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You need to look at the program curriculum and mission statement. Most MSWs are practice based, so have limited research. I don't know enough about SSPs to comment. You'll really have to look at the programs critically to decide which ones are practice v. research. For myself, I went with the Masters of Health Science in Mental Health at Johns Hopkins. It was a strong public health based research masters with a thesis that allowed the candidate to do a research study (often through a research center), systematic lit review, or policy evaluation. I did a systematic lit review examining mental health evaulation methods. So a mix between the last two. Many of my cohort members were applying to MD, PhD, government, or research jobs after it.

As a big fan of experience, your clinical experience is awesome and will help you as a candidate. However, phd programs need to see more quantitative/research skills. I suggest going for a research driven masters program and then apply. That will demonstrate your ability to handle graduate level coursework and give you the skills your missing as a candidate currently.

I joined back in 2012, but knew about it since 2008-2009. In 2008-9 I had graduated from UGrad and knew I wanted to pursue a Grad degree. But I needed to wait. I found a lot of resources discussing grad school, but Grad cafe seemed to give the most consistent and candid response. In 2012, when I was finally starting to apply, I realized that we didn't have a lot of "adult learners" on here. By that I mean, most of the advice givers were direct UGrad to Grad and the advice was geared towards that population. So I started to ask more questions and gave insight as a young professional going back to further my current career. I've stayed ever since because I like the community, and I feel like I can give a different perspective that helps different types of applicants.

I do not recommend adding supplemental essays unless something was requested from the department- especially about academic dishonesty. That is better left for a face to face conversation. One F freshman year should not be a coffin in your application. The committee is likely to dismiss it if the rest of your academics are strong.

If you are interested in being able to commute to a program, so you don't have to move again... I would also suggest looking at Johns Hopkins. Many of my cohort members commuted from DC (via the train so they could study during commute time). The Bloomberg School of Public health has a lot of cross-collaboration that crosses all areas that interest you. They have several research center that may also work for you. They also have a lot of clout nationally. But if you're goal is to settle directly where you go to school, that may still be too much east coast for you.

This is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, a lot of administrators are teachers. However, there are educational tracks that are just administrative called school administration. There are also student affairs programs. For those that know that administration is their focus, the educational curriculum is based on student learning theories and practical experience in different administrative departments. These programs are accredited through ACPA (American College Personnel Association). You can search for these types of programs here: http://gradprograms.myacpa.org/. Other non-accredited programs exist. Honestly, I didn't stay in my student affairs - college counseling track long enough to know the benefits of an accredited vs. non accredited program. Your law degree would open you up to Legal Affairs administrative positions. If you do that, you could see if you could work for the school administration, and then also go for a degree/certification in the student affairs or education administrative side. That way you could use your current degree to build up your administrative professional skills & get the education you need. It would take some balancing to line up these variables, but if you can manage it, you would be able to use your current degree to pay for a room over your head and get free education towards your preferred career.

Contact their admissions office and ask them what they want you to do.

Unless you've spoken about staying in the past, PIs don't necessarily assume that you'll stay there past your degree. You can tell him the honest truth. While you love the work you're doing with him, you feel like other universities would meet your future goals better. If you're applying to your current university too (as a back-up) even better. That way, it looks like you're being pragmatic in your PhD applications. I doubt he'd even ask.

Absolutely you can use a related employment supervisor as a recommender. They can speak to your ability to apply the academic knowledge which only strengthens your application in general.

This is very school specific. A lot of American universities have December 15th/January 1st PhD deadlines and then February/March masters deadlines. That makes it easier to review the PhD candidates first, and then move onto the masters candidates. If the school has December 15th for both, it would be trickier for them. I had one school that was well into their masters review when I heard back from them about the PhD (Johns Hopkins). They called me up and said, "sorry, our PhD is full. You weren't selected because you need more experience, but we love your application. Would you be interested in the masters? no promises, but it lines you up better for the PhD next year." I said yes. They immediately replied, "congrats, you're accepted into the masters."

A lot of schools will ask you if you would be willing to be considered for masters. But they will not evaluate your application for masters without your approval. That would be highly unethical.

