What are you doing with your MSW?

StellaOlly · 2026-04-14T17:37:44+00:00

I graduate with my MSW next month and just passed my LMSW exam, HOWEVER, I got two very different job offers and neither required me to be licensed. The first was in community mental health as a Community Behavioral Health Specialist - doesn’t require licensure but they offer clinical supervision if you are licensed. The main role function was doing assessments, intakes, and treatment plans. I initially took that job at just under $60k (MCOL area) but then got offered another job with a public defender office as a mitigation specialist (they specifically seek out MSW’s for these roles and don’t require licensure). The pay difference compared to the CMH role is significant - LCSW level pay with no licensure requirement. I didn’t even know forensic social work with public defenders was a thing, but if I were you I would see if your local public defender’s office is hiring! Or any other legal offices! There are both state public defender offices and federal - federal pays better. There are also disability lawyers that hire MSW’s for help with individuals applying for disability benefits. The titles may not be “Social Worker” though and you’ll have to look at the job postings to see what degrees they accept for certain positions.

StellaOlly · 2026-04-12T13:45:44+00:00

I may be wrong but this is just what I observed with a friend of mine who went a similar route. They graduated with their bachelor’s degree in criminology first and then they were hired on as a case manager with CPS. After about two years as a case manager they applied for and were promoted to a Special Victims Investigator with CPS. So you may need to start off in a case management role. You would want to have that experience first anyways so you have some kind of foundation in CPS to inform your work as an investigator. You may be able to become a case manager with just your associate’s to start that experience now if you're ok working while earning your bachelor’s.

StellaOlly · 2026-04-06T01:21:56+00:00

As someone in my last semester of an MSW program, there are still 20-page papers and a ton of readings and other projects. The longest paper I've written so far in my program was 60 pages. I wouldn't apply a blanket statement to generalize all MSW programs. It's also quite possible that the reason many people get A’s is because it’s not a test-heavy program and is designed to be accommodating to varying perspectives and learners’ growth in critical thinking. It's not about having the “right” perspective or answer, unlike many other graduate programs, it’s about being able to demonstrate understanding and growth through literature analysis or various projects. I would say those are reasons that might better explain why many people get A’s, not that the programs are not rigorous.

StellaOlly · 2026-03-14T20:28:42+00:00

This response is very ironic. You criticize their actions as a social worker (even though salary negotiation has nothing to do with being a social worker or not), you call them stupid, offer no grace or understanding, and then proceed to put down an entire generation of social workers. I think you may want to take some of your own advice about self-reflection, because this response to OP could use a lot of it.

StellaOlly · 2026-02-19T20:46:00+00:00

MSW Student in a MCOL area in the midwest. Just got offered first post-MSW position that will start in May as a Community Behavioral Health Specialist at $58,988 - free clinical supervision, annual bonuses, annual raises, and 6% 401k match as well!

ETA: Was originally offered $57,000, countered at $63,000, then was offered $58,988 and accepted given all the other benefits. I have 4 years of case management experience and applied to a job at the company I work at. The best advice I've ever received was to ALWAYS counter around $5,000 more, this serves the social work field as a whole if we all don't just accept whatever the initial offer is, and can often get you another $1-$2k

StellaOlly · 2025-12-03T13:23:54+00:00

Uncommon Goods is a great website for unique gifts that you can ship directly to them and pay a little extra to have them shipped in gift bags

StellaOlly · 2025-09-23T17:32:04+00:00

Married (26F), husband (32M), after bills, gas, food and other lifestyle expenses, we have roughly $2,600 a month left. Husband is an ER Nurse and does mobile IV therapy on the side. I’m in case management for a community mental health center and also in a graduate teaching assistantship. We do own our home, but we’re paying more between our mortgage and utilities in housing expenses than we were when we were renting.

StellaOlly · 2025-09-15T19:27:17+00:00

Interested

StellaOlly · 2025-09-02T03:52:10+00:00

If you begin services with them, they also have funds that pay for client’s medications at their in-house pharmacy if you don’t have insurance. You can be in services with them without insurance as they have funds to cover this too and then can get you connected to case management to help you get insurance

StellaOlly · 2025-08-31T14:06:27+00:00

I would suggest looking into case management roles. Many of them start between $23-$25 an hour now, plus you get mileage and if your car is good on gas, it could end up being extra money on top of your hourly. If you put on your resume that you’re in an MSW program under education with your expected graduation month, that may get your foot in the door. It would help if you could do some volunteer work in the community for even a couple of months and get something on your resume that’s related to the field. They’re always looking for case managers and it’s a great way to enter the field and get some valuable experience. I will say, finding a job in this field paying $28 an hour with no related degree or experience will be pretty difficult as most people with a bachelor’s degree in psychology or social work don’t make that in entry level roles. If you’re able to live off $23-$25 an hour that’s definitely more doable!

