Canadian Universities MSW. The waiting game 2015 admissions

[smpalesh]

ohgosh - Do you realize how many times you said "so I've heard" in that post?  You shouldn't be trying to influence other people's decisions based on heresay, and shall I say, maybe a bit of sour grapes.

[Prairiegirl2015]

@ohgosh did you pick York or Ryerson?

[Bettyg]

ohgosh - Do you realize how many times you said "so I've heard" in that post?  You shouldn't be trying to influence other people's decisions based on heresay, and shall I say, maybe a bit of sour grapes.

 

 

Doesn't sound sour grapes at all to me. This is a discussion board, to discuss opinions, views, or things we have heard. People will do their own research anyways, no one is going to write off an entire program because of one negative post. Personally I think it's important to remain critical of institutions, especially as a social worker.  

Edited April 30, 2015 by Bettyg

[nutella14]

I agree with BettyG.... ohgosh, I didn't take your post as "sour grapes" at all. and smpalesh, SW15 asked for input and ohgosh replied.

If none of us ever relied on "heresay", this forum would be completely empty aside from chatter about writing personal statements and the agony of waiting. The majority of posts here are a guessing game - what's the reputation of each school, what school would be better, what each school looks for, what your chances are, etc. And it's true that different schools have different reputations. Other peoples' experiences are valid - including current students, recent grads, and those practicing in the field - I think much more so than baseless speculation from people like us.

All of this being said, I have heard very similar things from people who are currently in the U of T program or who have completed it. Both of these people (current students) told me that U of T is not as progressive, and is more entrenched in the status quo, than programs like Ryerson or York. They advised me to consider York or Ryerson if I was interested in social justice, anti-oppressive social work (note that I'm only interested in GTA schools). I've heard the same thing from two practicing social workers who both have a social justice, anti-oppressive practice. To me, that's not heresay - it's valuable information from someone who knows better than me or other MSW hopefuls on this forum.

BUT.... How much does any of that that matter? I think it's important to remember that it's up to you to make the most of your education.

 

An MSW is an important step towards a career in social work, but it's up to you to find and create opportunities to tailor it to your needs and interests (through practicum, a thesis/major research paper, further education, extracurriculars, independent reading/community work, etc.)

 

If you're going to U of T and want to focus on social justice, anti-oppressive work, you can still do that! Of course you can do that - and do it well. You can do community work, do your own personal work, read and seek further education, get involved in grassroots organizations, etc. You don't have to seek work in a clinical setting. U of T isn't a barrier to working in social justice by any means. York offers little in the way of clinical social work skills, but if you're set on pursuing a career in that area, you can arrange clinical placements, pursue further training or education after graduation, etc.

My two cents 

[Leah_N]

Well said Nutella14. I did not take it as sour grapes either, just another perspective to think about.

I think a lot of times people rely on the reputation of a school too much. I attended university in the states, I went to a school that is ranked higher than UofT in the international rankings. What I saw is that not everything about the school was great, some programs where better than others. Some people did well, some had a difficult time finding g their place because they put the schools reputation above their career goals. After graduation, I realized that friends who went to schools ranked well below mine did better than me. They got better jobs and went on to meet their goals in a way that I did not expect them to, give the reputation of their school.

I say all this to say, it's up to you. If you know your goals as a social worker, try to go to the school that best fits those goals. If you end up at a school that was not your first choice and does not offer quite what you are looking for, explore ways to make it work for you.

I looked at U of T's MSN program and compared it to Laurier's. For my purposes, Laurier is the best choice, but it's not for everyone.

[ohgosh]

ohgosh - Do you realize how many times you said "so I've heard" in that post?  You shouldn't be trying to influence other people's decisions based on heresay, and shall I say, maybe a bit of sour grapes.

Hi smpalesh,

 

I think that what I was trying to convey in my post might have not come across very well, and maybe some of that has to do with the difficulty in communicating tone on internet forums.

 

To clarify on the repeated "so I've heard"s and sharing that I wasn't accepted to U of T, these were intentionally stated in the interest of being transparent. I don't think that it would have been fair for me to critique some aspects of the program were I not also forthcoming about my own personal experiences (or lack thereof). My goals fit more closely with options outside of U of T, and it took my being waitlisted twice for me to realize that. If some people find this information to be valuable, then I'm happy to have said it, but I also believe that everyone can form their own opinions without any influence from me.

[ohgosh]

I also just wanted to say that I really appreciate a lot of the points that were brought up in this discussion. I believe that looking critically at any institution can be very positive, because its helpful in weighing what works, what doesn't work so well.

 

 

Prairiegirl2015: Just to answer your question, I'll really miss York, but I'm leaning towards Ryerson.

[Guest]

Well said Nutella14. I did not take it as sour grapes either, just another perspective to think about.

