I’m going into my third year at Penn State going for a sociology BA and criminology BA. I came in with 18 credits, have been taking 18 credits pretty much every semester, and I’m 99% that based on my degree audit that I can graduate summer 2018. I want to go to grad school for my MSW/MA in Criminal Justice. Right now I have three options in my head of what I can do immediately after I graduate: grad school, Americorps, or a gap year at home with my parents (hopefully with an internship).
I’m worried that I won’t have enough experience or whatever to get into grad school. I have a 3.89 GPA. I have been heavily involved with two organizations on campus and am currently involved in leadership positions with both organizations. I have an internship this summer with an advocacy organization related to criminal justice (it’s a remote internship, that might make a difference idk). I don’t know if this is enough for admissions??
Typing all that out makes me feel like I really weak grad school candidate lol. I’m looking into getting an internship this fall, but I don’t know if that would make a difference in grad school applications?? Because the one internship I really want to have before I graduate, I’m not able to do this semester because of my schedule. There are some other internships I want to try for this fall but I’m less enthusiastic about them, and I have a really busy schedule in the fall anyway so part of me just wants to wait to get an internship in the spring. But is another internship going to make a difference? Should I just wait a year and do Americorps or an internship to get more experience?? Thanks for the help; I hope this made sense lol.
Think of the opposite. How many students have the horsepower to finish in three years? That’s a positive. I in no way am knocking Americorps, but how does that, or a gap year at home add relevant criminal justice experience? Do the organizations you work for on campus have an angle on criminal justice?
They aren’t related to criminal justice. One is an LGBTQ organization and one is a student publication. In my LGBTQ organization I try to have events that highlight the experience of LGBTQ people in the criminal justice system, and I sometimes do articles about criminal justice-related stuff, but idk if that counts the criminal justice-related organizations on campus I would want to get involved with either meet really sporadically or they’re not open to undergraduate students. Even if I try to get involved with one of them, I feel like I won’t be able to commit a lot of time to them.
Also if I were to take a gap year I would try to get an internship with my local parole and probation services since that’s something I’m interested in doing. I guess that’s where I’m thinking I would get more experience. Before I graduate I want to intern with one of the local prisons but that would have to be after I send in applications. I don’t know if fitting in an internship this semester would help at all.
I’d apply to the programs you’re interested in and use the gap option as a fallback if you don’t get in. Study for the GRE. There’s plenty of free help and practice tests right on their site. Write a solid Statement of Purpose (http://www.mbacrystalball.com/blog/2015/09/08/how-to-write-an-sop/). Get good recommendations. Do all that and I’d be surprised if you don’t get in. If not, you have an alternative. Good luck.
Talk to your academic advisor to see what you need to do to be a competitive candidate; he or she will know what successful students in your program have done and will be able to give you specific advice about the internships you are considering.
It is quite common for people to receive their undergraduate degree and then work/volunteer/intern for a while before applying to graduate school. Talking with your advisor should give you a good sense if the program you are interested in expects its students to have “life experience” before entering the program. By the way, the term gap year is not commonly used to describe the time between receiving a BA and starting a graduate program–you can just say you plan to work or complete an internship before starting graduate school.
Some MSW students go to grad school straight after college; some take 1-3 years between college and grad school to work in a variety of fields. It really depends on the MSW programs to which you apply and who you are competing with. The only way to know whether what you did was “enough” is to try to apply and see what happens.
Whether you should do Americorps or something else for a year depends: do you want to do those things? I wouldn’t think of them solely as activities to help you boost your credentials for graduate school - think of them as ends in and of themselves. Does doing a year of Americorps appeal to you? Do you think you’d gain something valuable from it? There’s no reason not to apply for them simultaneously, and decide what you want to do closer to the end of the year.
My advisor is kind of terrible lol but I’m definitely going to talk with her about this stuff when I get back to school in August.
I would do Americorps for more than experience, but I guess I’m trying to personally evaluate too whether that would be better than staying home and doing an internship (and I have a ton of pros/cons for both running through my head lol sigh). I think it would be preferable for me to go to grad school immediately after graduating but if I can’t get in right away then I have alternatives I can do in the meantime. I think trying for all of them is what I’ll end up doing and I’ll see what happens.
I guess the more immediate thing I’m worried about is whether not it’s super important that I get an internship this fall? The applications are due at the end of January, so if I get that one internship that’s something I could potentially include on my application ?? And they’ll see I have experience from that. I’m less enthusiastic about these other possible internship options but I don’t know if they would make a big difference on my application?
the criminal justice-related organizations on campus I would want to get involved with either meet really sporadically or they’re not open to undergraduate students. Even if I try to get involved with one of them, I feel like I won’t be able to commit a lot of time to them.