Learn more about our online MSW Program from Enrollment Advisor, Nadia Syed, and Program Director and Associate Professor, Donette Considine, as they discuss Regis College, the online MSW program’s objectives, courses, career outcomes, as well as answer some frequently asked questions.
Transcript
Nadia: Hi everyone. My name is Nadia, and I’ll be the moderator for this webinar. I have a long list of our different topics that we’re going to cover today, on our agenda. We willdefinitely cover some information about our school. We’ll go over the program structure, curriculum overview, admission requirements, and finally, of course, go for maybe some frequently asked questions. And of course, the live Q and A session will take place, as well.
Nadia: Let me introduce myself, a little bit. My name is Nadia, and I’m actually one of the admission advisors here at Regis College that specializes in the MSW Program. My role is to work with students, and provide support and guidance to those who are interested in applying to our program.
Nadia: I’m really passionate about education, and I really understand the importance of the social work profession in promoting not only just the well being of individuals, but families, and groups, as well. I’m very happy to work with Regis in helping students take that next step in their lives, and pursue a higher education.
Nadia: Now passing it on to Donette, to talk a little about herself, and start talking about the program. Thank you, Donette.
Donette: Thanks Nadia. Hi everyone. My name is Donette Considine, and I am the MSW Program Director, and I’m also an associate professor in the MSW Program. So I have administrative responsibilities, and I also teach in the program. So it’s a really nice blend to do both.
Donette: So a little bit about my background, and how I landed. I have 22 years of experience in higher education and social work practice. My areas of specialization in teaching are human behavior, looking at human development, practice areas. And then, the one that I never thought I would specialize in, is research. That one kind of took me by surprise, which I think you’ll find in your careers, the areas that you go that sometimes catch you a little bit off guard.
Donette: I also have a clinical practice. I live in Illinois. So I have a clinical practice, and I work with adolescents, adults, and specialize in couples therapy.
Donette: So I’ve been with Regis now, since the MSW Program began. Regis is a wonderful school, and I’m looking forward to telling you more about our program, and the college.
Donette: Regis is actually a really perfect fit for a social work program. The reason is that Regis has such a long history of service to others. And that goes back to the Sisters of Saint Joseph, and their values, which, in higher education, running educational programs in Boston. I think it’s actually since sometime in the 1800s, they’ve done that, the Sisters of Saint Joseph.
Donette: But the two values that really, really are such a great fit for our social work program, are two of the values of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. They are gracious hospitality, and love and service of the dear neighbor, without distinction. And I think those two speak so well to social work, because the purpose of our profession is really to promote human and community well being. That’s what we do. We try to help people function better, live better lives. And so Regis is a really natural partner for us.
Donette: We’re also a very student centered graduate program. I’m going to talk quite a bit about that today. But we’re very student centered. Regis is student centered. I think one of the kind of hallmarks of Regis College is having smaller class sizes. That’s whether you’re on the ground, or if you’re online.
Donette: So why an MSW? Because in an MSW education, you learn about so many different areas. You learn about sociology, psychology, biology, culture, policy. You have such a broad range of knowledge when you come out with an MSW degree. It’s a broad range, but it’s also a lot of depth to that knowledge. We don’t just skim the surface.
Donette: So because you have all of those different areas that you know about, that makes you really marketable, and it makes you really desirable. You know, one of things that one of my professors said, when I was doing my degree, was that how within five years, you’ll be asked to leave the front line of practice, and go into an administrative or executive position. And I think we are still seeing that trend is true now.
Donette: That is because of this kind of what we call breadth and depth of knowledge that you have. Because you understand all the different aspects of a person’s life, and you’re not focusing on just one specific area. So I think that’s one reason why you want an MSW degree. Because you can work in so many different fields.
Donette: You can work in hospital social work. You can then move from that and go to school. You can work in child welfare agencies. You could work in a homeless shelter. I mean, there is just such a diversity of things that you can do. You can work in forensic social work, and work in like a correctional center, or for probation. So there just such, such diversity in what you can do, in this field.
