Canadian Universities MSW. The waiting game 2013 admissions

[richelle]

Thanks!! Yea, I was told that 149 people applied and they were interviewing 30 for that MA Counselling Program. It seems like you're a really good fit for the program since you have interests in common with the faculty there. I wish you luck in getting off the waitlist for U of T as well! I'm just curious, how come you'd prefer U of T's MSW program over a Counselling program?

 

 Initially when I first applied to grad school last year I only wanted to do a MA in psychology and only applied to one MSW as a backup, BUT the more people I talked to including professors and people in the field (therapists etc.) the more good things I hear about MSW degrees and how they are more versatile and people with them have an easier time finding employment.

[J0_0]

Laurier has a great MSW program. I've talked to quite a few social workers in a hospital (they all have MSW degrees) and everyone I spoke to agreed that Laurier has one of the best social work programs in Canada. It is definitely a program that is highly respected in the field.

 

For U of T, I heard that you might get a general placement during the first year because you only need to choose a specialization at the end of first year. Wouldn't it mean that you might end up with a placement that you might not have any interest in during your first year even if you are to attend U of T?

 

 

Congrats again to everyone accepted to U of T or put on a waitlist. U of T looks like a great school to attend. I am really impressed by their professionalism and efficiency and specialized streams of study.

 

I've been talking to some students from Laurier and the more I hear about it (ex: some students get internships in areas of absolutely no interest to them or very far away from campus), the more I wish I was accepted at U of T. But I guess it was not meant to be. 

 

At first I was so excited about my offer to Laurier, but now my enthusiasm has dampened. I glad that I'll get to become a social worker in the end. But there are a few downsides about Laurier that I am not so happy about. Perhaps Windsor will offer me something. Otherwise, I will be attending Laurier and hoping for the best during the internships.

Edited April 19, 2013 by J0_0

[nsachde3]

Hi,

 

I was just curious as to know why you won't be doing your MSW. It sounds like you got a great position but do you feel the MSW won't open more doors for you in the future?

Hi!!

 

I will still be doing my MSW for sure! Just going to work until September:) Completing my MSW will definitely open up more doors for me, and I really wanted to go back to school to get it!

[nsachde3]

Beautifully said and I couldn't agree more! Congratulations on both your admission and your perseverance, good for you!

Thanks so much! Congrats to you as well!!

[DreamingMSW]

I got a call from U of T today that a spot has come available, and I was offered admission (1 year MSW). I am so excited!!! I am proof that there is movement on the wait-list, good luck to everyone else!!!

Huge congrats to you!!!!!!!!

[DreamingMSW]

Laurier has a great MSW program. I've talked to quite a few social workers in a hospital (they all have MSW degrees) and everyone I spoke to agreed that Laurier has one of the best social work programs in Canada. It is definitely a program that is highly respected in the field.   For U of T, I heard that you might get a general placement during the first year because you only need to choose a specialization at the end of first year. Wouldn't it mean that you might end up with a placement that you might not have any interest in during your first year even if you are to attend U of T?

Yes that is true for U of T. In first year you get a general placement. I have some friends there and although they didn't exactly want the placement they got, they seem to enjoy it anyway.

[nugget]

I'm glad to hear your vote of confidence. I did not know this about U of T and thought it was unique to Laurier that, for instance, someone interested in seniors might end up with a placement working with preschoolers. My enthusiasm has returned today and I've since heard other positive reviews from current students in the program.

 

I think I just had a not so good impression a couple of days ago when I needed my Loris password reset and wanted to confirm that my $100 deposit was received. While making three long distance calls and being on hold for about an hour, I was hung up on twice (by 2 different departments), got 3 voice mails and the only human I could speak to was the operator. When someone called me back to transfer me to the right person, I was put on hold for 5 minutes before someone picked up the phone and hung up. It was a frustrating experience.

 

On the same day, I discovered that the library closes at 5:00pm!?!? (except for Mondays and Tuesdays) and there was a dispute last year over placements between some students and administration about getting placements in areas they weren't interested in or in geographic locations that were very hard to get to.

