MSW - What school to pick!?!

[graduategrl]

Hi all;

 

I have been accepted into the University of Torontos Master of Social Work (MSW) Program and Yorks MSW program. I am having a very difficult decision deciding what program will provide the best opportunities for employment and skill building. I have heard that U of T is prestigous and has many affiliations with certain hospitals and organizations in the GTA. However, it is hard to decide when York is offering full funding to cover tuition and more! I also got accepted into the Couple and Family Therapy program at Guelph University. I am also drawn to this as my end goal is to provide counselling services to clients in a hospital or school board setting. However, it appears that more job postings cater towards an MSW degree.

 

Are there any graduates from either program who can shed light on their decision making process? Anybody else going through a similar problem? Please share your thoughts and experiences!

 

Thank you!!

 

Graduategrl

[nugget]

It's a tough spot to be in. But I suppose that too many options is better than none at all.

 

With a Master's in Couple and Family therapy you would likely be self-employed and have your own practice or to join a group of practicing therapists and share office space. This kind of work can be unpredictable as clients can terminate their therapy at any time or cancel their appointments under short notice. You would probably need to work around their work schedules and take clients evenings and weekends and would not get free private health insurance, paid vacations, sick days or a pension plan. It should also be noted that some insurance companies only cover PhD level counsellors so if you do not end up getting a PhD, clients who cannot afford to or do not want to pay for the full cost of therapy will seek another professional who is covered by private insurance, such as a psychologist or a psychiatrist.

 

If it were me, I'd go with an MSW as it's a much more versatile degree and there are many more job opportunities. 

 

At U of T, you would get the opportunity to specialize in your area of interest and get clinical internships at hospitals, which seem to be more along the lines of what you'd like to do later on. 

 

The program at York doesn't specialize in clinical SW and the program design probably wouldn't allow you to develop your counselling skills in the way that you would like to. However, you could always get extra training in a particular area of counselling later on down the road. ex: CBT, motivational interviewing, etc... There are lots of workshops and weekend courses offered to social workers which don't take a lot of time to complete.

 

If money is an important issue for you, I'd consider York because you could graduate debt free, still become a licenced SW and take extra certification courses in counselling on the side later on in your career. Social workers are not paid doctors' salaries so it would take a good number of years to pay your debt off without a generous scholarship such as the ones offered at York.

 

If money is not so important, U of T would be a great fit as you could get internships in hospitals and make important connections with people in the field in your specific area of interest. Not to mention, U of T has a great reputation in the US and worldwide so if you ever wanted to relocate, your degree would be well recognized and well perceived.