NYU 32 Month program for working professionals - app prep advice needed

[doasain]

Hey all,

I applied for the Fall '12 NYU MSW 32 month program for working professionals and just found out I was rejected. It was a long shot for me so I'm not surprised, I haven't done any volunteering or applicable social work since I got my undergrad BFA in Fine Art 12 years ago. I work full time and have a family so it's difficult to find time. However I'm committed to a career change and I really like NYU's program. It's also the only one in the NYC area that has allows night and weekend classes towards a MSW.

In any event I'm looking for advice from anyone who has changed careers into social work and what they did to help them achieve this. Obviously volunteer work with a clinical bent is one step but any leads would be appreciated.

Secondly what about taking post bacc psychology classes? Anyone have good advice on schools/programs in the area? I saw NYU offers non-matriculating classes from the MSW program but at over $3k per class I just can't justify that.

Ideally I plan on using the rest of this year to make myself into a better candidate and re-apply for next year.

Thanks!

[Wishing]

I took post-bacc psych classes at a local community college, but I'm currently living in CA so it was very affordable. I'm not sure how expensive that would be in NY (assuming you live there.) I had a political science undergrad major so I wanted to show dedication to a deviation into social work from that. I took basics that were required by some programs - Intro to Psych, Human Development, Statistics, Research Methods.

A lead on volunteer work with a time committment that isn't terrible is the Court Appointed Special Advocates program. In some states it is called Guardian ad Litem. Check to see whether your state requires you to be a lawyer or law student or whether anyone can apply. I am currently a CASA in California and I needed to do a 40 hour training before beginning but the time committment for the volunteer work is very reasonable - I do about 3 hour a week unless my child's case is up for review, and then it's more like 5 or 6 hour for a couple of weeks. In many programs MSWs supervise the volunteers, so you may even be able to get a letter of recommendation out of it. Other ideas are working at a women's shelter or domestic violence shelter, programs for at-risk youth, nonprofits dealing with social services. You can always contact organizations directly about volunteer opportunities and they're usually flexible on time committment.

Good luck! It sounds like you are thinking in the right direction about how to improve your application and with that kind of attitude and the right experience you will definitely make it.