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mhatchMSW2014

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Everything posted by mhatchMSW2014

  1. What a relief! I'm still on the fence between Fordham and Columbia. Do you know if there's a facebook group for accepted Fordham students? Will you be able to make it to the June 6 accepted students day?
  2. @Yesanna Did you decide on Fordham?
  3. Hi hanadul83: What great encouragement! I've started a few blogs in my lifetime to share photography and travel stories and sadly haven't done such a great job keeping up with them. That said, I'd love to write again and writing about social work would be a good place to start. How about you? Do you have a blog you can share? Good for you for going back for your second masters! The MSW will be my first and probably only degree (so expensive!) but I'm really excited about it. My professional experience/interests are in education (was a Spanish teacher but interested in experiential ed), youth mentoring (adolescent girls), coaching (esp. volleyball), social media (for networking and information dissemination), and the disability field. I've worked in both the US and Peru and traveled extensively in South America. I'm not sure exactly how it'll all play out during school and after graduating, but I'd like to find a way to focus my skills interests in one area and the one I'm most interested in is girls/women's education (traditional and informal means) as a tool for development. Keep me posted on your program!
  4. Can you provide a link to that professor's post? Search isn't turning up any results.
  5. Hi, I know it's been a year, but if you still sign on do you mind sharing where you ended up? I'm also interested in working with women in developing countries and am trying to decide between Columbia and Fordham.
  6. I applied mid-March and just got my acceptance letter last Friday. You should hear soon!
  7. Wow. Very well thought out! Where have you decided to go? I'm trying to decide between Columbia and Fordham. I have my deposit down on Columbia and just got accepted from Fordham last Friday. I had mostly good interactions with Columbia and really like how many options there are in the curriculum. I know i want clinical, comm organizing, and leadership skills to be ready for wide array of jobs, but I'm mainly interested in international development from the angle of girl and women's empowerment. Columbia's AGPP track seems like a good fit for that and so does the opportunity to take classes in other schools, like their international school. It's hard, however, not to be scared by the price tag, esp for this line of work. How does everyone plans to pay down their debt? Mine will be significant, esp once I add on my undergraduate loans and my parents aren't able to help. The attitude that came up often at the accepted students day - "no doubts about it: we're the best program out there and the name is worth it." There was little humility and discussion about how to manage the debt afterward. I've also been reading through a booklet that was handed out on a visiting day by current students in one of the caucuses (Social Workers fo Anti-oppression, Equality, and Equity. It's called "Legitimizing inner stories: truth and narratives" and includes a number of anonymous poetry and short essays and drawings that seem to rant against the institution of columbia and administration that isn't so keen on divining into topics of identity, race, privilege, oppression, etc. One segment is a process recording (which I think is a standard practice for social work learning and self-evaluation. It says, "At CUSSW, it seems like my classmates are talking about anti oppression, but only to the extent that they need to for the readings. I thought we would have intense 'cultural competency workshops' where I would get to examine how my elitism and my male privilege affect my ability to do the work..." Hmmm...this dialogue is troubling b/c I feel like difficult discussions of race, power, privilege should be integral to the study and practice of social work. So CUSSW isn't where it should be in that area, but it sounds like students are starting to speak up about it and change things. Fordham on the other hand seems more deliberate about focusing their education around these issues. My initial interactions with them a few months ago weren't that great - they were unresponsive to e-mails and calls. But my view of them started to change after an info session/cocktail hour when over 15 professors came and current students. Many were Fordham grads but others had their MSW and PhD from Columbia, yet they raved about Fordham and the strength of its community. They really emphasized their focus on human rights and social justice. Same topics came up in a call with two reps from admission today. it was great conversation and i learned a bit more about how I could engage more with the school by doing an assistantship (hopefully with someone from the Women and Girls Institute). I'm starting to lean more to Fordham, especially because it's so much cheaper. On the other hand, I'm having a hard time pulling away from the "amazing opportunity," and identity boost Columbia claims to be. It's late and I'm tired. Sorry my thoughts aren't clearer. I'd love to hear what you ended up deciding and if you have any tips.
