lindaMSW

Well said and thank you! If anyone had personal clashes with MSW2MD, please deal it privately! This thread is meant to be used for MSW discussion, not a place where you hold a personal grudge against someone. I don't want to see this thread gets locked again!! 

Well said and thank you! If anyone had personal clashes with MSW2MD, please deal it privately! This thread is meant to be used for MSW discussion, not a place where you hold a personal grudge against someone. I don't want to see this thread gets locked again!! 

This is a fascinating study in how victim blaming and protecting the "abuser" culture plays out.
This is about calling out harmful behaviour that negatively harms this community and has nothing to do with personal grudges.  If this thread gets locked the onus is not on those who were brave enough to speak out.

First I want to preface by saying that I don't envy your position as an admin, and perhaps your hands are tied in regard to what action you are able/willing to take and I do respect the time and effort you and your team put in. 
As far as the lies that YEWANG/MSW&MD/MSW2MD has engaged in, I am not just speaking upon his claims for today.  If you go back through his postings, not limited to just this cycle and including the thread that the admins. closed down you will find all kinds of discrepancies, some of which were even pointed out and called out, on the closed down thread.

In any case, for myself, the important part is ensuring that others are not duped by this member and that there is now a written record of what has occurred so that new members and those in the upcoming future cycles will now have ample warning and will be able to make informed decisions.

Well said and thank you! If anyone had personal clashes with MSW2MD, please deal it privately! This thread is meant to be used for MSW discussion, not a place where you hold a personal grudge against someone. I don't want to see this thread gets locked again!! 

This is a public forum that anyone is invited to part take in. As prospective master's level students, everyone on this forum should research any information they receive or fact check before making any important career or vocational decisions based on information shared on the internet. If anyone is unable or unwilling to do so, I would question their ability to succeed in graduate level programs which call upon students to research, fact check and ensure that their sources are reliable when completing all research and assignments.
Errors can happen on the forum - either accidentally or intentionally. This is not a peer reviewed journal. The onus is on everyone to make sure what they are reading is valid and reliable. I think the professional thing to do is to privately PM anyone you would like to speak to about issues that are unrelated to the main topic of conversation. Putting someone on the spot publicly can lead to embarrassment and defensiveness which make it rather difficult to create a dialogue that is open and honest with another person that you are experiencing difficulties with. Some food for thought....
I hope that anyone who has more to say on this issue will have the courage and assertiveness to privately and directly address the situation with the person(s) involved while respecting the main purpose of this thread.
I wish everyone the best of luck as you await final decisions and congrats to all who have been admitted! 

My lab is located at Odette Cancer Centre,Sunnybrook, feel free to drop by and talk to my student today  

I understand that MSW2MD/YEWANG upset a lot of people in the previous thread. However, he hasn't really done anything to provoke anyone recently and the last thing I want is for another forum to get locked by a moderator, especially during such a stressful time. 
As social workers I think it is important to remember that we don't know everyone's story and for all we know, this person may have some personal stuff they have yet to work through. Obviously, this might not be the case, but I think it's important to keep in mind. 

why are you bringing attention to this? it's a new board. straying away from the topic by bringing this up again isn't necessary. 

YEWANG, out of curiosity and no disrespect intended, how come you changed your name to MSW&MD and have now created another profile (whilst still using your original one) named MSW2MD?

Donot get discouraged, York is an excellent school! I have friends did their placement in hospitals and government agencies without using any personal connections. Who knows...

Warm congratulations to people who are admitted to York MSW program, if you have any question in regard to the program or the school, feel free to P.M me. 

Never compare yourself to others, especially someone who has a demonstrated history of lying in this forum.  Your time will come and when it does it will be all the sweeter.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you for the next cycle!

Me after checking my email for the 10th time that day and seeing that admissions results still haven't been released

Focus on your social work journey in the year ahead Linda. Who knows what situations, opportunities or experiences are waiting for you, that may significantly impact where you want to do your masters, what your focus area of study should be, etc etc. I believe the universe has impeccable timing in having things line up for us the way it should.
It maybe helpful to ask U of T for feedback on your application, consider applying to different schools next year, consider your reference choices carefully and if your GPA is a concern for you, consider writing your GRE test (graduate records examination test) this is a way to demonstrate academic aptitude separate from your gpa/university transcripts.
Hope this helps.  Take care and all the best.

Congrats to everyone who has gotten admission offers, you all deserve it, I hope you take some time out for a much deserved celebration!!!
I just wanted to write a shout out to anyone who has  applied to programs that have started sending out admissions and haven't heard any response yet. Reading other people's triumphs--as wonderful as it is for them--can make one feel pretty crappy and discouraged. Just wanted to remind any of you out there feeling anxious, shedding tears, feeling low, that you that you are wonderful, there is still hope, and you'll be okay no matter what. You've survived every challenge so far! I'm rooting for you, and I hope you hear good news soon!

Thanks Nicole  I will give a try next year !! 

