SwagMaster

It's quite rare to get into your MSW directly from undergrad, but there's so much you can do to improve your application. Here are just a few ideas for anyone to improve their chances at the UofT program that I've picked up throughout the years:
- Get more related experience (obviously). UofT really cares about the number of hours (as opposed to the number of months/years), so you should really try to get more direct experience where you can, paid or unpaid. 
- boost your stats mark if it's low. At the information session, they kept pushing that no one got in the past couple years with a stats mark under a B. They recommended retaking it if you need to.  (Angela typically mentions Athabasca university, as you can do it online) 
- College programs. There are lots that you can try. They seem to really like people who have done a SSW diploma (and i think that some have a placement as well?). 
- Research experience. UofT's program is very research oriented -- you can tell just by reading the course descriptions. In past forums, people often talked about how much UofT values research experience (related to SW or not!). I often find some organizations around my community that are recruiting research volunteers. 
- BSW. This makes it way easier to get into an MSW afterwards. I did mine at uWaterloo (Renison). The 10-month program is not online actually. To get in, you need 10 prerequisite courses or equivalent, most (if not all) can be taken online. It can be a bit of a gamble, because you need to pay and take the prereq courses for a chance to get in. I can speak more to this if you have more questions. 
- References. People so often neglect the importance of references, but they are so so SO important and you should take them seriously. At the last information session, Angela said that we would be surprised by the number of reference letters they get that are not positive! Here's my tip: When asking for a reference, always ask if they have the time to write you a positive reference. Better to know then than to submit it in your application. 
- Do more research about what kind of applicant they are looking for and what the program values. This point is really about program fit, and how you can convey that to the admissions committee. For example, UofT values research, so one tip I got from a previous student was to mention what research topics interest you, or say that you would want to do the thesis under the supervision of professor X. Another example is to look at the course description and explain why this program's courses interest you because of your previous experiences. 
I hope I didn't forget anything, but this is the list I had in my head when preparing for my applications. I hope this helps you!

A lot of people are talking about Angela's vague response of "All decisions will be mailed out by the end of the week"
I actually had a similar conversation with Angela about this when I spoke to her in person at one of the information sessions last year. 
What she told me is that the only OFFICIAL source of your decision is the letter mailed out by the school of graduate studies. And due to that, there is a really limited amount of information that the can give you until that letter is sent. (Don't want to step on the toes of the school of graduate studies.) Since the acorn status is "unofficial" she can't officially tell you about why you do or do not see "Invited".
She also told me that all letters for each program are typically all sent out at once, unless they choose to make an exception for whatever reason. So whether or not the "Invited" statuses are updated in multiple batch jobs, the letters typically are sent out in one go. Of course this is all subject to change. Hope this helps. 

A lot of people are talking about Angela's vague response of "All decisions will be mailed out by the end of the week"
I actually had a similar conversation with Angela about this when I spoke to her in person at one of the information sessions last year. 
What she told me is that the only OFFICIAL source of your decision is the letter mailed out by the school of graduate studies. And due to that, there is a really limited amount of information that the can give you until that letter is sent. (Don't want to step on the toes of the school of graduate studies.) Since the acorn status is "unofficial" she can't officially tell you about why you do or do not see "Invited".
She also told me that all letters for each program are typically all sent out at once, unless they choose to make an exception for whatever reason. So whether or not the "Invited" statuses are updated in multiple batch jobs, the letters typically are sent out in one go. Of course this is all subject to change. Hope this helps. 

According to my epi prof who sits in the admissions committee, they send out offers of admission to a few applicants (early admission), and those applicants have to make a decision by a certain date (they give applicants 2 weeks to decide, but lets use April 1st as an example). After April 1st, the admissions committee will count how many spots they have left in the program and send more offers based on the space they have left. Then they keep doing this until they get the amount of students they want in the program. Official rejections will come afterwards.
That is to say that you haven't been rejected yet. But my advice is that you should assume that you've been rejected and start planning your summer and fall to improve your CV (e.g. find employment related to your field, get published, etc.). I'm doing the same since I didn't get in the first wave of UofT epi

Personally, I think it is best to hope for the best, but plan for the worst.  Applicants haven’t been rejected yet, since only the first wave of acceptances have been sent out, but, as a UofT MPH grad, I think it is best to consider yourself on a wait list right now if you haven’t received an acceptance.  Putting your life on hold because you haven’t yet been accepted or rejected is not a good idea.  Planning for the future, in case you are rejected, is the best approach.
I’m still waiting on a decision from Queen’s re: two PhD programs. If I assumed I would be accepted, I wouldn’t be doing anything right now to improve my application or to ensure that I remain licensed as a registered dietitian.  As I don’t have an answer yet, I am proceeding as if I were rejected (even though I haven’t been), and securing myself employment in my field so that I can maintain my registration.
I think it’s good advice to start planning for the future, in case an acceptance doesn’t come through.  If people later receive an acceptance, that’s awesome!  But I think it is very important to have back-up plans.  I was fortunate to receive admission to UofT’s MPH on the first day of acceptances, but I already had three other back-up plans prepared (including an acceptance to an MSc program) in case the MPH didn’t happen.  I think that’s prudent planning.  YMMV of course.  I like to plan and to have back-up plans so that I’m not left in limbo. Others may prefer to wait and see what happens before making alternate plans.

