<p>I'm hoping to get some school suggestions for my rising-junior D to research. </p>
<p>She's a pretty good student- about a 3.5 with good extracurriculars. She is taking AP and honors classes in some subjects. She isn't and won't be a NMSF or anything like that. She did all right on her sophomore year PSAT but was skewed much more toward the reading and writing than the math. Hopefully there will be an improvement in that area this year!</p>
<p>She is interested in secondary ed, social work and possibly English (Lit) and might end up continuing on to Law School. She tends toward the conservative in most facets of her life.</p>
<p>Any recommendations on schools that might be a good fit for her?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Oh- and we are East Coasters but would be fine with her going as far as the Central US and Midwest. Not eligible for financial aid but would only be able to give her about 30K a year so she will probably need some merit money.</p>
<p>Remember that most entering freshmen change their majors 3 times before graduation. I would not go to any school because of a particular program. I personally would look toward schools that she could graduate debt free or close to no debt as none of these majors is a high earner. The best is probably the LMSW… but even then you are looking at least 2 years of grad work for only $60K a year.</p>
<p>Law School? Dont get me on that rant, but assuming she can find a job when she graduates with her JD (a pretty tough feat today,) she might want to figure out her return on investment and see if she actually will ever come out ahead with law school.</p>
<p>It sounds like she could pursue an academic interest at most LACs and universities, since her interests seem not too specific and defined right now. Sounds right, that you could focus on finding schools she likes where she will get merit money. </p>
<p>This is the strategy we had with D1. The schools she applied to an received merit money were:</p>
<p>Allegheny
Juniata
Guilford
St. Lawrence University
Saint Michael’s College</p>
<p>We loved all of them. (well, she never saw Guilford, that was a last minute application because she got a free quick one in an email).</p>
<p>I am pretty sure Beloit has decent merit scholarships. </p>
<p>Check out Colleges that Change Lives, and go to one of their fairs, if there is one in your area. We found that a great jumping off point.</p>
<p>There are wonderful schools with degrees in social work, if that is the way she wants to head. And bless her if she does - the world desperately needs more social workers with good hearts.</p>
<p>I’d give a special shout-out for the women’s colleges - especially Bryn Mawr and Smith.</p>
<p>Just a bit of an aside on social work. I’m a social worker, always knew I would be one. At least where I live, you really need a masters. I got a BA in sociology, and worked for a county agency, then got my MSW and have had a job I love. I’m not sure an undergrad social work degree is any more helpful than a degree in sociology, psych, or anything similar, for the work that is available without a masters. This is my experience, so I could be wrong.</p>
<p>GCmom’s advice is well taken. There is no reason to get a bachelors in Social Work. (I also have a masters in Social Work and the most important advantage for me was living in Nashville where I had good mentors, a concentration of academia and government agencies and stronger older colleagues in my twenties.) My best advice is to keep in mind that the lower income potential means that you need to be smart about her six years of pending college re costs vs benefits.<br>
We live in VA. Some East Coasters like our state colleges a lot. Among them, VCU in Richmond has a top masters in social work program. Despite the limitations of their less than idyllic campus, Richmond itself has tons to offer re field placements, cultural life, the arts …and you do want excellent field placements.<br>
Baltimore is also a bit dicey re saftey in some areas, but again, good field placements for applied learning all around. So that means look at Maryland colleges.<br>
Nashville’s HOD program would be a consideration as well, vandygrad, as Nashville has excellent field placements (state capitals are good this way).<br>
Getting an undergrad degree in teaching…in our state the JMU program is tops, and actually a bit hard to get admitted to as a track once you are a student, and Mary Washington in Fredericksburg is great because of yep…good field placements near counties that pay teachers well. Mary Washington is like a private college only a short train ride into DC and lots of Middle Atlantic Staters like it.</p>
<p>There are several “tracks” in a masters program…those have changed since my era when “community organization” was one of them.
Clinical vs Administrative tracks are generally subsets of clusters of study you much choose between…and you also have to decide if a doctorate and research is in your future vs only clinical practice. Some of my friends are actually administrators of large agencies now and they needed business core courses and practicums. Some are in private practice (undergrad in a social science can be a help or desirable). I had a poli sci degree, my friend teaching at a top ten SW college had an undergrad sociology degree, another friend had a criminology undergrad degree. Psych is common of course since you need a lot on human development, courses that are also required for teachers.<br>
By the time you are going to grad school you sort of know your own temperament…administrator? Therapist? Service delivery specialist? Gerontologist? Early Childhood Foster Care Adoptions specialist? Substance abuse specialist? Doctorate who can publish research and find funding for research? </p>
<p>These decisions are not typically made at age 18, so she should take courses rich in human development and in macrosystems like courses in health care and government.</p>
<p>At my grad school, the students had an amazing range of academic and employment experiences before entering. I was probably one of the few I knew who had studied anything close to SW, and worked in a related field. (this is making it a surprise to me as I help D2 consider her undergrad…she is interested in possibly eventually getting a masters in speech and language pathology, and because of my experience, I assumed she could study anything in undergrad, maybe get her feet wet with some courses or some experience. I was so wrong!)</p>
<p>My school had concentrations in group work, individual work, community organization, and something else that is escaping me. Not sure if that is still the case, 19 years later. </p>
<p>Where I live, there are several Schools of Social Work, with different strengths. At mine, it was perceived to be a possible advantage if one’s background was a bit untraditional, but most importantly, an advantage if one was commmitted more to working with disadvantaged populations, rather than setting up a private practice. There are schools where that is more of the focus, as well.</p>
<p>GCmom, for many fields one can major in something unrelated in undergrad. I know someone who majored in history as an undergrad and decided to become a physical therapist. It took a bit longer to get into grad school for PT because he had to first take all of the prerequisites that he did not have from his undergraduate work. He took those through his community college and then he applied to graduate school.</p>
<p>NEmom, right, I sort of assumed with SLP, it would be easy enough to major in anything she wanted. And in our research, it seems that, many grad schools will accept people without a related bachelors, but with the pre- reqs, which seem to be many. And anecdotally, I am hearing from SLP providers that they think it is easier to be admitted to a grad program with the related undergrad degree. Who knows…still investigating…</p>
<p>GCmom, do keep investigating, but I had also heard that for SLP you really do need to start this program as an undergrad. Also, PT, OT, and SLP programs seem to be very competitive.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the input and guidance on this thread. It was really helpful to me and I shared it with my daughter and she felt the same. I appreciate it!</p>
<p>Actually, a BSW can shave of a year of grad school at many MSW programs (called “advanced standing”) so that can be a plus, as can the senior year field placement. I got a BSW and enjoyed the program, even if I went the psychology route professionally and for grad school (I double majored in social work and psychology, with an emphasis on research). I’d suggest your D look at schools with CSWE accredited BSW programs–there’s a lot (470 and an additional 25 in candidacy), so it shouldn’t be that restrictive of a criterion. CSWE accredition is more important at the MSW level, but it can matter some at the BSW level as well, depending on the circumstances. </p>
<p>If I remember correctly the University of Northern Iowa has a program for students who receive their BSW there to only go another year and graduate with a MSW degree. Something was mentioned about it while we were there for an open house but I really wasn’t paying that much attention as it was not my son’s intended major. At the time I thought that would be the way to go should a student be interested in social work.</p>
<p>^
Many MSW programs have that option (and your BSW doesn’t have to be from the same school!), although opinions vary on whether it is a good idea.</p>