nugget

Do you mean Concordia in Montreal, Canada or Concordia in the US? This info is important to include in your post.

Considering that you are only willing to drive so far away and have limited flexibility in your schedule, you might have an easier time deciding by coming up with a list of schools you are willing to drive to and picking the best major amongst those schools (rather than picking your major first and trying to find a school that offers it). I don't think that bachelor programs that require internships are typically offered online, unfortunately (unless things are done differently in the US). Based on your previous posts, it sounds like you want to be in an applied program, have strong job prospects, reasonable salary potential, and work in a helping profession. You will most likely need to complete on campus course work for that (but could probably get away with completing your electives online to make things a bit easier for you and try to get internships that are close to your home). If you would be willing to consider driving to the school that offers the dietician program 2 days per week, I don't think it would do any harm to call the department, explain your situation and see what they recommend. If you could do your elective courses online, get internships close to your home, and arrange your class schedule to only be on campus 2 days per week, then there might be some potential with that program.

I can see why you would feel discouraged. With that information you got from your friend, the prospect of getting an BSW looks a lot less appealing. What aspect of social work interests you the most? Perhaps there is an allied program or field that would give you those things that you are looking for with better working conditions. A couple that come to mind if you like counselling... an Educational Counselling MA or a degree in Career Counselling (to work as an employment counsellor). There are other professions that also do a bit of counselling that you may have never considered before, like becoming a Dietician or a Psychiatric Nurse for instance. I can't speak to the job situation in the US, nor average starting salaries as I've noticed there is a difference in Canada. With a bit of research and self-exploration, I'm that sure you'll find something you like that is worth your time and energy to pursue. Best of luck!

Well if you plan to go straight from a bachelor to masters program, then being able to work in the field of ABS won't impact your life in any significant way. It sounds like the flexibility of the ABS program would work better for your life circumstances and you could do an MSW or counselling MA later on. But if there is any chance that you may change your mind or no longer be able to attend grad school (ie: finances, family obligations, changing interests, etc), then a BSW would probably be your safest bet as you could definitely find work in the field with only a BSW. But this would depend on whether or not you could fit it into your schedule somehow. Additionally, if you decide to take time off to work after undergrad to take a break from school or to save money for school (for instance), then doing a BSW might be a better idea.

I don't think this is a black or white situation. You have more than 2 different options, imo. Why not try living with your mother for a month and see if it works out? If it doesn't then find your own place and move later on. Will there be a shortage of housing if you have to look for a place to live one or two months into the program, or even after the first semester? That being said, being less than $15,000 in debt after living on your own and attending university for 6 years is an extremely little amount of debt to have. If you were paying your own way, $15,000 probably would only get you through one semester. If you strongly value your independence and want the convenience of living near campus, then go ahead and take out the loan. You could pay that back within a year of working in your field if you budget accordingly.

Buy a copy (credit card, if you have one) and make sure it stays in excellent condition. If you don't need it anymore, drop the price by a few dollars and sell it to another student.

If you do a BSW, there should be flexibility in the electives courses that you take and you should be able to do these online. If you're not sure yet if social work is for you, why not do some volunteer work before you go back to school to see if you will like the field? There should be some flexiblity in the first year of the BSW program to take more elective courses (especially if you do it part time) in addition to a couple of social work courses to see if you are still interested in social work. The great thing about elective courses is that they can be tranfered to another program if you end up deciding that this field isn't for you. Social work is a broad, vast field with so many different areas you can work in that a lot of people don't know about. There are some limitations with only a BSW, but I do know that with an MSW you will be able to work in all of the areas I mentioned in my previous post. This is a great link with videos on nearly 50 different areas you could work in with an MSW that you may find useful and informative. Good luck! http://www.socialwork.utoronto.ca/alumni/profiles.htm

With an MSW you aren't restricted to counselling and case management. I suspect that this area of social work would have the most cases of burnout. You could also do policy work, create new programs, do research, apply for grants and funding, do community education (like health education - family planning, smoking cessation, etc) and run community programs and work with clients in a group.

