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MSW Canadian Applications Fall 2023


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3 hours ago, YMSW2023 said:

Has anyone who was waitlisted for York’s 2-year program heard back yet? And for anyone accepted, what was the deadline they gave you to accept? 

Hey I was accepted and May 4th is the deadline for acceptance online. However, it also has a deadline of payment for June 1st to finalize the acceptance so I’m not sure if that makes a difference.

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16 hours ago, Socialworkenthusiast said:

Do you have an honours social work degree? What are your grades if u don't mind me asking

I have an HBSW, my average was around 88%. I also have a few years experience working in addictions. 

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On 5/2/2023 at 5:54 PM, jmcinn97 said:

I just checked mine and nothing showed up for me either! I know the website said the target for when decisions will be out is the end of May (after it was updated), but hopefully this is a good sign? 👀

Has there been any update or change? I can still see mine so I am wondering if this is a bad sign for me... haha

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1 hour ago, ridgerr said:

Has there been any update or change? I can still see mine so I am wondering if this is a bad sign for me... haha

No update; I was able to see mine again the next day so it must’ve been a glitch in the system or something. 

Edited by jmcinn97
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Hey everyone! Since I got accepted into Laurier's 2-year non-BSW program, I'd like to share some tips on what I did in my application, my stats, and some general tips if you didn't get in this round. 

Stats: Did my undergrad in Psychology. 3.9 gpa in my last year, 3.8 for the last 2 years, and 3.54 cGPA. I got a c+ in my statistics courses and a b+ in my research methods course (not that it matters for this application, but some other MSW app requirements care about those grades). I began focusing a lot on experience in my fourth year, although I began my mental-health related experience in my third year. I have around 3000 hours of work + volunteer experience in mental health clubs, peer facilitation, aba therapy, crisis responder for distress centre lines, student mentoring, crisis, and addiction counselling. Among those roles, I had specialized experience with women, substance abuse, LGBTQ community, domestic violence, and crisis de-escalation. If you're in the GTA and want to build your experience with volunteering, this is a link I used in my 4th year that helped me find some places to volunteer at: https://www.volunteertoronto.ca/blogpost/1302191/291575/10-Places-You-Can-Volunteer-to-Support-Mental-Health

Personal Statement: I found the questions to be very specific and detailed. Make sure to use the limited space you have to precisely answer the question, using key words in the question to guide your answer. Make sure you have a clearly defined purpose for pursuing social work, and the MSW in THIS particular school / program. Do some research on different types of social work too if you're not entirely sure what you wanna do in the field!  Another benefit of doing so is realizing you may have more related experience than you thought! For example, if you were involved in creative / recreational activities, this can help you dabble in recreational therapy side of social work. If you've done research and you're a good writer, you can excel in research or policy development kind of social work. If you have lots of remote experience, you can succeed in the ever-growing virtual platform in social work through your computer literacy. Another important tip is to look through the MSW course outline and relate your experience or goals to the courses you will take. Include your social location as well and try to relate that to your purpose in pursuing an MSW. Learn about the different ways your social location has given you an enhanced understanding of certain social concerns and how your privileges will contribute as well. If you have access to an academic advisor / career counsellor, I would suggest booking an apt with them to go over your statement. Otherwise, asking friends or students in the program (including me!) to give you feedback can also be helpful. 

Some key words I included in my personal statement: advocacy, empowerment, equity, diversity, inclusion, intersectionality, stigma, and different therapeutic modalities. 

If you didn't get an acceptance this year, that is completely normal and does not mean you're not good enough for this field. Hundreds of extremely experienced applicants get rejected each year simply due to the high volume of great applicants and limited number of seats. You can try to use the time away from grad school to build your experience in work and volunteering, explore post-grad certificates or MSW's with winter intakes, look into post-grad BSW diplomas such as Lakehead's HBSW so that you can apply for the 1-year advanced standing MSW instead of the regular track when you're ready. Or instead, take this time off to do things you enjoy. Spend some time in meaningful solitude to understand yourself and find areas of your life you've been neglecting so you can begin working on them. Learn a new hobby, travel if you have the funds to do so, or push yourself out of your comfort zone. :) 

I hope this helps and I hope you all achieve your goals in social work. I'm so glad we have so many passionate people willing to enter this very important field of social work. You will all do great!

 

 

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21 hours ago, cookiecrumble said:

Hey everyone! Since I got accepted into Laurier's 2-year non-BSW program, I'd like to share some tips on what I did in my application, my stats, and some general tips if you didn't get in this round. 

