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Tips for New Social Work Graduate (MSW) Students

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  Happy start of the school year! Perusing social media, I came across a NASW blog article called “Guide for the First Year Social Work Student”. This post provided lots of great information tailored for new undergraduate students interested in studying social work. I wanted to take that NASW post a bit farther and compile a list of tips specific to graduate students pursuing a masters in social work (MSW). In my opinion, graduate school is a completely different experience from undergraduate, so my hope is that these tips will serve to be beneficial. Tips for New Social Work Graduate (MSW) Students -Don’t worry about grades so much When I was in graduate school, one of my professors told a story about a straight A student who committed suicide several years after graduation. His point was that given the people we need to work with, we social workers need to focus less on being perfectionists (as demonstrated by obsessing over grades and test scores) and work on being empathetic an...
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(not so) Cheap St. Patrick's Day!

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Happy St. Patrick's Day! Similar to how I typically only eat roasted turkey during Thanksgiving, St. Patrick's Day is the one day out of the year I eat corned beef and cabbage! In past years, I've gone to restaurants to enjoy this dish. Since I'm currently living at home, I decided to modify a corned beef and cabbage recipe
and make it in my parent's kitchen.

When I've eaten at restaurants on St. Patrick's Day in past years, a plate of corned beef and cabbage cost me upwards of $12. A pint of green beer or Guinness usually cost about $4. Add in (California) tax and tip and you have a St. Patrick's Day meal that sets you back roughly $20.

For my St. Patrick's Day meal, I decided to take advantage of the weekly deals on corned beef, cabbage, beef broth, and Guinness at Safeway. Here's my cost breakdown:

3.06 pounds corned beef brisket * $3.99/pound = $12.21
32 oz. box of beef broth = $2
2.26 pounds cabbage head * $0.39/pound = $0.88
1.06 pounds of baby red potatoes * $0.99/pound = $1.05
0.70 pound of carrots * $0.99/pound = $0.69
FOOD TOTAL: $16.83

After a cash register mishap, I purchased a 4 pack of Guinness for $6.77 with tax included.

GRAND TOTAL: $23.60

$23.60 for a St. Patrick's Day meal for 4 to 6 people seems like a pretty good deal compared to paying $20 per person at a restaurant. Since there are only three people in my household, there will be plenty of leftovers. Maybe I should start cooking every year!

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