NEW Canadian universities M.S.W thread (2017)

[SW15]

On 2/15/2017 at 8:50 PM, lindaMSW said:

Thanks for your encouraging messege and genuine support!!! I applied only to U of T this year because I heard the same thing about hospital placement opportunity.  I am wondering if I can still get a hospital placement if I was a York/Ryerson/Windsor MSW student? MSW&MD said that  finding a placement is really about your personal connection with the hospital authroity not the school's reputation, I don't know if it is true or just another trolling comment from him.

It's still possible to get a hospital placement with any school--just the specific hospital varies. Hospitals inside the University Health Network only take U of T students, hospitals that are not in the network are more flexible and will take other students (i.e. St. Michael's, St. Josephs, Bridgepoint (maybe on this one). I wouldn't put any credence into what this person said, super trolling comment, unless you know the head of social work at a hospital or someone with huge decision making power who can get you in then it really is about the school's connections. Most MSW programs have a practicum portal where they list available placements, while you are probably welcome to secure placements outside of it it is VERY difficult given how most placements are already set up prior and it would be a matter of asking social workers who didn't commit to being field instructors if they would be open to taking on a student. I'm currently at a hospital that has a few York students but they are more on the research/policy side of things rather than clinical. My friend is at a hospital with a few non U of T students who do have clinical placements, so it varies.

TL;DR: It's possible to get a hospital placement at any school, the options however might be limited depending on the specific hospitals and which placements your school acquired!

[LaingerMAMSW]

Thanks socialwerq, I really appreciate the info! Hopefully they are working on a similar timeline, I'm dying to hear back.

[Guest]

Hey, current U of T student here!

From what I understand from conversations about taking students for next year at my placement, the hospital placement situation is a bit more complicated. I could be wrong for hospitals, but from what I understand, any agency that has an agreement to take U of T students doesn't have to not take students from other schools, they just have to agree that any students they take from other schools won't interfere with the U of T student's placement. And I know for a fact that SickKids, which has a bunch of U of T students, does also take students from other schools (one of the other placement students from my placement last year goes to a school in the states and did her placement at SickKids this year).

Also, from earlier posts, I know there have been some questions about popular and unpopular specializations- from my understanding, there's no quotas or anything for specializations, they just plan the number of sections for each course based on enrolment in each specialization, so you don't have any better or worse chance of getting in based on the specialization you choose. Which I suppose is good news for people wanting popular specializations and bad news for people wanting less popular ones =P

[lindaMSW]

18 hours ago, SW15 said:

It's still possible to get a hospital placement with any school--just the specific hospital varies. Hospitals inside the University Health Network only take U of T students, hospitals that are not in the network are more flexible and will take other students (i.e. St. Michael's, St. Josephs, Bridgepoint (maybe on this one). I wouldn't put any credence into what this person said, super trolling comment, unless you know the head of social work at a hospital or someone with huge decision making power who can get you in then it really is about the school's connections. Most MSW programs have a practicum portal where they list available placements, while you are probably welcome to secure placements outside of it it is VERY difficult given how most placements are already set up prior and it would be a matter of asking social workers who didn't commit to being field instructors if they would be open to taking on a student. I'm currently at a hospital that has a few York students but they are more on the research/policy side of things rather than clinical. My friend is at a hospital with a few non U of T students who do have clinical placements, so it varies.

TL;DR: It's possible to get a hospital placement at any school, the options however might be limited depending on the specific hospitals and which placements your school acquired!

Thank you  

[nicoleMSW]

This may be completely wrong... but does anyone else feel like Canadian schools are taking particularly long to release admissions decisions?! I've already heard of tons of American/European schools releasing decisions, it makes me even more anxious to hear back!

[moh230]

51 minutes ago, nicoleMSW said:

This may be completely wrong... but does anyone else feel like Canadian schools are taking particularly long to release admissions decisions?! I've already heard of tons of American/European schools releasing decisions, it makes me even more anxious to hear back!

 

Yes canadian schools seem like their the last ones sending out admissions, but I think also being a social work program makes it even slower. I know many programs have already sent out admission offers.

[2017hoping]

15 hours ago, nicoleMSW said:

This may be completely wrong... but does anyone else feel like Canadian schools are taking particularly long to release admissions decisions?! I've already heard of tons of American/European schools releasing decisions, it makes me even more anxious to hear back!

Yeah, maybe the ones sending notifications out later are the programs that have more applications to go through as well...?  I think some programs are letting people know early Feb, but my guess is the ones that havn't probably had a lot of applications to sort through.  Hopefully next week (crossing fingers....)!

[nicoleMSW]

I just checked Western's website, and it says decisions will be in February. Which means 9 more days if they stick to that timeline, and THAT means I am now anxious and having major regrets about checking decision timelines! I wish I still thought all schools were releasing 2-year program decisions mid-March at the earliest haha! Looks like the mail key and refresh button will get some good use this week!

Edited February 19, 2017 by nicoleMSW
Wording

[Adelaide9216]

On 16 février 2017 at 2:59 PM, SW_Student said:

Today, tomorrow, and everday after until I find out if I got into any graduate schools 

Lol, that's also how I'm feeling. I should have my first answer in the next two weeks...

