Tips & Tricks for Student Success at BUSSW
Being an on-campus MSW student at Boston University is a new and different experience for all of our students. To help you successfully navigate on-campus life, former Student Ambassador Katelyn McSweeney shares these words of wisdom.
Student Life
Planning
Stay on top of your schedule and assignments. I use Google Calendar through my BU email and update it constantly. I also use the Google Calendar App on my phone to get alerts for everything I need to do. Other students use hand-written planners or keep to-do lists on their laptops. Find what works for you, but I definitely recommend documenting where you need to be and what you need to do because graduate life is busy!
When it comes to planning for classes and assignments, remember that your classmates are valuable resources. Ask second-year students for class recommendations. Additionally, in classes that require a lot of reading, it can be helpful to split up the assignments among a group and share summaries with each other.
Books
Before you go to the bookstore or an online retailer to buy course textbooks, look into the many discounted and free resources here at BU. First, make friends with second-year students! Often times they will lend or sell their books at a discounted price to first-year students. Additionally, utilize the campus library (Mugar). Very often the books and individual readings your professors assign are available at the campus library. The Academic Affairs department here at BUSSW also has several course textbooks that may be made available for students to borrow if needed. Lastly, a recent alumna organized a Dropbox of all the free textbooks she found online—please add your free PDFs of books to make it a useful collection.
Assignments
Do not wait until the last minute to do class readings and complete assignments! It is more stressful to delay coursework because then you may not have the necessary time to complete your assignments well. The majority of assignments in the MSW program are papers, presentations, and group projects. If you need assistance with your writing, BUSSW has a writing tutor and a research tutor who are available to students at no cost. They are excellent resources and have a lot of tips to share with students!
Advocacy as a Student
Practice advocating for yourself. You may find that you need to this often—at field placement, with professors, with classmates, etc. Be prepared to advocate for yourself often because it is a staple of the social work learning experience and a valuable skill that you will use with clients as a professional social worker.
Buses, Bikes, and Trains
BU Bus
Boston University has a large urban campus and a free BU Bus to navigate it. It is open to all BU students and travels through the Charles River Campus to BU’s Medical Campus. Students in the dual degree program with public health and social work are frequent passengers. If you ever want to know where the bus stops or when the next bus is, download the BU app.
Trains
Will you be taking the train—called the MBTA or “T” for short? You may want to get a semester T-pass from Boston University. If you will be taking the T at least 3 days each week, the semester pass is a great deal and available to students at an 11% discount. If you are commuting from outside of Boston, be sure to get your monthly commuter rail pass through BU because this is also available at an 11% discount.
Bluebikes
Do you enjoy biking? As a BU student, you can get an annual membership from Bluebikes for $52.50 with a free helmet from BU Parking and Transportation included. Blue bikes are located all over the city of Boston and are an easy and economical way to get around.
Walking
If you do not want to use the city train or bike systems, you can always get around Boston by walking. It is an extremely walkable city – you would be surprised how fast you can travel between different locations!
Getting Involved in the Boston Community
Networking
Take advantage of networking opportunities – Boston has so much to offer! Here’s a few groups that I follow: YNPN (Young Nonprofit Professional Network) Boston, GBEN (Greater Boston Evaluation Network), and Liberation Health. I also follow these listservs to get information on cheap and FREE activities around Boston: The Secret Calendar Boston, The Boston Calendar, and BNID Newsletter.
Educational Events
We are in Boston so there are lots of events happening all the time – in-person or virtually. Eventbrite is a great resource to discover events that interest you. BUSSW also has a Professional Education Program (PEP) that allows current students to attend one-day workshops at a significant discount. This is an excellent opportunity to capitalize on because once students graduate ,PEP courses are more expensive.
Use Social Media
Are you on Facebook? Facebook provides social workers with a lot of avenues to network, learn about job opportunities, and prepare for the LCSW licensure exam. Here are some groups I recommend: Social Work Job Posting Share and Social Work Resources. You can also utilize your ‘BUSSW Incoming Class’ Facebook page – and join the Facebook pages for other class years. This is a good way to connect with other students and an excellent way to share information! If you ever need to sell or buy books, get internship recommendations, or find a roommate, this is a great place to look.
LinkedIn is a tremendous professional social networking tool. Not only can you find people in the field who are doing work that you are interested in, but you can also grow your own network by connecting with colleagues, professors, and internship supervisors. Remember to keep your profile up-to-date.
Networking both in-person and online is a huge part of graduate school and will prepare you for your professional career post-graduation.
Licensure Tips
Join NASW
NASW stands for National Association of Social Workers. If you haven’t heard of them, they are the national professional association for all social workers across the United States. They promote salient social work issues and lobby for local and national policies to further support social work values. They also provide many resources including licensure preparation courses, student membership discounts, host local advocacy and lobby days, and are connected with many interest groups all across the social work field.
Career Development
Boston University’s Center for Career Development (CCD) has a liaison for SSW who will meet with you one-on-one, in small groups, or even in the classroom to support student’s needs. This is a great resource to utilize!
Additionally, the Center for Career Development is a resource that BUSSW students can take advantage of after graduation for any career development needs throughout their entire career.
Working in Grad School
Job Opportunities
Many students in our program work part-time while they are a student in the program. Common types of work that social work students take advantage of include working at restaurants, residential treatment centers, or retail stores. A lot of students also take advantage of flexible work opportunities such as driving for Uber or Lyft, babysitting, walking dogs, or delivering groceries.
If you are interested in working on campus, there are several ways to work at Boston University. Some students are able to get work-study funding so that they can work with faculty or staff on campus. Other students connect with faculty members at BUSSW to assist with research or grant work. Boston University also connects students to off-campus job opportunities in the community. To view these opportunities, go to the “Student Link.” Whatever your availability, there are plenty of jobs out there with flexible hours.
Residence Life Jobs
Graduate students at Boston University can apply to be a Resident Assistant (RA) or Graduate Resident Assistant (GRA) in the dormitories on campus. These opportunities do come with some extra obligations, but students who are an RA or GRA receive free housing on campus and usually free meal plans as well. For more information about working for Residence Life, go to their website: https://www.bu.edu/reslife/open-positions/.
Budgeting Tips
Student Discounts
A lot of places around Boston offer student discounts. Always ask for a student discount when you go to a retail store or a museum because you never know if it will save you some money. Some of the places that offer student discounts include the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Thursday Deals
Students traditionally get 50% off with their Boston University ID every Thursday at Urban Renewal – exceptions apply. Urban Renewal is located near the Packard’s Corner T-stop. Students also get 20% off with their Boston University ID at the GoodWill store near Agganis Arena.
FitRec
Utilize FitRec – Boston University’s campus gym. It is free for full-time students. The gym is state-of-the- art with a rock wall, lazy river, indoor track, pool, basketball court, ping pong tables, and more! Graduate school can be a busy time, so this is great way to de-stress!
Meal Planning
I highly recommend meal prepping. It sounds like a pain, but you will be running around most days between field internship, class, and other events. Save some money, brainpower, and time by planning out all your meals a week in advance. All of your food will be ready to grab and go, so you will have more time each morning to get ready.
BU Free/Cheap Activities
Follow the BU Student Activities Office (SAO). They sponsor many free events and activities throughout the school year. For example, they’ve offered cheap ($5) trips to New Hampshire and New York City and hiking trips. Boston University is a vibrant campus, so there is also plenty to do on weekends and on campus in general. When you are not doing work for your MSW, take advantage of all the opportunities available to you.