AboutElizabeth Rose, MSW Expertise I will answer general questions about the profession of social work, especially health care social work. I can refer you to other resources for more specifics.
Experience I write for and manage the website, Social Work World, http://socialworkworld.org, and spent 30 years in health care social work and management.
Question Hi ELizabeth. I am leaving higher education after 25 years, most recently as VP for Student Affairs. I'm very interested in pursuing an MSW or LPC (already have MBA). My first question is which would you recommend? Would my MBA and/or previous work experience give me a leg up in any way (I feel like I could probabbly pass a licensing exam with my background with students:)? Last, given that I have a 1.5 year window of time to pursue it full time, how would you suggest I proceed. I have many more questions, but there must be a limit on this webpage, if not your patience. Thank you for your thoughts.
Catherine
Answer First of all, 48 is not old when a 2 year Masters can get you a MSW by age 50!
Second, I would want to know your goal. What do you want to do with your second Masters?
Of course, any academic or life experience will help you both with your future work and with a licensing exam. Unless you have test phobia!
I, of course, believe in the MSW as that is the career path I chose many years ago. I'll tell you why and that might help you see if your career direction and values dovetail with mine at all.
I chose the MSW because:
1. I had a BSW and knew I needed more schooling to progress in my career, gain more responsible positions and make more money.
2. I believed strongly in the systems perspective that a social work degree brings with it. I didn't believe that all social problems could be solved by changing individuals. I also found that social work values were consistent with my personal values. So it was a good fit.
3. I liked the MSW program I chose. It was bilingual bicultural in Spanish/English which fit well with my previous studies in meso-american archeology, etc as well as my studies in the Spanish language. So there was a fit there as well.
4. I had been convinced that the MSW, as long as it was from a CSWE accredited school, was fairly transferrable from state to state and was required for licensure. I have found that to be true as I have been licensed in 3 states.
5. I also was convinced that the MSW was recognized more widely in health care and in in terms of reimbursement from insurance should I want to be in private practice.
So those were my reasons. My goal was to work in direct practice, and then administration in an acute health care setting, which I did for 30 years.
So then we return to the question, what is your goal? What do you want to do?
I hope this is helpful and gives you some food for thought.
