Advice for someone outside of social work

[tangerinedream]

Hi everyone,

I am looking to make a career switch from the museum field to social work. I hold a BA in Art History, have a decent GPA (3.65) and am retaking my GRE, although I received an average score the first time (157V/4.5 Writing). While I have been highly active within my field, the only relevant experience I have is volunteer work. I volunteer with a community development organization where I teach an ESL course and tutor adults preparing for the GED. I am also in the midst of developing a community arts program for this organization. For what its worth, I also speak Spanish.

Basically, I am wondering where I go from here. Is there any chance that I can go straight into a grad program, or will I likely need to complete a second bachelor's in Pysch or Social Work? Would it be sufficient to take a few related courses?

Thank you for any advice!

[Adelaide9216]

Hello,

I live in Canada so what I am about to say is applicable to what I have observed in my city (others, feel free to jump in if you have more precisions or nuances to make). I've seen a couple of students from other fields join the social work It's not that unusual. Usually, they do a qualifying year (a year with a few undergraduate courses from the BSW program so they can get a foundation of what social work is without having to do a full BSW) and then join the MSW the following year. Maybe it's different elsewhere but that's what I've seen so far in my city. Your volunteer work counts. Most social work programs are looking for "well-rounded" individuals, so grades aren't always the only thing that matters. 

Also, there is a major difference between social work and psychology in my opinion. Social work has a macro understanding of social issues while psychology is more of a one-on-one typical counseling aspect to it. However, a lot of social workers decide to go in clinical practice or work at both levels (micro AND macro). I also know that it depends on the type of school you're going to, some schools are more focused on developing clinical skills while others focus on the macro and socio-political aspects of social problems. It depends on the kind of analysis you make of these things.

I personally was hesitating between social work and psychology for a long time prior to doing my BSW and then decided to go for social work mainly because of its analysis of social problems that resonates a lot more with me. 

Good luck!

Edited September 18, 2017 by Adelaide9216

[alisham]

On 9/17/2017 at 2:15 PM, tangerinedream said:

Hi everyone,

I am looking to make a career switch from the museum field to social work. I hold a BA in Art History, have a decent GPA (3.65) and am retaking my GRE, although I received an average score the first time (157V/4.5 Writing). While I have been highly active within my field, the only relevant experience I have is volunteer work. I volunteer with a community development organization where I teach an ESL course and tutor adults preparing for the GED. I am also in the midst of developing a community arts program for this organization. For what its worth, I also speak Spanish.

Basically, I am wondering where I go from here. Is there any chance that I can go straight into a grad program, or will I likely need to complete a second bachelor's in Pysch or Social Work? Would it be sufficient to take a few related courses?

Thank you for any advice!

I actually think you're a great candidate for an MSW.  While my undergrad was in psychology, I had a similar GPA and my only relevant experience was my volunteer experience also teaching ESL and being a youth mentor on-and-off for a few years.  I ended up getting into every program I applied to.  Developing the community arts program is going to look great on your application and also ties into your previous field as well as social work, so it should be easy to connect the two on your personal statement.  You might not even have to retake your GRE since a big chunk of MSW programs don't require them.  As long as you have a good personal statement and great letters of recommendation, I think you have a great shot at getting into a program.

[tangerinedream]

On 9/17/2017 at 9:25 PM, Adelaide9216 said:

Hello,

I live in Canada so what I am about to say is applicable to what I have observed in my city (others, feel free to jump in if you have more precisions or nuances to make). I've seen a couple of students from other fields join the social work It's not that unusual. Usually, they do a qualifying year (a year with a few undergraduate courses from the BSW program so they can get a foundation of what social work is without having to do a full BSW) and then join the MSW the following year. Maybe it's different elsewhere but that's what I've seen so far in my city. Your volunteer work counts. Most social work programs are looking for "well-rounded" individuals, so grades aren't always the only thing that matters. 

Also, there is a major difference between social work and psychology in my opinion. Social work has a macro understanding of social issues while psychology is more of a one-on-one typical counseling aspect to it. However, a lot of social workers decide to go in clinical practice or work at both levels (micro AND macro). I also know that it depends on the type of school you're going to, some schools are more focused on developing clinical skills while others focus on the macro and socio-political aspects of social problems. It depends on the kind of analysis you make of these things.

I personally was hesitating between social work and psychology for a long time prior to doing my BSW and then decided to go for social work mainly because of its analysis of social problems that resonates a lot more with me. 

Good luck!

Thank you for such a thorough response! A qualifying year unfortunately does not seem the norm for American universities. I do know that here sometimes students will be admitted on a provisional status, and formally accepted after x number of undergrad courses. 

I am leaning towards social work because I want a foundational understanding of the socio-political aspects of social problems. However, I want to use that to work on a more individualized level. It is reassuring to hear that many social workers end up working on both levels. 

[tangerinedream]

On 9/18/2017 at 3:07 PM, alisham said:

I actually think you're a great candidate for an MSW.  While my undergrad was in psychology, I had a similar GPA and my only relevant experience was my volunteer experience also teaching ESL and being a youth mentor on-and-off for a few years.  I ended up getting into every program I applied to.  Developing the community arts program is going to look great on your application and also ties into your previous field as well as social work, so it should be easy to connect the two on your personal statement.  You might not even have to retake your GRE since a big chunk of MSW programs don't require them.  As long as you have a good personal statement and great letters of recommendation, I think you have a great shot at getting into a program.

Awesome, thank you for the advice and for sharing your experience!

[louise86]

I agree with Alisham.

I see no need to retake the GRE. A lot of programs do not require it and even for those that do, in my experience, they are not the most important so your current score is fine. You have some experience volunteering in service of others and your community so that's a positive. I think really it's going to be about your statement and references. Good luck!

[green_dots21]

You are a solid MSW candidate. As others said, most programs do not require the GRE, and your statement and references will hold more weight than your non-SW background.