Stats: Did my undergrad in Psychology. 3.9 gpa in my last year, 3.8 for the last 2 years, and 3.54 cGPA. I got a c+ in my statistics courses and a b+ in my research methods course (not that it matters for this application, but some other MSW app requirements care about those grades). I began focusing a lot on experience in my fourth year, although I began my mental-health related experience in my third year. I have around 3000 hours of work + volunteer experience in mental health clubs, peer facilitation, aba therapy, crisis responder for distress centre lines, student mentoring, crisis, and addiction counselling. Among those roles, I had specialized experience with women, substance abuse, LGBTQ community, domestic violence, and crisis de-escalation. If you're in the GTA and want to build your experience with volunteering, this is a link I used in my 4th year that helped me find some places to volunteer at: https://www.volunteertoronto.ca/blogpost/1302191/291575/10-Places-You-Can-Volunteer-to-Support-Mental-Health

Personal Statement: I found the questions to be very specific and detailed. Make sure to use the limited space you have to precisely answer the question, using key words in the question to guide your answer. Make sure you have a clearly defined purpose for pursuing social work, and the MSW in THIS particular school / program. Do some research on different types of social work too if you're not entirely sure what you wanna do in the field!  Another benefit of doing so is realizing you may have more related experience than you thought! For example, if you were involved in creative / recreational activities, this can help you dabble in recreational therapy side of social work. If you've done research and you're a good writer, you can excel in research or policy development kind of social work. If you have lots of remote experience, you can succeed in the ever-growing virtual platform in social work through your computer literacy. Another important tip is to look through the MSW course outline and relate your experience or goals to the courses you will take. Include your social location as well and try to relate that to your purpose in pursuing an MSW. Learn about the different ways your social location has given you an enhanced understanding of certain social concerns and how your privileges will contribute as well. If you have access to an academic advisor / career counsellor, I would suggest booking an apt with them to go over your statement. Otherwise, asking friends or students in the program (including me!) to give you feedback can also be helpful. 

Some key words I included in my personal statement: advocacy, empowerment, equity, diversity, inclusion, intersectionality, stigma, and different therapeutic modalities. 

If you didn't get an acceptance this year, that is completely normal and does not mean you're not good enough for this field. Hundreds of extremely experienced applicants get rejected each year simply due to the high volume of great applicants and limited number of seats. You can try to use the time away from grad school to build your experience in work and volunteering, explore post-grad certificates or MSW's with winter intakes, look into post-grad BSW diplomas such as Lakehead's HBSW so that you can apply for the 1-year advanced standing MSW instead of the regular track when you're ready. Or instead, take this time off to do things you enjoy. Spend some time in meaningful solitude to understand yourself and find areas of your life you've been neglecting so you can begin working on them. Learn a new hobby, travel if you have the funds to do so, or push yourself out of your comfort zone. :) 

I hope this helps and I hope you all achieve your goals in social work. I'm so glad we have so many passionate people willing to enter this very important field of social work. You will all do great!

 

 

Was this for the PT online non-BSW that you heard back for already? 

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On 5/2/2023 at 11:10 AM, CraftyBee said:

Hey! Have you heard a response by now? I applied pretty close to the cutoff so we will see if mine gets reviewed before it fills up. Still no status update though...

Hey! Yes, I received an offer! 

Goodluck :) Im sure you will hear soon.

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Hello lovely people!

I've been on this forum for 2 years, having applied to Laurier's Regular Track (non-BSW) MSW program in 2021 and 2022. I was rejected last year, and accepted this year – on April 24, 2023. I've been researching this program since 2017, and it has been my top choice for years, buuuut I think I will decline this year to pursue a 2-year BSW at UBC instead. I'm hoping that will open up a spot for one of you lovely social work hopefuls ❤️

After being a forum creeper for 2 years, I wanted to finally share my update. It's been a long journey, and turning down this opportunity seems like a surprise move, even to me!

I wanted to give hope to my lovely waitlist buddies, and also open myself to any questions about applications, social work programs, etc. Like I said, I've been round this rodeo before, having applied to Laurier twice, McMaster post-degree BSW twice (accepted once, this year's decision still pending), and about 4 schools this year.

My fingers are crossed for all of you still waiting, and I hope my rejection of the offer will open up a spot – you are all so deserving! If you didn't get in this year – apply again! I'm not entirely sure why I was accepted this year and not last year, but it does go to show that applying twice sometimes pays off!

Good luck and love to you all :)

Cat

 

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On 5/9/2023 at 4:28 PM, Cpenelton said:

Was that for the MSWwp regular online track for 2023?? Still waiting here 😔

They sent a mass email this week with a reminder that the deposit and transcripts are due by June 1. So maybe they'll send out another batch of acceptances after that date?

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