How important is a minor- MSW?

[brunsara]

HI all! I'm new here, so let me know if there's somewhere else I should post this predicament that I am in. 

 

I am set on applying to an MSW program for start in fall 2020. I am a sociology major, and am strongly considering pursuing a career in school social work. This coming fall, I will be a senior. I am trying to gauge how important having a minor is on my transcript for getting accepted into an MSW program.  I am very passionate about sociology, and would love to just continue taking sociology courses, but there's pressure to add a minor onto my transcript. I am considering (if at all) adding a minor in either education policy or psychology. 

In terms of MSW programs, I'm thinking about University of Illinois UC, University of Illinois Chicago, and Loyola University Chicago (my current school). 

Anyone have any thoughts or ideas? 

 

Thanks! 

[CozyD]

This isn't really my area, but here are some thoughts:

- First check the admission requirements for the schools you're interested in and make sure you're meeting those. For example, it looks like UIC requires you've taken a statistics class.

- I think psych would probably be more helpful than education policy, if you're picking one.

- In general, people just don't really seem to care that much about minors. It's a nice little extra thing to have, but there are usually more worthwhile things to focus on.

- It will probably get you further to focus on specific courses that are relevant to what you're interested in doing in/after grad school, or in gaining some/more research/volunteer experience.

- A big piece of applications is being able to articulate a clear explanation of who you are and why you want to study the thing at that school. You kind of need to look at all your previous coursework and experiences and see if it all comes together into a coherent narrative. Or you might see that there's an area you could build on that would help do that.

- If you don't have substantial, relevant volunteer experience, that's probably the biggest thing to focus on. It can really help to be able to say "I did this relevant thing that affirmed that this is an area I'd like to work in." If you're in Chicago, you might consider volunteering for the National Runaway Safeline: https://www.1800runaway.org/

Edited May 6, 2019 by CozyD