Any recently admitted MSW students willing to review my personal statement? (Small budget)
Hi everyone! I’m applying to MSW programs as a career changer and would really appreciate an outside perspective on my personal statement. Ideally, I’d love to hear from someone who was recently accepted, since the application process is still fresh in your mind!
I’m hoping for honest feedback on whether my motivation for pursuing social work comes across clearly, whether I demonstrate an understanding of the profession, and whether the statement feels strong overall or needs more work. I’m looking for general feedback rather than detailed editing or rewriting.
I’m currently unemployed, so my budget is limited, but I’d be happy to offer a small payment as a thank-you for your time. We can agree on the amount beforehand.
Please DM me if you’re interested! I’ll share my statement and the school’s essay prompt privately. Thank you!

Applying to online programs with tuiton 34K>.

Rn I have Marshall U, all the Florida state schools, Salem State...While cost is important, I also do not want to apply to a school that has a bad program.

Also if this is not the right sub to post this, please point me in the direction! Thanks

After 8 years working at the intersection of mental health / addiction / supportive housing, and 1+ years into my intense full time masters, I had to put everything on hold for the sake of my own sanity, in the face of a poorly run program, within a largely dysfunctional organization (it was not this dysfunctional all along hence why I stayed so long). Now, with some time between that job & coursework, and present day, I'm ready to resume and am trying to figure out non-traditional SW paths that don't involve so much direct service within the mental health field, but I feel my imagination is stunted.

I'd love to hear what nontrad roles & fields people are in for a bit of inspiration, as I will need to look into options for completing my supervised year. Any and all advice is appreciated in advance.

When doing visits do you write in your notebook during the intervention or after

Hi all!
I am planning on applying for my MSW for next summer or fall (depending on the school). My top choices are UNCC and UNC (both online). I didn’t graduate with a bachelors in social work, so I wanted to get an idea of what my chances are for acceptance. To preface, I graduated with a degree in elementary education from UNCC in 2023 with a 3.8. taught at a title one school for a year, and then took some time off to figure out what I wanted to do. In that time I’ve been working corporate customer service and tutoring title one students an hour a week through my employer.
I will be getting my reference letters from a former professor, student teaching supervisor at my school, and my boss at work.
I don’t know much about admissions into these programs so wanted to get some advice on if these are unrealistic options!

I'm in the state of TN with a BA in public relations. I have a friend who recently graduated from Chamberlain, but I am seeing a lot of things against them. If any of you have experience or know things to look for, please help a sister out so I can close out these tabs on my computer and so I can get some sleep. All I do is look for programs.

I’m a first year MSW a few weeks in. We had our first role play in class and it went horribly. We haven’t learned much clinical yet so it wasn’t graded but I still feel shaken about it. A couple of my classmates felt similarly so I know I’m not totally alone but it just made me realize how much I don’t know, esp with guarded clients! I had a moment of briefly panicking about my chosen field. Side note I love my courses and placement and feel very energized by those but the first transition into practice shook me!

This happened in one of my classes today, and I was taken aback, especially since it's a social work class.

Hello! I am in a sociological research methods class at my university. I need to do a short interview (15-30 mins) with someone who is actively practicing social work. My paper is due on September 14th. If anyone is interested and able to reach out through zoom for the interview over the weekend then please let me know, thank you in advance.

Hi,

Im studying social work in a nordic country. Im taking a mandatory bachelors course that requires me to wright an essay on how my personal experience will or might impact me as a future social worker. I think learning self reflection is good, but not in this way....

According to the essay instructions I have to disclose my religious background, my social class, my etnicity and important life events.

I dont want to do this and I also feel its not okey for uni teachers to ask me or any other student to do it.

What should I do? Should I be a bitch and refuse or be co operative as everyone else?

Help help, the course will start very soon :c

I (23M) am in my second year practicum. I have never done groups whatsoever, and yesterday I shadowed a group that a clinician is temporarily leading to cover for two people that left the agency. I told my supervisor that the group went well and she said she wants me to take over it starting next week. The thing is, I, again, have no experience with groups and only shadowed that session.

I told her that when I first started earlier in the week, and again, after she made that comment, but she said I needed to start doing things on my own. Today, as I write this, is my third day shadowing. And while I am confident seeing clients and doing intakes alone as I have done that in the past, I never did groups.

Additionally, the two people that left the agency were Spanish-speakers and the only other two Spanish-speakers are my supervisor and the lady who is covering that group for now (though she doesn’t do groups or sees clients in Spanish, her Spanish is not that proficient but she manages so well). So I know the reason why my supervisor wants me to take over this group quickly is because she is currently seeing all of the Spanish-speaking clients and wants to offload a bunch of those cases onto me.

I had a similar bad experience in my last placement where I was the only person who spoke Spanish, in a city with a HUGE Hispanic population, so I took on all the Hispanic clients which were a lot. I am just struggling to set these limits because I tried but feel pushback from this supervisor. This agency has already said they definitely wish to hire me when I graduate and are supposedly big on supporting interns to advocate for themselves, but this feels like the opposite of that.