I think a lot of times people rely on the reputation of a school too much. I attended university in the states, I went to a school that is ranked higher than UofT in the international rankings. What I saw is that not everything about the school was great, some programs where better than others. Some people did well, some had a difficult time finding g their place because they put the schools reputation above their career goals. After graduation, I realized that friends who went to schools ranked well below mine did better than me. They got better jobs and went on to meet their goals in a way that I did not expect them to, give the reputation of their school.

I say all this to say, it's up to you. If you know your goals as a social worker, try to go to the school that best fits those goals. If you end up at a school that was not your first choice and does not offer quite what you are looking for, explore ways to make it work for you.

I looked at U of T's MSN program and compared it to Laurier's. For my purposes, Laurier is the best choice, but it's not for everyone.

 

This exactly! For me, I was leaning towards York as my top choice for a long time, but I think that even if I were to be accepted off the wait list at York at this point, I would still choose U of T. Even though York lines up much better with my personal philosophies and is much more critical and anti-oppressive, which is something that is really important to me, ultimately, what I'm looking for in my MSW is clinical skills, and I won't get that at York at all (my sister is in the first year right now there and says they have barely talked about practice at all, let alone clinical skills specifically). Being critical and anti-oppressive is one of my strengths and I have been developing those skills outside formal education for a long time and plan to continue to do so, so that shouldn't be my focus for grad school- my focus is going to be the clinical skills that I haven't really been able to develop on my own and is where I feel stuck when I am working in the field, so U of T is the clear choice for me, even though I'm sure there will be parts that frustrate the hell out of me =P. Your grad school should be the one that helps you to best achieve your goals and helps you develop the skills that you are looking to develop. We are paying a lot of money for this experience, so we had better make it one that works for us!

[nugget]

I've heard that some people got incredible placements that led directly to work that they wanted, while others felt that their placements were horrible and completely unrelated to their goals. I've also heard that advanced placement/2nd year students have much better control over their practicums.

 

 

Sounds like Laurier, except there is no "better control" in the second year nor in advanced standing. At least at UofT students get one of their top 5 placements whereas Laurier students get a top 10.

Edited May 1, 2015 by jenste

[RunnerGrad]

The TA for my policy course and my qualitative research methods course, in Public Health, was actually a PhD student in Social Work.  He was nothing at all like what ohgosh describes.  He was always challenging us to think about privilege, to think about what type of research gets published (and what gets missed), to think critically about how policy gets developed (and who gets forgotten in that process, and who doesn't have access to that process).

 

He was always challenging us to think about what types of information, sources, and groups of people are priviledged and why.  He had an extremely critical lens, and was very much anti-oppression and into social justice.

 

Now granted, he was only one PhD student in the department of Social Work, but he certainly can't be the only one in that department who is interested in social justice, and who has an extremely critical view.  He talked a lot about marginalized people who how we can have their voices heard in research and academia.

 

The social work students who have been in some of my public health classes also seem to be very interested in social justice, anti-oppression and marginalized groups.  Maybe those are just the types of social work students at UofT who take public health classes.  I don't know.  But my limited experience with the department of Social Work at UofT leads me to believe that at least some individuals in that department have a very critical lens, do not support that status quo, but constantly challenge it, and are heavily interested in social justice.

[ohgosh]

The TA for my policy course and my qualitative research methods course, in Public Health, was actually a PhD student in Social Work.  He was nothing at all like what ohgosh describes.  He was always challenging us to think about privilege, to think about what type of research gets published (and what gets missed), to think critically about how policy gets developed (and who gets forgotten in that process, and who doesn't have access to that process).

 

He was always challenging us to think about what types of information, sources, and groups of people are priviledged and why.  He had an extremely critical lens, and was very much anti-oppression and into social justice.

 

Now granted, he was only one PhD student in the department of Social Work, but he certainly can't be the only one in that department who is interested in social justice, and who has an extremely critical view.  He talked a lot about marginalized people who how we can have their voices heard in research and academia.

 

The social work students who have been in some of my public health classes also seem to be very interested in social justice, anti-oppression and marginalized groups.  Maybe those are just the types of social work students at UofT who take public health classes.  I don't know.  But my limited experience with the department of Social Work at UofT leads me to believe that at least some individuals in that department have a very critical lens, do not support that status quo, but constantly challenge it, and are heavily interested in social justice.

 

Hey RunnerGrad,

 

The TA that you mentioned sounds wonderful, and it also sounds like they were able to bring some really great discussions forward. I appreciate your point that U of T is not void of social justice, and I totally agree with that.To complement what you stated, my partner graduated last year with a very clinical education at U of T, and she certainly hasn't changed in her social justice perspectives. Furthermore, I can count at least three professors off the top of my head who teach at my criticial school while currently or previously having taught at U of T. Also, as a York grad(uand), I know that a lot of amazing people with critical and passionate perspectives from my own cohort will be going to U of T to finish their education. I firmly believe that social work is what you make of it, and it is the "making of it" that I'm interested in. So while I'm sure that all of these programs are a lot more similar to each other than different, I'd like to explore the relative differences between them, in response to that "It" school question.

