Bettyg

Should I be sending in an updated resume? It seems like everyone in this forum has. I have a further 3.5 months of full time hours to add (so about 560) but it's at the same job.

It's almost 4 pm here. I was checking this thread at 9 am my time even though I knew you would all be sleeping! Fingers crossed for us this week!

Just something interesting I thought I would share. I work in the uk at the moment. On Friday I was having some after work drinks with colleagues and venting about this stressful process. They were saying they were so sure I would get in and I was trying to explain that it's just super competitive, because it's quite different in the uk. One of my colleagues called up a masters program a few weeks before the course was due to start, asked to be admitted, and she was. She had 30 hours of experience, and her undergrad was unrelated. Another colleague had a similar story. AND here the government will pay for your entire degree. It's the same for teachers here, which is another really competitive field in Ontario. Just funny that if we lived in another country our lives would be so much less stressful right now

Oh good point. I am starting to wish I had applied for a BSW program this year as a back up option. Oh well, something to look into for next year. Thanks

To be honest I am finding it hard to remain optimistic and I am struggling with choosing my plan B. All of this talk about improving your application is making me think. I am worried about moving back to Ontario and not being able to find relevant work. So I am wondering if it would be better to do unrelated work but in a more exciting location (Australia, France, Thailand, S Korea etc). I think the main thing that needs upgrading anyways is my grades, as I have almost 3 years worth of hours. But I am not even really sure where to begin with that. Does anyone have experience with this?

Same

We're you invited?! I'm scared to check mine now

I am reallyyyy struggling with my plan B at the moment. I am currently living abroad but my work visa expires in June so no matter what happens, I can't continue with what I am doing and I have to pack up and move within 2.5 months of hearing back from the schools. I have no idea what I want to do. I think my weakness in my application is definitely my grades. I have been lucky to have a year's full time paid experience in front line child protection in a social work role, 2 summers of paid experience at CAS and plenty of direct volunteer experience in a few different agencies. I also had 2 relevant practicums in my undergrad. So I think if I dont get in, it will be down to grades and the fact that I have no research experience. Those are 2 things I dont really know how to improve to be honest . What I really would like to do for the next year is move to Thailand or South korea to teach English as I have a few friends doing it right now and they highly recommend the experience. But I dont think that will add anything to an MSW application. So really I need to decide if I want to focus on my own personal goals of travel and seeing the world, or my career goals, which would mean moving back to Ontario and working while trying to figure out how to improve my grades. I've been really losing sleep over this decision I really hope to hear back ASAP so I can really weigh out my options and make a choice.

I applied to the 2 year program at McGill. It changed to in review a while ago. It changed to decision made yesterday and I was rejected. I would definitely call if you applied to the 2 year.

I don't think we will hear today. But I'm not quite sure how they are doing it. People who have been invited say they have 4 weeks to accept the offer. So I don't think they're waiting to hear back from the first round as there wouldn't be enough time. It's a mystery! Just remember that if we don't hear today it's a good thing. It means we are all still in the game

Just remember that no news is also still good news at this stage

Sorry to hear! Oh well, feels better knowing than not knowing I guess.

Rejected from McGill. Quite harsh. It just says 'refused'. I'm pretty upset

Aw, I have had trouble sleeping as well. Try doing yoga or working out a few times a week, generally that helps me stay asleep for a good 6-7 hours. Fingers crossed for some good news soon for both of us

Congrats guys! Well done Hopefully these acceptances bring good vibes for the rest of us waiting on other schools

Thanks for this. Panic mode has set in

Ah ok so I am not alone in my insanity :) I am glad I asked first, if you can share any info you get here then I won't have to bother her as well. Sending good vibes to everyone.

Do you think it would be a horrible idea to email U of T about the 2 year admissions? I hate to be *that* person. But I am soo curious about how they are doing it. Are they going to release more in 2 days, 2 weeks, NEVER? I doubt they would give us any real information but still. The slightest bit of info would probably help me to chill out. Tea usually calms me down, but I have upped my intake to about 5 cups per work day and I think it is giving me the shakes LOL.

Also, does anyone know if schools generally email you or change your online status when you are rejected? Specifically U of T, Laurier and McGil. I am just thinking that I live abroad at the moment and if I have to wait for a snail mail letter it will be awful! Canada Post is bad enough, but friends sometimes send me things here and it can take weeks! I dont want to be sitting here refreshing my email that whole time if my rejection letter is somewhere on it's way to me.

It's 9 am on Monday over where I am! A few more hours until the day starts back in Ontario and the anxiety sets in! To be honest though I am not holding out much hope that the rest of us will hear back from U of T this week. Someone did post that email saying they are sending out decisions from mid-March to mid-April. I think they are probably doing some sort of rolling admissions thing and they might way to see how many people accept/decline before sending out another round? I don't know, that's just my feeling. So I am trying to stay calm

Congrats to those accepted to the 2 year! And count me in as another who has no change it would be way easier emotionally if they told us all at the same time! It's going to be excruciating the next few weeks! Side note: this is now my most visited website on my iPad hah!

I applied to U of T, McGill and Laurier. Good luck to you too... not long to go now either way

I was reading last year's discussion (I know... I need a life LOL) and there seems to be a lot of discussion around experience hours. I know I can't improve anything now anyways but I am just wondering where everyone else sits with this? I know the depth and scope of your experience is more important than just the number of hours but it might be interesting to see. I applied with about 3000 for work, 480 for volunteer, and about 400 for undergrad practicum. I also included 2 slightly dodgy work experiences that total 1500, but I am not sure will count as they aren't related to social work (nanny and working in a kids after school program... reaching here a little bit but i threw it on anyways).

Thanks, but don't feel too bad for me! I have come to terms with the possibility of not getting in and I have a backup plan I am pretty excited about so it's more just the fact I want the waiting to be over so I can move on with my life. I moved abroad pretty much immediately after graduation, so I have no idea what the job market is like in Ontario. I have a BASc in Adult Development with a minor in Child and Family Studies from Guelph. I think I probably made the right decision to come to the UK, as there seems to be more opportunities for unqualified workers in human services. I'm working in a front line child protection team and there are four of us on my team in social work roles without social work qualifications, and many of my colleagues in other teams are in direct work roles with caseholding responsibility, without qualification. So I guess the UK has a different setup than Ontario and I lucked out by ending up here.