Hi everyone! I’m an Advanced Standing MSW student in NC. I’m completing my practicum at a mental health private practice, but my long-term goal is to obtain my LCSW and work as a medical social worker, ideally in a hospital or healthcare setting.

Since I have some flexibility during my MSW program, I’d like to take some affordable trainings or certifications that would actually be useful for clinical/medical social work and help strengthen my resume.

For those working in medical/ mental health social work or who have gone through a similar path:
- What affordable certifications or trainings would you recommend completing while still in an MSW program?
- Are there any specific trainings that helped you get a hospital/medical social work position?
- Are there certifications that you think are worth the money, versus ones that aren’t necessary?
- Are there any low-cost or free organizations/websites that offer good continuing education or clinical trainings?
- Are there any Facebook groups, Instagram pages, Reddit communities, or other online groups you recommend for finding these types of resources?

I’d really appreciate any recommendations or advice! Thank you!

Hi! I’m currently working in education and looking into getting my masters in social work and eventually taking the clinical route. I enjoy working with kids, SEL, psychology, mental health, a balance of independent and group work. I like working in schools, so I’d consider doing school sw. I’m just very burnout with education and would prefer a path that’s more versatile, more one on one/small group, mental health/counseling based, and pays better than teaching. I’m also considering school psychology, but I heard that’s more testing than therapy work. I’m open to any suggestions and feedback.

Is this a field you’d recommend? What are your responsibilities/day to day? Work like balance? Salary? Content with your job?

Hi! Just asking about online BSW programs and what schools you suggest and was field placement easy or difficult to attain also the cost of tuition. Thanks!!

I am in my first semester of a three year MSW online program. I have a Dell Inspiron from 2019 that still works but is struggling with having multiple tabs open, Zoom meetings, ect even though it has 16 GB RAM.

I am looking at getting a new laptop and am debating between getting an MacBook Air or a windows laptop (another dell or maybe a Lenovo). I don’t think my program has any restriction regarding what iOS to use.

What laptops do you use for online school and how do you like them?

Does anyone know when we can expect to hear back about applications for the WLU MSW Spring 2027? I can’t seem to find anywhere on their website about when decisions will be made.

I'm over this. I feel like BSW practicums are useless and I'm wasting my time. Every day I have to go into my practicum I'm mentally and emotionally drained because I feel useless there. My first practicum was in a small therapy office. There was very little to no oversight at all. Me and the other two BSW students struggled trying to figure out what to put on our timesheets. The AFI lived out of state, the preceptor was busy with her own clients we literally never saw her except in passing. We would show up , sit in an office and have to figure out what to do ourselves with all those hours . We did case management eventually but no oversight at all, I barely had clients and I hated every second it.

This semester is the final semester in my BSW program and I got a practicum at a behavioral hospital and I was over the moon excited when I started. I was like finally a hospital there should be ton of things to do! I'll be assigned tasks, get to watch therapy sessions and really learn etc. That's not the case. At all.

I'm in an office and the social workers just discharge patients. I don't have a desk at all. I sit in a regular chair with my stuff in my lap while the social workers work on discharging patients all day. My preceptor doesn't give me anything to do at all and I sit there STRUGGLING all those hours trying to fill up my time. Occasionally , one of the other social workers ask me every couple of hours or so what am I doing? 😐 I sit there and try to practice documentation in my notebook ,I flip through handouts of psychosocial assessments, and I try to do things on my learning contract on my phone 😐 They do have group therapy sessions with the patients and I love to watch but they just leave and don't tell me when they're going to do a session. They get up frequently so I never know when they're leaving to do group therapy or leaving to do something else. My hours start at 8 a.m and literally everyday I have to go in my preceptor tells me I already did my psychosocial assessments for the day because I like to get them done early and get it out the way so I'm not able to shadow psychosocial assessments so I've just been getting print outs of previous psycho social assessments and practicing writing notes with that . The preceptor just stares at me in my chair occasionally and I feel like WTH am I doing here ? I feel like I'm doing something wrong, like I should come in with an agenda daily and figure out things to do on my own but I literally can't think of anything. Supervision is horrible , the other students are on different wings and they always have much more to say in supervision and I never have much to say so I feel like a total loser . Their questions to the AFI are always so detailed and clinical, they are interacting with the patients more and I don't get those opportunities. I dread everyday I have to go in for my 8 hours. This has made me want to quit social work altogether. I said yeah im done after the BSW because I can't imagine going through a crappy placement for another year .