Hey lindaMSW - I think diversifying would be good, having some back-ups, so maybe try and find 3 or 4 that you can apply to next year that would fit your lifestyle/where you are at in terms of location of study or method.  I know Windsor has some flexible programs and some coursework that is closer to the city as well I think.
Also you can go back and take a research course or a stats course to strengthen that part of your application if GPA is something you want to boost.  I recently found these courses for a friend of mine, they are through Athabasca - one can do them all online. Keep working on it and building up your social work experiences for your resume!  As someone on here already said if you are building up your career in that direction and your resume reflects that, so will your opportunities

Hey! I applied to York's 2-year MSW program. I'm not quite sure if my credentials are up to par, but I feel that it's always difficult to judge your own credentials... no matter what I do it never feels like it's enough experience! That being said, I would say that if you want to be a social worker then just go for it. I know that the applications are a lot of money, but my thinking was that if I don't try then for SURE I'm not getting accepted... so may as well give it a try, see where you stand, and if you don't get admitted then use that as motivation to keep improving! That's my plan anyway  

Hey, current U of T student here!
From what I understand from conversations about taking students for next year at my placement, the hospital placement situation is a bit more complicated. I could be wrong for hospitals, but from what I understand, any agency that has an agreement to take U of T students doesn't have to not take students from other schools, they just have to agree that any students they take from other schools won't interfere with the U of T student's placement. And I know for a fact that SickKids, which has a bunch of U of T students, does also take students from other schools (one of the other placement students from my placement last year goes to a school in the states and did her placement at SickKids this year).
Also, from earlier posts, I know there have been some questions about popular and unpopular specializations- from my understanding, there's no quotas or anything for specializations, they just plan the number of sections for each course based on enrolment in each specialization, so you don't have any better or worse chance of getting in based on the specialization you choose. Which I suppose is good news for people wanting popular specializations and bad news for people wanting less popular ones =P

I just received the rejection letter from U of T 2 year program, I was crying the whole day and had to cancel tonight's V day dinner with my boyfriend. Anyway, I feel happy for those of you who get accepted to a MSW program, I also feel angry and disappointed because this is the third time I am applying to U of T!  I was placed on the waitlist last year but this year I didn't even make to the waitlist.  I don't understand how some people with hideous moral standard and responsibility can get into the program so easily  ( Like the person who brags about how  he was accepted to by all universities in Toronto when he was 23 and  is now doing his MD) and I have tried so hard and so many times with no success. Sorry for listening my rants, my self confidence is totally destroyed today. I hope everyone else has better luck than me this year.

It's still possible to get a hospital placement with any school--just the specific hospital varies. Hospitals inside the University Health Network only take U of T students, hospitals that are not in the network are more flexible and will take other students (i.e. St. Michael's, St. Josephs, Bridgepoint (maybe on this one). I wouldn't put any credence into what this person said, super trolling comment, unless you know the head of social work at a hospital or someone with huge decision making power who can get you in then it really is about the school's connections. Most MSW programs have a practicum portal where they list available placements, while you are probably welcome to secure placements outside of it it is VERY difficult given how most placements are already set up prior and it would be a matter of asking social workers who didn't commit to being field instructors if they would be open to taking on a student. I'm currently at a hospital that has a few York students but they are more on the research/policy side of things rather than clinical. My friend is at a hospital with a few non U of T students who do have clinical placements, so it varies.
TL;DR: It's possible to get a hospital placement at any school, the options however might be limited depending on the specific hospitals and which placements your school acquired!

It's hard to say why...one thing I've heard is that at U of T you pay for connections/partnerships that U of T has with other organizations, so while other schools prioritize funding students U of T prioritizes it's professional ties for students to get the best placement opportunities (i.e. U of T's monopoly on the university health network--all of the main hospitals in Toronto can only take U of T MSW students). Even if this is the case though, it would only be a partial answer at best.
Unfortunately there are zero opportunities to TA at U of T, mainly because the school doesn't have a BSW program. There are RA opportunities though, I have several friends who help professors in the faculty with research for good wages, and there are frequent emails that go out to students detailing new opportunities! Also, U of T has like this central online hub thing that has all campus job postings so I have a bunch of friends who are getting paid to do research in other faculties/other social worker relevant jobs on campus :).

I am so so sorry to hear this, what a discouraging situation. Please take care of yourself and as stated by many others, please do not let one troll have ANY bearing on your feelings. Thinking of you and sending all the good vibes in this difficult time <3 I hope you are feeling supported right now and please reach out if you need support from any of us. My inbox is always open <3

Hi Linda. My cousin has a BSW and did the advanced standing MSW program at Windsor 2 years ago.  She was able to do a hospital placement at Bluewater Health in Sarnia (the city she was living in while doing the MSW program at Windsor.) I'd presume Windsor has placements at their local hospitals as well but i can't say that for certain.  She did not have any inside connection with our hospital before doing her placement there. Hope this helps.
Take care and all the best-everyone has a unique experience and skill set that distinguishes them from others-things will line up for you when the time is right.