nugget

I, of all people, should have known that. I have taken courses in cognitive and physical disabilities as part of my undergrad studies and learned all about using people first language. Sorry if I offended anyone here. I was so unbelieveably angry and that was the first word that came to mind, as I am not the type to swear. It seemed like a word I had not used in years (in that context) as I was typing it. But in my anger, it was just a fleeting thought, and I did not think about why I didn't use that word anymore. Sorry about that.

Do you find that econ courses are consistently more difficult for you and poli sci courses are consistently easier? You mention that your GPA's in both subjects differ by .4 of a point. But I am wondering if there is great deviation between your grades in each field of study or if all of your grades are fairly consistent. It is possible that you learn better based on the teaching style of your profs and/or the components of the course (for instance, courses that have lots of essays/assignments vs courses with lots of exams). If there is a fair amount of deviation between your grades in either field of study, try to figure out why. For instance, if you notice that your grades are higher with certain profs, carefully selecting courses taught by certain profs with your preferred teaching style may help you to maximize your GPA potential. If you simply find the subject material easier to grasp in one field over another because of your individual abilities, it's your call. Perhaps you could major in one subject and minor in another to have more balance between the major you enjoy the most and the one that you are stronger at.

What gets to me is that Quebec universities currently operate in the same way. I only graduated a year and a half ago and completed the last of my courses a year ago. So U of Windsor isn't even up to date on the current model of education in Quebec that has been around for over 10 years (and perhaps even a few decades). I had already decided to attend Laureir and this experience has only reassured me that I am attending the better university of the two. This policy discriminates against older students from Quebec and does not reflect well on the university, particularly a department of social work.

I've been getting spam from universites in the UK and the US. Walla Walla, in particular, comes to mind. I told one of the schools I've accepted an offer so I don't want to apply and they responded with an email asking about my friends and family who might want to attend. I've tried to unsubscribe to many schools. For the schools that continue to send emails, I just put their emails in the spam pile and hope that yahoo will eventually redirect their emails to the spam folder. Maybe, as a joke, you could ask if you are eligible to apply with a GPA of 1.5 and they would voluntarily take you off of their list? lol

DreamingMSW, I was not officially waitlisted. Since I wasn't declined admission several weeks ago when the first declined offers came out, and people were getting offers on a rolling basis until all of the spots were filled up, you could say everyone else was unofficially waitlisted for a spot. I inquired about their decision and found out that I was officially refused admission yesterday because my degree does not state that it is a 4 year degree. Well, no kidding!!! If first year courses do not exist in Quebec and there are only 2nd, 3rd and 4th year undergrad courses at the university, then most programs will be 3 years. All Quebec students are enrolled in 3 year programs (except if you are in a program with tons of internships, then it will be 4 years). In Quebec, the only exception to the above is out of province students who go directly from high school to university, or take a break from school for a maximum of 2 years. These younger students are put into a 4 year program, which is stated on their transcript. They need to take one year's worth of second and/of third year courses to make up the extra credits. Older/mature students who went to high school in another province are put into a program that is approximately 3.5 years, which is what happened to me. Here is my theory on why I think this problem happened. Back in the old days in Ontario, you had a choice between a 3 or 4 year degree. Most did a 3 year degree. But if you had a high GPA and wanted to take an Honours program then you were put into a 4 year program. Today, everyone in Ontario is put into a 4 year program, regardless of GPA or Honours status. I think it comes down to a perception that being enrolled in a program that is less than 4 years is less esteemed than a shorter program (plus additional courses completed on the side so that the student has 4 years worth of courses). So essentially, my age, social status (of being employed fulltime for over 2 years and not in school for over 2 years) and my geographic location (having a high school diploma from Ontario and a university degree from Quebec) are the reasons why I was not admitted to U of Windsor. If I was younger (straight out of high school) and didn't have a long work history, I would have been put into a 4 year degree program. Alternatively, if I went to a university in Ontario, I would have been enrolled in a 4 year program and would have had no problem either. Apparently, 4 years of university level coursework is not enough for U of Windsor. You actually need to be enrolled in a 4 year program.