 

Anyhow, no school is perfect. I'll just have to look around for another quiet part of the school to do my studying and figure out transportation issues if this becomes a problem. Fortunately I got in somewhere and this school was fairly high on my list, even if it wasn't my first pick. It's good to know that this school is respected among professionals in the field. I've also heard that there is a strong clinical focus at Laurier and you get solid clinical training here, which is what I am looking for. 

   

Laurier has a great MSW program. I've talked to quite a few social workers in a hospital (they all have MSW degrees) and everyone I spoke to agreed that Laurier has one of the best social work programs in Canada. It is definitely a program that is highly respected in the field.

 

For U of T, I heard that you might get a general placement during the first year because you only need to choose a specialization at the end of first year. Wouldn't it mean that you might end up with a placement that you might not have any interest in during your first year even if you are to attend U of T?

Edited April 19, 2013 by jenste

[Vana]

I got a call from U of T today that a spot has come available, and I was offered admission (1 year MSW). I am so excited!!! I am proof that there is movement on the wait-list, good luck to everyone else!!!

 

Congrats Karlie! That's great news. Your experience is definitely impressive.

 

I feel that where I am lacking is experience. I have an A- average, have completed an honours specialization, a thesis, an independent study, and have volunteered in various labs. I also have an abundance of experience working with different populations of children, youth, adults and elders - however, I wouldn't necessarily say these experiences are highly relevant to social work. I have worked in kids/youth camps for the past 6 summers (including camps for special needs, ESL and troubled teens), have been volunteering as a fitness instructor in a retirement home for 2 years, and 8 months ago I began volunteering at St. Leonard's Society. I am pretty confident in my written response, but am seriously questioning my decision to use one of the residents at the retirement community as one of my refererences. He is intelligent, insigntful and I felt he had a good sense of my character. However I am thinking that the admissions committee might see this letter as somewhat unprofessional. If I must re-apply next year, I will likely select a different referee.

[Hellothere416]

Congrats Karlie! That's great news. Your experience is definitely impressive.

 

I feel that where I am lacking is experience. I have an A- average, have completed an honours specialization, a thesis, an independent study, and have volunteered in various labs. I also have an abundance of experience working with different populations of children, youth, adults and elders - however, I wouldn't necessarily say these experiences are highly relevant to social work. I have worked in kids/youth camps for the past 6 summers (including camps for special needs, ESL and troubled teens), have been volunteering as a fitness instructor in a retirement home for 2 years, and 8 months ago I began volunteering at St. Leonard's Society. I am pretty confident in my written response, but am seriously questioning my decision to use one of the residents at the retirement community as one of my refererences. He is intelligent, insigntful and I felt he had a good sense of my character. However I am thinking that the admissions committee might see this letter as somewhat unprofessional. If I must re-apply next year, I will likely select a different referee.

I can't say for sure, but it would be very, very likely that a letter from such a person would be deemed completely irrelevant and fall in the category of personal acquaintance/friend despite the professional capacity held with them. Most adcoms seek academic and professional capacity assessment from those in the respective field.

Your professional/volunteering experiences however, are great. Your academics are outstanding. Good luck. You sound like a great candidate!

[DreamingMSW]

Congrats Karlie! That's great news. Your experience is definitely impressive.   I feel that where I am lacking is experience. I have an A- average, have completed an honours specialization, a thesis, an independent study, and have volunteered in various labs. I also have an abundance of experience working with different populations of children, youth, adults and elders - however, I wouldn't necessarily say these experiences are highly relevant to social work. I have worked in kids/youth camps for the past 6 summers (including camps for special needs, ESL and troubled teens), have been volunteering as a fitness instructor in a retirement home for 2 years, and 8 months ago I began volunteering at St. Leonard's Society. I am pretty confident in my written response, but am seriously questioning my decision to use one of the residents at the retirement community as one of my refererences. He is intelligent, insigntful and I felt he had a good sense of my character. However I am thinking that the admissions committee might see this letter as somewhat unprofessional. If I must re-apply next year, I will likely select a different referee.

It's always good to think about how to improve your application for the future but don't get down on yourself right now. There's nothing you can do and what's done is done and who knows how they view it. No point in analyzing now. Being waitlisted is a huge accomplishment regardless.

[scotto123]

Nothing from York or Ryerson for me. Starting to become overly anxious. Congrats on everyone who were accepted!

[ka86]

Hiiii everyone! 

