allyba

Thanks for sharing your experience Mapletree. I hope to be as motivated if I have to wait a year to get into an MSW program too. It is a bit of a career change for me and while I do have what feels like 5 lifetimes of working through a family member´s mental illness, a lot of my experience is somewhat social work adjacent. I think your attitude about the extra year you had to take is commendable. Your reaction was kind of my first reaction to that post as well. But, perhaps the better reaction would have been to ask the poster if they were just venting or really believed these things. Maybe, just saying ,¨hey, you might want to take out that word or something¨ would have been appropriate. I think we can all say stuff we don´t mean to at times but words are powerful and we need to understand the responsibility of the weight they carry. Dimwitted is particularly pointed. I remember as a kid that a lot of people used the word ¨retarded¨ when they thought something was unfair as in ¨ that´s retarded.¨ I remember repeting this phrase in earshot of an unpopular kid with severe mental challenges and I felt so awful afterwards because I knew the person had heard and that it had stung. Although I didn´t mean anything bad of it, it was offensive and hurt someone. Now imagine that many of the clients we serve or will serve hear this type of language often in a very demeaning way. In our position as social workers we certainly are called to be more aware of language. It takes practice and a lot of self-awareness too to always get it right because often society doesn´t use language as responsibily as it should and we can easily pick up unintentionally cruel words or phrases that we hear.

I think some people were offended perhaps by the wording in your post such as dimwitted. That´s a word I would probably only direct at my peers when lashing out because something is upseting me. I think people on here know the difference between something that may sound offensive and a person that is offensive. I think you are probably very qualified and deserving of getting into your top choice. People are also very tense right now about apps so that adds to the equation. Plus, it can be hard to understand what someone means online. The way I read your post sounded offensive to me. No biggie.

I want to also add that I am sorry to hear about that. You sound incredibly motivated. So don´t let it slow you down. I´ve lived in both LA and SF before and both are pretty live-able cities that offer a lot of volunteer opportunities if you have to take a different type of job to pay the bills. Both areas are high need areas. I say this because I am an applicant that didn´t major in psychology or social work. If I don´t get in this year likely I´ll have to do the job + volunteer thing to further boost my application.

I emailed CSU East Bay recently after hearing from someone here that they were given a 4-6 week time frame. They are just now looking at apps from Nov. and December. It looks like it will be 4-6 weeks for everyone else. Also did someone really say they only get 200 apps? I am pretty sure they get more than that at CSU East Bay. I´ve heard ppl use it as a backup too a lot for other schools in the area so the competition is probably decent especially considering the stats of a lot of ppl that use this school as a backup for SFSU and even CAL. They do do rolling admissions which probably helps if you don´t have the best stats. I hope I turned in my app early enough for them to still have hope of snagging a spot there. I also have to wait on CSUN. I wasn´t in the earlier admissions group and it seems they also take some time with their later applications.

Oh man, that is a lot to handle at once. You sound like you have some great skills. Don´t lose hope or your confidence. You are qualified. You have particular skills to share with the world. You seem to have intrinsic motivation for a particular path. That´s a great advantage in the game of life. Many people don´t even really figure out what direction they want to move in until they are 30 or later. Don´t let age bother you. Sometimes it takes a while to accomplish the things we really want. It´ll will be sweeter when you do accomplish them after having worked your butt off and you´ll probably appreciate it more. Perhaps, this waiting period until the next round also allows you time to do something you have always wanted to or develop another aspect of yourself. Learn a new language, pick up a new sport/hobby, start a small business/non-profit, etc. Getting into a solid career is difficult at this time just about everywhere in the world and sometimes even when we do everything right it doesn´t work out. Complain and get it out. Or if you are like me shed some tears. Then move on and forward. You don´t have to be defined by past rejections. The future is still a blank page.

That made me chuckle and I needed a laugh today after the news that I have to wait some more. Thanks!

It sounds like I might not hear anything from the two programs I applied to until about mid-April. What will I do until then?

This week is going to be great. Yay for Monday!!! The beginning of a positive week! And I should add, I think it will be a great week for you too.

I think it was actually from admissions. The letter just gave you a password or something to activate the online portal to check your application status. Let me know if you find anything out and thanks in advance for sharing your info here. I was just wondering because CSUN sent a nice email about when to expect decisions and I didn´t know if others had received some kind of official correspondence from the MSW program at East Bay.

Hey I fogot to ask ATohCe, did you get any type of correspondence from the graduate department at CSU East Bay? So far I have just received the general letter to activate the online portal/email and the online portal says my application is being reviewed by the graduate department. I have received an email from the MSW department at CSUN. It made me wonder if I should have recieved one from CSU East Bay.

It is more likely you will get less financial aid if you are planning to work full-time and apply again next year. (That is if you didn´t work as much this year as you would during your this next year.) Financial aid is calculated by your EFC on your FAFSA. The more you make, the more you are expected to contribute. For scholarships from the schools, it depends. Some might be need-based and others might not be.

If you applied to CSUN, they don´t rap things up until sometime in May sounds like. I have no idea about Columbia.

