Major career change, cosmetology to MSW/LMSW

[bonjourcat]

I went to college for a semester after high school but dropped out due to lack of direction and chose to pursue a career in cosmetology. I've been working behind the chair for the past 16 years which has been really great but it's time for a change. While I love the technical and creative aspects of my job I've come to realize how much I enjoy working with people and making genuine human connections -- there are so many aspects of what I currently do that align with the goals of social work. Obtaining an MSW + LMSW appears to be the best and most versatile option to continue working with people and also do work that feels more fulfilling and challenging. I'm looking for the quickest route to an MSW so I can rejoin the workforce in a more meaningful way. My spouse and I are able to fulfill financial responsibilities on one income so I won't have to worry about working alongside schoolwork. I have no credits to my name so I'll be starting from scratch. I was looking at Wayne State University's online MSW program but I found this forum via this degreeforum.net google result which led me to posting here. Any advice would be super appreciated! 


Your location: Michigan, United States
Your age: 36
What kind of degree do you want?: Master of Social Work/LMSW
Current regional accredited credits: 0
Current ACE, CLEP, or NCCRS credits: 0

Any certifications/military experience?: no

Budget: Ideally as inexpensive as possible. I'm really committed to making a career change so price/student loan debt isn't super on my radar

Commitments: One preschooler and my spouse. I work two days a week and my spouse is able to work from home when needed

Dedicated time to study: 20-30 hours per week

Timeline: As quickly as possible, preferably >5 years

Tuition assistance/reimbursement: none

[Jonathan Whatley]

For your bachelor's, UMPI through their YourPace competency-based education (CBE) program is a great school choice, and their BA in Psychology is your most on-point degree there.

Before enrolling at UMPI, you can start earning credits to meet their general education requirements and to fill the general elective space in your degree elsewhere. Most of the Psychology major, you would complete from UMPI.

Sophia, an alt-credit provider – meaning it isn't an accredited college itself, but its courses are recommended for college credit by one of the two national agencies that review such courses, in this case the largest one, the American Council on Education (ACE) – is the most popular way right now to complete most gen eds and free electives prior to enrollment at UMPI.

You were lucky to come across that post by studyingfortests. Check out studyingfortests' advice on this recent thread for an MSW seeker too.

[bjcheung77]

@bonjourcat, Welcome to the board, that's a good introduction post with the addendum/template and some extra info, I'm going to copy/paste what I mentioned in the previous thread that was linked earlier about the MSW program seeker. Can you answer the same questions below? You can also review the pathways I mentioned as well if you wanted...

Welcome to the board, great initial intro post with basic addendum and template details.  Just a quick question, are you planning just MSW or would you be pivoting to different yet similar roles such as Counselling or Family Therapy, etc?  It really depends how you want to play your cards, since you mentioned a BA Psych, you can or may want to get the TESU or UMPI BA Psych, if you can get away with a minor, you can do the TESU BALS Psych or UMPI BLS Psych and ladder that to a Walden MS Psych and lastly join the PSY CHI Society if you want to stay in the field of Psychology.  If you want to pivot to Counselling or Family Therapy, get the Masters of your choice at Kairos University, you can decide which way to go and maybe even go for the Kairos Doctorate...

Here is a possible pathway you may want to investigate: https://kairos.edu/academics/programs/
MASTER OF ARTS IN COUNSELING
MASTER OF ARTS IN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY
DOCTOR OF PROFESSIONAL COUNSELING

[bonjourcat]

For your bachelor's, UMPI through their YourPace competency-based education (CBE) program is a great school choice, and their BA in Psychology is your most on-point degree there.

Before enrolling at UMPI, you can start earning credits to meet their general education requirements and to fill the general elective space in your degree elsewhere. Most of the Psychology major, you would complete from UMPI.

Sophia, an alt-credit provider – meaning it isn't an accredited college itself, but its courses are recommended for college credit by one of the two national agencies that review such courses, in this case the largest one, the American Council on Education (ACE) – is the most popular way right now to complete most gen eds and free electives prior to enrollment at UMPI.

You were lucky to come across that post by studyingfortests. Check out studyingfortests' advice on this recent thread for an MSW seeker too.

Thank you for your reply! Re: completing gen eds — is the ACE route similar to CLEP? I took five AP tests in high school with four 5’s and one 4 so I imagine I’m still a great test taker. I was wondering how easily or far I could CLEP myself forward, but I don’t know if that’s super lofty and I don’t want to skip anything that I really should take a class for. I’m mostly wanting to miss having to take the gen eds so your reply feels really spot on. 

As far as transferring from UMPI to WSU I’m assuming I can ask Wayne if they accept those transfer credits right? I’ve read conflicting information on “really super extra making sure your credits are legit and will transfer” etc. and I want to make sure I’m doing things the correct way so I don’t have to repeat anything.

[rachel83az]

CLEP takes too long and actually costs more in the long run than using Sophia.org. But the concept is similar.

If you passed the AP exams, BTW, you have college credit. It'll be some work to be able to access your results, but definitely worth it.

[bonjourcat]

@bonjourcat, Welcome to the board, that's a good introduction post with the addendum/template and some extra info, I'm going to copy/paste what I mentioned in the previous thread that was linked earlier about the MSW program seeker.  Can you answer the same questions below?  You can also review the pathways I mentioned as well if you wanted...