 

I have been looking for jobs since Monday (as soon as I found out that I was wait-listed in UofT). I'm graduating this year, and I feel like there are no jobs available for me. My major is psychology and also have a diploma in Applied Behaviour Analysis from George Brown. I don't want to do any home-base support anymore. I want something more challenging and applicable to psych. where do you suggest I should start looking? I have been browsing every website I know of, like monster.ca; charitycillege.com; careesearch etc. and i have not found one single job offer that is compatible with my skills :S I'm planning to apply for MSW next year and I want to build up my experience and of course clear my OSAP debt..

I'm all stressed out and was hoping if you have any suggestions for me. 

 

Thank you all so much for your help

[Jax14]

Nothing from York or Ryerson for me. Starting to become overly anxious. Congrats on everyone who were accepted!

Ryerson is making me very angry. When I called earlier this week, I was told decisions would be made available this week. Well the week is over and still nothing for me. No emails, no changes on RAMSS, no letters in the mail. What the hell, Ryerson?

[nugget]

Sorry to hear that you're always getting put on hold. If acceptances were sent out, I'm sure people would be posting about it here. I wish you the best of luck on U of T and Ryerson. At least U of T waitlist is starting to show some movement. Your turn might be just around the corner.

 

Ryerson is making me very angry. When I called earlier this week, I was told decisions would be made available this week. Well the week is over and still nothing for me. No emails, no changes on RAMSS, no letters in the mail. What the hell, Ryerson?

[Jax14]

Sorry to hear that you're always getting put on hold. If acceptances were sent out, I'm sure people would be posting about it here. I wish you the best of luck on U of T and Ryerson. At least U of T waitlist is starting to show some movement. Your turn might be just around the corner.

U of T is my dream school for my MSW...I love the specialized streams, the placements available, and just the faculty itself. But sadly, my experience is nowhere near anyone's here. I did my BSW straight out of high school, I have only volunteer experience, and I'm very young. There are many others who have earned their spots. I think I'm just going to have to try again next year!

[semimicro]

Hi Erin123,

 

I did outreaching and social justice education to youth, women, and workers in my community. My experience is mostly in the collective setting, where discussions and education on social issues are huge parts of realizing the different kinds of oppression and marginalization experienced by many immigrant communities.

 

Thank you for your response. What type of organizing and advocacy work did you do?

[nugget]

Now that U of T offers have gone out, if seems that mostly U of T wait listed people are around these days. Isn't anyone here eager to hear back from U of Windsor?

Edited April 20, 2013 by jenste

[nugget]

Well all things considered, you did very well to have been put on a wait list for your preferred school. You must be a strong candidate in other areas to get put on the list without having a lot of experience, like academics, references, personal statement, etc. You just have one other area to improve on. If this does not end up being your year, do not get discouraged. Your application was stronger than hundreds of other people's who applied as well and that says something about your strength as an applicant

    

U of T is my dream school for my MSW...I love the specialized streams, the placements available, and just the faculty itself. But sadly, my experience is nowhere near anyone's here. I did my BSW straight out of high school, I have only volunteer experience, and I'm very young. There are many others who have earned their spots. I think I'm just going to have to try again next year!

[AccioMSW]

Now that U of T offers have gone out, if seems that mostly U of T wait listed people are around these days. Isn't anyone here eager to hear back from U of Windsor?

Yes but there hasn't been any news on Windsor so it's much easier for people to talk about U of T considering all of the updates surrounding it haha. Like someone else said, we should hear back next week.

Edited April 20, 2013 by AccioMSW

[nugget]

Have you heard anything about Windsor's program, AccioMSW? ex: quality of program, reputation, etc.  I'm not sure yet if I'd prefer Laurier or Windsor, in case I get accepted to both. What i like about Windsor though is the fact that most of the placements are probably local so I could move to Windsor and stay in Windsor for 2 years, rather than move around from city to city, which can happen if you go to Laurier. In addition, the MSW is held at the main campus, whereas at Laurier it's at a high school, 20 minutes away from the main campus and library.

 

Yes but there hasn't been any news on Windsor so it's much easier for people to talk about U of T considering all of the updates surrounding it haha. Like someone else said, we should hear back next week.

