“The reason I decided to do a social work degree is the versatility. I really became a lot more attracted to social work because of different career choices I have.”

“The reason I chose University of the Pacific is because of the background in health care and being able to do my internship at a hospital. There’s nothing like it. You get everything from this program, and you are starting off with the opportunity to learn your therapy from day one, basically.”

“I wanted to pursue a higher degree not in gerontology and not just with children. I wanted to serve both populations, and social work allows me to do that … it also connects my care interest as well, doing medical social work.”

“We have a very strong emphasis not only on the clinical training, but the ability of our students to work with cultural humility and cultural sensitivity and diversity sensitivity with all populations. And that is integrated throughout our curriculum.”

“Having a program like this will allow me to be an advocate for patients, especially in the Hispanic community when there are those language barriers.”

“I want to focus on health care, social work, because the medical system, the healthcare system can be very, very, very complicated for some people, but social work could be that component to break the barrier for people getting help within the health care system, which is why I wanted to have a focus in social work, health care.”

“As a Black woman with diabetes, it really gives me an advantage to work with people in the community with diabetes. I actually understand when patients tell me ‘I don’t want to take my blood sugar at work.’ I’m able to identify the stigma through lived experiences.”