Hi all!
I’m currently a junior English major at Kenyon College. I want to apply to MSW programs next year, but I’m not quite sure what sort of programs I have a chance in.
I currently have a 3.11, but it will probably be a 3.5-3.7 by the time I graduate. I had a mental health crisis my freshman year and ended that year with a 2.2. I took a year off, and since I’ve been back I’ve averaged a 3.7/3.8- I got one B+ last year but other than that it’s been A and A-. I’m currently studying abroad and due to the way this particular program works, I get more credits than I would if I were attending classes at Kenyon- I got A-s this term (even though I really struggled on my exams) and am doing much better this semester, so I expect I’ll achieve As or A-s again. My grades for last term haven’t been applied to my GPA yet, but because of the way the credits work it should bring my 3.11 up quite a bit.
What I’m mostly concerned about is my lack of extra curriculars. I did a lot of theatre my freshman year, but after leaving school I began working to support myself and to pay for therapy. I worked three jobs in my year off, and continued working one job while I attended school last year, where I was management (it was retail). This year I’m in the UK so I haven’t been working, and I’ve been traveling a ton with my school group so I haven’t been able to get very involved. The one society I joined is pole fitness but I’m not sure if I want to put that on an application. I’m going to try to do volunteer work with a mental health foundation when I get home from the UK, but I don’t know if I can balance that with summer classes.
I have a pretty compelling story about why I’m going into social work, so I think my essay will be pretty good.
I’m currently looking at UChicago, UNC, Smith and Bryn Mawr. Is this realistic? Will I be able to get funding?
If you are a junior, how do you figure that a 3.11 will become a 3.5-3.7 by the time you graduate? By my calculations, if you have roughly 75 credits now and will get roughly 45 more by the time you graduate, even if you got straight As from here on out the highest GPA you could get is about a 3.44. It’s give or take depending on the actual number of credits you have and have left but even reaching a 3.5 will be a stretch.
The thing is, I don’t think that’ll matter much. Your GPA now is fine for even good MSW programs, and especially if you do get it into the 3.2-3.4 range, it’ll be even better.
But MSW programs really do value experience that’s relevant to social work. It’s not just regular ECs - the theatre won’t really have much bearing on your application. It’s more things like volunteering with a mental health foundation, a hospital, with a social worker, working in a social services organization, joining the campus nighttime hotline org, being a resident assistant or peer mentor, those kinds of things.
You should try to balance the volunteer work with your summer classes. Also, many students take a year or two off after college to do some social services work that boosts their application to social work programs. I had a couple of friends in the MSW program when I was in grad school, and several of them had done things like worked in schools, women’s shelters, crisis hotlines, and other kinds of similar positions after college. If at this point in junior year you haven’t done any social services type volunteering and you’ll only have the summer, I’d say that you should plan to do this for a year or two after college. you can still apply to MSW programs but you won’t be the most competitive applicant.
MSW programs don’t usually come with much funding. Most students pay for them primarily through personal resources and/or loans. Some programs offer scholarships; they are usually partial scholarships, and they are offered to the most competitive applicants. Right now, you probably aren’t competitive enough to be offered any large scholarships. I would strongly recommend applying to MSW programs at the public university in your home state. You could also consider moving to a state that has lots of good MSW programs at public universities and working there for a year or two in social services; that kills two birds with one stone.