Many Canadian schools offer cheaper tuition (international rates) than some state schools (American fees). This may be an option for you. You'd simply need to double check that these schools meet your state's licensing requirements. There are 2 online schools that I'm aware of, in case you're interested. http://umanitoba.ca/faculties/social_work/programs/fort_garry/506.html http://www.uvic.ca/hsd/socialwork/future/bsw/index.php

As I heard someone once wisely say, "In 5 years you are going to be 44 years old. That is a certainty. Do you want to be 44 years old without a BSW or 44 years old with a BSW?"

Many students I've talked to in grad school say their partners take on extra work at home to compensate for their lack of free time while in school. I think that having the support and understanding of your family while you are in school can go along way. You may also want to give your boys an extra chore or two to help the family out, if they are old enough. Learning new chores can also fit in nicely with their homeschooling curriculum and expand their repertoire of skills.

Personally, I wouldn't even mention the salary increase as a reason for deferring. It isn't in the same industry and trying to defer on those grounds might have them question your seriousness and commitment to their program. If it is likely you will require surgery, I would state your case and why you would like to defer (how it will impact your ability to keep up with school) and see what happens. Given that it's already mid-June, they might say no. But I don't think it will do you much harm to ask. If there is a chance you won't be getting the surgery, be careful in how you explain this situation. Tell them it is quite likely you will be getting one, but you will know for certain by X date. If you tell them you need surgery, attend the school and don't end up having surgery, they are quite likely to think that you were lying. I wouldn't worry about reporting your last year's salary. It is in a different industry, your cv, education and job qualifications will be completely different so how much you previously earned won't matter much. For instance, if a medical doctor has an epiphany and decides to go back to school to become a high school teacher this teacher wouldn't be getting anything close to a doctor's salary. When you're switching fields salary isn't relevant, imo.

Here is a great website that allows you to do a search on all Canadian programs: http://www.aucc.ca/canadian-universities/study-programs/ Good luck!

Perhaps many students don't apply to schools only in one state because they aren't lucky enough to find so many good programs with a good fit all in the same state. If you could see yourself attending any of those 6 schools, then go for it. Why should other people's application patterns impact yours? Six programs is a decent number and there's no need to apply to more if you don't want to study out of state.

To add to GEODUDE's post... do you notice a difference between your grades in the sciences and social science courses? Do you find social sciences courses easier to handle? It may not necessarily be a question of being able to handle grad school, but it may simply be a question of the subject area. If you are better at social sciences, another program like social work (as an example) might be easier for you to manage. But if you're more into the sciences, then I agree with GEODUDE that some careful reflection and analysis about the situation would probably be very helpful as you plan your next steps.

Both of your ideas sound like good options. While it's a shame things didn't work out as originally planned, your knowledge acquired in the SLP program can be useful when working with clients in an allied profession. Extra knowledge is never a bad thing, and you are likely to receive extra credit for some of your course work. Do you still have access to academic advising or counselling appointments at school for a limited period of time? You may want to look into this if you do. An academic adviser is likely to have seen other students in the same kind of situation and may have some good info and advice to share with you. If you are still concerned about the D, as a final attempt you may want to schedule an appointment with the school's ombudsman and ask if there is another avenue that you could pursue to get that grade adjusted or removed. Clearly you have a strong work ethic, you are resourceful and have good people/group work skills based on all of the things you said in your original post. You also come across as a very determined person. These attributes and abilities will serve you well as a developmental specialist or social worker. I wish you all the best!

Sorry to hear about your challenges. It sounds really tough to be going through this. Do you still have access to counselling services at your school or can you see an academic adviser to discuss your options? There may be a way for you to reapply and regain admission into the program (either at the same school or a different one). You may also want to consult with the school's ombudsman for more guidance. Perhaps you don't need to change fields if you can find a way to pursue SLP part time to allow yourself more time to get through the material. It sounds like it takes more time for you to get through the material but once you know something, it naturally gets easier as you integrate the knowledge into your practice and acquire more experience in the field.

Here are a few ideas I've brainstormed, but never tried myself. -If the class size is manageable, have them sign their name on a sheet when they submit their assignment. (So basically they would stand in line, submit the assignment and sign off on it). -Ask them to email it and grade and return the assignments electronically. -If you prefer a hard copy, ask them to submit a hard copy and submit it electronically as a backup. Tell the class that if their hard copy goes missing, the email version will be printed off and graded instead. -Count the number of assignments you receive and write it down. Put all the assignments into a brief case or other secure bag. Whenever you take anything out of it, always work at an empty desk with no papers on it, keep all the assignments together at all times and put them back into the brief case when you are done. If a student tells you their assignment is missing, tell them with absolute certainty that you did not receive the assignment (you can also tell them that you counted the number of assignments that were submitted) and there is nothing you can do about it. Personally, I prefer option 3. It's seems the easiest and most effective to implement, imo.

