willisle

1) Here are some examples of administrative nonsense that are akin to talking to your cell phone company for an hour trying to rectify a billing error. I received a needs-based grant, which they sent in the mail to the wrong address last semester. I had to spend hours on hold and talked to three different people just trying to figure out how to get the money. They had me email them, create online ticket requests, call different departments, etc.. This literally took hours out of my work week in the beginning of January ( I work full time while in school). I finally got an email last week saying they had fixed the problem... but that it would now be about 5-6 weeks for "processing." Another example is that they encouraged professional grad students to apply for graduate assistantships, a job program supposedly set up specifically for professional grad students because we don't have funding packages. I have quite a bit of research experience, both at the undergrad level and at a private organization (about 3-4 years worth) and so I was surprised to not hear anything back. When I asked for feedback on my application, they tole me it was because these positions are unionized, and are easily "scooped up" by people who have been at U of T for a longer time and someone just coming in is less likely to get them, which I think begs the question of what the point of those positions are, if not to fund graduate students in professional programs, which are usually only a couple years in duration? It's sort of like being frustrated with the way the government runs in the sense that you probably won't be able to fix it by yourself and you still need something from them, so you have to go along in order to get what you need. In the end, think it is worth putting up with in order to be educated by such knowledgable therapists/professors, access the practicum part of the program, and also to become registered and receive a degree from a reputable university. Here's a good book on the changing landscape of Canadian academia, if you are interested in learning more: https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/academia-inc . 2) No, I don't know of anyone doing a PhD afterwards, although I'm sure it would be supported. There is a PhD program for counselling psych I believe. Personally, if I wanted to do a PhD in this field, I would have gone the clinical route. You come out of the M.Ed program at OISE ready to work as a psychotherapist and most new therapists I know in Toronto, Ottawa, and Victoria are finding work that you don't need a PhD for. I know people who are doing research in addition to therapy, so if that's what you are interested in, you can definitely still do that!

Hello! I've received quite a few private messages asking questions about my experiences, probably because I was active on last year's forum. I thought I would throw some of my thoughts and answers up here rather than reply to every message. I applied to U of T, Guelph, and UVic last year, all for counselling. I got accepted to U of T only and am now attending that program. As far as I know, U of T was objectively more competitive and so I think this is a good lesson on how unpredictable acceptances are. At the time, I thought I had the best chance at UVic. Not only are different schools looking for different things, but there are a variety of other factors that could be happening behind the scenes (for instance, I found out afterwards that UVic was having a number of faculty go on sabbatical and therefore accepted fewer students that year). If I could offer any advice on this, it would be to let go of the desire to predict acceptance once your application has been submitted, because the reality is that being a good candidate does not guarantee acceptance and there is no way for you to predict acceptance based off of comparing your GPA and experience to others. I think someone mentioned that there were 600 applicants to U of T last year and I'm willing to bet many of them were excellent candidates, so keep that in mind and don't let a school's potential rejection of your application make you feel like you are not worthy of pursuing this career path. The comparison can be helpful when gauging to see if you are competitive in the pre-application stage, but the type of experiences a lot of these schools are looking for is not something you can build in a few months. If you don’t get accepted, I think it's important to focus on how you can achieve the goal of becoming a therapist by becoming your own best advocate for accessing the education and experience you need. If you don't get accepted to the more traditional/well-known universities, consider alternative routes. I had judgments about some of the alternative programs and I have since realized that those beliefs were not all justified. I am in the process of applying to my practicum now and I see therapists working in at practicum sites that I am applying to in Toronto who went to these alternative programs, particularly Yorkville. I have also seen some Adler students, although not as many and I believe most were already RPs, whereas Yorkville students seem to be getting practicum placements. The reality is that the university programs are super competitive and so you might be a wonderful candidate and still not get accepted and that says little about you in and of itself, so is it more important to get into a fancy school or to actual begin your journey to becoming a therapist? That being said, I think some of these alternative programs are worth scrutinizing, so if you consider these routes, make sure to do your research and talk to people in the field as well as students in the program. Some of them do not seem reputable. Another question people asked were variations of what makes for a good candidate. I can only speak to U of T and say that I know they want candidates who will be able to succeed in a practicum and in landing one. I had a good GPA and took three years between my undergrad in order to really test my skills. I know it's hard to think this far in advance, but I think the skill-testing piece is really important not just for admissions, but so that you can know whether you are a good fit for this career. I genuinely believe you cannot know that until you've gotten your feet wet and for that reason, I don't think it's the best idea to apply straight from undergrad unless you've been able to do that simultaneously. In fact, I'm not sure if anyone in my program came straight from undergrad, I believe they've all worked in the mental health field for a few years. Anyone can do well in school under the right circumstances, but have you been confronted with real mental health challenges of others and how did you handle that? Someone asked if the program has prepared me for the field and I think my experience in the mental health field prior to the program combined with the theoretical coursework this year is what's going to prepare me for the practicum next year. Few things on the OISE program: I have a great cohort of peers with diverse backgrounds in terms of experience. They and my professors are a wealth of knowledge. We do practice therapy sessions every week with our peers, which is a highlight of my week. Two thing that drew me to the program: I heard from an alumni that the networking in their cohort was invaluable and has stayed steady 20+ years after they graduated; I definitely see this in my own peer group. Secondly, I knew U of T have good practicum connections based in Toronto and a good reputation and this is also true. Also I feel that they have done very well in making the program wok with Covid restrictions. Downsides: Funding sucks, so expect to self-fund. Some of my peers got research assistant jobs, but I think it is hard to break into that sphere as it is unionized. As well, there is the regular university administrative nonsense that if you went to a big school for undergrad, you are probably used to. GOOD LUCK to you all!