Donette: The other reason, I think, that you want an MSW degree is because of licensing. An MSW degree prepares you for licensure. Most of you, you can, I would say, you want to check your state where you live, but usually, typically, when you graduate with the MSW, you can sit, and you can take an exam to be a licensed social worker. We usually call that LSW.
Donette: And then, after a couple of years of experience, and so many hours of supervised experience, you can then become a licensed clinical social worker. The LCSW. That is really, I guess I would say, the coveted licensure, because it opens the doors to a lot of other possibilities for you, in the field, once you have that LCSW.
Donette: So really, I think, why you want the MSW degree, I think you will find that you will have greater movement in the profession. I think you’ll have greater opportunities. Because I was talking with one of our professors this morning, Dr. Lisa Gray, and she said that there are more social workers employed in behavior health than in any other profession. So that’s really the MSW, is really the degree to have.
Donette: Our program overview. To tell you a little bit about our MSW. So we accept transfer credit. If you have taken courses at another graduate program, we accept in, there’s some transfer credits that we will accept. Our degree will help prepare you for the licensing exam.
Donette: We have what we kind of distinctly break our program into two years. Really, year one is your generalist curriculum, and then the second is the specialized curriculum, which our specialization is clinical practice.
Donette: We also have what we call traditional track, or advanced standing track.
Donette: A traditional track is someone who comes into the program, with a degree other than social work. So if you have a degree in philosophy, or sociology, psychology, you would come in in the traditional track, and that takes eight semesters to complete.
Donette: Advanced standing is for someone who has a Bachelor’s of Social Work degree. A BSW. If you have a BSW from, we have a lot of acronyms in social work. So we have Council on Social Work Education. We say CSWE. So if you have a CSWE accredited, BSW degree within the last five years, then you can apply for advanced standing. If you have advanced standing, you get credit for the generalist year of the program. As long as your grades are a certain level, you get credit for that. So then it takes you only four semesters to complete the program. So that is definitely a perk for those who have a BSW degree, is for that advanced standing.
Donette: We also, though, when we say that the program is eight semesters, or four semesters, that can be extended, too. Life happens, and if you want to slow down, and not go through the program quite that quickly, then you would work with your MSW faculty advisor, and they would help you then kind of map out your curriculum. We’re there with you, all the way, through the program.
Donette: One of the nice things about our program, I think there are many, of course. I’m a little bit biased, but one thing I think that’s really nice is that we do have three start times a year. So you can enter the program in spring, summer, or fall. And it’s still then the eight semesters to complete, or the four semesters to complete the program, regardless of when you start, spring, summer or fall. You do classes for two semesters, then you start your first field placement, in your third semester.
Donette: Field experience. I’ll talk a little bit about that, because that’s a big deal in an MSW program. Field is considered by the Council on Social Work Education, field is the signature pedagogy. So really, that’s where you take what you learn in the classroom into the field placement. Field was the most exciting part of doing the MSW degree, because then I got to go and actually be in an agency, and actually work with clients. You take all the stuff that you’re learning in your classes, and then you take it, and you apply it. You actually start to do social work.
Donette: So you have two field experiences when you’re in the program. Your first one is 400, a minimum of 480 hours, which comes to roughly 16 hours a week. You do that first field placement over two semesters. So you kind of need to start thinking ahead for that. Like how am I going to arrange my life so that I can do 16 hours at an agency? Because most times, it’s during the daytime hours. There are some internships, though, that are available evening and weekend. And if that’s something that you want, you need to definitely plan early. So once you get started in the MSW Program, you want to start talking with our MSW field education director about that.
Donette: So in your first field placement, that’s what we call the generalist placement. You’re getting a little bit more general experience. We want you to work with a diverse group of clients. We want you to have exposure to many different things in the field. And if you don’t know where you want to do a placement when you come into the program, that’s okay, because you have two semesters of classes before you start the internship. So you have time to talk with the faculty, to talk with the field director, and to talk with your peers. Because knowing where they work, what they’re thinking about doing, that will help you then, in kind of making up your mind.