This is going to be a really long thread. lol Since I'm not in a PhD program I can't respond, but I'm looking forward to reading the replies.

Well I don't think it will look weird. I actually took 7 years to get my bachelor's degree because I worked full time and went to school part time, so I think this is how it would appear to others at first glance. However, you do want to make it clear to grad committees that you went to school full time and completed your course work in 4 years so that they don't have any concerns about your ability to handle a full time course load and still do well at school. When it comes to prospective employers, I think they will just assume you worked while completing your studies and it would be less of an issue. If you need to submit a cv for your grad applications, I think that if you indicate the year you completed your degree as well as the year it was conferred it should be fine. ie: X University 2005-2009 (degree completed: 2009; degree awarded: 2013)

When they see your transcript and the dates you took the courses, they will know that it didn't actually take you several years to complete the degree and there was only one outstanding course. I don't think it's anything to worry about. You could have waited a few years to complete that course for any number of reasons. ie: pregnancy, relocation (spouse found a new job), health problems (a serious medical condition), financial difficulties, etc... The list goes on. Since the course work was completed a few years ago and the grading error was not your fault, I believe you have strong grounds to appeal and have the completion date back dated to the time you actually completed the course. If I misread your post and the course completion date is fine and you are only concerned about the graduation date then ignore what I just wrote. I not optimistic that you will get the graduation date changed. Most schools require you to submit a formal request to graduate so that someone can double check that you have met graduation requirements before your degree is conferred. Usually the deadline is a few months before you are able to complete all of your coursework and it gets done sometime after you finish all of your courses. Even if the last course was completed on time, your degree would still not be conferred unless you put in a request to graduate (since they don't know your intentions - sometimes people decide to take extra courses before graduating). I don't think it will negatively impact you when applying to grad school. It might catch someone's eye on your resume when applying for a job, though, and a prospective employer might assume that you did your degree part time. But you're going to grad school anyway, so the most important thing an employer will be looking at is your graduate level studies. At your interviews for grad programs, I'd simply state that you didn't put in an official request to graduate because of x reason (ie: didn't know it was needed and assumed you had graduated because the coursework was completed) if you are asked about it. If the course completion date is back dated to 2009, then I don't think it's necessary to get into everything else you explained here. Just keep your explanation clear and simple and I think you'll be fine.

One's GPA is not always a true indicator of one's full potential to do well in grad school. Any combination of bio, psycho or social factors could have impacted the OP's GPA in undergrad and the OP may currently be in a better position to perform better academically. Issues like money problems, low interest or motivation, health or emotional difficulties, even maturity levels can dramatically impact academic performance, in spite of one's true academic potential. If the OP wants to go after this goal, she should do it and see what happens. Best of luck to you, oleaozinho.

If you're not comfortable about giving details, consider asking your school the question first about how this may be best handled. I'm sure others before you have been in a similar scenario and you will certainly not be the last. Perhaps your department will have a good suggestion for you. If they advise you to speak to the practicum placement, consider asking your doctor to write you a note that explains that you would not pass a drug test due to a prescription medication (without giving the name of the drug) and show them the note. You can simply refer to the drug as a prescription medication when discussing it if you are uncomfortable mentioning what it is. But I think you need to tell them something sooner rather than later. It would be far worse to not tell them anything at all and to fail the test rather than inform them in advance. When they see that you are a good worker and practicum student I'm sure that this issue will be of no consequence to your future career.

If you can afford to apply to all 7 programs I would do it. In the end, you could save yourself thousands of dollars of extra money depending upon the funding opportunities you receive. You won't really know for sure what each school would offer you unless you actually apply and see what happens. Good luck!

Exactly. So in that example if your rent was $1000, you'd pay $2000 on May 1, and $1000 on June 1 and July 1. On August 1, you wouldn't need to pay anything and you'd be expected to move out by the end of the month. If you decide to renew later on, you'd pay rent on August 1 and the $1000 you initially paid would be used towards your last month in the dwelling.