Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm an 18 year old female who will be starting college in December. Right now, my plan is to get a bachelor's degree in Social Work and then hopefully get into a master's program to complete a Master's in Social Work and finally become a licensed clinical social worker.
Since I want to get a bachelor's in social work, I can get into an advanced standing program and finish my MSW in one year as opposed to two years it would take for anyone who didn't major in social work during undergrad. It sounds good to me, the master's will take only a year so I would save some money and time.
From what I read there are many options in social work. Of course with a BSW you can work with the state/city as a social worker, or work at adoption agencies. Add a MSW to that and you can be a social worker for schools, hospitals, even like private practices/clinics if you are a licensed clinical social worker. It's very similar to being a psychologist, minus the PhD.
So CD, I chose to post this because I'd like some opinions on this please. What are some negatives about the social work career? Do you have any experiences with social work, or know anyone that is one? Is this a wise career choice? In other words, post any bad things you have heard about social work as a career. I want to know about the bad parts of the job too, not just the good, that might make me reconsider and change my mind. Any and all thoughts on this will be read.
While I don't have too much advice for you, I'll share a few things I've learned as I considered a social work career. The major downside that I see is that it is emotionally draining work. You're dealing with volatile people who may be going through some of the roughest times of their lives.
If I were you, I would see if you could interview a social worker and ask them what they think are the pros and cons of the job. That type of interview is called an informational interview, since you aren't interviewing the person for a job or an internship.
I have no direct experience there, but from the outside, I would say make sure there's some specific thing you want to do. I see tons and tons of psych and sociology majors, but none of them have any actual plans, other than "I have a 4.0 GPA." (Yes, almost everyone does. The work at the undergraduate level is incredibly easy.)
You're dealing with people's problems all day. The money is not good for the level of education you have. Unless you have a real passion for helping people I think it would be a tough career choice.
dealing with depressed people, addicts, mentally ill...homeless. Tons and tons of useless paperwork. Insurance companies/healthcare networks dictate the level of service. They run the whole game. You have to have a Masters and then sit for the state license. Each state has their own licenses and one license from one state does not carry over to another. You have to take it again. Too much overtime most of which is unpaid. All the clinical social workers are dying to work for government agencies but those jobs are scarce. Clinical workers basically are psychotherapist wannabees.
I'm an 18 year old female who will be starting college in December. Right now, my plan is to get a bachelor's degree in Social Work and then hopefully get into a master's program to complete a Master's in Social Work and finally become a licensed clinical social worker.
Since I want to get a bachelor's in social work, I can get into an advanced standing program and finish my MSW in one year as opposed to two years it would take for anyone who didn't major in social work during undergrad. It sounds good to me, the master's will take only a year so I would save some money and time.
From what I read there are many options in social work. Of course with a BSW you can work with the state/city as a social worker, or work at adoption agencies. Add a MSW to that and you can be a social worker for schools, hospitals, even like private practices/clinics if you are a licensed clinical social worker. It's very similar to being a psychologist, minus the PhD.
So CD, I chose to post this because I'd like some opinions on this please. What are some negatives about the social work career? Do you have any experiences with social work, or know anyone that is one? Is this a wise career choice? In other words, post any bad things you have heard about social work as a career. I want to know about the bad parts of the job too, not just the good, that might make me reconsider and change my mind. Any and all thoughts on this will be read.
I'm going to get on my soap box here no offense intended. Being a social worker is NOTHING even CLOSE to being a psychologist AT ALL. They don't even do the same thing, nothing even along the same lines of work. Also, they told you the master's would only take a year? Because I've never heard of that, I would seriously check up on that, most master's degrees in social sciences take at least 1.5-2.5 years. If you can get it in a year, that would be great!
It's a very VERY long process and you will have many many crap jobs before you get the one you REALLY want, I am only speaking from experience. I have my master's in mental health counseling. It starts with a four year degree, went to two year master's, having many crap jobs in between that, oh and you have to do internships, most WITHOUT pay, so I had to work full time, go to school, AND do a part time unpaid internship. Then you have to apply for a license, a kind of intern license (not sure for social workers if it's the same) and that internship license is frowned upon so good luck getting a good job with that, THEN you can get a full license after 1.5-2 years of having that license AFTER you graduate and do you internship. SO before you can even be a clinical social worker, you are looking at....probably around 8 years. In Texas, where I live, there are 8 different kinds of licenses you can get as social work, each one requiring a different step. (you also have to pay for all your own testing, licenses, and renewals every 1-2 years, unless you find a company that will pay them for you).
I am in by no means trying to talk you out of this. I want you to be realistic. You are going to make very little money at first, or for your entire career, you will be overworked and stressed out. You will be doing a lot of work with people you can't even believe are still considered people, depending on what jobs you want to go into. You can't do any counseling until you get your clinical license, and if you are wanting to do counseling, then I suggest actually getting a counseling degree. Social workers work with society, hence "social". They help with families, communities, etc. Counseling deals with people individually. Two totally different things. The only benefits to being a social worker over a counselor is for some reason they can take medicare and counselors can't (don't even get me started on that, I think it's total crap since the counseling field with real counselors who went to school for counseling should get all insurance to cover counseling...) but that only matters if you want to counsel those who qualify for medicare.