Donette: After you complete that first internship, then you have two more semesters of class only. And then, in your final two semesters of the program, that’s when you do your specialized, or clinical field placement. And that particular placement, that one is 600 hours, or about 20 hours a week. And there you’re going to be doing clinical work with clients. So in that one, you’re more apt to be doing a lot more individual work with clients. And when I say clients, I mean individuals, families, or groups.
Donette: So we will help you find your field placements. You’re not all alone on that. We have an MSW Field Education Director, and that is one of her roles, is to help you with a field placement. To help you find that, and to set up the learning agreement, so that you know exactly what you’re going to be doing there. So we will help guide you with that.
Donette: I’ll give you a little bit of overview about our curriculum. I think a really good place to start is, so how did you come up with this curriculum? How did you decide that this is what we need to know, as students in the program?
Donette: We’ve developed it, one, with CSWE guidelines. Our accrediting body has guidelines. Our curriculum is really broken out into the areas of HBSE, which is Human Behavior and the Social Environment. And then there’s practice, research, policy, and field. So those are the different areas of our curriculum.
Donette: So one, we look to CSWE for what they recommend, or require, that we teach in a curriculum. Then we look to our faculty, and the faculty expertise. We have just a wonderful group of faculty. All of our faculty have clinical experience. So we think about what we’re seeing in the field. We’re looking at the trends. We talk with other social work educators. And what are the trends? Kind of what direction is the field going?
Donette: When I entered the profession, in education, 22 years ago, there really wasn’t ever talk. I mean, very rarely did I hear talk about trauma as needing to be a focus in clinical practice. And now, that’s very much a strong focus. So there are trends that happen, and occur, in the field. So we look at those when we develop our curriculum.
Donette: I’ll kind of walk you through this, just a little bit, about our curriculum. We have, in the generalist year, you’re going to do practice courses. One, the very first one, that Social Work 600, that is community practice.
Donette: Then you have, you’ll do practice with individuals. Then a course on families and groups.
Donette: Then you have the HBSE courses. There are two. In the first course, you’re really learning about what we call a bio, psych, social, cultural, and spiritual assessment. We’re looking at all of those different areas of a person’s life, because all of those different areas affect how we show up day to day. Affects how we solve problems. It affects how we behave. And so we look at all of those, and we look at where are the strengths that a person has in those, and where are their challenges.
Donette: So in the HBSE courses, we’re really looking at assessment. How do we take this person in front of us, or this family, or group, in front of us, and how do we kind of understand it, and make sense of it? And make sense of them, and what’s happening in their life?
Donette: In the second HBSE course, in that course, we’re looking at human development, and really looking at the stages of development.
Donette: And then you have a policy course. And in that policy course, we’re looking at part of the mission of Regis College, and also of our MSW Program, is we want students to be leaders. We want you to be agents of change. We want you to be leaders for a more just, compassionate, and humane society. So in policy, we’re looking at how do we do those types of things on that kind of larger scale? What are the policies that impact our clients? What are the things that we need to think about with legislation? We’re seeing a lot of that right now, right? With things that are happening in our country, in the United States. With things that are happening with immigration. We’re seeing policy first hand. So it makes for a really dynamic learning environment, in that course.
Donette: Then we have a research course, because we need to be able to look at what other people are doing in practice, so that when we’re working with a client who may be, let’s say the client is suffering from depression, what are the best models to work with a person who’s suffering from depression? We don’t want to just pull that off the top of our head. We have an ethical obligation and responsibility to look and see what are best practices? So in the research courses, in the first and the specialized year, that’s where we focus on that.
Donette: Then you have field education, internship, and seminar. So in addition to doing your internship, you’re also then in a seminar course. Most of our courses are asynchronous, which means that you don’t have to be on the computer at the same time as everyone else. That’s with the exception of field.
Donette: With field, we do have some live, required live, sessions. That’s because you get together with your field instructor, with your teacher, and you get together with the other students, with your peers, and you talk about what’s happening in field. You say, hey, this situation came up. I don’t know. Is this like the right way? Did I handle this the best? Is there something else I could have done? Or, you know what? This happened, and I felt really uncomfortable, but I think it was okay. And then you can talk with the instructor, get some feedback, talk with your peers. You get a lot of support from your peers in that field course.