Windsor is such a retarded school. Declined because I do not have a 4 year degree. I graduated after 3.5 years (completed graduation requirements in August). Then, as of the next month took extra courses as an independent student until I had the equivalent of 4 years. (I only did this so I could hand out resumes in September that stated I had a BA rather than working on completing a BA). Their selection system does not account for people who study outside of Ontario. In Quebec, most people attend cegep after their last year of high school. So after Ontario's grade 11 (which is the last year of high school in Quebec), grades 12 and first year of university are spent in cegep. Then you attend university for 3 years, and start out with second year (or 200-level) courses. 100-level courses do not exist. I did not attend cegep as I come from another province. So I jumped right into 2nd year university courses and took a whole bunch of extra third year courses until I had enough credits for the equivalent of a 4 year program. So I have 2nd year courses, twice as many 3rd year courses, and 4th year courses on my transcript, totaling 4 years. The problem they have is that I took 4 courses after graduating, rather than wait to complete these courses before applying for graduation because without these 4 course I do not have a 4 year degree. I am so glad Laurier takes provincial differences into account. I applied to 6 graduate programs in Ontario and BC (and got accepted into 3 of them) and Windsor is the only school that did not recognize these distinctions. So much for providing equal access and equal opportunity to all candidates. I certainly hope these social workers treat their clients with more fairness and equality and train their students to do the same.

Sorry for posting on the poli sci thread. Oops, I only noticed that later.

My cohort's 90. Quite a large group. That's probably because the vast majority are not doing a thesis.

Hi Nuya, You are right. It is cheaper to rent privately. Some people like to live in student residence because it's easier to make new friends that way. (Some new students live there for 1 year for the purpose of making new friends and finding new roommates for the following year. Then the rent privately as a group). If you do live in residence, if it's not a special residence exclusively for grad students, then most of the students will be undergrads and your place will probably be very noisy (not really the ideal setting for a grad student). I can't comment on residences that are only for grad students, however, as these aren't common where I live. But I'd imagine the students would be much more mature and respectful of others' space. If you do live in residence, you should be able to extend your stay for longer than 8 mths if you want to. Most schools quote the price for 8 mths because undergrads typically go back home and live with thier parents in the summer. Most universities rent out rooms to the public during the summer by the night, kind of like a hostel or hotel, to make extra money since few students stick around so extending your stay shouldn't be a problem.

If you are eligible, why would you not want to get it? The money is interest free until 6 mths after you graduate. If you don't use it, keep the money in your bank account, collect some interest on it and pay it back in full just before you are charged interest.

My original home is only 1.5 hrs away from my grad school. My current home, where my undergrad program is located, is about a 7 hr drive away. I don't plan to return for a long time after my move. Not for a couple of years at least. It's time to move on and I'm glad to be moving to a new place that's closer to family and old friends.

It's a tough spot to be in. But I suppose that too many options is better than none at all. With a Master's in Couple and Family therapy you would likely be self-employed and have your own practice or to join a group of practicing therapists and share office space. This kind of work can be unpredictable as clients can terminate their therapy at any time or cancel their appointments under short notice. You would probably need to work around their work schedules and take clients evenings and weekends and would not get free private health insurance, paid vacations, sick days or a pension plan. It should also be noted that some insurance companies only cover PhD level counsellors so if you do not end up getting a PhD, clients who cannot afford to or do not want to pay for the full cost of therapy will seek another professional who is covered by private insurance, such as a psychologist or a psychiatrist. If it were me, I'd go with an MSW as it's a much more versatile degree and there are many more job opportunities. At U of T, you would get the opportunity to specialize in your area of interest and get clinical internships at hospitals, which seem to be more along the lines of what you'd like to do later on. The program at York doesn't specialize in clinical SW and the program design probably wouldn't allow you to develop your counselling skills in the way that you would like to. However, you could always get extra training in a particular area of counselling later on down the road. ex: CBT, motivational interviewing, etc... There are lots of workshops and weekend courses offered to social workers which don't take a lot of time to complete. If money is an important issue for you, I'd consider York because you could graduate debt free, still become a licenced SW and take extra certification courses in counselling on the side later on in your career. Social workers are not paid doctors' salaries so it would take a good number of years to pay your debt off without a generous scholarship such as the ones offered at York. If money is not so important, U of T would be a great fit as you could get internships in hospitals and make important connections with people in the field in your specific area of interest. Not to mention, U of T has a great reputation in the US and worldwide so if you ever wanted to relocate, your degree would be well recognized and well perceived.

I can't speak for American schools, but you are willing to consider Canadian schools (which are much cheaper for foreign applicants) look it up on this website and you will get a list of all schools in Canada that offer space engineering (or any other program for that matter). Best of luck! www.aucc.ca

What's stopping you from working on getting a publication? If that's your biggest shortcoming, then I'd try to get one. If you don't get one in time for the next application season and you end up getting in somewhere, it won't be wasted effort. It's clearly something worthwhile for your cv and will make your application stronger when applying for clinical internships.

