Adelaide9216

Hello everyone, I am considering more and more seriously applying for a PhD in Social Work next year. I live in Qc, and I have a CEGEP degree in social intervention. Along with my BSW, I was able to accumulate 2-3 years of work and field experience, on and off. When applying for a PhD and considering teaching positions, would that previous experience count? Or does it have to be "registered social worker, post-BSW" experience only? I am officially a social worker, member of a professional order since this summer but I am currently working as a research assistant. Thank you!

In the Common Canadian CV website, for FRQSC, it shows "valid" now that I've entered my FRQSC info in it. Is there any more steps that I need to do for this part or am I good?

It went well.

Anyone in PhD or master's program can share their experience in their programs? Thanks.

Hello! My supervisor has a research chair and I've been involved in the work that she's been doing since April. Tomorrow, I am presenting (3 minutes and informally) to her co-researchers and the whole research team and I am a little intimidated. I've never met these people before. I've done talks and speeches before in the past (my biggest audience was 4000 youth) but the prestige that these people have intimidates me. I am also scared to present in front of my own supervisor, I want to make a good impression in front of her. I know I'll survive through it, my research coordinator will also be there in case they ask questions that I do not know the answer to, but this is the first time I am doing this and I am sightly nervous even if it's just a 3 minutes presentation.

Thank you for your thoughtful advice. <3

Hello, it isn't for prestige that I want to leave Canada. It is because I want to see what's being taught elsewhere and make new connections. In SW, there's a big tension between clinical social work and macro/advocacy social work and I find that Qc isn't very strong on macro social work which is more of my type of social work.

Hello, Thank you for your reply. Yes, my goal is to become a college or university teacher in social work. I forgot to mention that I have a college degree that I got prior to my BSW. It was in the same field and it has allowed me to work with victims of violence & families of the youth protection system while I was studying and after I graduated from it. I did that for roughly 2-3 years on and off.

Hello everyone, I am in my first semester of my MSW and I've been encouraged by a prof to pursue PhD studies in social work. I am considering it more and more seriously I have to admit. Even if graduate school is a lot of work, I'm so happy that I get to learn something I'm really passionate about and I am realizing that graduate school fits a lot with my personality and interests. So if I'd start a PhD, it would technically be during the academic year of 2019-2020 and I would be applying next Fall (2018). However, my first language is French. I did my entire university studies in English but since I live in Qc, students have the right to submit written work in French. That's what I did all along and managed to graduate with Distinction for my BSW. I have two concerns though. The first one is English as a second language. I am taking an English class right now to improve my academic writing in English but the class is too easy, I am not learning anything that I already know and I find it disappointing because I want to be challenged in terms of my writing. The other concern is since I would like to study out of my province (either the US or another canadian provinces) what financial options are available to me? I come from a low income family and both of my parents do not have university degrees and they cannot support me financially with my education even if they'd like to. Uni in Qc is cheaper, but I would like to get a new kind of academic and professionnal experience. So two questions: for those of you who wrote an entire PhD thesis in English when English is not your mothertongue, was it hard? And second, what are the financial options for me to study internationally or across Canada? I will definetly apply to Vanier and Trudeau next year but I wonder if there are any other options since my family cannot support me financially and since I'd be living on my own for the first time ever. Thanks.

When I was considering doing my MSW in Ottawa, I visited the school many many months before even applying. The university covers fees for transportation for out-of-town prospective students. It's never too early I'd say!

Thank you so much! <3

I have just included the references I have used in my proposal, not more than that. It has to be on one page (for master's program.)

I will try this. Thank you so much!!!

Hello everyone, I am so sorry because this will probably come across as off-topic. But I've asked and looked everywhere and I don't know how to get help with this and it is driving me crazy. Does anyone know how to make frames around paragraphs in Word (like one frame with one paragraph and then another frame with another paragraph following it) without it looking all messy and all over the place. I've been watching tutorials online to do it and it's not working, the result is not user friendly. I've been trying to do this for days, literally and I am ripping my hair out because it doesn't look right. I am trying to do some "cards" with information on different programs for a research project. But this is what it gives me everytime I try to do it. http://i68.tinypic.com/27zbrpc.png And I have more than a hundred pages like this, I cannot do it on a seperate document for each one of these programs. I have a table of content that I've been able to put up. I can click on an element in the table of content that would redirect me to the specific "card" in the word document. Do you see what I mean? And some programs are being described on more than one page. I have to give this to a professor and I don't want to give it to her now because it's just a mess. I want it to be user-friendly for her because there are tons of pages in this document. Thanks for anyone who will help. I find this so frustrating.

What is it that you wanted to know from these former students?

I also believe that this person is probably trying to undermine you. I don't know why, I find it strange (jealousy, who knows!) Apply anyway, you've got nothing to lose. The worst thing that can happen is that they say no. When that happens, you can always try the following year. I am irritated that someone told you something like this when you sound like a great candidate. Whenever someone tells me I can't or shouldn't do something, I still manage to accomplish it and do it. But that's just me. You sound like a strong candidate. Don't let that person mess with your confidence. Good luck!

Same here

One of my profs told me I should do a PhD. I am considering it more and more seriously I have to admit.

Yes, I see it. It's on the page right before you can get access to your form in progress. I don't know if I explain it well, but it's the step before you can access your form.

I also saw that we need to enter our FRQSC password in Common Canadian CV website. So confusing.

I can translate what they are saying if that's helpful to you. So they are saying that it is normal that we do not see the section for referees, that it's a bug. They are asking to not add them once again otherwise they will appear twice. They suggest verifying the section "Autres statuts" to be able to see their names.

I am using the French version as well, and I still don't see my referees.

Wow. I entered the emails of the two profs that have accepted to write a LOR for me. Now I log in and I don't see their names and emails anymore. I'm assuming it's a bug from their new system. Does anyone else have trouble with their new website?

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.