Donette: And for those live sessions, the instructors set those up. It’s in the evening hours, which is typically when you’re home from work, or later in the evening, after the kids are in bed, so that it’s a little bit easier. It’s a little bit more convenient for you, with this being online. We try to do that, to make that a little bit more convenient. That’s the generalist year.
Donette: Then in the specialized clinical year, you again have specific courses in practice with individuals, families, and groups. You learn, in those practice courses, you learn how to work with individuals. What are the therapeutic approaches to working with individuals? With families? With groups? You learn about all of that. And a focus is on the process. On that kind of therapeutic relationship that’s so important.
Donette: And then, like I said before, we have research, where in the specialized year, you’re actually evaluating a part of your practice.
Donette: And then we have the Clinical Assessment and Diagnosis, which is another practice course. Some schools call that psychopathology. It’s where we’re looking at classification systems with mental illness, and how, and understanding different mental illnesses, and how we work to help clients who suffer from those.
Donette: Then you have a class in policy and administration. Looking at, what are the policies that affect clinical practice? That affect our agencies? And how do we work with those?
Donette: And then also there’s a clinical capstone, which kind of wraps it all up, pulls it all together, and tries to help integrate. Really, one thing we’re looking at in the specialized year, is helping you develop your philosophy of practice, so that when you graduate with your degree, you are ready. You feel ready to jump right in, into the front line of clinical practice, and working with client systems. And sitting, if it’s a licensing exam, if you want to take that, the LSW, being prepared for that.
Donette: Then we also have you choose one elective in the program, in the specialized year. When we develop those electives, we’re looking at the trends. Kind of what’s happening in the field. Right now, we’re seeing the area, like I mentioned before, of trauma assessment. Trauma assessment and treatment. Substance abuse. Those are probably a couple that you would want to consider.
Donette: There’s also the possibility to take an elective outside of our department, with another program at Regis, if you wanted to, if they offered something that you’re interested in.
Donette: So that really kind of lays out our curriculum for you, in a nutshell. And that’s kind of a quick overview. But you really come out of our program with really solid, strong, clinical skills, and really being prepared for practice. We really want to help you develop that confidence, as a practitioner.
Donette: I was really pleased when I saw this particular slide, with a student testimonial. This student, Cheryl Knowles, goes by C.K., and I know that C.K. has the most marvelous cat. Now that’s kind of an odd thing for an instructor to know. But as an online program, we interact in a lot of different ways. One way that we interact is, we sometimes do, in classes that I teach, we do optional live sessions. In our optional live sessions, I held one for students, if they wanted to come into the live session, to get some tips and help on a final paper for a course.
Donette: So C.K. was on that live session, and she was holding her cat. I just, I love animals. So we had a long conversation about her cat. I think the reason that I tell that is because I think it’s really important for you to know that students are not numbers to us. That students are real people. That we, as faculty, and I can speak for all of the faculty in the MSW Program, that we really take time, and spend the time, getting to know the students.
Donette: Knowing that C.K. has two young children, when I was thinking about doing the live session, I was like, you know what? This is going to be important that we do this later in the evening. So I think it was like 9:00 P.M. Eastern, so that I knew that even if somebody was out in Colorado, that it was still hopefully after hours for them, for work, and for the people in the Midwest, that it’s still after hours. We try to make this convenient, so that everybody gets an opportunity to join in with us in the live sessions.
Donette: I know that Dr. Gray, and I think even Dr. Sodhi, have done some live sessions on the weekend, knowing that that might be a little bit easier for some students. So, like C.K. says here, yep, you can wear your pajamas. You sure can, in the live sessions. I don’t know if she was. That would be an interesting question I should ask her sometime.
Donette: But I think we are very, very student centered in our program. I think online education is helpful, because I think it’s all about finding your balance. It’s all about finding a balance when you have a job, when you have a family. And then especially when you add that internship in there.
