Hi GradMSW,
I ended up choosing York's program! So far the program has been really good and I am enjoying it a lot so far. There are 20 or so people in my cohort and everyone's from very diverse backgrounds so the seminar conversations are very enriching. People in my cohort have started to hear back for their placements and it's a variety of things for the first placement, I'm still waiting on mine. I ended up choosing York over UBC-O and Laurier (I got off the waitlist later on) because of it's socially responsive mandate and strong focus on social justice and also because of location and funding. Neither UBC-O nor Laurier offered any funding and York's MSW program has the lowest tuition in comparison to both of those schools. Also, going to either UBC-O or Laurier would have meant moving away from home. Currently I am able to go to school without having too much financial worries thanks to York's funding package.
Talking to the students who are in the second year already, they are happy with the program and the placements that they have received. However, my one criticism would be that if you are strongly interested in clinical social work only, it may not be the best option as it is very macro-focused and a critical social work program. When I was comparing the curriculum of the three schools, what I concluded was UBC-O has a strong clinical focus with a lot of clinical opportunities, Laurier gives you the option of specializing in micro or macro practice, and York is more of a generalist program. In the end though, it came down to what would be best in terms of location, funding, and networks for me because I do wish to work within the GTA after I am done my MSW.
Hopefully that helps. Good luck with the application season also!