Jump to content

rjose

Members
  • Posts

    131
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by rjose

  1. Yeah, I'll email, but according to the spreadsheet the person who got into the PhD Program heard back in February, but yeah, it's worth asking.
  2. I'm in the same boat, tschuss, I just got an email informing me I'm on the wait list as well. The email didn't mention anything about the MSW/PhD program, because that is what I originally applied for, but I guess since I didn't even get into the MSW program, then I'm definitely not in for the MSW/PhD. which makes me even more sad Oh well... I will put myself on the wait list and I guess it will just be more waiting... Now it's time to try convince folks who got in to NOT attend Berkeley: You know, I hear the Bay Area isn't even that great, and I hear that Berkeley is a bit overrated and very liberal, and isn't it time for folks who are from CA to expand their winds and go to an out-of-state school? JUST KIDDING! Congrats again to those that got in, and I hope, hope, hope, I'm lucky enough to be your future colleague.
  3. Congratulations!!!!!! That's really great news! I've especially found some of the comments you've posted entertaining so I'm especially happy for you! Yay, yay, yay!!!!!!
  4. Blueled, no, it doesn't sound weird at all. I am here to help, and more than happy to help! I graduated from UCLA in 2008 and have been working at/for UCLA since I graduated. Our office is in the Wilshire Building in Westwood, so I'm a bit away from Reagan Medical Center, and much farther from main campus. We can meet up in Westwood? Coffee Bean on Gayley? I'm available Sunday, or I can go during my lunch break on Monday? Anyone else in the Westwood/Los Angeles area want to join? Message me and we can exchange contact info.
  5. I'm in-state and haven't heard anything
  6. OMG I can totally relate. I had a dream that Berkeley let me see this Excel sheet that contained all the MSW/PhD applicants, and apparently only 5 people applied, but there were only three spots available, so they said that I definitely had a chance. Also, the Excel sheet had ratings that each person on the admissions board gave me ( on a scale from 1-5), I saw a couple of 0's How could someone give me no points!? Anyway, kind of glad it was a dream, but also the idea of only 5 people applying for 3 spots was also nice. Oh well, just keep waiting... I am happy that i found this forum though. I would be driving my friends crazy constantly complaining/telling them about this waiting process, so it's nice to vent these thoughts/feelings to folks who are in the same boat
  7. Thanks! I shall continue to wait and APPEAR to be patient
  8. Does anyone know if there are set deadlines to hear back from schools? I don't want to seem bothersome and constantly ask admissions what's going on with my application, but, say, if I don't hear from Columbia by the end of March should I contact them and ask them what's going on? Or should I wait until the end of April, May, June?
  9. You have some really good questions, and I know prior to applying I would have loved to have answers to these questions, so here is my input. I hope you can find it helpful, and please let me know if you have any further questions, I would be happy to help. 1. This is the SAME question I have been grappling with. I applied to Cal States (CSULB & CSULA), some private schools, and UC Berkeley simply because I do not know/still don’t know how much a Cal State versus a UC or private school “matters.” I work at UCLA in a research department so a lot of folks here do say that name DOES matter. And if you think about it, this school you’ll be graduating from will FOREVER be on your resume/CV, so to a certain extent, I get where they are coming from. Additionally, because I work for research many of my co-workers have a PhD or MD and the consensus has been that if I decide to go on and get my PhD it WILL matter where I get my masters from. However, they are also in agreement that if I decide to stop at my masters and eventually get licensed then yes, (as others have said above) going to a Cal State isn’t really going to matter. I think one person on this thread put it perfectly when they said the folks you’re going to be helping or working with, aren’t really going to care which school you went to (of course as long as it is accredited). There is girl I work with at UCLA who went to Columbia for her MSW and she regrets taking out a substantial amount of loans, but at the same time she also liked the Fieldwork she was involved with. She said that being in New York allowed her to interact with all sort of populations that aren’t necessarily available here on the west coast. Also, she made connections at Columbia and has definitely had some advantages because of the Ivy League school she came from. She is currently getting her PhD here at UCLA. On the other hand, I have met so many MSW graduates from Cal State LA and Long Beach who are now working for the County – LACDMH to be exact, and they are getting paid just the same as folks who graduated from USC or UCLA and some of them even said, “I feel bad for the other MSW’s because we have the same job but they’re buried in loans.” So, I guess what I’m taking from all of this is that if you plan on eventually getting your LCSW or staying as an MSW then a Cal State versus a