Donette: Everything is laid out in advance, for your course. So you can look, right at the beginning, and you know all of the expectations for the course. You know all of the assignments. Most courses have at least one discussion question a week, that you write. And we have those so that the week for the class starts on Monday, and goes through Sunday. So we have it so that your discussion question is due on day five, which is Friday. So that gives you time to do the reading. To do any research you might need to do for your question, for your answer to it. So that gives you some time to really kind of digest the material.
Donette: So we have things so that they’re consistent. They are predictable. You can see all of that. So, I think, you are able to find a balance.
Donette: And then we have resources for you, too, in the program. There are live tutors that help with writing, with course content. Faculty are available to you. If you’re having an issue with something, we are more than happy to set up an individual appointment with you, to help you, to kind of guide you through.
Donette: You also have student support specialist the entire time you are in the program. And that person is there to help link you to resources, if you need them. That person helps guide you through things like registration, financial aid. That’s a student support specialist. That’s there.
Donette: And you also have an MSW faculty advisor. That person helps you with kind of your professional direction, and career, and what it is that you want to do.
Donette: I would say that one thing that’s important is really developing relationships with your peers in the program. Really getting to know those other students in your cohort, that enter the program when you do. Because you will really rely on each other for support, and for help, throughout the program. There are ways to balance doing a graduate degree.
Nadia: Let’s talk a little about the admission requirements now. As part of the online Master’s of Social Work Program, we will require a current resume, as part of the admission requirements. We will require your bachelor’s transcripts, as well as any other official transcripts that you hold, from any other degrees, or schools.
Nadia: There is an online application form, as well, which is going to essentially house all of these documents in. We also do require a Statement of Purpose. This is essentially a way for students to really talk about their goals, their motivations. Why it is that they’re really wanting to pursue this Master’s of Social Work degree. What they see their selves doing with this degree. So it’s a nice way to showcase all of that into this Statement of Purpose, which we actually do provide guidelines for, as well.
Nadia: We also do require two letters of recommendation. And then, finally, a background check. Now this isn’t part of what is needed when you’re applying, but it will be required for field placement.
Nadia: We have some commonly asked questions that we get. So we thought we would address some of them today. Donette, if you just want to talk a little about this. Is the program accredited by CSWE?
Donette: Sure. I’d be happy to answer that. Our program is currently in candidacy with CSWE. So any time that a new program wants to form, you want your program to be accredited. And you want that to be with the Council on Social Work Education. So there’s a process that you go through. And CSWE’s goal is not to prevent a program from being accredited, but it’s to be helpful, and supportive, as you go through that process.
Donette: We have successfully, we started out, we were pre-candidacy for our first year. We are now entering the second year, and we are in candidacy. That means we successfully completed year one. So CSWE requires, you have, it takes three years to get accreditation. The reason for that is, one, in your first two years, you’re kind of rolling out the red carpet, and you’re saying, here’s our program. Here’s our curriculum. Here’s what we want students to learn in our program. Here’s how we’re going to do it. That’s what you’re doing in the first two years.
Donette: Then, in the third year, you’re saying, okay, now we’re starting to collect data to show, here’s how our students are doing. Here’s how we’re taking that information to improve our program.
Donette: So we are in year two. We have a site visit coming up this fall. Everything has been going really smoothly in the accreditation process. What we’re going through is what every other school has either gone through, or is going through right now.
Donette: We anticipate having our initial accreditation in spring of 2021, and our first students will graduate in spring, 2021. Once we have that initial accreditation, then any student who’s entered the program from fall, 2018, and forward, will graduate from an accredited program. I am really confident that we are going to receive our accreditation. We have just a phenomenal faculty. We have several faculty who have been through this process before. I’ve guided a school through this process before. I really, I like accreditation. I like going through this, because you get some really good feedback on your program.
Donette: So we are in candidacy, and anyone who enters our program now, once we have our initial accreditation in spring of 2021, you will graduate from an accredited program.
Nadia: Thank you. Now, Donette, what makes the MSW Program at Regis College unique from other MSW programs?
Donette: I think that one thing that definitely makes us unique, is we are not like other online programs. We have, all of the faculty, we really make a concerted effort for that, that we want to stand out, and be different. Part of the way we do that is our faculty expertise.