Edited April 20, 2013 by jenste

[AccioMSW]

Have you heard anything about Windsor's program, AccioMSW? ex: quality of program, reputation, etc.  I'm not sure yet if I'd prefer Laurier or Windsor, in case I get accepted to both. What i like about Windsor though is the fact that most of the placements are probably local so I could move to Windsor and stay in Windsor for 2 years, rather than move around from city to city, which can happen if you go to Laurier. In addition, the MSW is held at the main campus, whereas at Laurier it's at a high school, 20 minutes away from the main campus and library.

Well I currently attend Windsor and the campus is nice. What I know about the MSW program is that it is a lot more research-based than other schools. Also, you can't specialize in any specific stream even though you choose the one you are more interested in on the application (that is just for their general knowledge of what the student interests are) but you can choose to do all of your research assignments on a certain topic so that you have a portfolio of that topic to showcase after you graduate. Every student takes the same classes so there is no variation between each student. Unfortunately I don't know anyone in the program other than an advanced standing applicant who will be starting in May. If you choose Windsor, I would suggest studying/doing homework somewhere else other than the library as UWindsor students don't understand what "quiet floors" are haha but that might be the case at every school. Hope this helps!

[beth23]

Well I currently attend Windsor and the campus is nice. What I know about the MSW program is that it is a lot more research-based than other schools. Also, you can't specialize in any specific stream even though you choose the one you are more interested in on the application (that is just for their general knowledge of what the student interests are) but you can choose to do all of your research assignments on a certain topic so that you have a portfolio of that topic to showcase after you graduate. Every student takes the same classes so there is no variation between each student. Unfortunately I don't know anyone in the program other than an advanced standing applicant who will be starting in May. If you choose Windsor, I would suggest studying/doing homework somewhere else other than the library as UWindsor students don't understand what "quiet floors" are haha but that might be the case at every school. Hope this helps!

Interesting! Never thought of their program as more research-based but makes some sense considering there is no thesis option. However this upcoming year is the last year that the School of Social Work will be held on main campus. It will be moving to a building in downtown Windsor the following year. At least that's what I understand from the tour I went on and their website. 

[AccioMSW]

Interesting! Never thought of their program as more research-based but makes some sense considering there is no thesis option. However this upcoming year is the last year that the School of Social Work will be held on main campus. It will be moving to a building in downtown Windsor the following year. At least that's what I understand from the tour I went on and their website. 

 

Yah I've also heard that the Social Work campus will be moving downtown but with Windsor you never know when these things will actually happen for sure haha. Talk about this has been going on since 2011.

 

 

Here's the timeline on their website: http://www.uwindsor.ca/downtown/downtown-timeline-and-fact-sheet

Edited April 20, 2013 by AccioMSW

[nugget]

The library at my school was really noisy too. So much that's it's often quieter at Starbucks or Second Cup. But I liked to do most of my studying in the evening and by 6pm it starts to get much quieter.  Fortunately, I was able to study in various grad student areas (some of them were super quiet) b/c my boyfriend had access to these places. But we won't have access to research labs in social work, so I'll have to find somewhere else to work.

 

I actually didn't know Windsor was more of a research school. Hmmm... It probably would've been worthwhile to get experience as a research assistant if both U of T and Windsor are so interested in research.  

 

Well I currently attend Windsor and the campus is nice. What I know about the MSW program is that it is a lot more research-based than other schools. Also, you can't specialize in any specific stream even though you choose the one you are more interested in on the application (that is just for their general knowledge of what the student interests are) but you can choose to do all of your research assignments on a certain topic so that you have a portfolio of that topic to showcase after you graduate. Every student takes the same classes so there is no variation between each student. Unfortunately I don't know anyone in the program other than an advanced standing applicant who will be starting in May. If you choose Windsor, I would suggest studying/doing homework somewhere else other than the library as UWindsor students don't understand what "quiet floors" are haha but that might be the case at every school. Hope this helps!

Edited April 20, 2013 by jenste

[UofTMSW13]

Hey guys,

 

I got accepted to UofT's two year MSW program and just waiting to hear back from York to make a decision.

Do you guys know if its possible to arrange your own placement or the schools have to arrange the placement for you?

 

Also, is there anyone here that goes to York for MSW that can tell us what kind of placements people get?

 

Thanks so much!!