UC doesn’t really matter. However, if you plan on getting your PhD then I would say it does matter where you get your MSW. Also, I think academic wise, the curriculum at Cal States and at a UC are pretty much the same. I think someone stated above that UC professors teach at Cal States, which I have also heard from multiple people. However, I would say what is important is the fieldwork opportunity. I get the feeling that experience plays a big role in advancing your career as an MSW and so being placed in an agency that is promising and will allow you to move up is important. I don’t know what the differences are, in terms of fieldwork, between a UC and Cal State. I don’t know if a UC or private school has better fieldwork placements/opportunities than a Cal State – maybe someone else on this thread or reading this thread can offer some thoughts on this? 2. As others have said, the GRE isn’t really heavily weighed. In fact, I went to the MSW UCLA Informational Session and they inferred that they don’t really pay attention to the GRE, but they still require that you take it – And, they also said that the next year (maybe the year you’re applying) they will no longer require it. I know this year; the Cal States didn’t require it, which was kind of nice because personally, for me, the GRE was super stressful. 3. You know, I heard the same thing about recent law graduates – that there are fewer jobs for them and many are stressing out about their loans. There was recently a Wall Street Journal article stating that a lot of Law Firms are going less and less with recent graduates and being very picky with new hires or simply hiring from within. However, I think an MSW is totally different from a law degree, so, personally, I think you’re comparing apples to oranges here. Also, I would agree with Lisbeth’s answer to this question, especially since she has done the research 4. I think often times when people say that they’re a social worker, people automatically think, “Oh you’re the person who takes kids away,” and this is not necessarily true. The reason why I decided on an MSW is actually because of the variety of things you can do with an MSW. I remember when I had my Penn interview they asked me why an MSW and I specifically told them that I liked the idea of having options. With an MSW you can go into research, you can go into mental health, you can go into DCFS, you can even go into administrative, and you can work with the adult population, the children population, or the elderly population. 5. It all depends on what you want and what you are okay living with. Personally, I think 40k is OKAY. I’m making more than 40k right now and I have a BA. I’m living comfortably, but I definitely want to make more in the future. Many folks who I have interacted with who work for LA County are making around 40 – 70k (as you stated above), again it depends on whether you get licensed. But, there definitely are jobs out there and what I like about the County is that they often promote within. I know many heads of mental health clinics are making like over 100k+ and they are LCSW’s. Of course, they worked their way to the top, but 100k is pretty darn good!!! 6. If you end up going to Cal State Fullerton or UCLA, I would HIGHLY suggest applying for the stipends. Yes, you will have to commit to working for DCFS, or for a child welfare agency for every year you received the stipend, but I think it’s definitely worth it. Here is a thread that I found VERY helpful. A person on this thread is actually at UCLA and is receiving the CalSWEC stipend and has given very HONEST feedback: If for some reason the link doesn’t work, just use the search box, the title of the thread: CalSWEC Program/Stipend Programs. As for the amount of stipends given (this is also answered in the link) but basically it seems like they give about 20 stipends, so if your MSW program has many students then your chances of getting the stipend decreases – although I’m not quite sure what the criteria is for the stipends, but I just submitted my Cal State LA IUC and CalSWEC stipend application form yesterday, and they asked me to answer a couple of questions. If you want I can email them to you if you are interested, and I’m suppose to go on an interview with a couple of folks who are in charge of giving out the stipend, and am more than happy to let you know what kind of interview it was. Lastly, I would suggest that you set up meetings or even here on this grad forum, message folks who have an MSW and ask them what they’re doing now and what their experiences have been, especially because a lot of the folks (including myself) have NOT received our MSW (yet) and are basing what we’re saying on what we hear from other MSW’s or from what we see. I really hope this helps, and at the end of the day, I view an MSW as a degree where you are helping folks and helping promote the well-being of others, so in that regard, you can’t go wrong
  10. LoL! I totally agree with you! GPA MAY be an indicator as to how well you do in graduate school, but definitely not an indicator as to how well you do in fieldwork.
  11. Thank you all for sharing your stats and that you got money, but do you mind sharing HOW MUCH? I got 12,000 from Penn, but I'm still not going because relative to their 38k+ tuition, that still leaves over 20k a year I'd have to take out in loans.
