and now that someone's been accepted that's great! Which concentration did you choose? and @ rjose, I just noticed down below on your page it says you were waitlisted for the Berkeley MSW but rejected for the msw/phd program there. So you may still be going there that's really great! Either way you got into two so that's beyond great. And that's good you'll be calling them up abt. their stipends etc., I think it's totally worth it. Which concentrations did you choose at CSULA/CSULB? And as for me if I get into CSULA I really dunno still, I purposely have not done any extensive research into faculty or the comparing of concentrations for me personally (at least not since I wrote my essays and needed to choose a concentration) because it really is a waste of my time until I'm accepted to two programs lol. So unless that day happens, I'm at CSUDH and if that occurs then I really have no idea, a part of me really wants to be in the health/public health option at SJSU, part of me LOVEs the community capacity option at CSUDH and another part of me thinks how neat would it be to have a speciality in forensics...As for SF state, I most likely will Not get in lol, and even if I do I will go an additional like 8-10K into debt and it's just not that worth it to me (because of Living costs there are ridiculous).

Hey abt. 1 hour ago I checked my mail, actually my bf went down and checked the mail (kinda angry because I've been waiting to open the mailbox and see something LOL) but he gave me CSULA's letter. I knew since it was FLAT like just a one pager, that it was either NO or waitlist and it was WAITLIST!! WOOHOOOO. Totally stoked that I didn't just get rejected! Although I know it's a long shot still because others need to reject for me to get a chance now haha... Here's the odd thing kind of, it says "Applicants on the waitlist will be considered for acceptance when the admissions process has been completed for all applicants. You will be notified of your final admission status no later than June 15, 2012". This sounds odd to me now because it's as if they're saying that I will now be put up against the rest of the people who applied after the Dec. 15 priority deadline (which I did apply by). At first I was thinking oh this means that once those people who were accepted choose to go somewhere else, then I'll be considered against other waitlisted people, but if I remember correctly rjose said (correct me if I'm wrong), that her acceptance stated that she has until like July 15th not June 15th to pay dues and make it completely official?? That would mean that I'm going to find out Before people who have been accepted have to solidify their acceptance...which means they're not even waiting on them, but going to compare me now to the next round of people which I know from asking is A LOT, a lot of people apply after the Dec. 15 deadline, in fact at the info. they said it's the Majority. Shoot...well rjose comfirm that for me if you will lol. Now I'm all bummed out again cuz I'm gonna be compared (rightfully so) to everyone now lol. @rjose as far as CSULA and CSULB, I don't have personal experience for either. I put most of my input in general in that last long post about competitiveness, but I think that the most important thing for you would be to think about which concentration you chose at each. Did you choose the child and family option at both so they're the same option? Or did you choose one under a diff. option and the other school another one? I can't remember which options you chose. That would be my first go to move in terms of deciding, because CSULA is the only school in california and probably one of very few with a forensic option and they have a great fairly new forensic building dedicated to criminal justice (i have a friend whose attending their MS in Criminalistics), and the LAPD use the top floor as their full time crime lab!! So that's that, but if you didn't choose that option which I'm assuming you did not lol since most people don't, then it's also going to be about where you might want to work or gain intership experience or which faculty you like...like check out each of the faculty that teach in the MSW programs and really see what they did ( I know from looking that CSULB has some longer descriptions of certain professors, like they have a link abt. themselves or something) so see if you can find anyone who really catches your eye that you'd want to learn from or make connections w/ for future experience/work. How did you like CSULB's info session? I didn't go to that one (almost did but didn't make it out). Also, you could go visit the areas again. Long Beach is a great area w/ the beach and all, but just like LA there are not so good places to live and nicer up and coming places for students to live. Hard decision! Once upon a time my bf really wanted to go to LB because they were ranked really well in a lot of departments and he had a 3.8 gpa and california resident so he got in, but then after a while he gave up on that idea and realized that all that shit is bogus and now instead of going this spring he's waiting on where I get in LOL. I did not apply to LB since both of us no longer want to move out there, but the point is that it's really a feeling you'll get from something that will help you know. Also think abt. the point that someone else made a while back on one of these boards that CSULA (at least they said this...dunno if it's true) has 17 stipends for child and family and 25 people accepted to that concentration...if that's true then those odds are better than anywhere I've heard of...I thought and was told each school gets diff. amounts each year because it's federally funded so depending on the budgets and all. But hey if it's even 10 or 12 that's awesome odds (it's $18,500 or so!!) And you should call up maybe each school and ask how many on average they give out to compare (if that's your concentration). You seem to have a good chance of getting one with your research background etc. so I'd say that's a good place to start examining. Also, are you going to consider berkeley or other schools if you get accepted?

