lightning1129
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Toronto
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Application Season
2015 Fall
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Program
Masters of Social Work
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lindaMSW reacted to a post in a topic: NEW Canadian universities M.S.W thread (2017)
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NEW Canadian universities M.S.W thread (2017)
lightning1129 replied to Roxxx's topic in Social Workers Forum
Hey, current U of T student here! From what I understand from conversations about taking students for next year at my placement, the hospital placement situation is a bit more complicated. I could be wrong for hospitals, but from what I understand, any agency that has an agreement to take U of T students doesn't have to not take students from other schools, they just have to agree that any students they take from other schools won't interfere with the U of T student's placement. And I know for a fact that SickKids, which has a bunch of U of T students, does also take students from other schools (one of the other placement students from my placement last year goes to a school in the states and did her placement at SickKids this year). Also, from earlier posts, I know there have been some questions about popular and unpopular specializations- from my understanding, there's no quotas or anything for specializations, they just plan the number of sections for each course based on enrolment in each specialization, so you don't have any better or worse chance of getting in based on the specialization you choose. Which I suppose is good news for people wanting popular specializations and bad news for people wanting less popular ones =P -
Canadian Universities MSW. The waiting game 2015 admissions
lightning1129 replied to smpalesh's topic in Social Workers Forum
Hi Kristine, I typically don't give out my email, actually, but totally feel free to private message me on here if you have any other questions! -
Canadian Universities MSW. The waiting game 2015 admissions
lightning1129 replied to smpalesh's topic in Social Workers Forum
Hey Kristine! It sounds like you're putting a lot of thought into this, and at the right time! One thing that it is important for you to know is that in terms of an MSW admission, an SSW diploma would definitely help you out in terms of your experience and placements and references, but it would be meaningless in terms of grades as college grades don't mean anything to graduate admissions, they don't even ask for your transcript as far as I know. As well, it is definitely a much cheaper and easier way to figure out if this is the field for you, and just because it won't help you get your masters, grades-wise, it certainly doesn't mean you can't, it just means you have to boost your grades elsewhere if you're looking to boost them. The one-year BSW offered by I believe Lakehead may be a better fit for you. You can definitely read back in this thread, other people have been talking about the same dilemma you're in, MSW vs. SSW, SSW vs. BSW, MSW vs. BSW. The general consensus, though, has been that once you already have your BA, to go back and get a college diploma in something you plan to go to grad school for is, quite frankly, a bit of a waste of time when there are other programs, like the one-year BSW, out there that get you further and would actually give you an opportunity to improve your application in all of the areas that you've identified you want to improve (grades, references, clarity in career goals). Plus the BSW means your MSW would only be one year, so it would be 2 years total instead of 3. It's one hell of a lot easier to get a job with a BSW than with an SSW these days too, if you wind up taking a break in between for whatever reason. I didn't get into any MSW program the first time I applied (to U of T and York) and I was so glad to have a professional BA that would also let me get a job in the field so I could work in the field in the meantime. In terms of the differences between an SSW and an MSW, there are definitely some differences. As an SSW, you're pretty much going to mostly be doing front line work, likely shift work, unless you're able to find an agency that will let you work your way up, but because of the job market, at least in Toronto right now, you find that a lot of the jobs that may have previously gone to SSW grads are going to BSW or even MSW grads (case in point: I work at a shelter right now with an undergrad in child and youth care, and we just hired on a bunch of relief workers who just graduated from U of T's MSW program, which is the program I'm about to go into). Typically, as an SSW, you'd be doing the really front line work whereas as an MSW, you'd be doing more counselling and case management kinda stuff. BSW grads are typically somewhere in between, and it depends on the employer- a few will get BSW grads for case management and counselling, others will require an MSW or other grad degree. Generally you can't get counselling positions without a masters, though there are a few different options for masters degrees that would let you do counselling (MSW, counselling psychology, U of T has an M. Ed in counselling psychology, even occupational therapists are qualified to do counselling) if that's what you're interested in. It really depends on the work that you'd like to do. I hope this helped! -
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Canadian Universities MSW. The waiting game 2015 admissions
lightning1129 replied to smpalesh's topic in Social Workers Forum
