nugget

Thanks for the feedback, Sigaba. I will make sure to let the staff know I am looking for work. I didn't think of doing that as I'm a new student coming in. The hiring policies of the school have more to do with providing opportunities to students in financial need with opportunities to earn extra income (except that they don't include students coming from other parts of the country). I hear that some students in my department work part time so it should be ok. Since the program is unfunded and does not require a master's thesis, we are allowed to work as long as it doesn't interfere with our scheduled classes and internships.

I plan to work part time in a field related to social work. However, I can't work as a social worker since I did my bachelor's degree in another field. Could anyone recommend the types of jobs I should consider or suggest the types of organizations that may be interested in hiring a first year social work student? In case you're wondering....I did my undergrad degree in therapeutic recreation. I'd look for work in TR but the job market in TR is generally weak in Canada. So I only have internship and volunteer experience in the field. I also have experience as a nursing assistant in a hospital and a psychiatric unit. I am primarily interested in working adults but I'd consider working with kids on a one-on-one basis. I plan to contact the school and inquire about job postings on and off campus but I'd also like to drop off cv's at various facilities in the community as well. But I'm not sure what sort of jobs I should be targeting when I write my cover letter. Do you have any suggestions?

Glad to hear you're enjoying the program. Have you also considered applying to Lakehead's MSW? I believe Lakehead offers either a generous scholarship or TA positions to MSW students, so that would be a nice bonus. From what I've heard here on the forum, it seems like U of Windsor ends up admitting a lot of their applicants. They don't formally put people on a waiting list. Instead, they send out multiple rounds of offers until all of the spots are filled whereas people who apply to U of T, York and Laurier can be put on a waitlist. In my opinion, Windsor seems to be the place people apply to as a backup plan and if admitted somewhere else, many students take the other offer. (Personally I think this has a lot to do with the geographic location). You can always ask the department how many students are typically offered a position but I believe the number is quite high and may even be as high as about 90 people out of 200-230 applicants. (These facts are based on second hand information, however, so you should definitely double check with the department if this point makes a difference in your decision). As for your applications, fortunately the deadlines for Laurier and Windsor are in January so you could always spend your Christmas/New Year's break working on those applications. It sounds like it'll be a lot of work, but you've already been through the process so it should take you less time than before as you already know what to expect. Best of luck!

An on campus job would be ideal since I'll be living virtually across the street from the campus. Since I'm studying in a different province and some of the jobs are reserved for Ontario residents receiving Ontario loans and bursaries, I won't be eligible to apply for some positions, but I'll ask around just in case. So far, I've considered contacting the mature student centre and the office for students with disabilities. I'm also going to see if there are any health care based employment agencies in the area for temporary part time work. Do you have any other suggestions? If so, I'd love to hear your ideas. I'm not quite sure where else I should look.

I think it's just the wrong time of year. The traffic on here has gone down considerably since June. If you'd posted this in April you probably would have received a bunch of responses. Things will probably pick up again sometime in the fall.

I think the Ombudsman is your best bet. I admit they should have double checked everything before awarding you a diploma. My university never changes anything once you graduate. "It's a done deal," an admissions advisor once told me so they are very careful to make sure the calculations are done properly before you leave. But schools can vary. If the Ombudsman cannot work out a deal in your favour I think you should probably let it go. Many grad schools only calculate the GPA of your last 2 years so they will be recalculating it anyway and ranking the applicants based on their own interpretation of your grades.

Perhaps you could email a couple of the schools and see what they would recommend... Ask if there is a certain amount of time before the references become dated and go from there.

Perhaps if you contact the universities they could give you the emails of current or former grad students who could offer you their perspective and answer your questions (as it doesn't seem like many people here are able to offer you any advice). Best of luck deciding!

I agree that you need to ask your current supervisor to be a reference. It would look odd or like you might be trying to hide something if you didn't. Personally, I would get 2 references from your current program and one from the MA program for the education programs and 2 references from your MA program (your MA supervisor in particular) and one from your current supervisor for the English programs. You didn't mention how long ago you completed your M.A, however. If it was a really long time ago (like 8+ years ago), I would probably get all of the references from your current program when applying for education programs and only use one reference from the MA program (your MA supervisor) when applying for English programs. Even if the reference is dated, your MA supervisor worked closely with you at one time and is likely to remember enough about you and your work to write a thorough letter of recommendation.

I plan to work part time while completing my MSW (ideally 5-6 hours per week). I'd like to work in a field related to social work. However, I can't work as a social worker since I did my bachelor's degree in another field. Could anyone recommend the types of jobs I should consider or suggest the types of organizations that may be interested in hiring a first year social work student? In case you're wondering....I did my undergrad degree in therapeutic recreation. I'd look for work in TR but the job market in TR is generally weak in Canada. So I only have internship and volunteer experience in the field. I also have experience as a nursing assistant in a hospital and a psychiatric unit. I am primarily interested in working adults but I'd consider working with kids on a one-on-one basis. (I tried working with groups of kids before and it really wasn't for me). I plan to contact the school and inquire about job postings on and off campus but I'd also like to drop off cv's at various facilities in case some organizations haven't gotten around to posting a vacancy yet. But I'm not sure what sort of jobs I should be targeting when I write my cover letter. Do you have any suggestions or advice?

Contact the consulate or embassy office and ask for suggestions on how to reduce your risk of fraud. I did that once when I wanted to volunteer at a new and little known organization in Latin America and found their advice was helpful.