Then you will need secondary credentials in ed or student affairs. Or a lot of experience working in student affairs along side your research/teaching. Admin jobs want you proficient is student learning theories. Look into their accreditation body ACPA for more info: http://www.myacpa.org/accreditation-and-role-student-affairs-educator

For some professors their roles are teaching, professional practice, and service to the community over research. But @Comparativist spelled it out nicely. In my experience, there's no real correlation between teaching, research, or professional skills. Some professors are good at only 1-2 areas, some are great at all, others at none. Big name professors are usually good at what they're acclaimed for, but again, that says nothing about their skills in other areas. Contrarily, if all their focus is only on building one skill set (i.e. researching) chances are that they haven't really practiced or honed other skills. So again, all individually bases. As a former grad assistant, appointments are preferrable.The appointment gives professors and the student time to prep and consider the meeting. It also doesn't interrupt the train of thought when working on other aspects of the job. In spite of that, walk-in are welcome and sometimes a great diversion from a problem you've been working on for the last 2 hours.

Not international. I had a lot of international cohort members, so we ended up hearing a lot of career advice directed to them. They were warned about going into consulting/contracting work. My assumption that anything freelancing would cause a lot of problems. However, the advice given to them was less 'degree specific' and more 'job type' specific.'

@yangwenli Pretty sure that's the point here. That you can easily overcome that UGPA and average GRE scores if you're willing to put in the work and prove you're competent in other ways. This case was the OP proving themselves everyday in in a rigorous masters program at the dream school.

@rheya19 I definitely see where you are coming from. I used to be really sensitized to this with everyone around me. It felt like my personal and professional lives identified me first as a girl (not even woman) to talk down to, pat on the head, and say "you're pretty" before dismissing whatever point I made. About 5 years ago, the constant derision drove me nuts. That was one part of my decision to re-make my life. The sexist problems in my life did change with the rest of the re-make. As I'm in a sector of health care, most of my co-workers are women, and the CEO is even a woman. My social life became a lot less sexist (which is ironic because a lot of those friends from before are gender non-conforming). Now my 'female-ness' is about as inconvenient to me as my 'left-handedness' - and I'm not worried about humanizing my hand preference... Contrarily, I am aware that this is still a social problem that women deal with every day whether in America or globally. Which is why I'm fully willing to say "oh, I don't see it that way, but I can see why someone would. I'll need to be more aware of this going forward."

I went to both a small and big school. The big school was a lot better for my personal learning strengths. For the big schools, yes you could end up without a lot of interaction from your PI, but you're also affording more independence throughout your project. I preferred having all the resources at my fingertips, and critical insight when I wanted it without the hovering. But that is definitely a personal preference, and I'm sure not every big school/small school work the same way.

Every once in a while in the forum, I see a post like this. And I feel sorry that you did not have adequate career counseling earlier in your professional development. Some career counseling and field experience may have led you in a better direction. As it is, I want you to realize that your buyers remorse isn't IP/MPP exclusive and you have more choices than you likely realize. Yes, jobs for those with the MPP can also be taken by people with an MBA/JD/MPA/ MHS/ etc. It is very common, but guess what- that's not MPP exclusive. Any and every job posting for a higher degree of education has a long list of "equivalent degrees" and some of those degrees are inherently worth more salary-wise. That's just the way it is. Someone with a business or management focused career will often get a "leadership" salary boost earlier in their career. @ExponentialDecay spoke well to the MBA drawbacks. Furthermore, at least in the public sector jobs I've seen, MBA holders raise quicker, but they also hit a ceiling quicker - stuck in those cubicle jobs you seem to dislike. Those that break through it are usually dual degree holders with another public sector specialty. Absolutely. You are right. And if your assertion was correct that DC jobs is the only option, this would be horrid. However, that is a fallacy that people usually fall into when they're around the DC area. At least half of my cohort thought that Maryland, DC. was the end all be all... unless they came from another state capital. They then started looking at Harrisburg, Tampa, etc. Or they started networking with their overseas practicum/internship experiences for jobs. This would be more accurate if you said that jobs rarely exist in rural America. Because that is true. The truth is, we all start somewhere. If you don't like where you begin in the agency, work your butt off to get skills to raise you higher, quicker. Quick short story, I'm from good ol' fashioned American small town poverty. My parents certainly didn't help with anything since I was 17 and graduating high school. They couldn't afford it. After my second masters, I started at a lowly salary of $46,500. But I'm okay with that. I have enough to keep a roof over my head while starting at the bottom in a new area of my field. With the growth in my company, I will be in a new position sometime next year between $55-65k, and at the 5 year mark, should be eligible for jobs between $70-85k. Is it a lot? Maybe not for having 2 masters, but by American middle-class standards, yes. I'm certainly making more than my parents at my age! I don't expect my graduate degree to get me those jobs though. My masters degree got me in the door with this one. What will increase my job potential is taking every training, working quicker (and quieter) than a lot of my co-workers, being personable with everyone, and sharing my ideas for growth. I've been here for 4 months, and the Chief Program Officer and my department director are looking out for jobs for me internally. They're interested in having me at the management table as much as I want to be there. But that has nothing to do with having a masters degree. Everyone in my company seems to have one. It has to do with the hardwork after the degree. Based on your disdain for your credentials and job, I suggest seeking out a career counselor. You may end up finding something that works better for you. If you see potential at your current job (or similar companies), maybe start building your credentials to work as short a stint in the cubicle as possible.

