SocialWorkFromHome

Hey Becca, I certainly cannot speak for all cities or provinces, but many Social Work positions in Ottawa are posted with "MSW with a clinical focus required". Don't know if they pin this to schools or if you could swing it by saying you took clinical electives in your cover letter + complete a clinical placement but just something that I have noticed Congratulations on the amazing offers wow!!

Thank you so so much!! It would be for advanced standing but honestly, any info is so appreciated

Would any Carleton students/acceptees be willing to PM me to let me know if they got funding and a TA role, and if so (if you're comfortable) how much for each? I'm local to Ottawa and would really like to stay here next year but since UO is a french program, I'm putting all my bets on Carleton. I really appreciate it!

Western is pretty consistently the second week of March!

Hi! In the HBSW currently and it seems as thought a fair chunk of people have degrees from fields outside of the social sciences so for that program at the very least I'd say it's no problem.

Hey, so happy to hear that this has been helpful!! So it is absolutely an option to do a placement anywhere in the world, however the process differs slightly. For Ontario placements, the placement advisor basically takes the wheel and they will reach out on your behalf to the organizations that you are interested in (in fact, you are not allowed to reach out unless specifically advised out of respect to the organizations who hear from students all the time). You will also have the chance to pursue opportunities at locations with previously-established relationships with Lakehead if you do not have anywhere in mind that you would like to pursue. For non-Ontario and/or non-Canadian placements, however, the onus is on you to find potential placement opportunities. There are also a couple of other logistic things to consider such as insurance, which I believe is required and will (may?) not be covered if you do a placement internationally. There are always placements all across Canada, however I think international ones are a bit less common. I would imagine this is largely because the placements are unpaid, the program is expensive, and you will, of course, need to pay for travel and somewhere to live on top of all of that. Absolutely an option and you start planning placements in July/August so there's lots of time to get something sorted out if that is of interest to you. It might be a good idea to try to do most of your courses in the fall term if you do an international placement, though, since that will help with not having to worry about time differences with classes and whatnot. Please let me know if I can provide any more info!!

I believe it's through this link!

Hey! I think your only options would be to drop out of the HBSW to start your MSW, which would mean losing about $3,500 :( (from your payment for the summer term). It's definitely a total coin toss and Lakehead knows that 2 year programs are their competitors so you end up sinking a lot of money into this HBSW before you even start via the entrance exam fee (this gets applied towards your tuition if you end up getting in), the application fee + school of social work fee, and transcripts. It's a fantastic backup to have and I would still recommend it as a safety net, but there is quite a bit of financial risk tied to this program if a 2 year MSW is your goal

Hey! Just wanted to jump on this forum as a previous student in the HBSW program @ Orillia to give some more info and offer myself as a resource for questions -- I know I wished there was more info online when I was planning on applying! Some questions I had: Am I qualified? Tons of people in the program have no social service experience and they got in! If you don't have experience, I would recommend really ensuring your references are going to give you a glowing review, your marks are good, and get ready to complete a strong Personal Statement Exam This program is a backup for many people applying to MSWs, so if you get waitlisted initially, keep your head up, it'll probably work out!! This program does not assume that you have experience, they start from the ground up so do not be nervous applying How do I do well on the Personal Statement Exam?? It's composed of different questions every year, so I wouldn't be able to suggest exactly what to prepare, but I would recommend writing out notes on what strengths you have, what makes you enjoy social work, reflect on your helping style, diversity, and consider some general social work principles that you might want to bring into your answers (again, the questions change every year so those are just general things that might end up being helpful) -- if you have applied to MSWs in the past, have those documents handy so you can refer to those answers since this is essentially an exam style version of those. It's 3.5 hours long and whew you will need it! When will I hear if I got in? I think generally it's March/April with a required written commitment a few weeks following acceptance and financial commitment around June How is the program structured? The summer is four classes (or fewer if you have transfer credits from your previous degree(s)) and they are each about 1-2 weeks long, completed consecutively instead of simultaneously. They're fairly intense because you blow through an entire class + associated textbook in a week or two, but it's definitely manageable. My tip: get ahead!! Reach out to the profs a reasonable amount of time before the courses start to see if they can let you know what the course textbook will be, then get reading! The fall is basically just like a regular undergrad where you will have multiple courses at once for 3-6 hrs per week per class. In the winter term, you complete a placement + 1-3 classes (depending on how you set up your fall semester). Some of the placement hours can be challenged depending on your previous experience -- this is a pretty long winded process. Will I need to quit my job? Not necessarily, but you will do much better in this program if you are not working set hours each week (i.e. probably better if you have a casual job). That being said, there are people who worked almost part time hours and made it work outside of class time How much is the program? Quite a bit, honestly. I think it works out to around 11 grand for the year.... Let me know if I didn't answer anything you guys want to know!