  8. Hi folks, I came into the discussion a little late and made the group for accepted students. I have been accepted, but not yet "admitted". Sorry. You can still use the group. If you want it to be a closed group for admitted students, someone else should take over the admin. Please let me know and I'll hand over the reigns!
  9. All set! Look for "Columbia University School of Social Work Class of 2014". I had to create an email for the group cussw2014@groups.facebook.com. I didn't realize it when I created it, but the email address one creates becomes the url too. https://www.facebook.com/groups/cussw2014/. So go there and join in!
  10. Have any of you decided to attend the University of Maryland for MSW? Are you coming from out of state? I'm in-state and have applied but haven't heard back yet. I have almost written it off because the other schools need to hear back next week. What have been your impressions on the quality of the school? I know it's got a good rank now (15?), but I wonder if that's a true measure of the quality of the program. Being that it's a state school I wonder if the majority of students are commuter students or if there is a sense of community within the program. Please send your perspective my way!
  11. jsp: Congrats on your acceptance to Fordham! I am still waiting to hear back from them but I'm having a tough time deciding what to do if i do get accepted. I also was accepted to Columbia and similar to some other comments earlier, I'm not convinced the Columbia experience stands out as much as it's name. What are your thoughts on choosing Fordham? What do you see as its strengths?
  12. Maryland has been so slow and unprofessional. They didn't get one of my recommendations (b/c the system was down or something) my rec provider emailed it in and received a confirmation email back that it had been received. I got an email a 3 weeks later saying they still didn't have the rec. I forwarded the response of confirmation that my rec provider sent me. "Yup, we have it, but the date hadn’t been entered. Your application is all set". Yikes...a month later and still no response!
  13. I just got back from a visit to University of Denver (they all call it DU) for the accepted students. Did you go? Honestly, I have very positive things to say about the program, but I'm not convinced it's the right fit for me with the location and size of the program (roughly 180 students - 60 of which will be advanced standing). It's probably the most homogenous of the schools I've visited but their curriculum and certain professors (like Stephen von Merz in the Latino certificate program) are working to improve upon the diversity. It's also the most flexible of the programs; they would find a way to cater the program to my interests. All sounds great, right? My other choices are New York (Fordham or Columbia - much better reputation nationwide and internationally if I want to practice internationally) and U MD - Baltimore. All three are bigger cities and on the east coast where I'm closer to family and friends. I'm supposed to give Columbia my decision on Monday but Fordham and Maryland still haven't given me a response! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Denver.
  14. I'll do it! Do we want a page or a group? A page is typically open to anyone to join and conversations through wall posts will be open to the public. On the other hand, we can keep group conversation limited to members who have to request to join. (see explanation of the differenc). To create a group I need at least one of you to become my friend on facebook (search for margiehatch@gmail.com). In terms of page decoration, I won't be able to use the Columbia logo without the schools permission, but I'll find something to stick in there. Which name will be the most likely to be searched by accepted students? Please respond with your choice: Columbia University School of Social Work Accepted Students (Unofficial) CUSSW Accepted Students Future Columbia MSW Students Please connect with me so we can get this started!
  15. Hi all. Congrats on the acceptance to CUSSW! I can't seem to find a group on Facebook? Please pass on the name if you have it. Are all of you decided on attending Columbia or are you also considering other schools? At this point I've been accepted to Columbia and University of Denver and I'm waiting to hear back from Fordham and University of Maryland. Honestly, I'm undecided. Columbia is my top choice for reputation, quality academics, and location but I'm a bit concerned about the cost to attend. Fordham isn't ranked as high but has a great reputation in NYC, plus it's significantly cheaper. Denver's program is small, but flexible and has a unique Latino certificate program. Any thoughts you could share on how you made your decision would be greatly appreciated!
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