Donette: All of the faculty have clinical experience. More than half of us are currently still engaged in clinical practice, either through volunteering, or through private practice. We do that so that we are in the front line. We are still working the front line, so that we have, we know what’s happening in the field.
Donette: And it also makes for such a great learning experience when you come back into the classroom, then. Because we will share like, well, you know, this is what I have found that works best. Or hey, here’s my hits, and here are my misses, in practice. And so you get to hear from faculties who’ve actually been doing the work that you want to do. I think there’s a lot of value in that.
Donette: Another thing that makes us unique is, all of our courses are developed by full time faculty. We are the ones that are actually taking the courses. We don’t hire content experts. We are the experts. So we develop the courses. We develop them. We have a lot of fun with it. We’re really creative with it. We bring in a variety of different things.
Donette: We have custom media pieces that we build for the courses. We have reading. There’s videos. There’s blogs. There’s podcasts. There’s a lot of different things that we bring in, because we know that people learn in a lot of different ways.
Donette: And a third thing is that we have small class sizes. You really get to know each other, your peers. And you really get to know the faculty, and we get to know you. Online, I think some people think you can kind of just kind of exist, and kind of hide. Not in our program. We don’t want you to. And you don’t want to. Trust me. You want to interact, because that’s where you really get a really great experience in interacting, and hearing what other people are doing. What’s working for them.
Donette: Like I said before, we’re very student centered. We have, at least once a semester, we have what we call an MSW community meeting. And that’s an optional live meeting, where we ask students to come on, and to join us, and to talk about what’s working. What isn’t working? What things can we offer to support you? So we talk with students, just about how is it going?
Donette: We also, if we’re thinking about adding anything, or changing anything, we talk about, hey, are there any student groups, or anything that you would like to have? So we want to hear from students. We want it to be a very interactive process. So we are very student centered.
Nadia: Excellent. Thank you Donette. So now we have some time for some questions. We do have one here, actually.
Nadia: The question here is, how long is the application process?
Nadia: So I can talk a little about this. Typically, the process is not too long. In terms of completing the application, we usually tell our students it can take about one, to one and a half weeks, really. Two weeks at the most. But again, we did go over the admission requirements. It’s a fairly simple process.
Nadia: The things that are really sometimes out of our control are transcripts, and letters of recommendations. But otherwise, everything else is very much doable within a week’s timeframe, really.
Nadia: So we have another question here. What if my G.P.A. is below a 3.0? Can I still apply? Donette, do you want to take this one?
Donette: Sure. Absolutely. Yes, you should still apply. And why should you still apply? That’s because we know, all of the faculty, we know that life happens. When I was doing my bachelor’s degree, I never had any thought that I would go on for a master’s or a doctorate. So when you’re doing your bachelor’s degree, and a lot of times, you don’t know what it is that you want to do, so you’re taking just a number of different courses. Maybe you’re doing really great in some, and not so great in others. We understand that. We get that. We know that that happens.
Donette: So yeah, definitely please still apply. In the application, on the Statement of Purpose, where you write a little bit about yourself, and why you’re seeking a degree in social work, you can also write there, just like in a paragraph, kind of what happened. For some people, maybe there was some family issues. You don’t have to tell us, in detail, what those are. But just a brief explanation of, kind of maybe what it was. I didn’t know what I wanted to study. There was a family issue. I was sick. But you can talk about that.
Donette: If the faculty aren’t sure, we do have the option of asking for an interview. Now, if you get a request for an interview, do not panic. The interviews, what I have found, when I look at those, because remember, I like research, so when I look at those, at the number of students that we interview, and kind of what the outcome, what the admission decision is, it usually works in the favor of the student. That just gives us an opportunity to talk with you a little bit more. Get to know you. Find out kind of what support you have, in your life now, to help you through graduate school. So if you get the request for interview, don’t worry. It’s an okay thing. It’s not an intimidating thing.
Donette: We are real people, too. We’ve been there. We understand. So yes, definitely please still apply if your G.P.A. is below a 3.0
Nadia: Thank you. So another question here is, what platform do we use to access our coursework, lectures, and assignments?