Always write out the term, such as an association or school, the first time before abbreviating it later on. Abbreviations could mean a lot of things to a lot of different people.

You need academic knowledge and professional training in any field you need to work in. If the program is nonsensical to your goals, that's a problem. Maybe set up a meeting with the school to discuss your concern and see what their options are. I know a lot of students who went to the program of their dreams but had an lead or co-advisor at a different institution. You may want to look into that as well.

I agree with @TakeruK, I would not add extra work to the adcom. Leave additional the documents for your academic writing samples and CV. If a diversity statement, they would have requested it. Without their prompting, the statement could easily come across in a way you don't want it to. I wouldn't even add a few sentence addendum, but that's just me. If it's that important, weave 1-2 sentences into the SOP for schools not requesting one.

Yes and no. You can say, "can you get it to me by X?" but that felt really awkward to me. And the one time they were told the actual deadline, I ended up with a recommender not getting it written at all! That's why I usually liked a more casual negotiation around their schedule - aiming for a month ahead of time.

Most of the time, you don't need to do more than 2 weeks notice. If you have a lot of responsibility, you may want to work with your boss on delegation and training others. Your approach needs to depend on a couple of things: Will you jeopardize your job if you tell them early Would you be a part of the team hiring your replacement What type of emotional and operation problems will your decision to leave cause I was in a situation whether I was working full-time as lead staff/counselor to the program manager. I was her 'right-hand' person. I managed most of the individual and group sessions, and a managed a lot of the therapeutic policies/programming. Therefore, I knew my leaving would cause a major emotional and operational problem. So when I left, I based my method off of my expectation that I would need to help her deal with the shock of me leaving, delegate more tasks out, train my replacement, and help my clients process me leaving. I gave my program all summer to get used to me leaving. I told my boss, "heads up, I applied, but I don't know if I will get in." To soften the blow, I didn't tell her I would be leaving. I told her I wasn't sure if I would still work full-time, part-time, or need to leave." That gave her time to consider her other staff team as resources. After I was accepted, I informed her, but asked her not to share the news with the clients or other staff members. We started planning administrative needs, and then 2 months before I was leaving, I let everyone else know. I also helped her emotional prepare for it before needing to have the clients and other staff deal with it too. Everyone else was told about 2 months before I left, and the company was give a 1 month's notice so they could put up the advertisement (and I could interview replacements with the boss). I was perhaps a little "overzealous," but it was a successful transition and I'm not losing any sleep over it.

To add to that, if the professor agrees, you can also ask if they have a timeline in mind when you should expect the letter. That way you can write it down and follow-up as the date gets closer to their deadline without "bugging" them.

It is okay to divulge. That's what they want. But make it about what and how you've overcome those obstacles. That will show skills and character development you SOP does not.