Would love to see this thread.. link it if you start one!

Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to write all that out. I have a few questions/comments for you, based off what you have written: 1) From my understanding, you have a master's in counselling. When you decided to go back for a PhD in clinical, did you have to start from square 1 (as in apply for the master's in clinical that leads to a PhD) 2) I think you are are right about the college providing. bit of a shift in jobs through regulation. That's actually something I wrote about in my applications. It does seem like Canada is moving towards better mental health coverage. In BC, many basic healthcare plans cove 80% of counselling costs up to 500$ for personal counselling, which is a huge help for counsellors in private practice as well as incentive for organizations to hire. I'd love to know more about why you decided to go into clinical after working in counselling as that's something I was weighing a lot as well. I also have a fair amount of research experience.

I was not accepted to UVic... Bittersweet feelings on this news! I thought that was my strongest application and that I would get in there, but not at U of T given that it is so competitive. it just goes to show that we can never predict admissions. These programs all have hundreds of applicants and only accept around 15-30 people (depending on the program). With that many qualified candidates, it's impossible to tell what will stand out. All that being said, if you're not accepted, it doesn't mean you aren't qualified! Which is frustrating and comforting at the same time. I am *so* excited to accept at U of T... if there's anyone else from the cohort on here, I'd love to connect!

I applied to UVic and still waiting! I called this morning and they said decisions are coming this week. Not sure if you could call and ask for a similar estimate of time. I have another offer that I need to decide on within the next week, so I wanted to know asap. Also, my friend was planning to apply to SFU but said they weren't accepting applicants. What do you mean when you say you got invited? Knav, I don't think there's ever a way to know 100% how a committee will decide. Part of admissions is made by human judgment and by that nature, there' not really a way to predict. I've seen people post about how they think U of T decides, but it's just impossible for the internet to give you that answer. They are obviously competitive, but I'm sure not everyone who is accepted has a 4.0

When I called on Monday, UVic said they were sending out rejections/acceptances by the end of the week, but my app still says under reviews. Ugh!

"Students in the M.Ed. (Counselling and Psychotherapy) are required to complete the master’s practicum course (APD 1203Y), usually in their second year of the program or later. Students must complete a minimum of 250 hours (at least one day per week) in their placement from September to April. However, most M.Ed. placements require 500-600 hours. Normally, at least twenty-five percent of these placement hours should be direct client contact hours." "Supervisors should provide a minimum of one hour per week of one-to-one face-to-face clinical supervision." Page 3 on this practicum handbook for U of T in case anyone is interested https://www.oise.utoronto.ca/aphd/UserFiles/File/Handbook_updates/CP_Couns_Psychotherapy_Practicum_Handbook_March_2017.pdf

