SwagMaster

I received my email at 8:49 pm est. I was successful in committee 4 😀

Any idea if NSERC and CIHR have released all their results? Feels like were being shammed for being in the social sciences 🙃

Is everyone waiting still in Committee 4?

Hopefully, we find out today... Its crazy to me that SSHRC does this every year and their system is still running like it's the 90s.

Great! Thanks for this info 😀

This feels like it'll be a long week 😬 If we selected a May start for the funding any idea when we would recieve the funding?

Do you see "SW MSW 2 2019-2020 Fall/Winter" or something similar under the Academic section at all?

It's possible that the JD program uses a completely different system. The same year I got into the MSW, I also got into the MPH program. The MPH program didn't change my acorn at all. In fact, they wouldn't even send me an official package in the mail until I informally emailed them saying that I intended to accept it. It didn't show up on my Acorn until a few months after I rejected their offer LOL

Hey guys! I applied to UofT multiple times over the years and I'm a current student. I'm hoping I can clarify some things that for anyone who applied this year. Do they come out in waves? There is no evidence from the past few years that admission comes out in waves. All official results (acceptances, waitlist, rejections) come out at once, with maybe a 1-2 day administrative delay. This happens in Feb. for advanced standing, and March for 2-year. Do they come out according by last name? Perhaps some people may receive a response a few hours or 1-2 days before other people, but as I said above, they usually happen pretty close together. Is the invited status accurate? I've been following these forums for a few years now. Usually there is 1 person a year who will say that they didn't get "invited" but received an acceptance. I've never heard of someone who had "invited" but didn't get in. Acorn still says "Financially cancelled" or some other status from previous years? Last year there was a previous UofT student whose status remained as "Financially cancelled" but later got an acceptance. Seems possible that the previous status can hide whether or not you get the "invited" status I hope this clears it up for those who had questions. Best of luck!

You just have to choose during your first year. There are no capacity restrictions.

Up to 3!

I was admitted into UofT's MSW advanced standing program last year and I'm currently in the program. If I told someone my GPA and years of experience at the time of my application, even I would admit that it didn't sound very impressive compared to some people. In my personal experience, I find that many MSW applicants focus a lot on GPA and years of experience when there are many other (and perhaps easier) ways you can stand out as well. I'd like to take some time to share my experience to hopefully help out you and other people on this forum. Here are my initial stats: I did a BA with mediocre grades. I immediately followed it with a 1-year BSW, and my grades were in the low/mid 80's on average (which was class average for the program). In terms of social work related experience at the time of application, I did a few casual volunteer positions at homeless shelters, my 10-month BSW practicum, and I was about 4 months into working my first full-time social work job. So my grades were decent but I was definitely light in terms of experience. How did I make my application stand out? - My goals were different than most other applicants - I want to be a health researcher. In my application, I wrote a lot about my research goals, research interests, issues/gaps in the current literature, etc. I talked about how I wanted to do the thesis option, what i would do it on, and which supervisor would fit my interests. Even if you are not interested in research as a career, any UofT applicant can benefit from writing about why research is important, how better research would inform your work, etc. - I had really good references. When I went to the MSW information session, Angela said that we would be surprised how many negative reference letters they receive. Towards the end of my BSW, I ended up building really good relationships with some of my professors. I ended up working on some projects with them and this led to really strong academic references from well known professors. - I did my research and read between the lines to figure out who the program wants. In my opinion, you can figure a lot about who the program wants by researching the program. For example, UofT has a focus on evidence-based social work practice, so discuss that in your statement. Another example, ask about the program’s educational pedagogy, and in your statement, discuss how that aligns with your performed mode of learning. Key point here is to learn about the programs main values. Also, some food for thought. There may be somethings that the schools look for that they don’t explicitly ask for. Some examples I can think of include emotional maturity, professionalism when dealing with difficult/disrespectful clients, experience working in a large variety of social work roles, academic literacy, etc. I suspect that schools read your application to look for these things even though it’s not explicitly asked. My point in all of this is to take a broader view of your application. Don’t focus on just the numbers (GPA and years of experience). As social workers we often like to take a holistic view of things, so take a holistic view of your application as well Best of luck!

I’m in the advanced standing program right now. I took some courses last summer, not the summer intensives but the ones that lasted a few months. There are some additional administrative steps for advanced standing people to start courses in the summer. Feel free to DM me!

Every year you hear of maybe one person who gets a false negative (no "invited" but they got in). But I have yet to ever hear of someone with a false positive ("invited" but not accepted).

@Anniemsw Unfortunately I'm not sure Angela can confirm anything here. The Acorn Invited status is more of a hack that has worked over the years. Angela won't be able to confirm whether you get in or not until SGS sends out their *official* response through the mail.

This is what it looks like. This was pulled from last year's forum

@SC-MSW 2019 You make some really good points! I would say, however, that purely from an acceptance rate perspective I believe that York is more competitive than UofT. UofT is a much larger program but they also have way more applicants. In last year's MSW forum, some people did have insights as to what the acceptance rates for both these schools are. From what I remember, the rate was lower for York. If you're interested you can look through that forum. Best of luck!

Over the last 2 years, it has been February early 20's

For the UofT 2 year (non bsw) msw, mid to late March is typically when it comes out.

Angela, who is the admissions coordinator at UofT FIFSW, typically tells applicants that no one in the past few years has been admitted with a research methods grades less than a B. If an applicant does have less than a B, she admonishes them retake the course at any university to get at least a B and state in their application that they are retaking it. Then if they are admitted, they will have to confirm that they completed the course with at least a B. That has been her message for the past few years. I encourage you to reach out to her to confirm if you are in that situation.

There are a lot of people in my class who do not have research experience. From the way that I see it, everyone in the program has something that makes them stand out. Perhaps that could be extensive social work experiences, great grades, research experience, or something else. You have to figure out what your strengths are and really emphasize that in your application.

I also separated out the questions in my UofT application because I thought it was the best way for me to communication my ideas clearly and coherently. My advice would be to choose the format that you feel most comfortable with or the format that makes your writing sound better. I have a hard time believing that the formatting will make or break your application. People get accepted using either format.

I also separated the questions

Hey! I'm in that program now. I went the information session before the 2017 admissions cycle. The admissions rate that they gave back then was 1 in 4 for the advanced standing program starting in 2016. I'm not sure if its changed much since then. Hope that helps!

I'm enjoying it a lot more than the BSW program. The program has more of a focus on research and evidence-based practice which is what I was looking for. Compared to the BSW, there are a lot more interesting practicum opportunities available as well.