Pro's and Cons of a clinical-only MSW program?

[FreckledFawn]

This may be a silly question, but after getting accepted to both, I'm struggling to decide between Temple's MSW program for Fall 2018, and Simmons Fall 2018 program. Simmons offered me a significantly bigger scholarship, and I love Boston, but the thing that concerns me is that Simmons is only a clinical program rather than having a macro component like Temple. I've tried to research how big of a difference it will make going to a clinical only program versus one that has both, but can't seem to find any concrete answers? Does anyone have any advice? I really would love to choose Simmons, but I'm so nervous that I'll somehow be shorting myself, especially since I have no idea what kind of social work I'm looking to go into!  Thanks!

[doctormelody]

Hi FreckledFawn - I don't think it's a silly question, but I'm not sure it's one that anyone but you can answer, unfortunately. I would take some time to think about what kind of social work you want to do - could you see yourself as a therapist/in a hospital/some other kind of clinical setting? Would you rather work with communities or individuals? If you see yourself doing more big-picture stuff, Simmons might not be for you, but if you think you'd be happy working with individuals or families, I would definitely go with Simmons since they offered you more financial aid. 

Just wondering, would you mind telling me when you received your acceptance to Simmons and when you received your financial aid package? I applied on the priority deadline of 1/20 and found out that I got in last week through an email inviting me to an accepted student reception (lol) but didn't get my official acceptance letter until Friday. They're asking me to commit in a month but I can't even begin to think about it until I know what kind of financial aid I received. I'm really frustrated since they said they needed me to submit a financial aid form (separate from the FAFSA) before they mailed my decision, but then the packet they sent me had no info about my financial aid, so what was the point of waiting?! Gah. I'm grateful to be accepted, don't get me wrong, but I wish it was all online like other schools. This waiting for snail mail thing has my nerves all frayed.

[FreckledFawn]

Doctormelody, oh man I had the same super frazzling experience with their mailing/financial aid! I remember receiving the email that said "Your admission decision has been mailed" and just wondering why the heck they couldn't have just put it in the email and save me the 2 weeks of waiting. Anyway, after receiving my letter and realizing that there was indeed no aid offer in there, I actually filled out the financial aid application online and was emailed my offer 2 days later! The link to that page is here, hopefully it works just as smoothly for you! I also applied on the priority deadline and was just mailed my acceptance 2 weeks ago. 

[doctormelody]

I know, it was so frustrating! I wish they hadn't even told me when they mailed the decision - it would have been better not to know.

Huh, that's funny... I filled out that form before I was accepted, and when I called two days ago they said that they would send me my financial aid info in the mail. But they also said that I had JUST been accepted, which is incorrect - I got the email saying the decision had been mailed on February 17th. I'm just gonna have to call them again I think, but thanks for taking the time to respond! Maybe I'll see you next year!