Official Transcripts when applying to MSW program

[twilson]

I have been worrying about applying to MSW programs next year and here is why:

- I am currently a junior who just switched my major to Psychology (well pre-psychology until next semester depending on my grade in statistics).Also I did not switch to social work because I would've ended up spending another 3 if not 4 years working on my undergrad.
- This is not my first major switch..
*I started as an Animal and Vet Sci major until I realized chem was not
for me and my gpa for my freshman year was horrible 2.4
*I switched to Journalism, hoping to be able to still have some sort of helping career..until I realized in my intro Journalism class that none of the issues or aspects of it interested me
*I then switched to History which I absolutely love, but all the things that can be done with it careerwise do not interest me..I even volunteered at our schools historical collection and archives and was disappointed
*I have become a psychology major and have decided to minor in History..and hope to become a clinical social worker, working with veterans mental health and I do feel that my minor in history is quite relevant to social work because of its multicultural aspects and because of the global view of how everything and everyone affects eachother..i am even building off of this by taking a course multicultural issues in psychology and hopefully more course like it

My worry is that when a graduate program looks at my transcript they will think that I am noncommital about my academic career, when the problem was finding where I really wanted and needed to be..I have raised my 2.46 up to a 3.0 (I have been taking heavy courseloads and busting my butt) and am hoping for atleast a 3.2-3.4 by the time I graduate

Will the numerous changes of majors affect my acceptance into a MSW program horribly? What could I possibly do to raise my chances?

Thank you

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[xenobart]

First of all, I wouldn't worry about your major. I'm a first year MSW student, and I majored in philosophy! Most of my classmates majored in the social sciences or social work, but I know of a couple who majored in biology and engineering. As long as you meet their prerequisites (often a statistics course, research methods course, sometimes a biology course), you'll be fine.

MSW programs are also more flexible about GPA, as they tend to look at the whole picture. Your experience in the field, letters of recommendation, and personal essay are just as important. I think this is especially the case if you take the opportunity to explain why your GPA was so low and continue the upward trend in your GPA. That said, you want to keep your GPA at at least 3.0 (and the higher the better), because some university graduate departments require a minimum 3.0 undergrad GPA for any graduate student in any department. I had about a 3.3 in undergrad, and I got into three top ranked MSW programs when I applied. So I have no doubts you can get into an MSW program with a 3.0.