Feeling like a small fish in a big pond! (MSW Grad app insights)

[Cocoaislife]

Hello,

I am new here!!! I am sitting in a car dealership waiting for my car to get an oil change (thank goodness for WiFi) and am working on my FALL 2019 MSW grad apps and I am stuck! There are moments when I am motivated, know what I want to do with my career, but then there is another part of me that is doubting myself. I am a first generation Filipinx-American and feel that it is a very underrepresented population especially in regards to mental health. I want to change that, focusing on youth and families and doing research on eating disorders, and working on prevention. However, am worried that I won't "fit-in" for admissions and that the admissions committee will not see how this topic is an issue. I have researched this topic as an undergrad but my women's health professor told me she didn't think this was a problem in society. Thankfully, one professor understood and helped me develop the topic. Anyways, I am posting and hoping to get some insights about what my chances are for getting in to a MSW program, and if anyone can relate about this "underrepresentation" issue. 

Here is my background- 

- Bachelor's in Psychology (emphasis in clinical mental health) and a minor in Health Education. 

- Graduated in May 2017 with a 3.56 overall GPA. Junior/Senior GPA is 3.71 

- Founder of a multi-cultural based sorority on campus. Served numerous positions and engaged in community work and hosting empowerment workshops as undergrad and am currently an alumni advisor. 

- Worked at a non-profit organization during my undergrad as a youth development counselor (1 year 3 months) 

-After graduating, became a Behavioral Therapist working with individuals and families with autism where I currently work (1 year,  part time but about 34 hours a week) 

-In conjunction, work for a residential treatment eating disorders facility for teens and adolescents with eating disorders (5 months) (on-call, about 8 hours a week) 

- care-taker for disabled family member (3 years) 

I plan to apply to UCLA, CSU LA, CSU Long Beach, Cal State Hayward, SJSU, CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU Fullerton. 

I appreciate taking the time to read this! 

[findtheriver]

On 11/4/2018 at 3:16 AM, Cocoaislife said:

Hello,

I am new here!!! I am sitting in a car dealership waiting for my car to get an oil change (thank goodness for WiFi) and am working on my FALL 2019 MSW grad apps and I am stuck! There are moments when I am motivated, know what I want to do with my career, but then there is another part of me that is doubting myself. I am a first generation Filipinx-American and feel that it is a very underrepresented population especially in regards to mental health. I want to change that, focusing on youth and families and doing research on eating disorders, and working on prevention. However, am worried that I won't "fit-in" for admissions and that the admissions committee will not see how this topic is an issue. I have researched this topic as an undergrad but my women's health professor told me she didn't think this was a problem in society. Thankfully, one professor understood and helped me develop the topic. Anyways, I am posting and hoping to get some insights about what my chances are for getting in to a MSW program, and if anyone can relate about this "underrepresentation" issue. 

Here is my background- 

- Bachelor's in Psychology (emphasis in clinical mental health) and a minor in Health Education. 

- Graduated in May 2017 with a 3.56 overall GPA. Junior/Senior GPA is 3.71 

- Founder of a multi-cultural based sorority on campus. Served numerous positions and engaged in community work and hosting empowerment workshops as undergrad and am currently an alumni advisor. 

- Worked at a non-profit organization during my undergrad as a youth development counselor (1 year 3 months) 

-After graduating, became a Behavioral Therapist working with individuals and families with autism where I currently work (1 year,  part time but about 34 hours a week) 

-In conjunction, work for a residential treatment eating disorders facility for teens and adolescents with eating disorders (5 months) (on-call, about 8 hours a week) 

- care-taker for disabled family member (3 years) 

I plan to apply to UCLA, CSU LA, CSU Long Beach, Cal State Hayward, SJSU, CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU Fullerton. 

I appreciate taking the time to read this! 

You honestly sound like an amazing candidate!  To be fair, I am not an admissions counselor and am in the process of applying for MSW myself, but I do already have a Masters in Psychology and have been in the field for over 10 years.   However:

- You have great experience-- especially for a new graduate. 

- You  sound very clear about your vision and what you want to work on. Most programs would want to hear from candidates with a specific professional goal, not just "helping people" or something vague like that. 

- The fact that you come from an underrepresented community should make you more interesting to any decent program, not less. 

- Something I'm very excited about is that lately a lot of research and programming seem to be going towards prevention and building resilience in communities, especially for youth, to mitigate problems rather than only focus on recovery. 

- I can't imagine why your women's health professor didn't think that eating disorders are a problem-- of course they are! In your application essays just be sure you briefly cite some statistics or info about prevalence to back it up, and if possible talk about evidence based interventions that you think could be applied to ED prevention. 

Go for it! We need you in the field!!!

Edited November 7, 2018 by findtheriver

[asr13b]

On 11/7/2018 at 1:25 AM, findtheriver said:

You honestly sound like an amazing candidate!  To be fair, I am not an admissions counselor and am in the process of applying for MSW myself, but I do already have a Masters in Psychology and have been in the field for over 10 years.   However:

- You have great experience-- especially for a new graduate. 

- You  sound very clear about your vision and what you want to work on. Most programs would want to hear from candidates with a specific professional goal, not just "helping people" or something vague like that. 

- The fact that you come from an underrepresented community should make you more interesting to any decent program, not less. 

