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Before I accepted my 4-year scholarship at LSUS, I did a semester of nursing school. It wasn't for me. Also, while I'm not sure a sociology degree is much better than a general studies degree, I feel embarrassed by my BGS in humanities, though its really more like a quadruple minor in education, history, sociology, and psychology, but officially, its general studies.
OP....You are very young to have had the professional and educational experience you've had. You obviously set a goal and stay on track....and I can see that your investigative nature has you seeking out the right fit.
I strongly encourage you to sit down and write out a list of your personal interests. I did that once many years ago as part of a career search and it was helpful.
Just like you decided nursing wasn't for you.....if you volunteer or simply research careers that include your personal interests it may serve you in identifying your niche.
Also, you may be someone that eventually helps others seeking their own career. Perhaps you should look at job counseling, or guidance or collegiate counseling, or counseling Vets seeking civilian employment.
Don't be embarrassed of your BSG....it may serve you well if you are working with reentry folks such as returning soldiers/VA. You may also look at professional opportunities in fields of adult education, prison release folks, displaced homemakers. Many will need to brush up in the areas you have your education in.
IMO If you want to make a difference in others lives there nothing greater than helping someone learn how to improve their lives and supporting themselves is very important to doing that.
Also, you may be someone that eventually helps others seeking their own career. Perhaps you should look at job counseling, or guidance or collegiate counseling, or counseling Vets seeking civilian employment.
Don't be embarrassed of your BSG....it may serve you well if you are working with reentry folks such as returning soldiers/VA. You may also look at professional opportunities in fields of adult education, prison release folks, displaced homemakers. Many will need to brush up in the areas you have your education in.
Counseling vets normally requires a Master's degree in a mental health field, and I believe there's a special certification you need to go through (you might be able to do so with a BA if you have a *lot* of experience but that's extremely difficult to get without the Master's). The requirements are pretty strict - I know people with Masters degrees who have had a hard time getting into veterans counseling. Doing career counseling in a college requires a Master's degree in counseling or the like, even for community colleges. The only times I've seen people without an advanced degree teaching at the college level, it's been for non-credit programs offered by the school directed at non-students. A Bachelor's is not enough to get a teaching or counseling job at a college - even a BA in counseling or social work would not be enough.
OP - I've seen your threads, you're clearly working hard on this, trying to find a path for yourself. You've been talking about all sorts of possibilities, including asking about Carl Sagan's background.
Here's a cheap and easy way to aid in your thinking this through without having to pay for career counseling or coaching. Go to the following site and take the Self-Directed Search (SDS) for $9.95 USD; this is an instrument that almost all counseling professionals will use in working with a client who has career issues. What it will tell you is: based on your career/work preferences, here is a set of careers where data shows people with your career personality tend to be happy. It provides a starting point for further investigation. There are free versions of this test out there, but I've tried them and am not impressed with the results.
Note that it gives you a lot of information, and lists of specific careers to investigate. When you click on one of them you'll get a link to its page on O*NET Online; this site lets you search for careers and see what working in them would be like, skills and education needed, prospects for employment, etc. Some careers (like counseling) require more education than others -- or at least different education.
Chiming in as an LMSW in Texas. JanND is spot on and her links are good ones. Social Work is not a job you just "decide" to do. You've gotta have the heart for it and feel the calling. I have known people who have started for a semester and dropped out weeks into the class, some have made it through the classroom work to internships to see that they don't want to do it and even some get through the work and graduate and then never use their degree.
I went to the University of Southern California and they have a military concentration. I have heard many grumblings about getting into the VA. Unless you have a veterans preference do not go into social work with the sole purpose of working for the VA. My colleagues rarely get their VA placements. It's a hard system to navigate.
There are several different types of licenses. You can get the BSW, an LMSW, an LCSW, LMSW-AP and LMSW-IRP in Texas. I'm not sure Here is the info on the types of licenses in Louisiana -https://www.labswe.org/ All of these have different levels of education and experience attached. With my LMSW I am making $25.83 at my part time job and am making what comes out to be about $22 an hour (paid salary) at my full time job. It's not a ton, but it's okay and I survive. I did not get into this field to become a millionaire.
I am going to strongly encourage OP to volunteer and visit with some community organizations. Talk to the social workers in their environment to see if social work is right for you. Visit with the professors at Grambling and get to know them and what they have to offer. This isn't an easy career and there is a large investment in the education. A career test is not going to tell you that you should be a social worker. It says you may like it.
gs12, program coordinator (not supervisory), pay scale is higher due to location mostly and higher grade, requires a license.
i'd suggest taking a look around usajobs and searching for social work positions, look at the quals for the different positions.
i'd also give some thought to what ramenaddict mentions. i've known more than one person with no degree who has moved up to gs11 or 12 positions based on experience. it takes some perseverance and great work ethic but it can be done. start as a pharmacy tech where you've got some experience then keep an eye out for jobs that would be a good fit for you.
i actually worked in pharmacy and we had several techs move out of pharmacy to areas like patient safety, business office, clinical applications coordinator, etc. despite having no degree. some jobs only require a degree, not necessarily a specific one.
also, there are opportunities within the pharmacy to move up a bit, most common would be gs6 or 7 lead techs, certification required.
Well, I talked it over with my mom and she thinks I should go straight for the MSW. As a certified tech, I could climb to a higher position in the pharmacy fairly quickly, but there would be schedule conflicts between a federal job and both grad schools I've looked at, so that's really the only thing. There is also an online MSW where I could get an internship somewhere and the person I am interning under would report my hours to the MSW program directors. The rub there is they would want me to be a social work intern in one capacity the first year of the internship and a social work intern in another capacity the second year, so while the deputy director of staff at the VA said he could arrange an internship, he's not entirely sure what the program meant when they said two different capacities, so I'm trying to get that info now.