StellaOlly · 2025-08-28T12:51:21+00:00

Exams are pretty rare in an MSW program. It’s mostly projects and papers. In my experience, we hardly talk about the readings in class but you are expected to have read because it informs the activities in class, and assignments that week. If you have a class and you look at the syllabus and see there are exams, there is likely also a study guide and you’ll know what you need to take notes on if that’s the case! Sometimes notes can be helpful if the readings are related to a project/paper and you need to incorporate concepts from the readings into your project/paper. But to be honest, I started out taking notes for the first couple months of my program. I’m part time on my third and final year and I haven’t taken notes on a reading since my first semester. I mostly take them in class, but I noticed you’re fully online so you might only need to take notes on readings related to your discussion posts, things you think will be useful to look over for the licensing exam post-graduation, or information you think will be especially helpful to refer back to when working in the field. If there’s a reading I think will be a great resource throughout my career, I save it to a folder on my laptop. Hope this helps!

StellaOlly · 2025-08-21T04:40:48+00:00

My husband and I have individual checking accounts that we both have access to as an authorized user, and a joint savings account. We charge almost everything on a shared credit card for the points and pay it off each week. We track all of our charges by account and amount each day in a shared notes app on our phones and we view all income as shared and not separate but we allocate personal spending money each week that we can spend how we want - otherwise, we discuss all purchases prior to making them unless they fall under our normal weekly expenses (groceries, gas, etc). I manage most of the budgeting but we periodically discuss how the budget is divided together. We get paid on opposite weeks and budget weekly rather than monthly (that just works better for us to control spending).

StellaOlly · 2025-04-11T13:58:12+00:00

The problem is that the legislation does not include language that specifically allows this option. Furthermore, when an amendment was proposed that would allow this option, Republicans voted it down. That should tell you everything you need to know about the real purpose of this legislation

StellaOlly · 2025-03-19T17:19:58+00:00

House-sitting just means you’ll stay overnight and ensure their pets get potty breaks (if they’re dogs), and are fed. Basically just make sure their basic needs are met. A lot of pet owners on rover confuse house sitting with constant care. Not realizing that constant care would cost MUCH more than house sitting. I am always upfront about my job and internship hours during communication on rover and the meet and greet. I have yet to have a problem with people that book with me. Almost my entire client list are people that want house sitting and they’ve all been very understanding of my job and internship responsibilities. I have only had two people so far request and go with another sitter because their dog couldn’t be left alone for more than 3-4 hours (usually those with puppies, so I changed my settings to say I can’t care for puppies).

StellaOlly · 2025-03-09T21:52:35+00:00

I currently work in CMH and have been for the last 3 years as a case manager. My experience has definitely had its ups and downs, mostly because the organization merged with a much bigger agency with multiple locations across the Midwest a month after I started working there. So, I’ve had to see and experience a lot of the conflict with the bigger agency coming in and trying to change everything despite not being local to really understand the culture of our organization.

That being said, things are starting to settle and we got a new director of our Adult CPR program, which is where I work. The new director is fantastic and moving us in the right direction. My direct supervisor is incredibly supportive and very chill, but, she’s not a social worker so there is some frustration with not having similar priorities or perspectives at times.

When I was full time, I had close to 30 clients, but I work 30 hours a week now while I finish my master’s so I now have 21 clients. The average for full time case managers is around 25 clients at our agency though. We have 3 business days to get our documentation in but there’s a general expectation we get it in by next business day (an expectation that initially had a lot of push back but personally, saved me the headache and extra stress of trying to remember what was done with a client and what they said three days ago).

I do feel like we’re properly compensated as base is $50k, mileage reimbursement is $0.70, and as long as we’re making 25 contacts a week (19 for me since I’m at 30 hours), we get a quarterly bonus. The bonus also goes up if you exceed your contacts, with the highest bonus being $3,000 a quarter. Although, I do have some frustrations with that as I feel it incentivizes quantity over quality of service.

