bachelors of art- psychology degree

mille

Mon, May 12 2014, 1:57 pm

Can you clarify - do you already have a BA in Psych, or are you looking to obtain a BA in Psych? You say you don't have any degree, but you're asking about a degree in social work -- most social work degrees are masters programs, and the ones that are bachelors do not allow you to take the licensing exam without a masters and supervised experience in the field.

Honestly, social work is a very face-to-face career. I highly highly recommend NOT doing an online degree program for an MSW. For a face-to-face career, you should be trained in a face-to-face program, NOT online. There are certain aspects of social work that you just won't pick up from an online course, even if you are super brilliant. You lose out on the benefit of having a real mentor you can interact with.

Beyond that, many exclusively online programs are frowned upon at best and not accredited at worst. If it's not accredited, you're literally throwing money away. If it's frowned upon, you may have trouble getting a job. Your best bet in this regard is to do a program that offers online classes but is through a university that also has face-to-face classes. But again, see point one, you would benefit from in person classes IMO especially if this is career change for you. I'm not trying to be a downer, but as someone in a Psychology-related graduate field, I see a lot of psych majors in undergrad with extremely unrealistic expectations about the field of psychology and actual career possibilities with levels of degrees. I highly recommend speaking to someone with an LCSW about the field in general to see if it's a good fit for you.

If you have no degree, look at your local community college to start with an Associate's degree. If your ultimate goal is social work, you'll probably need to work your way up to a master's, but you would be starting with the 2 year degree. Community college is much more likely to take you many years out of school, and it's significantly cheaper. When you complete your AA and are ready to transfer to a 4 year university, I would recommend looking at CUNY/SUNY schools to keep costs down as well. It's also worth applying to financial aid no matter where you go.

amother

Mon, May 12 2014, 3:48 pm

mille wrote:

thanks! I actually discussed this with people- including a mentor who is a lcsw and she thought I would be a great candidate in this field. I have no degree at all- was thinking of doing my bachelors through tti and then going either to Sarah Schenirier or Touro for my masters. I want to do it slowly- over the course of a couple of years, which is why I thought online would be the best.

how do you become eligible for financial aid?

mille

Mon, May 12 2014, 7:25 pm

amother wrote:

Just so you know, "a couple years" is a bit unrealistic. The USUAL pace for a Bachelor's degree is 4 years, with 15 credits per semester (for a total of 120 credits, and an AA would be 2 years/60 credits). A Master's is typically 2 years, and the licensing requires a number of supervised hours on top of the 2 years. At a very minimum, discounting the licensing exam, you are looking at 6 years of schooling, which is a bit more than "a couple". If you are looking to do it slowly, you might be looking at more like 8 to 10 years all said and done.

ectomorph

Mon, May 12 2014, 7:41 pm

lisa.z wrote:

What about with a private practice?

In every profession, there are rich people and poor people.

However, I have several friends who have tried to start a private practice unsuccessfully in frum communities. The field is currently flooded.

If you are outstanding and feel compelled to choose this career and you have a niche that is needed - yes you should. But if you're trying to earn money and this seems like an easy way, you should be aware that it is very, very difficult to make money as an LCSW in the frum community.

amother

Mon, May 12 2014, 8:11 pm

I am in SW school now. I entered after doing a 3 1/2 year BA degree. I started my masters while pregnant with #1. Granted, I did something stupid and took a semester maternity leave, but part time would have taken me 3 years to complete. Now I am BH expecting #2 and will give birth IY"H during my first year (out of 2) of interning. I will probably not get much leave from my interning, and it won't be easy. My classmates who are doing it full time tend to be very overwhelmed, as that could be close to 30 hours a week combined internship and class time.

Anon cuz no one knows that I'm expecting yet.

MMCH

Mon, May 12 2014, 8:55 pm

if you dont have ur bachelor's yet, I would start with that at an accredited good college, Touro (if u want to spend the money) CUNY's (brooklyn,queens, hunter, baruch) are all great schools and cheaper, and take classes in psychology, sociology, human resources and see if you like it.

just to echo what other posters are saying, if you are starting from scratch, you are looking at a MINIMUM of 6 years. thats with taking full credits every single semester. I dont know if you have children, or if you plan to work, but even when I was single I never took full semesters bc I worked.and taking full credits is alot of work.

and pls pls pls research EVERY single school, whether online, or frum or wtvr to make sure its a good program, bc u wud be otherwise be throwing away thousands of dollars.

p.s. have you considered Bulka? (if you are in NY) I have a bunch of friends who did it,and were very happy, but its very expensive.

glowing

Sun, May 18 2014, 6:36 pm

first of all, good for you that youre motivated to get the training. as the above ppl mentioned, its going to take you time. the quickest itll take you is prob 4-5 years and that would be intense. I have a degree in social work but the bummer of it is that the schooling is super expensive 60,000 dollars and the salaries are low..but I dont know any place that doesnt charge a lot for the schooling. what about another field like special ed or something else? where you may be able to get it thru TTI or another heimish cheaper place and make a decent salary? lots of hatzlacha...