Adelaide9216

Hello everyone, so we're three weeks into the semester now. I can say that I am not behind in terms of readings and assignments. But it's a hell lot of work. On top of that, I am going to Parliament Hill in two weeks because I was selected to be a spokesperson in my country for a cause that's very dear to me. And I am also co-coordinating a program at my uni with two others girls. I registered to take yoga and sports classes. But wow, it's a lot. I was also very involved during my undergraduate studies and I managed. I know i am going to manage this time around but it requires a lot of energy and effort on my part, even though I love what I am studying.

Ok wow. I wrote this loooong reply and then it all got erased. So I’m restarting. What you are describing is very typical of social workers, especially social workers entering the workforce. There is always a discrepancy between what we are taught in school and what actually happens on the ground. Most of us enter this field because we want to help people, especially vulnerable and marginalized communities. But I think what you are describing is normal because the current social, economic and political context in the Western world (budget cuts, austerity measures, neoliberalism, all dynamics that are very present in the Western world right now) makes it difficult for social workers to feel that they are providing any meaningful help to their clients. I would say that this is true also in the community sector where funding is scarce very often, and in the public sector, social workers end up doing things that are very dehumanizing instead of spending actual times with their clients (for instance: statistics that are supposed to represent "efficiency" and "productivity"). I did a placement at a hospital a few years back as a social work intern and I hated every second of it. It was a very tough experience for me. And I could sense that even though my supervisors or colleagues had been in the field for a few years now, that they did not seem to enjoy their work anymore. I found it extremely hard on my mental health. I was never looking forward to my stage whenever I woke up in the morning and was always entering the hospital with high anxiety. Not a very pleasant experience. However, this experience has made me realize that I want to be in academia rather than being a clinical social worker. I do believe that clinical experience is important to inform my research work. But in the long run, I want to be a professor in post-secondary studies in social work (either in college or university) and do research. Also, the problem might also be clientele. I do believe that any social worker will encounter crisis situations anywhere they go in their career, but depending on the clientele you're working with, you can "limit" that. I would say it's inevitable, that crises from clients and/or their families will pop up at some point. But I know that depending on the setting, that might be less likely to happen. The beauty of social work is that you can literally work with any clientele you want. So that might be something to consider as well.

Hello, I live in Canada so what I am about to say is applicable to what I have observed in my city (others, feel free to jump in if you have more precisions or nuances to make). I've seen a couple of students from other fields join the social work It's not that unusual. Usually, they do a qualifying year (a year with a few undergraduate courses from the BSW program so they can get a foundation of what social work is without having to do a full BSW) and then join the MSW the following year. Maybe it's different elsewhere but that's what I've seen so far in my city. Your volunteer work counts. Most social work programs are looking for "well-rounded" individuals, so grades aren't always the only thing that matters. Also, there is a major difference between social work and psychology in my opinion. Social work has a macro understanding of social issues while psychology is more of a one-on-one typical counseling aspect to it. However, a lot of social workers decide to go in clinical practice or work at both levels (micro AND macro). I also know that it depends on the type of school you're going to, some schools are more focused on developing clinical skills while others focus on the macro and socio-political aspects of social problems. It depends on the kind of analysis you make of these things. I personally was hesitating between social work and psychology for a long time prior to doing my BSW and then decided to go for social work mainly because of its analysis of social problems that resonates a lot more with me. Good luck!

Yes, it's possible to do this. I've seen people do it in the mental health field.

Hello! I am doing a graduate option in gender and women's studies. Feminism was not part of my undergraduate studies, but I learned the basics through my involvement in feminist circles. I have begun to do some readings for my feminist class and I struggle with the level of language employed. First of all, English is my second language but I've always managed throughout my undergraduate studies. Is it normal that I only understand like 70-80% of the texts that I am reading? I have no exams on them but I want to understand them for the sake of being in graduate school. Any advice?

How many conferences in a year do master's and doctoral students take part of as presenters?

Hello everyone, I found this for gender and women's studies. Sharing the info. https://conferencealerts.com/topic-listing?topic=gender studies

Agreed.

I agree but to me networking and making friends are two different things.

Hello, first of all, I am really sorry about this. It must be difficult. I have never experienced such a thing at the university level (and if I have, I have not noticed it or payed attention to it because I see university as a job. My priority is to get my diploma, not make friends. I have friends outside of school. If I make friends along the way, good. If not, I don't really care because that's not my priority while being there). You know, while these people are being bullies, you're walking forward and are successful at what you do. Keep walking forward. I can say though that I have experienced bullying in high school and elementary school so I empathize with you. But I still had the same approach. My goal was to succeed at what I do and to get where I wanted to go in life. I want to have friends but if I am not being respected and accepted as I am as an individual, I'll just walk away and remain on my own. I have no compromises on that. There are plenty of people who are willing to accept you and love you, but they might be outside of academia or school. That was the case for me. I don't know if this is helpful but this was just my 2cents.

LOL. I am currently reading on all of these philosophical theories in research and those big terms (ontology, epistemology and so on) and even if I've encountered those words before without really knowing what they meant, I kinda feel like an idiot that I don't fully understand what they actually mean because I cannot attach a concrete example to those words for me to understand them better. Wow.

So it's going to be a challenging semester for sure, but I think I can do it. I've managed before, I don't see why I can't this time.

How was your first day?

When you apply to these types of scholarships and you only get a two page proposal (plus one page for bibliography), how detailed does your methodology section needs to be?

Hello, so I am currently working on this part. I mentioned her 20+ years of experience in the field, the fact that she is the director of a research center that focuses a lot on my research topic, that she has research chairs, that I've been an RA for her, etc. I also justified the program that I've chosen as being the perfect fit for my research project in terms of courses and course content.