Catlovers141

Edinboro! It's in PA. They accept students from all over the country, but unfortunately don't help very much with finding internships, which can be frustrating. But otherwise my experience has been great and it's one of the most affordable programs I could find. I'm graduating from their MSW program this August! So feel free to ask me if you have questions

I'm going to be receiving my Masters in Social Work this August, and I'm trying to think about when I should start applying for jobs. Is now too early? I know it can vary by industry, so knowledge specific to social work is especially appreciated, but I'll take any input I can!

If you are studying for the masters level licensing exam, I would highly recommend getting "Social Work ASWB Masters Exam Guide: A Comprehensive Study Guide for Success". It is essentially a study guide along with a practice exam, and many people swear by it. It includes tips for how to answer the questions, as well as a review of content areas. I also attended a day-long training provided by NASW, which was helpful, and the book was included with the cost of the training.

Congrats on your acceptance!

Another one you could look into is Edinboro, in Pennsylvania. I am currently in my second (out of two) years, and I have really liked it for the most part. It is very affordable and its focus is trauma-informed care. Downside is that you have to find your own internships. If you have any questions, please feel free to post here or PM me. :)

Anyone have any idea what the average GPA is for current MSW students? Not the GPA needed to get into grad school, but once you are there, what is a good GPA? What do students tend to get? It feels different from undergrad, so I'm wondering if what is a "good" GPA reflects that.

We have to coordinate our own, which to me is the worst part about the program. I really love the program for the most part so far, but the field experience has been a nightmare. If you are lucky enough to live in an area that has agencies with whom the university already has a contract, it might be a little easier, but most people have to find their own with really no help from the university. Online programs in general seem to vary with this. For instance I know that BU finds your internship for you. My university is completely asynchronous, so we do not have video chats. But we have a lot of discussion board conversations of the readings every week, and a lot of writing papers as well.

I haven't completed one, but I am currently in my first year of the online MSW program at Edinboro in Pennsylvania. I really like it, as I can do most of the school work when I have time. I also work full-time so attending classes at a certain time would be a struggle for me. How are you liking your program so far?

Tomorrow is going to be my first day too and I am both nervous and excited! Good luck to everyone who is starting.

I'm not exactly bored, because I'm currently working a full-time job, but I have a lot of anxious energy about grad school and wanted to share what I'm planning to do before classes start, as it both takes up a lot of time and may be helpful. I was worried about having time to cook while in school and working, and I was concerned that I would start eating a lot of unhealthy microwavable options, so in the week before classes start I'm going to take a day or two off and spend the whole day cooking. I would like to make a large quantity of my own freezable meals that I can take out of the freezer as needed so I can eat something I cooked without taking the time to cook it when I am really busy. It's kind of fun, and does take up a lot of time if you are looking for something to do (and it's great if you also want to feel productive). Last night I went through a few cookbooks and found a lot of different meals, and later I'm going to make a big grocery list and then go shopping. I plan to still eat fresh foods in school, but having a nice dinner or lunch already made that I just need to heat up sounds nice.

Thank you all for your responses. They are all very helpful and encouraging! I didn't really think about looking more at the APA guide, and I have never heard of Zotero so I will definitely check that out. What some of you have said is right; a lot of this will have to be done once the classes actually start, and the anxiety might dissipate when classes start too. I was talking about this with a friend, and we kind of agree that the anxiety will be better when I start. I know a lot of this anxiety is excessive -- undergrad was not a breeze for me but I did not especially struggle either. I am especially worried because my program is full time and I will also be working full time, but my classes are online so I can do classes when they fit in my schedule (and I am motivated and good at time management so I feel confident that I will keep up with my classes even though they don't take place at a designated time). One suggestion I wanted to bring up, since others also seem to be experiencing anxiety, is about cooking and healthy eating. I live alone and was worried about having time to cook, and worried that if I didn't have time I would eat unhealthy things like ramen or buy unhealthy microwave meals. I can't believe I didn't think of this (maybe because I haven't been living on my own for very long), but the week before classes start, I'm planning to take a day off from work and spend it cooking a lot of different meals and filling my freezer with a bunch of healthy meals that I can take out as needed during the semester. Last night I went through a few cookbooks and found a lot of meals that could be easily frozen and heated up again later.