Nadia: Speaking to a little about this. The platform that we use is called Moodle. It’s noodle with an M. it’s very, very similar to Blackboard and eCampus. Very user friendly. You’re logging in, and all of your course work, assignments, lectures, everything is kind of there for you to really move forward with, and kind of get your course work done.
Nadia: Also, I think the great thing about our program, as well, is we actually provide access to the platform six weeks, I believe, prior to the beginning of classes. This is a great way for students to really just familiarize themselves with the layout. If there are any technical difficulties, or anything like that, all of that can be addressed early on. So I think that’s really nice, that you’ll be able to play around with it, and kind of figure out where everything is located.
Nadia: Again, very, very user friendly. So hopefully, there shouldn’t be any issues with that.
Nadia: Donette, you want to take this one?
Nadia: Is there any assistance available with finding our field placements?
Donette: Yes, there definitely is. We have a faculty member whose title is MSW Field Education Director. That faculty member works with students to help find field placements. We will ask you to identify three potential field placements, in your community. Then the field director will reach out to those three, and make sure that they have the type of learning experiences that we want you to have. And that they have someone there to supervise.
Donette: You can find an internship right in your community, or, depending if you live in a really small rural community, you may have to drive a little bit. Or, to get the experience that you want, you may need to drive a little bit.
Donette: When I did my master’s, one of my placements was in my community. For my second placement, I really wanted to work at a state psychiatric hospital. I really wanted to have that experience. There isn’t a state psychiatric hospital in my community. So I had to drive about 70 miles to go to my internship. Was that difficult? Yeah, sure. It was. But, I knew that was the learning experience that I wanted. So I chose to do that.
Donette: So I encourage you to look in your community, but really think about what is it that you want to gain? What learning experiences do you want, in getting your MSW? So look for agencies that offer those. Those may or may not be right in your community. But yes, we definitely have an MSW Field Education Director who will help you, and guide you, in the process. We ask that you identify some places, and then talk with the field director about which ones you think are a really good fit for you.
Nadia: Excellent. Similar, maybe going off of that question. How can I find a job after I graduate? Does Regis offer any career support?
Donette: Yes. Regis does offer career support. Just I think, I think really kind of what the support you would get with Regis is, I think helping you with your resume, with building that. I think you also get support in the program, because, like I said in that specialization year, we’re really helping you develop your philosophy of practice. We’re really looking at, how can we help you know how to answer interview questions. There are certain things that we want to make sure that we help you understand. Like what are kind of the best answers for things? And not just giving you what those answers are, but really encouraging you to think through what is your practice philosophy. What theories, what approaches, do you want to use? If you use those differentially, with different types of clients, how do you determine that? So I think that we can help you in that way, too. In interviewing.
Donette: And one of the things that we find with finding jobs after graduation, a lot of students find that really through their field placements. Because while you’re in your field placement, it’s a wonderful learning experience for you. You are also making a lot of connections, and relationships, with other people in the agency, or with other agencies. Depending on if there’s a team approach in different agencies, or organizations collaborate, you’re making your connections there, as well.
Donette: So there are a lot of different ways that we can help you, as you get closer to graduation, in finding a job.
Nadia: Thank you, Donette. So we actually have one last question here. It says, just a clarifying question. The application process is all done online, and everything is submitted online. To answer that, yes. The application process is done online, and as well as submitted online.
Nadia: In the next slide, you’ll see our contact information, and that way, you can definitely reach out to us. An advisor will reach out to you, and they’ll provide you with maybe the online link, and the next steps, and maybe the process with that.
Nadia: But all of it is submitted online. Once you actually start the application, you’ll come to a page where, again, you fill out your basic personal information. Again, you’ll be able to house all of your documents in. For example, the resume, Statement of Purpose.
Nadia: So thank you, Donette, for your insight into the MSW Program today. Thank you so much to everyone who attended today, and for your questions. If you have any further questions, again, please contact us at the admissions department. If you are interested in applying, we are now accepting applications for the fall term.
Nadia: Thank you everyone, and have a great evening.