- Something I'm very excited about is that lately a lot of research and programming seem to be going towards prevention and building resilience in communities, especially for youth, to mitigate problems rather than only focus on recovery. 

- I can't imagine why your women's health professor didn't think that eating disorders are a problem-- of course they are! In your application essays just be sure you briefly cite some statistics or info about prevalence to back it up, and if possible talk about evidence based interventions that you think could be applied to ED prevention. 

Go for it! We need you in the field!!!

I agree, I think it's clear that you have a great deal of experience, and on top of that it's relevant to the work you described. Perhaps the admissions officers haven't thought about the Filipinx population before but I feel that hearing you state an interest in starting the conversation makes you a strong candidate. I would put focus on that and use it as a strength -- you have noticed a gap and you want to be the one to fill it. 

[Cocoaislife]

On 11/6/2018 at 10:25 PM, findtheriver said:

You honestly sound like an amazing candidate!  To be fair, I am not an admissions counselor and am in the process of applying for MSW myself, but I do already have a Masters in Psychology and have been in the field for over 10 years.   However:

- You have great experience-- especially for a new graduate. 

- You  sound very clear about your vision and what you want to work on. Most programs would want to hear from candidates with a specific professional goal, not just "helping people" or something vague like that. 

- The fact that you come from an underrepresented community should make you more interesting to any decent program, not less. 

- Something I'm very excited about is that lately a lot of research and programming seem to be going towards prevention and building resilience in communities, especially for youth, to mitigate problems rather than only focus on recovery. 

- I can't imagine why your women's health professor didn't think that eating disorders are a problem-- of course they are! In your application essays just be sure you briefly cite some statistics or info about prevalence to back it up, and if possible talk about evidence based interventions that you think could be applied to ED prevention. 

Go for it! We need you in the field!!!

Wow!!! Thank you so very much for your reply! Yes, I agree that the research is gearing towards prevention and that we recognize its importance and want to add to this change! Thank you for the tip as well for adding statistics. I feel that would make my point stronger! 

Good luck on your MSW applications! 

[Cocoaislife]

On 11/12/2018 at 5:15 PM, asr13b said:

I agree, I think it's clear that you have a great deal of experience, and on top of that it's relevant to the work you described. Perhaps the admissions officers haven't thought about the Filipinx population before but I feel that hearing you state an interest in starting the conversation makes you a strong candidate. I would put focus on that and use it as a strength -- you have noticed a gap and you want to be the one to fill it. 

Definitely, thank you for your reply and insight! I always have thought that my experience was not enough but hearing your reply says otherwise and is very encouraging. Thank you!

[BackNSchool83]

So please join our facebook group called UC and CSU MSW Applicant Resource and Support Group in addition to posting here, there a little over 200 of us and some have already gotten into programs and some are applying now, we help each other out. I applied to UCLA, CSULB, and CSUF last year, got in all 3 and chose to go to UCLA where I am now as a first year MSW. CSUs and UCLA will only care about the last 60 semester or 90 quarter units in terms of your GPA, so that may help boost your odds, but it's not all about GPA obviously. You have a great background for these programs, and I'm sure you will get in at least one if you do your part and write up good SOPs, make your resume good and slick, and choose good recommenders. You can have a great background but if you turn in a poorly written SOP it's going to hurt you, I mean most of grad school is writing long papers, thinking critically about research articles, and then a ton of field work. I'm sure you will do great, you sound like a motivated future MSW student to me, please consider joining our facebook group and that goes for anyone interested in the UCs or CSUs.

Edited November 17, 2018 by BackNSchool83

[Cocoaislife]

On 11/16/2018 at 7:17 PM, BackNSchool83 said:

So please join our facebook group called UC and CSU MSW Applicant Resource and Support Group in addition to posting here, there a little over 200 of us and some have already gotten into programs and some are applying now, we help each other out. I applied to UCLA, CSULB, and CSUF last year, got in all 3 and chose to go to UCLA where I am now as a first year MSW. CSUs and UCLA will only care about the last 60 semester or 90 quarter units in terms of your GPA, so that may help boost your odds, but it's not all about GPA obviously. You have a great background for these programs, and I'm sure you will get in at least one if you do your part and write up good SOPs, make your resume good and slick, and choose good recommenders. You can have a great background but if you turn in a poorly written SOP it's going to hurt you, I mean most of grad school is writing long papers, thinking critically about research articles, and then a ton of field work. I'm sure you will do great, you sound like a motivated future MSW student to me, please consider joining our facebook group and that goes for anyone interested in the UCs or CSUs.

Thank you for this input!!! I will definitely join. Thank you

[MSWadmissionsgirl]

As an MSW admissions specialist, I can say that you would have a very strong application! Obviously, the level of competition for spots in different programs varies, but overall I would say you have a very strong application!

I went to Abilene Christian University for my MSW and absolutely loved my experience and the overwhelming amount of professional opportunities and connections that have come from my time there. I got to present my own at 6 local and national conferences, develop a new field placement, and graduate with very little debt for my MSW (like $6,000 total). In fact, I loved it so much I stayed on as an MSW Recruiting and Advising Specialist! If you'd like more information, I am happy to talk with you and see if we might align with what you're looking for!

Feel free to email me at socialwork@acu.edu!