I'm starting my MSW program this fall and I'm feeling really anxious about it, and sometimes when I feel anxious I tend to want to prepare (or over-prepare :/ ). I'm not sure how to feel more prepared. I wanted to look over the books that I was going to be assigned before classes start, but the lists have not yet been posted. I've thought about managing time and even bought a schedule book and already wrote down important things that I already know about, like exam dates and breaks. But I still feel like as soon as classes start I am not going to do well. Anyone have any suggestions or can commiserate?

How are you doing with finding internships?

I just bought one of these: http://www.amazon.com/gp/r.html?R=1HU2KC255LMSQ&C=3T5MUR8F9569O&H=UGKHMJPDPJDVS1ECG0SUCMUAM68A&T=C&U=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fdp%2FB005BXQ5W8%2Fref%3Dpe_385040_30332200_TE_item I wanted a Lo and Sons but I couldn't figure out how to order it (there was some kind of error), and this bag seemed similar, with more design options, and half the price. I haven't used it yet, but from what I can tell I really like it! I think it will work out well.

Tennessee, Yay! Another classmate. I think you are right; that is what it means, unfortunately. Maybe you could figure out a budget for this summer to save some money for books? Have you joined the facebook group? Someone posted a topic there about how financial aid works. An interesting thing that came up is that you apparently have to ask them to use part of that $20k for your summer and winter courses, since it usually is just used for fall and spring. I'm not sure how that works exactly, but it is something we will need to keep in mind. The frustrating thing I have found is that it has been challenging (read: impossible) to find outside scholarships/loans. I hope you have had better luck with that.

For current social work students, how much do you spend on books per semester or per class? I'm trying to budget my money early.

I have heard good things about the Kindle Paperwhite so thanks for the recommendation! I'm doing a social work program. With books, I would like to have the paper copies. But as I said I like the idea of a kindle, and I'm not sure if it is really worth it for me to have paper copies if I also want to download them onto a kindle.

Are they a good idea? Up until this point I've really been against them because I prefer to read on paper, but I'm wondering if it might be useful for grad school. I'm doing an online program and I like the idea of being able to have access to my books during downtime at work without needing to bring them with me. However, in undergrad I used to just bring either a PDF printout or a book to read and it never used to be a problem. So I can't tell whether or not an e-reader would be helpful for me or if I just want to buy myself something. Thoughts?

I know that there are a few forums on this site for current students in all fields, but are there any anywhere (on this site or others) for current social work students?

I chose EU for a few reasons: 1. I don't mind finding my own field because there are a lot of opportunities in my area. 2. EU requires less field hours, which will hopefully allow me to have a job outside of school. 3. EU is significantly less expensive and takes a little less time. 4. I found out about my acceptance to EU in April, and I won't find out about BU until June. I don't think EU can hold my spot that long for me to decide between the two. 5. BU does have a synchronous component, and I did not want that to impact when I could do my field or job. I think that to do BU's online program you have to live a certain distance away from Boston. So you might want to check on what the distance is because you said that you moved to the Boston area.

I'm glad that you feel better about it. Again, it is just really important that the program is accredited, but that is just as true for face-to-face programs. CSWE has a comprehensive listing of all accredited programs, and they also have a section on distance education programs that are accredited. So that is a good place to check for programs. That's what I did when I was looking for programs -- I looked up all of the distance programs on CSWE (there are not that many) to see first which ones I could not apply to because of geographic restrictions, and then looked at which ones from there I thought would be a good fit. As you start looking into programs and maybe decide to start applying to them, feel free to reach out to me if you have questions about it.

The other thing I wanted to add was that it is important to consider whether the program is synchronous or asynchronous, as SFGiantsFan pointed out. Also, be aware that some programs have geographic limitations where students need to be living within or outside of a certain geographic area to apply.

I am beginning an online program this fall, so I know a little bit about this because I had the same worries as you! I think it is important to remember that accreditation standards are the same for online and face-to-face programs, so the quality should be comparable. I think that since you have done online learning before and you liked it, you might be a very good candidate for it if you choose to go that route. Face-to-face field placements are required of all students at accredited programs, regardless of how the coursework is delivered. So if you do an online program you would be required to do field placements in your geographic area. Some schools help you find a place, but others (like mine) leave it up to you. This I think is one of the largest downsides of doing an online program. I think that in general the reputation of getting a degree online is going up. It is becoming more acceptable as it is becoming more common and people realize that online school =/= Univ. of Phoenix (or something similar).

Edinboro University of PA!

Anyone else get in to the Fall 2014 online program? I want to "meet" more classmates!