  12. Congrats, congrats, congrats!
  13. Yeah, sorry doubleflower2, but I agree with vmpancucci, that's still expensive (even with the $9500 and $3700), especially with New York's cost of living. I have a co-worker who got her MSW from Columbia and yes, the experience was great, but she said, academic wise, you could get the same education at other schools for a fraction of the price, but what she liked about Columbia was the networking. She's met some great people.
  14. Thanks for sharing! Sorry, one last question, how did you know how much work study money you were getting? I filled out my FAFSA, but does Work Study vary from school to school?
  15. I agree Rivka. I applied to the MSW/PhD Program, so I have a feeling I might be notified of a rejection/acceptance after the end of this week. The wait is killing me because I need/want to make a decision about where the rest of my life is going sooner rather than later. Life to do list post-deciding which school I'm going to: I have to take a look at finances, visit campuses, let my work know what I'll be doing, train the person who may replace me at work, let my recommenders know where I'm going and give them thank you gifts, sell my bed, desk and futon on Craigslist, find a new place where I might be possibly going to school, cancel my gym pass, figure out what I'm going to do with my car (if I go to the East Coast)....
  16. yeah, I saw that. Oh USC!
  17. OMG! Thanks so much for sharing this! Wow, so either today or tomorrow! Good luck everyone!!! If you were to get into Berkeley, which one of you guys would actually attend? In other words, is Berkeley anyone's top choice?
  18. Congrats on the Columbia acceptance! That's great news. I've heard great things about Columbia's program. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind sharing the financial aid package you received? Thanks so much!
  19. Yes, I agree - I think it's great that you're being financially responsible. I was wondering if you applied to any of the California State Schools? I hear if you get the stipend/s you're basically getting your entire tuition covered.
  20. So glad to see this thread! I've been wanting to see if folks have made final decisions yet. For those who haven't done so already, do you mind sharing WHY you chose the school you chose (i.e. location, aid given, prestige of the school etc.) Thanks!
  21. Yeah, I got the same email and was like what the heck!? So annoyed, so I decided to delete it permanently from my inbox lol.
  22. I STILL haven't heard anything from Columbia. I submitted 12/31 and it was officially complete as of 1/19. Are there any folks out there who are still waiting to hear back from Columbia? I feel like I'm the only person who hasn't heard anything.
  23. You know, I didn't even think of applying to any up north, but you're right, I've heard really good things about SF State. I want to second what you said about applying early to Cal State LA. The way they described it at the informational meeting was that those who applied before the December 15th/16th deadline (I forget which it was) are competing with one another for spots. THEN, those who submitted their applications AFTER the deadline are competing with one another for spaces that are AVAILABLE. So, let's assume that there's 100 spots and the folks who submitted before the deadline, they fill 90 spots. So, that means all those folks who submit AFTER the deadline are competing with one another for the last 10 slots. I personally think it's a little unfair because you can be a really good applicant, but if you turn it in after the deadline, you might be screwed. This, I believe, also hurts Cal State LA because they may be accepting "so-so" applicants the first round and missing out on really good applicants simply because they missed out on a deadline. If it were up to me, I think everyone should be compared to each other within each year, but again, that's just my opinion. Yeah, I thought it was weird that I had to send them my letter of intent by March 5th - this seemed rather soon to me. Plus. I also think it's kind of weird because a lot of folks are still waiting for other responses so I'm sure many others have done this where they sent in their letter of intent "just in case," because the lady I spoke to on the phone said it's more like a "holding your seat," and that you can withdraw if you decide not to attend, so of course I want my seat held since I haven't heard much from my other schools lol. Oh and another thing that was odd about the Letter of Intent packet I received from Cal State LA - they asked me to fill out this field placement thing, which is totally okay, but in addition, asked me for a written response to like 7 questions (mine ended up being 3 pages long). I was like, what the heck, I thought the essay (proving myself) part was over since I already got in!
  24. Haha thanks for the link! Yeah, the wait is killing me. I forgot where I read it, but someone mentioned that we're suppose to hear within the first two weeks of March, so the latest March 16th (if you don't count the first two days of March)? If so, it's definitely nice having SOME kind of timeline/deadline. There are other schools where I have heard NOTHING from and have no freakin' clue when they're going to respond
  25. Jeez, folks are pouncing on the folks who got in by asking them their stats. I guess to compare themselves with those that did get in? Relax.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use