Thumper86

Congratulations!!!

Two-year students (1st placement) are in placement 4 days per week from January until mid April and then for 3 days per week from mid April until the end of June. If you do a thesis your first placement is shortened by 6 weeks. Two-year students (2nd placement) are in placement 4 days per week from September until mid December. No problem, this site is a great break from reading and writing lol

My cohort has about 84 people in the two-year stream and we are very close! In first semester we took 5 courses with many of the same students three days per week so we built very close relationships. Now that we are in placement we only see one another once per week so we've lost a little of that initial bond. The faculty are very approachable and friendly, and they're always willing to chat. The building is nice but I find the Kitchener campus very isolating. Main campus is 20 minutes away so we're the only Laurier students in that immediate area. I'm in the IFG stream and I'm doing a thesis.

If you're coming from downtown Toronto it takes about an hour and a half to get to the Kitchener campus.

Yes, most of my papers had a large research component. None of mine were strictly research papers though, they all had an application section (e.g. research a psychological theory and a sociological theory and present them. Then apply these theories to a case and present a formulation based on these theories).

The program is great! Is there anything in particular you'd like to know? I commute from Toronto.

MSW13 I'm currently completing my MSW at Laurier and I've taken 6 courses thus far. The average number of essays is two per course (8-10 pages for a midterm paper and 15-20 pgs excluding references for a final paper). Many courses also have many smaller reflection papers (1-3 pages). The longest paper I've written so far was 63 pages (21 the actual essay and 42 transcription of therapy session and references).

I also applied to York (rejected) and the University of Calgary (accepted). There are about 86 in the two-year stream right now and I don't think we have any international students (although I could be wrong).

For those of you waiting to hear from Laurier (2 year) I was accepted via mail on April 16, 2012 but I received an unofficial acceptance a week before via email ( I emailed them asking for an update). The rejections were sent out at the beginning of April as well as the acceptances with scholarships. Acceptances without scholarships were generally sent out mid April.

The program is great! I don't live in Kitchener so I don't spend too much time there but it's nice.

I had no direct social work experience but I had 2 years of volunteer work in a mental health setting and 2 years of research experience

If anyone has any questions about Laurier's 2 year MSW program, application process etc feel free to post them here and I will do my best to answer them

I love this!

A year ago today I was up at my bf's farm stressing out about starting my new job as a Lab Manager

I'm also in the IFG stream. I've looked for your MSW page but I can't seem to find it. Can you PM me the link to the group? Thanks!

Hi pgrug! What stream are you in? I'm starting to get excited/nervous lol How about you?

kk12345, I too was accepted into an MSW program but rejected from a BSW one. I was tempted to contact the undergrad department to ask why I was rejected but I decided that it's probably better if I don't. It's a really good thing that I got into the MSW because I would have been devastated to receive that undergrad rejection!

I got into Laurier's MSW program with no social work experience but I do have experience volunteering at CAMH in inpatient units, as well as tons of research experience at two hospitals and two universities. When I was applying I thought that my chances were very slim but I managed to get an acceptance and be waitlisted without direct social work experience.

That's my situation exactly. I only have classes 3 days per week first semester then 1 day per week for the rest of my program (1.5 years). I'm doing an MSW so most of my time will be spent doing my practicum placement. I suppose my final decision will depend on where I get a placement.

I've been thinking about this a lot too. I live in Toronto and I will be going to Laurier (Kitchener/Waterloo area) in the fall. I go back and forth between wanting to live near campus and staying in Toronto. I think I'm going to end up commuting to Kitchener. Has anyone done this commute before? Any thoughts?

My advice would be start doing some research on programs that offer a 2-year MSW degree. There are actually quite a few (York, UofT, Laurier, Windsor, and University of Calgary are some of the ones that come to my mind right away) that you could look into. I would contact the SW departments at the schools that offer 2 year degrees and ask whether any of your credits would be transferable. I recommend starting this way and then narrowing down your selection to schools that will accept some of your credits. If none of the schools will accept your credits than you may have to suck it up and complete a 2-year program from scratch. I hope this is somewhat helpful. Good luck!

If by UofC you mean the University of Calgary, I got an email on April 20 letting me know that I had been waitlisted.

Hey StreetsAhead. I went to the Headstart session yesterday and I saw a little bit of the Kitchener area. The main street (King Street) was really nice, lots of small shops and restaurants and it was actually busier in the area than I imagined. The FSW building on Duke wasn't anything spectacular but it was nice. I saw the auditorium, a couple of the classrooms and the computer lab. Lots of windows everywhere so there's lots of natural light. We heard presentations from the Assistant Dean, some members of the social work student association and we had a chance to add our courses if we hadn't done so already. The students were really honest about the program which I appreciated. They mentioned that there's tons of group work, lots of introspection in the assignments, an ability to tailor assignments to what interests you etc etc. We heard a little bit about the practicum but nothing that isn't available on the website. The students also reiterated that since this is a professional program, you should really only complete a thesis if you plan on going onto the PhD afterwards and work in academia. You're exempt from some practicum hours and courses if you do a thesis which may not be the best thing if you plan to go straight into the field afterwards (they emphasized that you may be missing out on valuable information and experience). I hope this little bit of extra information helps.

I'm really surprised that you guys are still waiting, I already have an orientation session at Laurier next week! I would feel so hesitant to accept an offer from a school that seems so disorganized P.S. For those of you who thought I would definitely get into that online B.S.W program I applied to....I was REJECTED last week lol

I was also thinking about pursuing a thesis but I seem to change my mind every day lol. I work in a psychology lab right now and I spend a lot of time with the graduate students and they've all told me not to do a thesis if I don't have to because it's so much work. Aghhh I'm so torn. I haven't actually been to the Kitchener-Waterloo area before so I can't give you much information at this point I will be attending the Headstart session on May 16 so after that I can let you know my thoughts on the area.