veronica58

I actually feel like Calgary is more conservative tbh. A lot more white collar workers who somehow believe a conservative government will make them more wealthy through some kind of trickle down effect idk. Maybe Calgary comes across more groomed and presentable than the rest of Alberta but it’s the same ideologies just polished

Very red neck, lots of openly racist people and many who have loud mouths without educating themselves first. Honestly the culture is very hard to explain but if Trump was a Canadian province it would be Alberta. Does that make sense? I’ve lived here my whole life and whenever I travel to provinces like BC or Nova Scotia I’m amazed at how much better and more educated the people are. SW is very hard to speak to in AB because many people don’t agree with it or only want handouts when it helps them and not others, especially if the “other” is a marginalized group. Obviously not everyone is like that but there’s enough of them where it is distinct and noticeable.

You’re right it’s not the norm, especially for SW in non-for profit or smaller organizations. Where it is the norm is in government positions or health care. Both are unionized and the wage is publicly available. You can go to the government of Canada website, or provincial government websites, or provincial health authority websites and look at their job postings to get an idea of the wage scale, benefits, etc. each province is different in their requirements and payscale and each province varies in the cost of living so consider that as well Where I’m from (Alberta) the pay is high and cost of living is fairly low. From a financial perspective it’s a good choice. The downside is that you have to live in Alberta which is fairly embarrassing tbh ?

I work for Alberta health services (regional health authority) doing SW on an inpatient unit. Discharge planning, resource connecting, disability benefits, keeping families in the loop and happy, problem solving etc. Not clinical work but lots of emotional labour. And lots of stirring up ? fighting systemic barriers in the health care system and government systems. They don’t pay me for that last part but as a heavily AOP SWer I have made it my responsibility

If it helps, I have my BSW currently, was hired fresh out of my practicum into a hospital and am now making 100k+ a year working regular full time hours, I also have full benefits a pension and health spending account. My advice would be to do your practicum in the setting where you want to get hired

What are your career goals? It feels good to go to a prestigious university however it is far from the end all be all. Go to a university that is going to teach you the specific skills that you need to excel in the specific field of SW you want to work in. Look at the curriculum and read every course description to see what fits. Having an MSW curriculum that includes electives is also helpful because if they don't offer electives in your field then you can take your electives at another university that does cover the topic. The degree won't matter as much as your MSW status. Believe me....I live in a city where 60% of the therapists went to Yorkville University...worst reputation for a school but they are thriving in their practice. If they can achieve that with a cr*p education you can do anything with any of those Universities you applied to lol

I would definitely ask the universities first, they might have you sign some kind of form to access it but that should be it. If they don’t provide it for you even after you quote foip (which would be weird) then ya go through foip…not sure how that process works but I’m sure google knows

Is there any chance whatsoever that one of your references are saying something bad about you? I'm pretty sure there's a way to request access to references that have been provided in the past Edited to add, through FOIP the university must disclose your letters so if they decline you can quote this from the FOIP FAQ page: 12. Can a student, in a FOIP request, gain access to a closed letter of reference of which he or she is the subject of the information? • Generally yes, since the letter would contain personal opinions about the student. In Order 2000-029, the Information and Privacy Commissioner determined that letters of reference written in support of an application for admission to a graduate program should be disclosed because it affected a student’s career opportunities, the student had asked the third parties to write the letters, the third parties may refuse the student’s request, and that the student already knows who the third parties are because they asked the third parties to write the letters in the first place. The Commissioner also found that the letters contained personal information about the student and the third parties but it would not be an unreasonable invasion of the third parties’ privacy to disclose their personal information contained in these letters. He also found that the letters did not constitute privileged information and that section 19 (confidential evaluations) could not be applied as all the criteria of that section was not met. • • However, under section 19 of the Act, the institution may refuse to disclose evaluative or opinion information collected for the purpose of conferring a benefit (e.g. a scholarship or other award) to an individual if the information was supplied in confidence. This is a narrow exception to disclosure of the information under the Act that would not apply to letters of reference in every situation. Here is the FOIP page that was quoted: https://www.servicealberta.ca/foip/documents/FAQ_Post_Secondary_(Jan07_updated_Feb_14).pdf - This is a gov AB website but FOIP is federal therefore qualifies in all provinces Keep in mind that this is government legislation and most university policies can't override it. In my experience though some of the Uni's I have applied for have even told referees that their letters can be requested by the student through FOIP so it's likely most universities are aware of this and won't push back on your request Here is an example from the U of A on access to reference letters through FOIP. They say right on the website that because of FOIP they can't deny a student access to reference letters: https://www.ualberta.ca/information-and-privacy-office/access-to-letters-of-reference.html This concludes my TedTalk thanks for coming ?

Looks like you have good experience. What kind of things are you writing about in your program proposal/personal statement? If you don't have a SW background or education maybe try learning a bit about anti-oppressive practice, antiracism, Indigenous SW so that you understand the angle you should be using when discussing social problems. It is also helpful to express a niche and a desired direction for your career

I am also in western Canada (Alberta- please don’t judge me ?) my dal online just updated to accepted a few minutes ago so maybe check yours

Can you update us once you hear? I'm guessing they just haven't processed our applications yet, who knows what happens behind the curtain

I haven't received anything further either

Thank you! Thank god it came today, I should sue Canada post for emotional damages ?

My portal hasn’t been updated yet but I finally got my letter today! Accepted!

Congrats!! The mail where I live hasn’t been delivered for 4 days ? I called Canada post and they said they’re too busy to deliver every day here and I will just have to wait ? where in the portal was it updated?