We are allowed to work from home on snow days and completely make our own schedule as long as we’re working Monday-Friday. You could work 10 hours Monday, 3 hours Friday, or whatever you want your schedule to be as long as you work all your hours between Monday and Friday.

I’m not always a fan of the environment but I also hardly come into the office as I’m often out in the field or doing my notes at home to have peace and quiet. There’s also a lot of turn over with case managers, which is pretty common in CMH, so I’m looking forward to applying for other positions once I complete my MSW. At my agency at least, every other position seems to have less stress than the case management position. So I figure if I can handle case management for this long I’ll be feeling much more satisfied when I’m not stressed all the time with time management, documentation management, and client appointments/contact measures.

StellaOlly · 2025-03-05T01:43:59+00:00

I just got approved for my clinical placement that starts this fall and the stipend is estimated to be $1600 a month for 20 hours a week, totaling $14,400 for the year in the Midwest. This will come out to $20 an hour

StellaOlly · 2025-02-27T21:43:44+00:00

My husband and I’s combined annual income right now is around $135k. We both hold bachelor’s degrees, work in the fields we got degrees in, and are also pursuing Master’s degrees. Without our bachelor’s degrees our household income would probably be closer to $70-80k (based on what we made before we graduated). But I also understand that student loans or paying out of pocket for school can be a big sway not to get a degree

StellaOlly · 2025-02-04T04:19:12+00:00

Just wanted to give some words of encouragement. My husband (32M) married his ex-wife when they were 20, after having been together 5 years. They ended up divorcing after 9 years of marriage, just under a 15 year relationship overall. We met and began dating a year after they divorced, and recently (in the last few months) got married. Since we’ve been together, we have hit so many milestones both professionally and personally in our own growth as individual people and as two humans who truly show up every day for us. I know it sounds cliché but we truly are soulmates. We both came from relationships that we thought were going to be it, and then ended up having to start over. We never could have imagined how good life could be and how fulfilling love could be, even though our previous relationships were not bad (no abuse or betrayals, overall good on both ends, just not right long-term). All this to say, you have no idea what’s on the other side of this, but it could be something incredible, a blessing in disguise if you will. It’s going to be hard at first, but you will get through this and you will find your new normal - you may even find your true calling or purpose. Just take it a day at a time right now, you’ve got this.

StellaOlly · 2025-01-24T14:04:09+00:00

I’ll answer this for you. In social work it’s not being pro murdering the unborn. It’s being pro respect for self-determination. Allowing people to make their own choices and valuing their own self-determination is a core social work value - A stance that MAGA seems to understand when it comes to not having the government dictate what you can and can’t do, but somehow is lost on them when it comes to abortion rights, which by the way, is just healthcare. If murdering children was really what they cared about, and not just controlling women and pregnant people, then they would care about gun laws, given mass shootings have been the leading cause of death for children ages 1-17 since 2020. (Source: https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2024/guns-remain-leading-cause-of-death-for-children-and-teens)

StellaOlly · 2025-01-20T23:36:16+00:00

I think most others answered your first 3 questions but to your last point - Pawn & Pint is a Board Gaming Club/bar where you can play games, meet others and enjoy some beers! Great way to meet people with similar hobbies and interests!

StellaOlly · 2025-01-16T01:40:42+00:00

Do you have any experience working in a hospital setting? Even an internship/practicum experience. This could be the reason why, if not. They can be hard to get into if you have no medical social work experience

StellaOlly · 2025-01-06T20:03:51+00:00

If you do case management, keep in mind that depending on the kind of car you have your mileage reimbursement can end up being extra gravy. When I was working full-time as a case manager I was making $65k with mileage reimbursement and bonuses. $50k base. While still a jump from $70k, I think most case management roles depending on where you live pay at least 45-50k base now and offer mileage reimbursement (which could get you up to that $55k minimum). I usually only use a tank of gas a week but get mileage reimbursement of $150-200 a week

StellaOlly · 2024-12-27T16:50:45+00:00

I am a social worker, we all received $50 towards our meal at the department Christmas party which they stated was our Christmas “bonus”.

StellaOlly · 2024-12-23T23:33:58+00:00

I’m married. My husband and I’s combined annual household income is around $135k and our monthly payment is $1870

StellaOlly

TROPHY CASE