MSW Experience

[heethsays]

Background: I am a sociology major/psychology minor and will graduate this spring. My long term plan is to get my MSW and work in a clinical setting with children and adolsecents who have eating disorders. I am a New York State resident and I would love to attend CUNY Hunter because it's a highly ranked program and I would be eligible for in-state tuition. I am interested in living and working in New York City, so I would like to attend graduate school there in order to accustom myself to city life and network before I start a career. It also makes sense to be in the city because most eating disorder services are found in metro areas. I have also heard good things about Fordham, NYU, and Columbia's social work programs, although I'm not sure how competitive they are or how generous in terms of financial aid. I am nervous about applying to graduate school immediately after completing my undergraduate degree because I've heard that many applicants already have a few years of experience.

My undergraduate GPA is a 3.4 from a small, liberal arts school, which I know is a bit low but since the beginning of my junior year my semester GPA's have been a 3.8 and 3.6. I'm hoping that grad schools will consider how much my grades have improved since my freshman and sophomore years. As for involvement on campus, I have worked with Habitat for Humanity for the past four years and have done a lot in terms of advocacy surrounding the affordable housing crisis. I am also a student editor of a peer reviewed sociological publication, and a student health intern for body image awareness. I have worked individually with a few sociology professors, and I was able to present a co-authored paper on the media's portrayal of violence at the ESS conference last spring. My professor and I are in the process of submitting that paper for publication. In terms of experience with children, I have worked at after school programs and summer camps since I was in high school. This past summer I worked as an AmeriCorps Vista at a middle school in Nebraska. I am currently an intern at MEDA Inc., a multi-service eating disorders nonprofit. I will be running a table for the organization at college health fairs in the Boston area and I am organizing and facilitating a roundtable discussion on disordered eating in preadolescents.

I just applied to City Year New York for 2013-2014 because I loved working with AmeriCorps this summer and I thought it might give me more experience before applying to graduate school. I would also earn $5,000 towards tuition for my first semester of graduate school.

Sorry that was so long! I'm really hoping to do City Year next year and then attend graduate school in Fall '14, but if anyone has any suggestions about those schools or could assess my chances of being accepted, I would be really appreciative.

[Starling2003]

I say if you want to go for something, GO FOR IT! I did not think I would make it into Master's school due to various reasons but all we can do is shoot for what we want. Its work but at least we TRY! And you might be surprised:) I was.

[heethsays]

Thanks for the tip I might as well!