Daniiii

I'm currently doing the two year MSW program at Laurier and I know a number of people who were accepted directly from their undergrad, so it is possible

I was just accepted off of the waitlist for Windsor. I'm quite pleased with Laurier, so I find it likely that I'll reject the offer. Hopefully someone deserving gets my spot!

I received a welcome email last night from Laurier and it's made me even more excited! I'm a little bit bummed that I'm unable to go to any of the headstart dates since I won't be back in Canada until the beginning of August, but I've already read through all of the information and I'm confident I can get it all done! After living abroad for three years I'm not much looking forward to leaving, but I am very much looking forward to beginning this new part of my life

I'd love to join if it exists!

I will also be starting the 2-year MSW program at Laurier! I'm really looking forward to it, although nervous about moving and having to try to arrange somewhere to live from abroad...

I'm accepting an offer to the MSW program at Laurier in Kitchener. I'm nervous about relocating since I've been living in Japan for the last three years and will be living here until my contract is up at the end of July. I'm worried about the possibility of finding a place to rent come August; unfortunately because I'm out of the country, I can't do a whole lot of searching before then. I'm thinking of sending my mom to Kitchener for a weekend to scope out places for me since she'll likely have to co-sign anyway with me not having lived in Canada for a while. In terms of searching for places to live, is there anywhere in Kitchener I should avoid when apartment hunting? I'm used to living in the safest country in the world, and while I'm from Canada and lived in Toronto prior to moving abroad, living here has left me more or less complacant towards safety (a habit I'm trying to break out of early) and I'm concerned about accidentally moving unsavory or comparatively unsafe.

I'm so happy to hear that, that's making me really excited! One great thing is that rent is going to be much cheaper in Kitchener/Waterloo than it would've been in Toronto. Being away from Canada for so long was kind of making me long for Toronto, but I think I'll be fine anywhere. My younger brothers are doing their undergrad at Waterloo and Guelph, so it'll be nice to be close to them too In my personal statement I talked a bit about cross-cultural social issues and about how living in and integrating with a new culture allows you to gain perspecting not only on their social issues, but on the ones back home as well. I talked a lot about how living in Japan, which is such a homogenous culture, has made me further appreciate multiculturalism and diversity. While most people here are accepting of foreigners and like having us here, there can be a lot of misunderstanding and sometimes malice towards our presence here. As for teaching abroad - is there any specific country you had in mind? I work for a Japanese public school board and was hired through the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Programme, but I know of others that I can recommend as well. I know of a similar program in South Korea that is likely hiring right now, and I know of various schools that may be hiring in Taiwan. Outside of East Asia my knowlege gets a bit weak. http://www.teachaway.com/ is a really useful company based in Toronto. When I wasn't sure if I'd been accepted to JET, they were really helpful in coming up with other options. If you have any other questions, feel free to message me!

I'll be finishing up my third year teaching in Japan this summer, and I've been accepted to Laurier. It's really great experience and I think that if it's "sold" in the right way it looks really great on applications. I wouldn't trade my experience living and working abroad for anything, so if it's something you'd really like to do, I'd recommend going for it! Still nothing from UofT. At this point I'm assuming I've been waitlisted or rejected. While it was my first choice in terms of program, Laurier was a very close second

My deadline is April 14

Wow, this is great to know! Thanks

I've been accepted to Laurier! I woke up to the email this morning and was ecstatic. Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear back!

I'm really happy to hear that they send out the emails over a couple of weeks; that makes me slightly more hopeful. Thanks!

No, it's fine thank you! All in all it does just sound like a very long wait list. I imagine there'll be quite a bit of movement when UofT and Laurier send out their decisions.

I just received an email from Windsor; looks like I'm on the waitlist

Congratulations, that's great that you've heard back. I also applied to Windsor and I haven't received anything, so no luck there I guess. A quick question; if you log into your my.uwindsor.ca does it say that you've been accepted there as well, or does it say anything else? Mine still says "referred to the department", so I'm wondering if that means a decision hasn't been made yet or that they just haven't updated it with a refusal.

I don't understand why, in this day in age, more things aren't done online/by email. It's so frustrating! The technology is there, guys. Use it! It makes it a whole lot easier for those of us who live across the world, as well

Congratulations to everyone who has heard back and been accepted! If you haven't yet heard a response, I wish you luck It still seems like ages until April and the stress is getting to me. Not knowing how I can plan for my future is really difficult. I'm finally leaving Japan after living here for three years come July, but I can't know or even begin to plan where and what I'll be doing until I hear back from universities. Here's to time going by quickly!

It's likely that the news was referring to MAs and MSc instead of professional degrees. I find it likely that the unemployment rate for those with professional degrees like social work is much lower than those with general MAs and/or MScs.

Now it actually is the waiting game! I feel like my life is on hold until I find out about whether or not I've gotten into a program. My plans are so radically different (move back to Canada for school or move to Taiwan for work) and I can't plan for either until I know if I've gotten in! April seems so far away.

I feel similarly, I find the Laurier website confusing without a lot of information. I can't say that I'm much of a fan. As for back up plans, if I don't get into an MSW program, I'm likely moving to Taiwan for a year. I'll have been in Japan for three by the end of July, so I feel like it's time for a change.

Wow, it feels like everyone else has such great experience! Luckily my GPA is quite good (3.6) and I'm confident that my own experience is relatively unique, but at the same time I'm not sure if I have enough diverse and related experience. I'm a teacher in Japan, where I run my high school's English club and I volunteer at every chance I get (which is unfortunately less than I would like to, given the language barrier). The volunteering is often for internationalization events or other English teaching opportunities (for example, I did a two free English classes for elderly people each week for about a year; now I do one for young children). I'm hoping that the spin I've put on my application with make me a desirable applicant and the comparative uniqueness of my experience will be a plus. I am outrageously nervous! I've spent the past year following the 2013 thread, and all it's done is make me question my application.

It was wonderful to wake up this morning and see that green check mark beside all of the necessary documents. Much less stressed! I'll get my Windsor and Laurier applications mailed off this week, and then it'll be the long, drawn-out waiting time. This is roughly the same amount of time I had to wait for a response concerning my job in Japan, and if it's anything like that, it'll be torture!

Good luck with your written statement! I hope you're feeling better. In other news, I absolutely love UofT's application system. I love that I can submit everything online without having to worry about mailing anything. It's amazing! I wish more universities were like that.

I'm with you guys! I've never been more frustrated with other people! I got an email from the professor I has asked to do this in October complaining that he didn't realize it was just a letter, that there was another form that went along with it. I told him that numerous times! Goodness gracious. I'm worried that his recommendation won't be a strong as it would be because of that.

I'm having a similar issue with one of me references. I emailed him a reminder on December 4th, and he said he'd get to it the next day. It still hasn't been submitted. As a little reminder, I've just sent off another email asking whether he'll be submitting the document via the online system or by mail, since I need to record that for the application. I know that he'll be submitting it online, but I thought I'd send that off instead without it being as annoying as "have you done it yet?".