falken1492 Congrats on Guelph! I honestly loved the look of the Guelph program and was bummed to not get in. I imagine that being trained for family and couples would be very valuable and it's probably easier to transition from that to individual opposed to the other way around as you're managing more people and dynamics within session. When I was in Ontario over the holidays, I went to Guelph to see the campus and town and it's quite beautiful! They have a counselling centre attached to the program that students work in, which is amazing! Siya93 on the U of T program website, it says that grads are in fact eligible for the CRPO! I've attached a screenshot. That's an interesting fact about Guelph though, re: supervision hours. I know that at U of T, the first year is all courses and then the second year is practicums, which I believe is largely self-driven. I'm not sure if any of that counts for supervision. I imagine Toronto has a lot of opportunities considering U of T is the only counselling program in the city of this nature (although, I believe there are also people from the Gestalt Institute and Yorkville who would be needing practicums, but I'm not sure if it would be in the same pool?) . Excellent point about funding. U of T's professional track programs are self-funded. I know that research-based programs are usually well funded, Guelph and the McGill research-based project stream come to mind. For U of T, I have a supervisor and I wonder if I'm able to do research with them and if that would affect funding in anyway. I know that Ontario is regulated and not all provinces are (including BC). One of my good friends is finishing at St. Paul's this year (and loved it by the way!) and she was advising me that that might be a pro for an Ontario program . In BC, we have a regulatory body BCCA (https://bc-counsellors.org/), but I guess it's not mandatory to be registered in BC as it is in Ontario?

To be honest, I think it's hard to estimate. I did not think I would get into U of T. I was looking at admission stats from a previous years and they had 570 applicants with only 37 accepted. With that many applicants, many of whom are probably equally qualified, it seems like there is an element of luck in terms of whether what you've written aligns or stands out to a professor evaluating. As for experience, I did an honours thesis in my undergrad and a year of research before that. I've contributed via a lot of different volunteer and work experience in mental health roles (addictions, crisis support, long term care, etc), some of which were long term (2+ year commitments) and some that were shorter stints. My GPA in my final year was 3.9 and I think U of T only evaluated that year, which worked in my favour. I've wanted to go into this field for a long time and my statement of intent was very passionately written to reflect that. My question is, as we've all noted, there's not a ton of information on Canadian schools here. Does anyone have suggestions for how to evaluate the schools and their connections/reputations/practicums? I was thinking of emailing UVic and U of T to try to connect with an alum. I think University of Toronto often gets an automatic prestige recognition, but I'd like to hav a better comparative analysis of pros and cons to al the major universities in Canada that offer these programs. For counselling, I'm not sure prestige matters, but practicums and faculty and training definitely do and it's hard to know what that's like until you get there | Applied (3/3) | Accepted (1/3) | Rejected (1/3) | Waiting (1/3)

For anyone looking for a forum for Canadian masters of counselling, I made a post here to connect. I see a lot of University of Toronto (OISE) acceptances to the MEd program in counselling and psychotherapy on the results page and would love to connect with you!

Hi all, I've seen a number of acceptances on the results page (mostly from University of Toronto). There's surprisingly little out there in the forums on these programs considering how competitive I hear they are, so I figured I'd start one just for us! This year, I applied to the MA program in counselling psychology at University of Victoria, the M.Ed in counselling and psychotherapy at University of Toronto (OISE), and the MSc in Couples and Family Therapy at Guelph. I heard back from Guelph on January 27 and was not admitted. I heard back from University of Toronto yesterday (March 4) and was accepted with a "clear offer of admission." I am meant to hear back about UVic anyday now! Considering there are so many University of Toronto acceptances on the results portal, I'd love to connect! I live in Vic now, but grew up in Toronto, so it'll be a tough choice if I get into UVic as well. How is everyone feeling about their acceptances? Rejections? Waiting games? Willa

Hi Knav, I also applied to this program and just heard back yesterday with an offer of admission. I got an email with the title 'Decision Reached for Your University of Toronto Application" and to see it, I had to log into the portal and open a pdf of a letter. As for my application experience, U of T had the least amount of specific requirements. I also applied to the University of Victoria and I had to take 3 pre-requisite courses at their University just to be considered. For my application at U of T, when I converted my CV to a PDF to submit, it cut off a line and when I emailed U of T after realizing the mistake, they were unwilling to help. All this to say, it was a more hands-off experience than with UVic. Willa