Peter Nincompoop

Congrats. I did my undergrad at UVIC and even took a couple of social work courses back then as electives. It is a great school is a great city.

The Charity Village website is a great place to look. You could also check the pages of local organizations who you would like to work for (i.e. the Salvation Army or whoever).

I occasionally worked with mental health OT's, and I certainly worked with OT's whose clients had mental health problems, but the majority of them working our of local health units doing home visits.

It's funny you mention OT school... As I have mentioned previously on here, I was admitted to a couple MSW programs last year and deferred to 2013 for personal reasons. During that time, I worked for a not-for-profit program which works closely with OT's and I have been wondering if I should have applied to OT schools as well (I almost did this year, but decided against it at the last minute).

You know it's bad when York gets the jump on you.

So no one has heard from Calgary yet? Last year they were the first school I heard from. I'm not sure what is going on there right now, but even without this I was getting the feeling that they are a bit disorganized at the moment.

I'm surprised they are taking so long. There were by far the first school I heard from last year.

Try Padmapper. It pulls listings from a bunch of different sites and puts them on a map.

Not at all. U of C and WLU. U of C gave me deferral and WLU did not. Made my decision about where to go pretty easy .

Well, in my mind, the work I was doing was more service-oriented than it was social-service oriented (if that makes any sense) and I think that you could argue that the two are quite different. It wasn't like I was waiting tables or anything, but I also wasn't working in a not-for-profit or government agency either.

It was definitely helpful and it certainly helped me define my career goals (I'd like to work with the elderly and the terminally ill), but prior to applying I worried that it wasn't closely related to social work because of the type of work I was doing. However, a couple of schools clearly disagreed with my assessment . Still, I think my experience pales in comparison to most people posting in this thread.

I think it varies by schools. Last year, I asked for deferrals from two schools and only one agreed.

Hi Erin, I'm not sure why I was successful to be honest, but I'll speak briefly about my experience here. The entrance requirements for social work in particular seem hard to gauge because they put so much weight on the more subjective parts of your application (personal statement/preparation/apparent motivation and work/volunteer experience). I'll apologize in advance for what is going to be a long post. Last year, I applied to 3 schools (Calgary, Laurier, and York). I was accepted into Calgary and Laurier, and waitlisted and ultimately rejected by York (who took an absurdly long time to give any notifications). I actually think my work experience was the weakest part of my application: I had about 8 years of working with vulnerable people (ill elderly persons) and a bit of not-for-profit experience, but nothing directly related to social work (though I now do). I also volunteered as a case worker with a local politician for a few months, but that was really about it. I did have pretty decent undergraduate grades. My overall average was between an A- and an A, and I had a solid A average in my last three semesters. I also did a double-major, which meant that pretty much all my 3rd and 4th year courses were upper level ones (which I have been told by profs looks pretty good on a grad school application). I think the strongest points of my application were my references and my personal statement. My referees gave me glowing letters and I feel that in my personal statement I was able to very clearly describe both my motivation for pursuing social work and how my personal, academic, and professional experiences had informed my decision to apply to an MSW program. I also had a friend of mine who is currently in grad school look over my personal statement and give me feedback. Finally, I also contacted a couple of school prior to applying to see if I would be a good fit in their program. I also studied the faculty at each school with an eye towards who I would like to work with and even emailed a professor whose speciality is very similar to my own interests. One other point, because of the current economic situation and because of the glut of persons, like myself, with generic BA's, ALL graduate schools are becoming harder to get into. Being rejected isn't necessarily a negative reflection on yourself, your experience, or your application; it's just really hard to get into professional graduate programs at the moment. Sorry for the long-winded reply, I hope this makes sense and that it helps you in some way. Good luck next year if you decide to reapply, LOTS of people get admitted into graduate school after initially being rejected, so don't lose hope.

I thought it might be a loaded question .

Off topic, but how old is everyone here? I'm going to be 32 when I start my MSW and I have a feeling that I will be much older than most of my classmates.

I was accepted into Laurier last year and only found out when I received my package in the mail.

Absolutely. I doubt many will care where you did your degree, except perhaps if your goal is to do a Phd. Potential employers will be much more concerned with your qualifications, your experience, and what you learned during your studies. As long as the school is accredited, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

I am a male who will be entering a MSW program in 2013. In my very limited experience, I have found social work to be quite welcoming. I know at least one school I spoke to before applying was very excited to see the number of male applicants increasing. That being said, I do think that it would be quite difficult, if not impossible, for males to work in some areas; that's just the reality of the situation.

Officially accepted my offer from U of C this weekend (it was deferred from 2012). Excited, but nervous about going back to school after all this time (I suspect that I am a fair bit older than most of the people on this site) and also about moving to Calgary; being from the west coast, temperatures below -10 sound like fantasy to me .

Sorry I didnt reply sooner, life has been a bit hectic lately. I think Calgary lists their cutoff as a B average. I dont know about other applicants, but I had an overall average of between an A- and an A, and an A average in my last two years. I think SW schools tend to weigh work/life/volunteer experience pretty heavily as well, so Im sure admissions criteria vary from program to program. For what it is worth, last year I applied to three schools - was accepted to U of C and WLU and waitlisted and ultimately rejected from York.

I applied and was accepted to U of C last year, I was notified in early March if I recall correctly. I ended up getting a deferral until Sept. 2013, so beyond that I'm afraid I don't have much insight.

Hi Thumper, Thanks for all the info. I've been so busy that I completely forgot to reply to this thread! I ended up asking for a deferral due largely to a sudden medical issue, but it was denied, so now I need to make a decision. I'm going to see my doctor next week, so hopefully I will know whether or not I can commit to moving half-way across the country then. I have gotten a deferral from at least one other MSW program, but WLU was my first choice... I'll let you know how things turn out and thanks again.

I chose the dual-stream option with a primary focus in IFG. However, as I'm primarily interested in working with the elderly and those who was in hospice/palliative care, and because I enjoy academic research, I'm considering just focusing on the IFG stream and pursuing a thesis. I hope that I can attend too. What are your feelings about the Kitchener-Waterloo area? I'm from the west coast (currently living in Vancouver) and I've never been there. I've done plenty of reading about it online, but that can only tell me so much.

Hi, I have also been accepted into the 2-year MSW program at WLU for 2012. I might have to request a deferral because of some unexpected medical issues which have just come up, but if all goes well I should be there this fall. What stream did you choose?