Yes, the insomnia is terrible! It has been hitting me hard lately. I am light sleeper anyway though.

To be fair to tbird here. I must say I get that the process is infuriating and sometimes doesn´t seem fair. It also feels deeply personal when in reality a lot of elements can impact an admissions decision including the time at which you turned your application in. I get the lashing out too. I hope and am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, that you feel you have a certain amount of anonymity on this board and are lashing out here rather than doing so in other areas of your life.

Whoa I hear the bitterness. It happens to the best of us at times. But be careful. GPA is important and experience too. I do think a lot of programs look at the whole package. I haven´t heard yet from my programs either. Applied later in the game and have a great GPA. I agree with the post above that you might want to be careful with the attitude. Generally, I think MSW programs like humble students that will appreciate the experience of their professors whether they agree or not with their opinions. You are also considering a career where you will come in contact with all sorts of people and many who may not make the best decisions for themsevles because of their life sitiuations or lack of opportunity. I´d hate to hear you call clients dimwitted. I also would venture that if you really believe (which I hope you don´t) that you are better than your peers, you will feel you are better than your clients. That doesn´t make for a good social worker.

That´s awesome! Congrats. I applied to CSUN and am considering that too. I wasn´t able to get my app in on time ot SJSU otherwise I would have probably applied. I am sure that it´ll be great.

I was just starting to wonder the same. One school I should be hearing now or within the next week or so does rolling admissions. I want to email them but, I don´t want to be a bother. I did send several emails during the application process. They were always nice but, I don´t want to wear out the welcome. What have others been doing?

Did you check the results search on the site? I think some people have heard from LB. I am like you. I literally turned in my CSUN app the last day. It couldn´t really be avoided but, it certainly added a lot of stress! And congrats again to everyone getting acceptances!

Hi, glad to see someone else applied here too. CSU East Bay may end up being my first choice due to a lot of things including the location and what I have heard about the program. Great internship locations, high percentage of graduates working in the field, rent in this area won´t kill me etc. They also have a Latino social workers club which would be awesome for me. There are so many advantages for my particular situation so I am anxious to hear back from them. I submitted sometime in the first few days of Feb. I think maybe Feb 2nd. Right before I submitted they said they hadn´t started reviewing any yet. I imagine we will hear in the next few weeks though. Is this a school you are considering or one that you applied to as a safety? Good luck!

The link doesn´t seem to be working. Maybe because I am abroad?? Here´s a cut and paste from the beg of an article... How CSU East Bay got so selective. Article from: San Francisco Chronicle | October 26, 2011 | Asimov, Nanette | Copyright Byline: Nanette Asimov; Chronicle Staff Writer One of the nation's most competitive universities - tied for 39th place with UC Berkeley in a new ranking, and tougher to get into than Tufts - is an unlikely campus in that cutthroat category: Cal State East Bay. The humble Hayward campus is part of California State University, which admits all students who complete high school requirements with at least a C average and live within the school's attendance area. So why does it rank high in a new list of the nation's 100 most competitive colleges from U.S. News & World Report? The ranking notes that Cal State East Bay admitted just 22 percent of applicants …

Anyone apply to this school like I did? I know some people dont seem to think very highly of their program (not really sure why) but it is a good fit for me. They have a high rate of grads that get decent jobs in the field after graduation. I am sure the location helps. I felt good about this app but, now am a little worried. I havent heard anything yet. I also was reading about how the undergrad programs used to not be very selective but last year only admitted 22percent as their response to budget cuts. It landed them on a list of very selective schools. I am hoping this doesn't translate into very selective grad admissions too.

Received an email from CSUN that my application is complete and that those that applied by Feb 3rd will find out by May 15th. In the meantime I will have to keep checking my email for an interview request. I think if the later group decisions wont be done until May 15th, they'll probably interview through April,

Congrats to all of you getting into CSULB! Oh man, I want to hear something from the CSUs I applied to now. At least you guys don´t have to wait it out any longer. Glad to know some of the CSUs are getting the notices out sooner rather than later.

I´ve heard of some good MSW/PhD programs. I think if you feel that you´ll need your PhD for your career goals you might as well look into a program where you can get both degrees. Yeah, I guess that is kind of what I meant. I think prestige can be a double-edged sword in this field it seems. Of course there are benefits (respect from colleagues, networking etc) but, there can be downsides too. I doubt too many of your clients will ask where your MSW or PhD is from. Some may even feel intimidated if they know it is from a big name school depending on the type of population you are working with. Ultimately, it probably comes down to what learn from the program and if it makes you a more effective employee, supervisor etc. Great programs can produce great workers and not so great workers just like mediocre programs can. You´ve got to look into one that suits you.

Don´t stress yet. When did you turn in your application to CSUN? I turned mine in pretty late and I don´t think they have contacted everyone for interviews yet. Last year it seems some people were contacted in March or later for an interview. You could call and check with them though. I figure if I don´t hear anything from them in the next few weeks, I am going to give them a call to check.