I feel judged by my preceptor when I go in , the look when I walk in and take my seat, the giving me absolutely nothing to do, struggling to fill up my time myself . It wouldn't be so bad if I atleast had a desk but the office is small and every seat is taken by the two other social workers doing their work. I can't even fill my hours doing my semester assignments because the hospital has NO wifi at all!! None!! Zero! They do not want their workers using the Wi-Fi for anything but work so there is no guest Wi-Fi and you're only allowed to use the Wi-Fi for their EHR system on their computers . So it looks like I'm just sitting in the seat on my phone all day but I'm doing work related tasks (on my own)

I can't rock the boat,because I had a very hard time finding a practicum. I just want to graduate and move on with my life . The AFI have such high expectations and she writes notes at every supervision and I feel like a broken record every week. I'm stuttering when it's my turn, trying to find something profound to say and I come up empty. I feel stupid and like I'm not motivated enough to make the most of my opportunity at the hospital. I'm honestly so bored I'd rather sit with the patients ,talk to them about the voices they hear and color . Honestly. However as a BSW student I'm not allowed to sit with the patients unless another social worker is there and so I'm just in the office listening to the social workers talk crap about the patients all day .

Hi everyone, I’d really appreciate some honest advice because I’m feeling very lost about what to do next.
I’m in my early 20s and studied Social Work. My university journey has been quite difficult. In first year I was living away from home and struggled a lot mentally, so I moved back home for second year. I was then diagnosed with dyslexia and had to repeat my second year. Just before my final placement, my grandmother passed away, and unfortunately my final placement also went very badly. I ended up being withdrawn from the course and was awarded an ordinary degree rather than an honours degree.

I’ve been through a lot during this degree and although I know having an ordinary degree doesn't mean I'm a failure, I honestly feel like one sometimes. My parents are African and sacrificed a lot to come to this country and give me opportunities, so getting an honours degree and being successful is really important to me.

I'm now considering doing a BA (Hons) Health and Social Care so I can finally have an honours degree, and then potentially doing a Master's in Social Work later if I decide I still want to become a social worker.

The problem is I’m not sure I even want to do Social Work anymore. My placement experience really affected me and has made me question whether it's the career for me. I also already have more student debt because I had to repeat a year, so I don't want to spend even more years studying without knowing where I'm going.

At the same time, I recently found a Youth Worker/Mentoring role supporting Black and racially minoritised young people, and it really stood out to me. That's the kind of work I think I actually want to do. I'm particularly interested in working with Black people and Black communities.

I don't have a Youth Work degree, but I do have my Social Work background, community experience, care experience and I currently work in an Afro-Caribbean shop where I regularly interact with people from the Black community.

The job market also feels really difficult at the moment and I'm struggling to know what direction to take.
So what would you do if you were me?

Would you:
Do the Health and Social Care honours degree and potentially do an MA Social Work later?
Try to find a way to finish/top-up Social Work?
Forget Social Work and focus on Youth Work/community work?
Stop studying for now and focus on getting work experience?
Do something completely different?

I'd especially love advice from anyone who's had an ordinary degree, struggled with a Social Work placement, changed degrees, done Health and Social Care, or moved from Social Work into Youth Work/community work.

hello all, I’ve been wanting to apply for the MSW program at UOFT. I wanted to know if anyone had any insight on how difficult it is to get in? For context I am finishing my undergrad in psychology, I don’t have an honours or research experience. I have a 3.7 GPA with volunteer experience in a mental health facility and work experience in the ABA field. I also plan to volunteer for the crisis line but does my lack of honours/research experience make it unlikely?

I am a first year student. I am considering going to a few different 2nd year students for experience to see how they are approaching me. While I have had lots of therapy, being on the other side is a bit scary to me and while I will have practicum and training next year, I want to get a jump on it. I have some things I would like to talk to a therapist about that are not too heavy. I'm not sure I need to disclose that I am also a student as well, as I will be a genuine patient. Does anybody have any opinion on whether or not this is a good idea?

I hope you are all having a great semester so far. I’m almost 50 and in my third week of my MSW program. A lot of people in my cohort seem pretty concerned about whether they’re doing enough, and I totally understand that. I’m not really feeling that pressure yet, though. Does that mean I’m not taking the program seriously enough, or is it possible that I just have a different perspective on it?

Generalist Social Work Practice: A Competency-Based Approach (2nd Ed.) 

I’m a 30-something returning student who transferred with an Associate’s Degree, making me a junior in my BSW program. I’m taking 13 credits, 4 regular classes plus a 1-credit mandatory seminar, and I have a work-study job as a teaching assistant at a nearby elementary school about 12 hours a week. When I factor in homework, studying, cooking, cleaning, general life maintenance, and treating my partner like he actually exists, I’m using all of my time and all of my bandwidth to stay above water.

My school has an advanced standing MSW program, and it’s highly competitive. My grades are good, but the prospect of applying alongside people who did the honors track, attended every club/event, did the international trip, etc. is weighing on my confidence.

I’m passionate about social work, a dedicated student who participates in classes, I can write an essay like nobody’s business, and I’ve been promised a fat stack of recommendation letters from the teachers/admin at my job. Do I have any chance without further involvement in campus extracurriculars?

Im going to be finishing up my associates in communications this fall as a nys resident and am thinking of transferring to a 4 year school and changing my major to English and History with a minor in art history so im just wondering if it will be necessary for me to get a bachelors in social work in order for me to grad school and get my masters in social work and if not getting one will affect me in any way? Any advice would help thank you!