Peppercorn

That is very helpful, ErinCM, and encouraging. I will have to track down pay information to track the hours from various camps. Thank you!

Hi All, After hours of reading through these forums, I am going to post. I don't have a BSW, so I will be applying to non-BSW streams (UVic, UNBC, and maybe WLU). I have a BA from UBC with 85% in my last 10 courses. I do have a few low grades in some courses in my BA, and some of my better grades are in Creative Writing, which may work against me. I have a certificate in Expressive Art Therapy from Langara College. By Dec 2020 I will have about 5000 combined hours working in human services: 2600 working on a rural Intensive Case Management Team in Mental Health & Substance Use, 350 hours coordinating a Harm Reduction program for the local hospital, 300 hours facilitating groups to individuals living with disabilities, about 2000 hours working as a respite caregiver for individuals living with disabilities, about 100 hours facilitating art therapy groups within recovery houses, about 100 hours facilitating art therapy in my practicum at MH support society and in a school, and about 100 hours teaching bike mechanics to marginalized populations). I have also worked facilitating youth camps and at after-school programs, but the advisor at WLU discouraged me from including more general work with youth, even if they are with underserved populations. Altogether, my work with youth in after-school programs, etc, is probably around 2,000 hours more, but much of it is from 5 or 10 years ago, and not all of it feels relevant to social work. I have seen on these forums that the average WLU applicant has about 7000 hours in work/volunteer experience in human services. I would need to take 6 credits of social sciences and one 3 credit research methods course in order to apply for WLU's non-BSW online p/t program. This would cost about $2000 at UBC (I am currently registered as an unclassified student in these courses), or $3000 at Athabasca. I will be working 32 hours/week this semester and taking 9 credits in order to be able to apply for Fall 2021 at WLU. My partner is applying for RN programs, so if I were to take the online program at WLU, it would make it much more likely that we could do both of our programs at once. I am wondering if I should go through with taking the 9 credits to apply for WLU, as it seems it's so competitive and many people with similar experience and grades seem to be waitlisted and/or declined. I could apply for other programs that don't have these requirements, but then we would both have to move to one of these communities, and if he didn't get into a program in the same place I did, one of us would be hooped. It sounds like it might be a hectic, expensive fall, and it most likely will be unnecessary. Any thoughts on if I should go through with it or not? The last day to drop classes without a W is Sept 21 at UBC. Good luck to all applying to programs. PS I noticed somebody had asked why UVic is mentioned so little on this forum. I have the same question. It looks like a great program to me. Is it because a social-justice focused program is not what people are seeking, or is it location-based (nobody wants to move to Victoria)?