They were doing that at first with the first two rounds of offers. But then someone here received an offer less than 1 week after the 2nd round of offers was made. Perhaps, as the number of remaining spots has decreased, they aren't doing them in batches anymore. Given that's it's already June, if you want to attend this school you might want to check your myuwindsor account every couple of days or so (rather than every 2 weeks) so that you'll have more time to prepare for your return to school. I know I'm not attending the program even if I get an offer, yet I still check my account to see if I was admitted. How silly is that?!

This is not my area of studies at all, but I was wondering if completing a second master's degree would be an option? If you do well with the second degree, as long as the area of studies is pertinent and complements your area of interest, you could make your application to the PhD program more competitive that way. Otherwise you may need to work for a number of years and apply to a PhD program once you have acquired solid work experience and have an outstanding cv. If your cv can outshine the applicants with better grades and less work experience you may have a chance of getting into a PhD program later on down the road.

Check it out. All the schools are here: http://www.aucc.ca/canadian-universities/study-programs/

I think it's just an abbreviated version of, All the best. At times I've written "all the best", but I have noticed Best gets used a lot so i've used it too a couple of times. But you're right. The abbreviated version doesn't sound that good and it doesn't take that much more time to write an extra two words to complete the thought so why not do it?

You're right. It's one of the only ones that does as far as I know. But it's also the only MSW program that I have no interest in because they don't have a clinical option, unfortunately. From what I've heard, it's very hard to get into funded programs. (Only 20 spots for York I believe and they get hundreds of applicants). I'd probably need straight A's to have a shot at a fully funded program, an A- wouldn't cut it. My GPA is enough to get in somewhere but not enough to stand out for a scholarship. I guess I've been hanging out too much with grad students in other fields who get more than $20,000/yr to go to school, nice lab space and their own office, free trips to conferences in other countries, etc. But they're students of a different calibre (many of these programs only take about 5 out of 250 applicants) and social work departments just don't have that kind of funding. Even if they did, I don't have a near perfect GPA so I wouldn't be considered for these kinds of opportunities. I will just have to pay as much as I can and take out a loan for the rest. It's a scary thought, but there's no other way around it.

This year they received a large number of applicants and there were between 450-500 for 85 spots. There are a lot more spots at the Orillia campus compared to Thunder Bay (don't remember the exact numbers though).

Perhaps in your situation, part time or online studies would fit your needs better. Just a thought.

My situation is actually the near opposite. I want to go back to school so that I can get a job that's more challenging, more interesting and in higher demand than what I'm currently doing. I still have the same job since my undergrad days and I don't feel like my BA has helped me to advance professionally, until I was accepted into an MSW program. Now I see my current job and my BA as stepping stones to a better career path. I am a bit concerned about leaving my job mainly because of the costs associated with attending school fulltime. I am anticipating the upcoming two years will cost around $45,000 and that's a bit scary. It would be easier if MSW programs gave funding to grad students, like most researched based degrees do. But if that were the case, they would probably admit far less students into their programs and have very low acceptance rates, somewhere along the lines of admiting 4-5% of applicants. If you have a BSW or perhaps a degree in psychology it might not be so difficult to find social work related employment. But for people coming in with other degrees, I think it's extremely difficult to find employment in the area and a degree is the best way to go.

It sounds like you already know what to do. If there is no academic penalty at this point (if you can drop out without failing any courses) I would listen to that gut instinct, leave and reapply to other places next year. Take it as an opportunity to better research the places you want to go to, work on strengthening your competitiveness as a candidate, and save extra money for your studies. If you'll leave a negative academic track record, then finish the semester as best as you can and quit at the end of the term, so that this experience doesn't lessen your chances of getting in somewhere else next year .

There definitely might be a connection there. I agree. Given that I got rejected/waitlisted by all of the other MSW programs I applied to, I've wondered if my brief trip to Costa Rica to do volunteer work had something to do with it. Maybe they don't get a lot of participants and they saw me as a potential exchange student and that is what made my application stand out. I'd love to know what lucky combination of factors got me in, but I'll probably never know what it was.

The problem in Canada is the high demand for a limited number of spaces. I'm sure I got into U of Ottawa because there aren't any caps on enrolment. They take as many people as they like and class size is not an issue. UNBC only takes 18 students, but they only get 50-60 applicants as well. This is far cry from the MSW programs that only have spots for 14-18% of the applicants that apply. I think the numbers partly reflect the job market. It's easier for a social worker to find a job than someone with a Master of Education in Counselling because of the wide breadth of training that social workers get. So this is where higher competition comes in.