 

So, to emphasize the difference that I'm talking about, I'll use an example from your example with the language that you use to describe your TA.You mentioned that he is "very anti-oppressive", and that sounds like a good thing to me, but in my original post, I mentioned that I didn't think there would a lot of challenges to that term at U of T (outside of the social justice stream), whereas critical programs would more likely emphasize the deconstruction of this common social work staple. You also menioned that he talks about having "the voices" of "marginalized people" heard through research and academia, and I argue that this idea, while well-meaing, can also inherently be rooted in colonialism via "empowerment". In my opinion, this level of analysis and the worship of everything Foucault is not going to be readily available in, say, the Mental Health and Health stream, where the DSM is going to be used as a text for diagnoses with service users. And that makes sense, because people would be gaining practical, clinical skills (like CBT) over a relatively brief period of time, and they aren't going to have as many resources available to deconstruct a lot of problematic terminology, whereas in a critical school, it's all we do(!), but then we would miss out on the clinical education.

 

And I do think that there is a relative ideological difference between schools. I just look at the fact, for example, that U of T separates its social justice stream from other streams, compared to other schools that present social justice as an integral part of all classes. Why should social justice be a social work specialization instead of the social work standard? What kind of message does that send out to people, especially when one stream is much less populated than another?

 

I'll stop here, but I just wanted to reiterate that U of T was my "It" school for two years, and for all of the critiques the program, I was still more than happy to go. Some of what I've said could be 'nitpicking', but I think that 'nitpicking' is important when people are going to commit thousands of dollars and months if not years of their time to an institution.

[pchc]

For those accepted to the 2-year MSW, and didn't see the link- theres a FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1418122681835473/

 

I haven't checked the thread in a bit but good-luck to those still waiting and congrats to everyone for putting in so much work

[Homes2341]

Has anyone from UofT gone to get their student card yet? Going on friday and want to know if i should bring anything other than my ID...So excited

[b39]

Has anyone from UofT gone to get their student card yet? Going on friday and want to know if i should bring anything other than my ID...So excited

Hey! I got mine done at the library about 3 weeks ago. I just brought my acceptance letter (just in case) and driver's license. They asked for the student number and that was it, done within 5 minutes and you get it right away:)

[bswgrad92]

Has anyone from this forum heard back from the U of T Advanced Standing Waiting list?  Or have any knowledge about it's movement. Any updated would be appreciated. Thank you! 

[bswgrad92]

Has anyone from this forum heard back from the U of T Advanced Standing Waiting list?  Or have any knowledge about it's movement. Any updated would be appreciated. Thank you! 

Have any knowledge about its movement*.  Any updated information would be appreciated.*  Sorry for the typos.  

[hmac1]

Hi everyone,

 

I applied to the post grad BSW at York, but have not heard back. Has anyone else been accepted or declined from this program?

[Ballym385]

Have any knowledge about its movement*.  Any updated information would be appreciated.*  Sorry for the typos.  

 

Has anyone from this forum heard back from the U of T Advanced Standing Waiting list?  Or have any knowledge about it's movement. Any updated would be appreciated. Thank you! 

 

Hey bswgrad92,

When I was waitlisted Angela said that movement would probably start around early May but I don't have any recent updates. Let me know if you hear anything

[Homes2341]

Hey! I got mine done at the library about 3 weeks ago. I just brought my acceptance letter (just in case) and driver's license. They asked for the student number and that was it, done within 5 minutes and you get it right away:)

 

I just called and they said that students for Fall 2015 cant do it yet? Are you a new student for F2015?

[forbuss]

Hey al! Just found out that I was accepted for Dalhousie's BSW program!

 

GL to everyone still waiting!

[pandamelon]

Congratulations forbuss that's great! Did you find out via mail?

[b39]

I just called and they said that students for Fall 2015 cant do it yet? Are you a new student for F2015?

 

Yes, I have never been a student at UofT, I went April 20th (the date is on the card) and I have the card in my possession so I definitely know that I got it  

I wonder why they would say that :s

[forbuss]

Congratulations forbuss that's great! Did you find out via mail?

 

I did! They sent them on Tuesday though and I am in Halifax, very close to the school. The letter was even dated for tomorrow!

 

I also know that they have NOT sent out rejections yet. At least not on Wednesday when I checked. Who uses snail mail anymore, anyways?

[Homes2341]

Yes, I have never been a student at UofT, I went April 20th (the date is on the card) and I have the card in my possession so I definitely know that I got it

I wonder why they would say that :s

 

That is so strange....hmm maybe ill just go down and try anyways. I work mon-fri so if its difficult for me to get more weekdays off...Thanks!

[msw22]

Received acceptance from Laurier off of the wait list this morning!