Field Directors

Hello Colleagues

Our school is exploring the need to have a cut off deadline for students to have secured a placement to be able to start field that semester?  I am curious how others address students starting the process to secure placement once semester has started or even the week before?  

Do you have a cut off for students to have secured placement to be able to stay enrolled in current field course?

Thank you for your feedback!

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Tamlyn Ashford
Assistant Professor
Missouri Baptist university
Saint Louis MO
314 392 2245
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We have a deadline for finalizing placements that is usually at least a week before the semester starts. We have been experimenting with this over the past couple of years, first adding the deadline and then determining how rigid to be about it. We have made exceptions on case by case scenarios where we believe things will be able to be finalized quickly, but are really trying to hold this more firmly. This tries to avoid making a student drop the course after having paid for it, because they cannot pass the course if they do not have a placement. 

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Lindsey Rinehart
Field Education Director & Clinical Instructor
West Virginia University
Morgantown WV
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Hi Tamlyn,

We're a new MSW program; because of this students had to secure a placement by the end of the Fall semester for a spring start or at least 3 weeks before the spring semester. This was also to ensure that their insurance policies were active. I think moving forward, since we have built partnerships with placement sites, that the deadline will be at least 3 weeks before the semester.

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Desiree Israel
MSW Practicum Director
Alverno College
Milwaukee WI
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Hello everyone! This question is one that keeps coming up in our program. We are a little unique in that we are block placement (coursework completed first, then full time internship) and only start students twice in a year, either May or August. On top of what you've described, we also run into issues with affiliation agreements that are negotiated through the University and the site. These can take an extensive amount of time, so we are always trying to figure out the window of time where we need to guide students to another option so that they don't risk enrolling in the semester and then not having a site. Further, we are then scrambling trying to find an internship in the next month. We plan with our students about 6-9 months in advance so its trying to balance all the moving pieces. As of right now, we are trying to go with a deadline of a month out from the start date so that the student can make the best choice for them. It's helpful to read through this for others, thank you!

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Lindsey Trout
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This is a great question! We currently match all students to their field placements, but given our size (650 students on average in field each semester) we are exploring alternatives. For those of you where the student finds their own placement, I think this  what is being discussed on this thread, would you be willing to connect directly with me or share your policy/practice with how you do this?

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Shenita Williams
Director of Field Education
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA
804-828-0708
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Thank you everyone for your comments and feedback regarding setting deadlines to completing field applications.

As far as matching process, we meet 1:1 with each student, after they have completed field application and to review interests, etc.. with students.  From here we work collaboratively with the student to identify at least 3 potential placement options.  We do encourage students to review list of approved sites.

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Tamlyn Ashford
Assistant Professor
Missouri Baptist university
Saint Louis MO
314 392 2245
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Original Message:
Sent: Mar 03, 2024 10:45
From: Shenita Williams
Subject: Deadline to start field applications

This is a great question! We currently match all students to their field placements, but given our size (650 students on average in field each semester) we are exploring alternatives. For those of you where the student finds their own placement, I think this  what is being discussed on this thread, would you be willing to connect directly with me or share your policy/practice with how you do this?

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Shenita Williams
Director of Field Education
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA
804-828-0708
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