esp.msw

^^That's nerve wrecking. I emailed back in February so I emailed again last night. Hopefully he can give me some good news.

like many posters before me, it really comes down to preference. My top priorities were cost, location and specializations. CSUF, CSULB and CSUDH all have similar costs and more or less the same distance from where I live. Additionally, they all offer stipends and the mental health/integrated health concentrations. I'm particularly interested in CSULB's pps credential, that will be a great addition to already having an msw and they also offer a course on play therapy which I am highly interested in taking. Therefore, csulb is naturally my first choice. Csuf is a newer program and so is csudh but they both offer relatively the same curriculum. I definitely lean more towards csuf just cause Its closer and I liked that they emphasized things like lobby days and other extracurricular activities to involve the students and the community. As I've said in the past, I don't worry too much about the school or program because my work will speak for itself. I have confidence that programs in socal have their ish together, but the student is just as responsible,if not more, for what they get out of their education. One last thought. I was going to apply to CSUN and chose not to at the last minute because it was too far and they have a complete generalist approach when teaching about social work. At the time, I saw it as a drawback that they didn't offer specializations, but now I wish I would have applied. I think in hindsight, a generalist approach could have prepared me for multiple areas of interest. Ce la vie. These are just my opinions, I think it's important to really know what you want out of your education and be smart about it. Don't just take other people's opinions. Do your research and really dig deep to find out what you want. If it's the name you're after, so be it! If it's the education at a cheaper rate, that's great too! At the end of the day it'll be YOU who's stuck with the bill, program, drive time or whatever else. Good luck making decisions! And feel free to ask any additional questions. (I've gone through this process more times than I care to admit)

Ooohh dangit I signed up to go, but I'm not sure I'll be able to make it.

I'm almost positive they'll be sending out more acceptances and interview offers next week or the following. I saw someone's acceptance letter which gave students until 5pm today to accept or decline their offer. If they didn't reply by today they would automatically be put at the end of the waitlist. SO, I think we should be notified soon. I hope. I'm totally just trying to piece everything Lol.

I'm not sure, on that. My email read the same.

Well, I can certainly chime in. I was accepted to USC back then and declined their offer. There's just no way I could have had peace of mind knowing I was 90K deep in the hole. Perhaps for a medical or business degree, but certainly not for a MSW. There are many less costly road paths that will give me those same three letters after my name. Just food for thought.

Sheesh, I FINALLY got an email that my application was received. Lol that was almost 8 weeks of waiting. Now the real wait begins *crosses fingers*

Ohhh, interesting. When did you apply? Thanks for the info!

Yeah you'd really have to peition this and even then I'd be difficult. It might be easier now before you start the program than realizing it midway, so there's that. But from what I've gathered during several info sessions is that there are only certain classes offered to each program in any given semester/quarter so, let's say you realized this halfway through your program, they would have an incredibly difficult time arranging classes for you. They schedule all this stuff way in advance with all things taken into consideration. You'd essentially be way behind. Now full time to part time would be a different story. But definitely speak to someone about it if you feel you are truly committed. It is helpful that you will be bringing this matter up before school begins. But as the poster above me mentioned, some programs have rigid policies on this so there may be no way around it but to defer or reapply.

Aww thanks! Hopefully soon!

I agree, I think people don't realize how serious taking loans out and accumulating that much debt is. Yes it's school, it's an investment etc.,but reality is not all degrees are created equal.

Dang. I applied around the last week of January for the two year and CMH concentration as well. Jeebus, well, no news is good news. Good luck with your studies!

I admire you sir/maam. Many will be in crippling debt for a name. Debt is NO JOKE. I'm sending all good vibes your way.

Eep Congrats and thank you leaving a spot open for one of us! Lol. Can you share what program you applied to and when you applied?

CONGRATS!! AHHHHH this is stressing me outt!!

I sent in mine the same day! I haven't heard a peep.

Nothing yet...gosh I can't believe it's almost April!

Congrats! can you share when you turned in your application? Also, were you on pending status before?

Well, May isn't too bad. In the past I had to wait well into the summer. I'm talking July/August. It was a horrid wait. Compared to that, May sounds feasible. Especially since we're almost touching April territory. I think right now it's just a matter of waiting for students who were offered admission to decline or accept their offers so that the department can move forward with additional acceptances/rejections. So, to those vacillating between schools, know that some of our fate lies in your hands as well! No pressure. Lol

Congrats! Are you doing the advanced standing?

Yay! Thank you for sharing and congrats!

Anyone hear anything?

i'm sure you will get into CSULB! You have great stats. Congrats!