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Macro social work with law degree?

I don’t know if anyone knows the answer to this but I am wondering if anyone knows whether you can essentially do macro level social work with a law degree or if you need an MSW? Things like community outreach/research, advocacy and lobbying for social policy change, etc

Comments

  • hopefullinghopefulling Member
    905 karma

    Do you also have to take the GRE to apply for the joint MSW program? ... I know when I looked at a joint degree years ago, it required both the GRE and GMAT. But, there are some graduate programs that don't even require the GRE.

  • 769 karma

    @hopefulling said:
    Do you also have to take the GRE to apply for the joint MSW program? ... I know when I looked at a joint degree years ago, it required both the GRE and GMAT. But, there are some graduate programs that don't even require the GRE.

    The only school in my state with a joint MSW program is BC (which doesn’t require a GRE) and so I’m wondering if I don’t get in there if I go to Northeastern if I can still basically do the same things

  • RockthistestRockthistest Member
    edited October 2020 45 karma

    Hey Christina, I am a LCSW and I am now applying to law schools. I do not think that you need any specific degree to do macro social work. The MSW is a great degree for several reasons. One reason is its flexibility - you can do clinical work with it or some kind of macro work (non-profit management, policy etc...) That being said I think there are many more avenues for arriving at the macro side of things. To do direct practice or clinical work you really need the MSW or some other clinical degree. To do macro social work it really doesn't matter what degree you have. I think a JD would enable you to get almost any macro social work type job. Having the dual degree cannot hurt but I do not think its necessary and may not be worth the extra time/energy/money. But, if you are on the fence about law vs. social work, the MSW degree is definitely way cheaper and less academically stressful to get. Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other social work related questions!

  • 769 karma

    @Rockthistest said:
    Hey Christina, I am a LCSW and I am now applying to law schools. I do not think that you need any specific degree to do macro social work. The MSW is a great degree for several reasons. One reason is its flexibility - you can do clinical work with it or some kind of macro work (non-profit management, policy etc...) That being said I think there are many more avenues for arriving at the macro side of things. To do direct practice or clinical work you really need the MSW or some other clinical degree. To do macro social work it really doesn't matter what degree you have. I think a JD would enable you to get almost any macro social work type job. Having the dual degree cannot hurt but I do not think its necessary and may not be worth the extra time/energy/money. But, if you are on the fence about law vs. social work, the MSW degree is definitely way cheaper and less academically stressful to get. Hope this helps and let me know if you have any other social work related questions!

    Thank you so much for the response!

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