Hey I'm not sure if this was meant for for my long crazy thing but it was quoted w/ it lol. If it was to me, then in my post I was speaking of CSULA that did have 700+ each year but the lady who laughed on the phone was from CSU East Bay and she said they (east bay) gets around 200+. Otherwise maybe you meant it for someone else?

oh and as if my last post wasn't crazy long (don't read all parts unless you're interested in CSUs competitiveness) CSULB and UCs and private schools will choose to be competitive within their own department based on how they want to be perceived and because they Can or Have to be more selective now that they have so many people applying. Like for all medical fields and even social work because it's a much needed field even during recessions, it becomes more competitive the more people decide to go back to school for those things. So CSULB might have a higher GPA average or accept people who have more experience because they either want to seem like a more prestigious school so they're selective, or because they have to choose them because what else sets the people apart from each other?

@ MSW Bound, that's funny that you can't remember which concentration you chose lol. I know it stated it on the page that you had to turn into the department for acceptance. As of right now, I've only been accepted to CSUDH so we may very well be studying together! I chose the community capacity building concentration. I was just saying up above how I hope to be put in CSULA's waitlist because it seems as though they've accepted their first round already and what's left will be for the rest of us. According to the department I'll find out this coming week. Either way though I'm totally stoked that I got into a program. That said, I'd absolutely be ecstatic if I got in anywhere else so I could have a choice to make lol. And san jose's program I chose I really like too (their health and public health option)...I like it equally to the community choice at dominguez. @ LittleLo it's nice to see someone who applied to San Jose and San Francisco, I almost applied to Chico but decided I just didn't want to live there, my mom lives in Redding so it would have been really close to her, but it was just too far from a larger urban area for me (great housing prices though). Keep me posted about SF and San Jose! I'll let you know if I hear anything from either too. @Blueled, nice to see you on this post too. As far as Cal States being competitive: 1.First it's because the economy is not so great so there has been a surge in applications in the last few years compared to maybe the past, basically people can't find jobs and so they're going back to school to get more education so they don't just waste their time without work...and also they're choosing cal states more now because of their extremely low cost relative to other schools. 2. Certain CSUs are competitive because of different reasons, in general certain CSUs are competitive because of their general rankings on websites like US News report or other similar sites. They rank the CSUs against each other and other public/private schools and they look at such things as quality of teaching, career prospects, graduation rates and levels of debt accrued. These rankings can be iffy since such things as "career prospects" or "quality of teaching" can be very difficult to rate and the statistics are definitely bias in some way or another (example: your career prospects could have everything to do with your experience that couples your education and how much effort you put into job searching etc. ) Regardless, these rankings make people (especially young impressionable people) talk and talk and talk until everyone knows which school is ranked "better" than the others. I know from this type of talking that CSULB is ranked well among the cal states for various reasons. Also San Luis Obispo has been ranked number one for years...but that's because of things like they are amazing in engineering and science and still have a low cost compared to equally ranked other science schools etc. So as you can see depending on what you study these rankings could mean nothing. 3. Location is another thing, I mean who doesn't want to live by the ocean and have great weather and a cal state that's cheap and that people say is a great school (CSULB or SDSU). 4. Certain schools are just a lot bigger than others too, so they have more departments = more to offer all around and more people to talk about it. All of these things add to the competitiveness of these programs (aka how many good applicants apply). In general the MSW programs that are better known or those that are in Southern California (because of weather and it's SoCal so people want to live here) these will be competitive. It's simply that less people go to the other programs and less people talk about them. So even if they have a great program, it's less talked about and therefore less people in turn apply each time. Example from myself, I almost applied to CSU East Bay too, but the location is definitely not as great as where I'm living right now (for me that is) and I've heard less about it. When I called them up and told them that CSULA has like over 700 applicants a year the lady laughed and said something like "lol yeah we don't have that many applicants, we have around 200+ each year". This is because LA county has around 17 million people in it. And then there's people who Want to move here! I mean wow right? That right there makes CSULA, which is totally a great price, competitive. LA is where people want to be just like New York or San Diego etc. the weather, or the job prospects, or the entertainment business. So if you're wondering why then all that which I just mentioned is why they are competitive right now lol. And keep in mind there are those programs that are not as competitive and that does not necessarily mean they are not good programs. You just might have to move somewhere you won't Love for 2 years, but I would consider applying to at least one school that's not as well known to up your chances of getting in somewhere if your biggest goal is to get into at least One program. If you don't mind waiting and location or something else is a bigger deal for you, then if you don't get in where you want just gain more experience in any way possible and try again.

Yeah rjose, I think a lot of people will be pulling out of CSULA once they hear from other schools later! At least that's a good thing to know if I'm waitlisted lol. At this point though, I'm pretty convinced that I'm waitlisted or just didn't get in because I didn't get in during the first rounds of acceptance it seems. I'm content though since I at least made it into one program! And you got into both LA and LB that's great! I would be very happy if I were you because i've only heard great things about long beach's program, but it really depends on which concentration you want since they only offer two if I remember correctly. And that's interesting about CSULA's placement questions. I wonder if the locations get to help choose which student they want to accept to do their field hours there or something...like they get to read your answers and stuff? I dunno but it seems like you might just get placed somewhere for the first quarter then get to choose for the rest maybe.