Welcome to the board, great initial intro post with basic addendum and template details.  Just a quick question, are you planning just MSW or would you be pivoting to different yet similar roles such as Counselling or Family Therapy, etc?  It really depends how you want to play your cards, since you mentioned a BA Psych, you can or may want to get the TESU or UMPI BA Psych, if you can get away with a minor, you can do the TESU BALS Psych or UMPI BLS Psych and ladder that to a Walden MS Psych and lastly join the PSY CHI Society if you want to stay in the field of Psychology.  If you want to pivot to Counselling or Family Therapy, get the Masters of your choice at Kairos University, you can decide which way to go and maybe even go for the Kairos Doctorate...

Here is a possible pathway you may want to investigate: https://kairos.edu/academics/programs/
MASTER OF ARTS IN COUNSELING
MASTER OF ARTS IN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY
DOCTOR OF PROFESSIONAL COUNSELING

Yes absolutely! I like having the option to go the LPC/private counseling route but the more I read about social work and the MSW degree I’m leaning more towards the macro side of things. I’d love to get involved in things like community mental health/outreach, hospice, patient advocacy, more than I’d want to do individual therapy. I was originally majoring in physics my first go around so it feels natural to move toward a degree that utilizes data collection and academia in a broader sense than just psychology. Definitely happy to answer anymore questions!

---

CLEP takes too long and actually costs more in the long run than using Sophia.org. But the concept is similar.

If you passed the AP exams, BTW, you have college credit. It'll be some work to be able to access your results, but definitely worth it.

Oh wow that’s good to know! I figured they probably wouldn’t count because it’s been such a long time lol. 

I think I need a bit more information on how Sophia.org works vs CLEP but yeah if it will be quicker and save money I’ll go the Sophia route for sure. Thank you!

[natshar]

You might have more done than you think. If you have AP credits than you already have college credits. You said you dropped out after a semester. Did you complete any courses?

Also Michigan has the Michigan reconnect program. FREE community college if you are over 25. You could use this to take a few courses like maybe Intro to Social Work or something, might make things easier with grad school. Also maybe take your lab science in person too. And maybe even some of the pysch courses that can't be done via study.com or sophia. Just a thought. You could get an associate's degree with as little as 15 credits at CC (if you found one that accepts 45 credits by exam and used AP and CLEP for the rest. You don't have to do this because it is an extra step, but it might be at least work doing Intro SW at CC to be sure this is a career path you want to pursue. I know a good deal about Michigan CC's and have earned associates degrees from a few of them, message me for more info on that. I feel like I know their policies better than some of the people who work there, especially when it comes to exam credit. Message me if you need help with navigating Michigan CCs.

https://www.michigan.gov/reconnect

I would recommend the UMPI Psychology BA with a human services minor. You could also earn a certificate:
Gen Eds: https://degreeforum.miraheze.org/wiki/UMPI_!General_Education_Requirements_Roadmap

Major: https://www.umpi.edu/yourpace/academic_programs/ba-psychology/

Human Services Certification: https://www.umpi.edu/yourpace/academic_p...ification/

Human Services Minor: http://catalog.umpi.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=6&poid=642&returnto=225

To obtain the Human Services minor you'd need one more course SWK 236 which maybe you could transfer in or get waived with a similar course sub or something. Or just forgo the Human Services minor and just do the BA Pysch and certificate.

[Jonathan Whatley]

Thank you for your reply! Re: completing gen eds — is the ACE route similar to CLEP? I took five AP tests in high school with four 5’s and one 4 so I imagine I’m still a great test taker. I was wondering how easily or far I could CLEP myself forward, but I don’t know if that’s super lofty and I don’t want to skip anything that I really should take a class for. I’m mostly wanting to miss having to take the gen eds so your reply feels really spot on.

CLEP and AP are more or less also forms of alt-credit, but we sometimes talk about them as separate categories. CLEP and AP are accepted at more schools in total than the newer generation alt-credit such as Sophia via ACE.

As rachel83az indicated, AP scores are archived. I'm not seeing that there's any time limit on AP archiving. (CLEPs are deleted after 20 years.) You can order your archived AP transcript for $25.

You can expect those APs to cover some of your gen eds today!

Alt-credit programs like Sophia and Study.com are similar to CLEP in that they're largely self-study, generally self-paced, and usually culminate in an exam. Unlike CLEP, there are typically other required elements to complete the newer-gen alt-credit course: often open-book quizzes, sometimes written assignments. These are rarely onerous.

CLEP could still be part of your degree plan today, if there was a subject you'd rather fulfill by CLEP than alt-credit.

I used a mix of CLEP, CLEP-like exams (DSST, TECEP, and the late lamented UExcel and ECE), college courses, and alt-credit courses (including Sophia and Study.com), in my bachelor's.

As far as transferring from UMPI to WSU I’m assuming I can ask Wayne if they accept those transfer credits right? I’ve read conflicting information on “really super extra making sure your credits are legit and will transfer” etc. and I want to make sure I’m doing things the correct way so I don’t have to repeat anything.

Ah: Under this plan you wouldn't be transferring from UMPI to WSU. When you complete your bachelor's degree at one school, then apply for a master's at another school, you're not considered a transfer student and the credits in your bachelor's are not considered transfer credit.

The master's school generally will review your transcript, but except for special cases not really pertinent here, it will not audit it so closely as to consider whether or not each credit would be accepted in transfer in its own bachelor's program.

[natshar]

Also CLEP tests aren't bad. I've taken a bunch myself. The reading ones are just reading comprehension. You could just try to take multiple in one day. They are one and done.

[Jonathan Whatley]

(Issue addressed in natshar's post below!)