Applying to MSW : is my volunteer experience enough?

[dreamwithguts]

Hi all,

So I recently joined the grad cafe. Everything is super helpful!

I am an undergrad senior hoping to apply for an MSW at NYU in a year or so..but I am worried..

I don't know how I stand in terms of the amount of experience I have. It would be great if I got honest opinions and advice!

Sorry if this is long!

Here is what I've done so far...

I have 7 years of experience volunteering at church : tutoring kids, welcome desk person. But aside from that I haven't volunteered much until recently

I have some experience from the American red cross club at my school during freshman and sophomore year.

Begining Junior year, I joined an autism club and a club establishing friendships with intellectually and developmentally disabled people.

And since the summer of senior year I started volunteering for: RAINN's online hotline for victims of sexual abuse, to be an intake counselor at an organization that serves and empowers urban youth, to volunteer and help home bound elderly, and I also am in a club that mentors disadvantaged high school students.

I feel like I don't have much experience especially considering nowadays when everything is more competitive. I didn't really start getting myself out there with the volunteering until senior year and I do regret it but at the same time I really want to get into an MSW Program.

Thanks so much for bearing with me in this long post!

[MSW13]

I cant really say if your experience is enough but is does sound like you have a good starting point. Paid employment is always better but when you are in undergrad I think that it is generally understood that most experience will come from volunteering.  In your statement, try your best to draw out the skill set you've developed (even with supposedly limited experience) and clearly articulate how it ties into your future career as a social worker. Make sure you have strong references--not just a collection of people who will say nice things about you but people who understand what social work is and can vouch for you accordingly.  

The bottom line is that most people have areas that aren't as strong as others. The important thing to do is to focus on your strengths rather than your weaknesses while also making sure you note how you plan on building up your experience...in my humble opinion, it all counts.

 

Best of luck!

 

Hi all,
So I recently joined the grad cafe. Everything is super helpful!
I am an undergrad senior hoping to apply for an MSW at NYU in a year or so..but I am worried..
I don't know how I stand in terms of the amount of experience I have. It would be great if I got honest opinions and advice!

Sorry if this is long!
Here is what I've done so far...
I have 7 years of experience volunteering at church : tutoring kids, welcome desk person. But aside from that I haven't volunteered much until recently
I have some experience from the American red cross club at my school during freshman and sophomore year.
Begining Junior year, I joined an autism club and a club establishing friendships with intellectually and developmentally disabled people.
And since the summer of senior year I started volunteering for: RAINN's online hotline for victims of sexual abuse, to be an intake counselor at an organization that serves and empowers urban youth, to volunteer and help home bound elderly, and I also am in a club that mentors disadvantaged high school students.

I feel like I don't have much experience especially considering nowadays when everything is more competitive. I didn't really start getting myself out there with the volunteering until senior year and I do regret it but at the same time I really want to get into an MSW Program.

Thanks so much for bearing with me in this long post!

[awright228]

Hi all,

So I recently joined the grad cafe. Everything is super helpful!

I am an undergrad senior hoping to apply for an MSW at NYU in a year or so..but I am worried..

I don't know how I stand in terms of the amount of experience I have. It would be great if I got honest opinions and advice!

Sorry if this is long!

Here is what I've done so far...

I have 7 years of experience volunteering at church : tutoring kids, welcome desk person. But aside from that I haven't volunteered much until recently

I have some experience from the American red cross club at my school during freshman and sophomore year.

Begining Junior year, I joined an autism club and a club establishing friendships with intellectually and developmentally disabled people.

And since the summer of senior year I started volunteering for: RAINN's online hotline for victims of sexual abuse, to be an intake counselor at an organization that serves and empowers urban youth, to volunteer and help home bound elderly, and I also am in a club that mentors disadvantaged high school students.

I feel like I don't have much experience especially considering nowadays when everything is more competitive. I didn't really start getting myself out there with the volunteering until senior year and I do regret it but at the same time I really want to get into an MSW Program.

Thanks so much for bearing with me in this long post!

 

I think it is important to know that schools do look at applications as a whole...so if you are weaker in one area and very strong in another your application will balance itself out.  

 

ie: not much volunteer experience, but very very good grades in a diverse and challenging liberal arts degree.

 

The committee will look at the application as a whole and you have the opportunity to address strengths and weaknesses in your personal statement and put a positive (but truthful) spin on it.

When I applied, I didn't have NEARLY as much experience as others so I talked about how my biggest weakness as I would need to be socialized into the profession of human services/sw. And I drew on my relevant experience to explain why I was ready and excited to do that...highlighting my strength (I do have some experience), but addressing that it's not my strongest foot to stand on (ie: showing self-awareness...important part about becoming a SW) -- So don't be discouraged just think how you can present yourself as a well-rounded and self-aware professional that is ready to take on graduate level work. 

Even with how competitive applications are no one has everything....you have something no one else has (or very few people have), so think about hat it is and highlight that and run with it, but don't ignore weaknesses.

 

Gluck!

 

[alesso]

I agree with the words of these other respondents,.good job and it all counts!! Maybe,  I would stress the seven years of faithfully doing the services in the church and develop them a bit differently. That is if you try for the MSW or if you need to get a job to build a little more service experience.  You don't need to apologize for being young..you have some good things on there.  You seem to have used your time well so far. I am not sure how the experiences in college for you went and that might tell you if you are ready to jump into a MSW work. Were the opportunities haphazard or sought because it ties into  what you want to do.  Also if you are going to go for it and you want to write about your experience like its been said, embrace the good work you just did!! Find the quality you have displayed thru these experiences  that is relevant to social work.    I also have a lot of church volunteer work so I know what you did  was far more important than the words "welcome desk" convey.   The ability to integrate new people into a  community by ignoring your fears of awkwardness and concentrating on how they are feeling is a mature act that not many are willing to do. Integration and inclusion is a huge issue in society I also know that  when I consistently did something like that for a couple of years that I had an obligation to be there because quite a few people who had no other friends and who were a bit lost would count on me being there to help them and talk with them. Good luck  

[MsDarjeeling]

Whether the amount of volunteering is enough, I can't say.  What I do think is relevant is that the experience is diverse.  My friends in Counseling programs talk about how the need to work with diverse populations is hammered into them and those who didn't do that prior to starting grad school wish they had.  You're working with different ages/socioeconomic statuses and very delicate issues.  All of that is a selling point.

 

I also think it is a selling point that one project lasted 7 years.  How many people would spend 7 years of their lives doing something for free?  I'm sure you can answer that when you think about who was volunteering alongside you and what your friends were doing while you were faithfully going to that project.  I think you can express (if it's true) how your dedication to that project and your studies encouraged you to do more.  The desire to do more led you to the newer projects that you're thriving in.  All of them will help you decide which populations you do and do not want to work with.

 

Also consider how volunteering will help you in the job market and not just with graduate school aspirations.  I have done a lot of volunteering within diverse populations myself (my goal is Clinical Psychology) and have a 1 year project, a 2 year project, a 3.5 year and still going project, a 3 year and still going project, and a 2 month and still going project.  When I apply for jobs often times my volunteer experience is used for references and at times it has launched me straight to the interview stage because employers found it so impressive.  Projects I've continued are ones I love and have led me to my research interests.  Projects I ended I learned from, but ultimately decided those populations weren't for me.