Well, I talked it over with my mom and she thinks I should go straight for the MSW. .
Since you're heading in that direction, some final advice from me for you:
Do your education as cheaply as possible. You're never going to get rich as a social worker, and will have to hustle if your goal is to go into private practice (think multiple streams of income - publishing, teaching, supervising, etc). Private practitioners have to cover their own benefits. Come out of grad school with a lot of debts and you'll be paying them off for a good chunk of the rest of your life.
Be aware that you are going to require a certain number of hours of continuing education credits to maintain your license; I have to take 30 hours every two years for my LCPC, plus additional hours to maintain my BCC (Board Certified Coach) certification. You'll need to do this for as long as you're licensed so you won't be done with training once you get your license.
Figure out which state or states you may choose to live in, and read the licensure requirements in those states carefully. Make sure whatever program you choose will prepare you for a job in those states - not all programs are created equal.
To succeed at private practice, you'll need to understand how to market yourself and run a business. Acquire some business and entrepreneurial know how - this may or may not be something you can acquire in your graduate program. My teachers were academics and didn't know about things like job searches and the business side of counseling.
Understand the difference in job opportunities for various mental health professions in your target states. What exactly a person does with an advanced degree in social work will depend on the state, and on the environment you work in. In some areas, the roles of counselors and social workers is very similar. In others, counselors have the edge in the job market over social workers (I believe this may be the case in some Western states); in still others, social workers have the edge (you typically need a social work degree rather than a counseling degree to get a job in an airport here in Illinois, for example).
Make sure you take advantage of whatever opportunities your school provides to get licensed as early as possible. Telehealth is taking off, so if you're not completely comfortable with technology, you'll want to take courses your school (and CEUs) offers in the area of telehealth and technology.
Join and become involved with your field's professional organization. Everyone needs to network to maintain their careers - even in social work.
Since you're heading in that direction, some final advice from me for you:
Do your education as cheaply as possible. You're never going to get rich as a social worker, and will have to hustle if your goal is to go into private practice (think multiple streams of income - publishing, teaching, supervising, etc). Private practitioners have to cover their own benefits. Come out of grad school with a lot of debts and you'll be paying them off for a good chunk of the rest of your life.
Be aware that you are going to require a certain number of hours of continuing education credits to maintain your license; I have to take 30 hours every two years for my LCPC, plus additional hours to maintain my BCC (Board Certified Coach) certification. You'll need to do this for as long as you're licensed so you won't be done with training once you get your license.
Figure out which state or states you may choose to live in, and read the licensure requirements in those states carefully. Make sure whatever program you choose will prepare you for a job in those states - not all programs are created equal.
To succeed at private practice, you'll need to understand how to market yourself and run a business. Acquire some business and entrepreneurial know how - this may or may not be something you can acquire in your graduate program. My teachers were academics and didn't know about things like job searches and the business side of counseling.
Understand the difference in job opportunities for various mental health professions in your target states. What exactly a person does with an advanced degree in social work will depend on the state, and on the environment you work in. In some areas, the roles of counselors and social workers is very similar. In others, counselors have the edge in the job market over social workers (I believe this may be the case in some Western states); in still others, social workers have the edge (you typically need a social work degree rather than a counseling degree to get a job in an airport here in Illinois, for example).
Make sure you take advantage of whatever opportunities your school provides to get licensed as early as possible. Telehealth is taking off, so if you're not completely comfortable with technology, you'll want to take courses your school (and CEUs) offers in the area of telehealth and technology.
Join and become involved with your field's professional organization. Everyone needs to network to maintain their careers - even in social work.
I'm still leaning going federal, BUT seeing how competition is fierce, I have researched the local market. A MSW is better than counseling in Louisiana. I have a couple of options for grad school. I have a traditional MSW an hour's drive south and I will almost not be able to work at all due to its requirements, so I might be only pulling in 10k a year those two years and I usually have 20k in living expenses per year. I have 15k in the bank since, while I could potentially get 26k a year if I worked a full 40 hours, I've been opting for 30 hour weeks, so I've only been pulling in 20k a year and thus been treading water at 15k in the bank.
My other option is an online MSW. I could probably still work 20 hours a week during that one.
Both require internships.
The online MSW costs 40k, and the traditional costs 29k.
Either way, I'm looking at a loan.
My top 4 career trajectories are Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, School Social Work and Private Practice in that order. If I end up in school social work, I will get a second summer job both for more money to pay off my debts and to get my LCSW, since having a private practice is more my second career idea. I could use a pension to back me up while I build a client base. Job security is WAY bigger for me than money, but I'm looking into starting a Roth IRA or something similar so I'll be really comfortable in my old age. For me, its less about being rich now, and moreso being rich later in life...like the last 20 years or so of my life. There are lots of ways to invest, I've found, so its hard pickings trying to find the best one, but Roth IRA looks pretty solid. I've noticed Telehealth is getting big, so I will definately look into taking courses in that. Nothing is really set in stone, so I'll probably keep trying to get in with the feds a while. Their retirement is really nice. I EVENTUALLY want to have kids and grandkids, and I'd like to be able to do nice things with them on the weekends.
School Social Workers in my state, according to payscale:
"Pay by Experience Level for School Social Worker. Pay by Experience for a School Social Worker has a positive trend. An entry-level School Social Worker with less than 5 years of experience can expect to earn an average total compensation of $45,000 based on 299 salaries provided by anonymous users."
I could pay my grad school debt on that, but I might need to convince my mom to let me stay with her maybe 18 more months or so.
I had a social worker in school to help with my mood disorders. I liked him. Social Workers make about what teachers make, and this is the pay schedule. Not the cost of living here is about 10% below the national average:
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