New here, need advice and suggestions on schools

[BackNSchool83]

Hello,

I've been really busy on the college confidential site for getting accepted at my university of choice after finishing work at my community college, and thanks in large part to that community and the information we all shared with each other, I got in. So I will be starting this fall at the University of California Irvine as a Psychology and Social Behavior major. I am also pursuing a seperate AS degree in Alcohol and Drug studies, it's the curriculum needed to become a certified substance abuse counselor. My long term goal is to work as an LCSW, but really focus on conducting therapy, at least for as long as I enjoy it. I like the flexibility of the MSW route compared to going for an MFT or LPCC. Now I have been told by professors that I need to be applying for grad school in about 1 year, and if possible I want to be preparing for that over the course of this year ahead so that when it is time I'm ready. I'm looking at USC, UCLA, CSULB, and CSUF as possible schools to apply to right now, so any advice on what I should be doing to be better prepared, insight into the quality of those schools, or what is really required of an applicant to have a shot at getting in to any of those schools would be very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to help me out, and for as long as I am in the process of applying and working towards grad school I will stick around this community and try to help those who come after me.

[pickfights]

Personally, I would take USC off your list - expensive and overrated.