I applied to 2 programs at UofT (fifsw and dalla lana) using very similar essays. I received admission into both, so neither of them seemed to care too much. I wouldn't worry too much about it. 

I got the acceptance email for UofT health promotion too!!
The email says "We have received 500 applications and are accepting 42 students for September 2018". I wonder if that means they sent out 42 acceptances, or a lot more than 42 to get to the desired cohort size of 42.  

I actually shared mine a few pages earlier, but here it is again: 
I'll go through the 5 categories that they claim to use to access applications. 
1. Academic grades
The average of my last 10 senior level courses is a high 80, although my cumulative for my entire undergrad is much lower. 
2. Social science background
I come from a social science and social work background.
3. A statement of intent 
I think that my statement was decent. I really made an effort to look up what they were looking for and talk about how my experience fit that. (For example, talk about how I my work involves social determinants of health.)
I'm also hoping to do the health research route, so I spoke specifically about my vision for public health and the kind of research I want to do. 
4. Experience 
As I mentioned above, I'm in social work, so it's quite easy to relate my work to social justice and health inequities. 
I work full-time at a mental health treatment centre. I've worked one year working with high school students in low-income neighbourhoods -- this was case management, helping them use education to break out of poverty. Also have 1.5 years volunteering at homeless shelters, community centres, schools for children with special needs, etc. 
I'm also currently working on publishing my first journal article in the field of public health. 
5. Two letters of reference 
I honestly think this was the best part of my application. I had 1 academic, and 1 work reference. Great relationships with both of them.

Hey guys, I just wanted to pipe and and say that I second this. 
There have been a lot of questions on here about the size of uoft's waitlist, and the chance of getting in. I wanted to share what I've seen over the years. 
Over the years I've see A LOT of my friends, classmates, co-workers, acquaintances, colleagues, whatever apply for the MSW at uoft (around 30 if you count applications and not applicants). All I can say are that from what I've seen, rejections are far and few (especially for the advanced standing), and that most of the non-acceptances are waitlists. Although I will never definitively know if this is true, it seems that a waitlist result is almost synonymous to a rejection. 
I wasn't going to share this conjecture of mine because I didn't want to bring down people's hopes. But I do think that it's important for those on the waitlist not to obsess (it's not good for your health). I think that you should think of getting off the waitlist as an happy surprise. If you don't get off, that doesn't mean that you're not good enough, but know that the odds really are against you. 
Again, I wasn't really going to post this because I didn't want to bring anyone down. But I think it's important to be able to move on and take up other opportunities. 

PSA: Laurier one-year acceptances are coming!
I didn't apply but I have a friend that just got in. 

PSA: Laurier one-year acceptances are coming!
I didn't apply but I have a friend that just got in. 

I think this applies to everyone reading this forum haha!

Haha. Indeed (you said it, though – I didn't ). But seriously, though, the system even thinks so: I was just prevented from liking your post because I've "reacted" too many times today (way harsh, Tai).

I think this applies to everyone reading this forum haha!

Unless their policy changed from last year, you won't be able to inquire any information about the waitlist. 
When you receive the waitlist letter, they ask you to submit a form to indicate whether you want to stay on the waitlist. If you do, you're welcome to submit updated documents/transcripts/practicum evaluations/etc. 
But they never reveal how many are on the waitlist, or what the ranking is. It's a frustrating experience for sure. At the time, I personally knew about 10 people on the waitlist, and none of us got in. This is not to say that no one gets off the waitlist because people on grad cafe have said that they've received offers from the waitlist though. 
Best of luck!

AHHHHHH I got into UofT as well!!
My acorn says invited! 

Yay!! Congratulations! Maybe we will be classmates! 

You must be thrilled! Huge congrats   

Hey, that's a good question, and it seems like a lot of BSW students wonder how much experience you need to get into an MSW program. I found out that my acorn said "invited" earlier this morning to the advanced standing health and mental health stream. I have about 1.5 years of volunteering on the side during my undergrad, < 1 year of BSW placement, 6 months of working full-time (as of this month), and a research project that I've been doing on the side for a few months. I wanted to share my experience of getting from a BSW to MSW. 
During my BSW, I applied to a few MSW programs but didn't get in anywhere. But this is what I noticed -- Of the people in my BSW program, the only people who got into an MSW right away were those who had more than one year of full-time experience in the field prior to their BSW. It became very evident that the schools wanted more experience, and it was difficult to get into an MSW without any full time experience. 
So although I didn't get in anywhere at that time, I still learned what I could do significantly improve my chances of admission -- gain more experience! After graduating, I put all my effort into getting full-time employment and finding related side-projects/volunteer opportunities. 
This was my experience, and you as a BSW student may very well get into an MSW program this year! I just wanted to share my experience. Know that if you don't get in this year, not all is lost, and don't give up! 

AHHHHHH I got into UofT as well!!
My acorn says invited! 

AHHHHHH I got into UofT as well!!
My acorn says invited! 

I did my placement at an organization that works with high school students in low-income neighbourhoods. Essentially it was case management to help the students transition into the workplace or post-secondary education. 
UofT is the only MSW that I applied to, but I did also apply to a masters of public health program. 

Hi friends:
I graduated from York MSW  about three years ago and currently in my second year of medical  school in the States. Feel free to ask me any questions  about York MSW program  
 Good luck to all