What about buying a plastic storage box from a store like Walmart and taping it shut with duct tape? Plastic boxes don't weigh much so it shouldn't add too much weight to the parcel. Otherwise, contact USPS and see what they recommend.

Salad can be made under 5 minutes so I like to add a big salad to my dinner (or lunch) to cut down on the work, not to mention, it's healthy. Other favourites... avocado sandwiches (made with toast), peanut butter sandwiches, omelet sandwich with onions and cheese. Sometimes I make a batch of tacos using Old El Paso spice mix (I also add a can of kidney beans and an onion to the meat). It's quick to make and lasts a few meals. I love jalapeno hummus so sometimes I dip Wasa crisp bread (or another brand) into the hummus for lunch, and eat grape tomatoes, chopped cucumbers and carrots on the side. I also like making soup. It's very easy and quick if you get frozen, pre-cut vegetables and liquid broth. But it's cheaper to buy cubes and add water to make the broth yourself. It you have leftovers like chicken, roast beef, sausage, pasta or rice, they can be easily added into the mix. I hear crock pots are great as you can put in your ingredients late at night and have it cook while you're sleeping or do it in the morning and when you arrive home your dinner will be ready (and you only dirty one pot). I bought one a while back and really need to give it a try. Everyone I know who uses one loves it. In the summer it's also great because (if you don't have air conditioning) you don't need to stand next to a hot stove.

My organization skills really need to be improved, especially since I am about to begin a grad school program. If you have any tips or strategies you use to be organized (to organize physical space, data, schedules, whatever) please share it here. I'd love to hear what you do to make your lives run in a more organized fashion.

I would eliminate the professor who is lukewarm about it. It doesn't sound like he would write a strong letter, based on your description of how he responded when you asked him.

Read the message posted by Arcanen on June 20....

Could you ask your professors to comment on how well you did compared to the rest of the class to give the admissions committees a sense of how strong you are as a student? If your profs aren't comfortable writing the letter in English you could always have a professional translator do a translation of it for you. If you look on the international thread of this forum you will find a post written from a german student with a similar problem. She managed to get into a US grad program by having all of her references explain that she was one of the top students in her class (even if she did not end up with an A, because A's are not typically given in Germany). If worst comes to worst, you could always try to do a one year online program from the US to prove your academic abilities before applying to graduate studies. You may also want to consider other countries such as Canada, Australia and England. There are other countries out there apart from the US that have great schools. You may find that they are more helpful in facilitating international applicants during the application process.

I think you should also try posting this on the international forum. There are a few Germans who regularly post there. Even if they aren't in your field of study they may still be able to comment on the general reputation of each of these universities.

I would focus on applying to programs that interest you and ones that you are qualified for. At the moment, you don't know how competitive you are against the other candidates as there is no way of knowing who will be applying this time around. After you get your offers, try to find out which program is best. It will be much easier to choose when you have a shorter list to work with. I also find it can reduce your disappointment if you get any rejections (as most people get one rejection or more) if you only rank the schools that give you an offer.

If this is your dream school, it does no harm to apply and see what happens. One of my advisors encourages students to apply to a bunch of schools that are realistically within their reach as well as one or two others that are harder to get into. On occassion, some of her students end up being pleasantly surprised by getting into a school that seemed to be out of thier reach. In the very least, at least you'll know you've tried and won't be left to wonder if they would have taken you.

Have you considered your expected salary as a social worker after graduation and where you would like to live? Social workers, especially in the US, do not earn high salaries compared other professions. How much debt would you accumulate if you attended another school and how long would it take for you to pay it off? It's a matter of perspective... You could consider living in this city for 2 years a small price to pay for being able to purchase a home a few years earlier than expected or achieving any other financial goals that you have much earlier than if you had to take on personal debt for school. On the other hand, is this location close to anywhere you could see yourself working after you graduate? One of the disadvantages of attending school so far away is that your contacts in the community and your professors won't know much about the job market where you currently live. So you won't have the opportunity to get recommended for a job by a prof or internship supervisor if you will be leaving after you graduate. Contacts can go a long way in terms of helping you land your first job. By attending this school, you will essentially have to start from scratch in terms of building a network in the field (unless there is a nearby city that you like). But if the job market is relatively strong in social work where you are currently living (I am assuming you want to return there, but I could be wrong as you did not say) having an MSW and good references should be good enough to land you a job. I would personally go to the free school but that's because I hate debt. It really comes down to where your priorities lie and whether or not you are willing and able to make sacrifices for two years for the financial benefits later on. But, if living there would cause you to become unhappy, unmotivated and depressed, it would not be worth the free tuition and taking on debt at another school would be the better move.

If I am not mistaken, if you have submitted publications to journals and they are under review, I believe you can list it on your cv and beside it write "under review." This will look much better than not having anything at all.

You should also consider Canada, WellingtonKiwi. Both tuition and healthcare are cheaper here for foreign students. If you are looking for Ivy-league type schools consider McGill University and U of Toronto.

Will you be writing a thesis in this program? If so, one can never underestimate the importance of have having colleagues who are further along in the program than yourself. My bf is a very independent and resourceful person. But during his PhD (in another field) there were a few times he ran into a challenge and appreciated being able to discuss his experiments with other people in the lab who were more senior and had more experience than him. I know that I would personally pick a school that has at least one or two cohorts ahead of my own.

Apply to schools that only calculate your last 2 years of study rather than your overall GPA for the entire degree to give yourself the best possible chances of getting in.