I would STRONGLY STRONGLY advise working for the state, unless you know people who work for the state now and they can honestly tell you they like it. I work for my state now and it is horrible. It will make you question why you even cared to do this job in the first place because...unfortunately, state employees have this stigma of being overworked and underpaid and just giving up. Most of that is actually true. I would also avoid schools unless that is something you really want to do forever. Group practice, private practice, and mental health clinics in a nice hospital setting (not an inpatient psychiatric center) is what you should aim for. I would seriously talk to people who are social workers at hospitals, state jobs, clinics-wherever you can find them before you go into this field.
I love my career field, despite the low pay and horrible jobs and how long it took to ever get a slight bump in pay increase, I can't imagine myself doing anything different but I knew what it would take BEFORE I went into college. Do your research! And good luck
Sounds like a good plan as long as you don't borrow more money than you can pay back easily on an entry-level social worker's salary. I presume you already know the pay will be low? There's nothing wrong with accepting low wages as long as you are prepared for the resulting lifestyle.
So CD, I chose to post this because I'd like some opinions on this please. What are some negatives about the social work career? Do you have any experiences with social work, or know anyone that is one? Is this a wise career choice? In other words, post any bad things you have heard about social work as a career. I want to know about the bad parts of the job too, not just the good, that might make me reconsider and change my mind. Any and all thoughts on this will be read.
It's good you're asking this on CD but I want you to do some hard research (with numbers) first.
What are the unemployment rate for people in the shoes you will be in?
Are the recent graduates getting jobs? Go to your university and meet up with some students who are on the verge of graduating; do they have good prospects? Talk to them face to face.
Are employers hiring people with your expected qualifications?
What is the starting pay?
What are people with ten years experience doing?
What are the promotion prospects? How easy is it to change jobs?
Are there "Plan B" alternatives?
What happens to people who didn't like their career choice - did they manage to find something else?
What happens if the only job you can get is in North Dakota or Mississippi or Alaska?
It's good you're asking this on CD but I want you to do some hard research (with numbers) first.
What are the unemployment rate for people in the shoes you will be in?
Are the recent graduates getting jobs?
Are employers hiring people with your expected qualifications?
What is the starting pay?
What are people with ten years experience doing?
What are the promotion prospects? How easy is it to change jobs?
Are there "Plan B" alternatives?
What happens to people who didn't like their career choice - did they manage to find something else?
What happens if the only job you can get is in North Dakota or Mississippi or Alaska?
This won't happen I lived in North Dakota. There are no jobs there I will give you my run down on some of these questions:
The unemployment rate is low, you will get a job, will you like it or will it pay? Probably not.
Recent graduates are getting jobs...they are horrible (not all the time!)
Starting pay-don't expect much. My first job out of college paid $8.50. The highest paying job I got before I found this one almost 5 years later was $11.05.
People 10 years from now are either in private practice, group practice, or the same horrible job and can't get out.
Promotions are impossible. You come in as one thing, you stay that way. There is not a lot of promotional move...I mean, you can't really be a counselor then move up to a counselor executive or VP counselor...
It is hard to find better jobs. HARD!
Hmmm maybe I am trying to talk to you out of this...
I'm an 18 year old female who will be starting college in December. Right now, my plan is to get a bachelor's degree in Social Work and then hopefully get into a master's program to complete a Master's in Social Work and finally become a licensed clinical social worker.
Since I want to get a bachelor's in social work, I can get into an advanced standing program and finish my MSW in one year as opposed to two years it would take for anyone who didn't major in social work during undergrad. It sounds good to me, the master's will take only a year so I would save some money and time.
From what I read there are many options in social work. Of course with a BSW you can work with the state/city as a social worker, or work at adoption agencies. Add a MSW to that and you can be a social worker for schools, hospitals, even like private practices/clinics if you are a licensed clinical social worker. It's very similar to being a psychologist, minus the PhD.
So CD, I chose to post this because I'd like some opinions on this please. What are some negatives about the social work career? Do you have any experiences with social work, or know anyone that is one? Is this a wise career choice? In other words, post any bad things you have heard about social work as a career. I want to know about the bad parts of the job too, not just the good, that might make me reconsider and change my mind. Any and all thoughts on this will be read.
It doesn't pay very well but I think it's an admirable profession. I wish that social workers (as well as teachers) got paid a better salary than they currently do.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
no offense intended. Being a social worker is NOTHING even CLOSE to being a psychologist AT ALL. They don't even do the same thing, nothing even along the same lines of work. Also, they told you the master's would only take a year? Because I've never heard of that, I would seriously check up on that, most master's degrees in social sciences take at least 1.5-2.5 years. If you can get it in a year, that would be great!