This exactly! For me, I was leaning towards York as my top choice for a long time, but I think that even if I were to be accepted off the wait list at York at this point, I would still choose U of T. Even though York lines up much better with my personal philosophies and is much more critical and anti-oppressive, which is something that is really important to me, ultimately, what I'm looking for in my MSW is clinical skills, and I won't get that at York at all (my sister is in the first year right now there and says they have barely talked about practice at all, let alone clinical skills specifically). Being critical and anti-oppressive is one of my strengths and I have been developing those skills outside formal education for a long time and plan to continue to do so, so that shouldn't be my focus for grad school- my focus is going to be the clinical skills that I haven't really been able to develop on my own and is where I feel stuck when I am working in the field, so U of T is the clear choice for me, even though I'm sure there will be parts that frustrate the hell out of me =P. Your grad school should be the one that helps you to best achieve your goals and helps you develop the skills that you are looking to develop. We are paying a lot of money for this experience, so we had better make it one that works for us! -
Canadian Universities MSW. The waiting game 2015 admissions
lightning1129 replied to smpalesh's topic in Social Workers Forum
Yeah, definitely start now. The vacancy rate in toronto is super low so it's really hard to find a place. I am looking right now and having a hard time. A big tip- check the bed bug registry before calling a place. -
Canadian Universities MSW. The waiting game 2015 admissions
lightning1129 replied to smpalesh's topic in Social Workers Forum
Just for the record for people waiting for letters from U of T and living in Toronto- it still usually takes 2-3 business days (including the day it goes out for delivery, so including yesterday if all the letters went out before 5pm yesterday) because everything goes out to the sorting station in Mississauga before it goes to wherever it's going, so actually people who live in Mississauga would get it the soonest, even if you live right by U of T (I used to work at the post office, haha). It seems kinda silly, but they can't know where things are going before they get sorted. If you live in Toronto (or most major urban centres in Ontario or Quebec) you will very likely get your letters Monday if you don't already have them, maaaaaybe Tuesday. It's likely a similar situation for those living close to Laurier waiting for letters- they all go to the sorting station first, which generally adds an extra day onto however long you think it would take. -
So last year, I did accept one of the offers since I was waitlisted at the school and didn't want to lose out on it if I got accepted off the wait list. Essentially, you can't get the money without admission since it all goes through the school, so in September when I was formally rejected, I got in touch with the graduate awards office and withdrew my acceptance of the offer. That being said, if you are still waiting to hear back from schools and haven't been rejected yet, you should get in touch with the departments and let them know you were offered the award. At least that's what all my profs told me to do, haha. Didn't make any difference but it can't hurt, right?
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Yup! Last year I was offered CGS-M at two schools and was rejected from them both. The departments and the graduate awards offices don't talk to each other at all.
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Canadian Universities MSW. The waiting game 2015 admissions
lightning1129 replied to smpalesh's topic in Social Workers Forum
When I search it, it still says Open Group Within the University of Toronto. you would need to take the group out of the university of Toronto network and just make it an open (or closed) general FB group -
Canadian Universities MSW. The waiting game 2015 admissions
lightning1129 replied to smpalesh's topic in Social Workers Forum
I think because it's part of the U of T network, you need to prove you're a U of T student. It was the same thing with one of my Ryerson groups. I think you can change the settings to not have it on the U of T network. -
Canadian Universities MSW. The waiting game 2015 admissions
lightning1129 replied to smpalesh's topic in Social Workers Forum
omg Congrats!!!!!!!!!! I got my CGS decisions last night and decided on U of T as well, even if I get accepted off York's waitlist. So looks like we will be classmates! -
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You can only hold one government award at a time. Also, I got it for U of T!!!!!!!! Alternate at York, but that's not a surprise since they switched me from SSHRC to CIHR and there are only 8 CGS awards under CIHR. Plus U of T is where I am accepted (waitlisted at York), so I am pretty thrilled =D
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Canadian Universities MSW. The waiting game 2015 admissions
lightning1129 replied to smpalesh's topic in Social Workers Forum
It has no bearing on whether you get in (though when I got CGS last year, the very first thing my profs told me was that I should inform the department. It didn't change anything, but there's no harm in it). Admissions decisions are made by the social work department while awards decisions are made by the graduate awards offices, and they don't talk to each other. You should inform the social work department at Laurier that you got OGS, especially while you know they are still working on decisions. Congrats! Getting a major award like OGS, whether you wind up being able to use it or not, is a huge accomplishment! You should feel super proud =D -
Not necessarily? It probably depends on which schools you have applied to and how they do decisions. Last year I didnt receive anything until around noon on April first and I had been offered it at both schools I applied to (I just didn't get admission for either school, hence reapplying this year). This year, my status for york was changed late last week and my status for u of t changed today, though I won't be able to see it until tomorrow (hopefully midnight!). So it probably just depends on the school, since no matter what the decision is, your status will change.
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Canadian Universities MSW. The waiting game 2015 admissions
lightning1129 replied to smpalesh's topic in Social Workers Forum
I wonder if we can just drop it off in person? One of my jobs is only about a 10 minute walk away from the social work building...