[Adelaide9216]

I had a placement in hospital last semester and I absolutely hated it. My heart is in the community setting. I don't know what's happening in Ontario with the health care system, but currently, in Quebec, there are a lot of changes and it's been extremely difficult for a lot of workers and students to adjust. 

[thelionking]

Hi, this is my first time posting on this thread. This sounds like a stressful experience and I wish all of you good luck! It won't be much longer now until you hear back from all of your schools and that is bound to be exciting and to bring you some relief so that you can plan the upcoming year accordingly.

I'm taking a year or two off to gain experience in the field before returning back to school. I noticed that some people here with BSWs have some strong work experience and I wanted to ask if you know which communities in Ontario have the strongest job market for social workers. I've been finding lots of part time and short contract opportunities and am looking for a permanent full time opportunity that I can do for a coupe of years so I can save up for school, get good references, and have a stronger resume for my application.

I'm aware of Nunavut, Nunavik, and Thunder Bay, as well as the booming job market in Saskatchewan. But I also wanted to hear of other suggestions about where you think the job market is the strongest for social workers in Ontario so that I can find an awesome job and get great experience in the field. thanks!

[tnt92]

2 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

I had a placement in hospital last semester and I absolutely hated it. My heart is in the community setting. I don't know what's happening in Ontario with the health care system, but currently, in Quebec, there are a lot of changes and it's been extremely difficult for a lot of workers and students to adjust. 

Would you be able to expand on what you did not enjoy about  being in a hospital setting? I feel like I know in my heart that a hospital setting is not for me, but I also feel this self-inflicting pressure to have a placement in a hospital setting. You can PM me if you think it would de-rail the conversation too far! 

[waiting2017]

2 hours ago, nicoleMSW said:

I just checked Western's website, and it says decisions will be in February. Which means 9 more days if they stick to that timeline, and THAT means I am now anxious and having major regrets about checking decision timelines! I wish I still thought all schools were releasing 2-year program decisions mid-March at the earliest haha! Looks like the mail key and refresh button will get some good use this week!

I got an email from Samantha Pearson at Kings on February 3rd that said they anticipate all decisions will be made by the middle of march and all applicants to the 2 year program will be advised at that time   I wish that schools kept up with the timeline posted on their websites, it feels like false advertising! 

[nicoleMSW]

33 minutes ago, waiting2017 said:

I got an email from Samantha Pearson at Kings on February 3rd that said they anticipate all decisions will be made by the middle of march and all applicants to the 2 year program will be advised at that time   I wish that schools kept up with the timeline posted on their websites, it feels like false advertising! 

I agree, I got pretty pumped up to have a decision soon! Thank you for correcting me or I would have gone crazy not knowing why I haven't received anything in the mail!

[lindaMSW]

Anyone here applied for York MSW -2 year program this year? I heard it is super difficult to get in so  I didn't even bother to apply. What credentials ( GPA, work experience, research etc) do I need to have if I want to give a try next year? To people who have graduated/doing their MSW at York, do you have any suggestion on how I can improve my chance of get into the program? Appreciate for your input

 

 

[nicoleMSW]

2 minutes ago, lindaMSW said:

Anyone here applied for York MSW -2 year program this year? I heard it is super difficult to get in so  I didn't even bother to apply. What credentials ( GPA, work experience, research etc) do I need to have if I want to give a try next year? To people who have graduated/doing their MSW at York, do you have any suggestion on how I can improve my chance of get into the program? Appreciate for your input

 

 

Hey! I applied to York's 2-year MSW program. I'm not quite sure if my credentials are up to par, but I feel that it's always difficult to judge your own credentials... no matter what I do it never feels like it's enough experience! That being said, I would say that if you want to be a social worker then just go for it. I know that the applications are a lot of money, but my thinking was that if I don't try then for SURE I'm not getting accepted... so may as well give it a try, see where you stand, and if you don't get admitted then use that as motivation to keep improving! That's my plan anyway  

[lindaMSW]

3 hours ago, nicoleMSW said:

Hey! I applied to York's 2-year MSW program. I'm not quite sure if my credentials are up to par, but I feel that it's always difficult to judge your own credentials... no matter what I do it never feels like it's enough experience! That being said, I would say that if you want to be a social worker then just go for it. I know that the applications are a lot of money, but my thinking was that if I don't try then for SURE I'm not getting accepted... so may as well give it a try, see where you stand, and if you don't get admitted then use that as motivation to keep improving! That's my plan anyway  

Thanks Nicole  I will give a try next year !! 

[Adelaide9216]

58 minutes ago, tnt92 said:

Would you be able to expand on what you did not enjoy about  being in a hospital setting? I feel like I know in my heart that a hospital setting is not for me, but I also feel this self-inflicting pressure to have a placement in a hospital setting. You can PM me if you think it would de-rail the conversation too far! 

Hello,

I thought it was just too rigid for me as a setting and too "big" of a setting. I had a lot of trouble navigating through the system, so I did not know how I could help my clients navigate it. I also chose to do my placement in a field where I had zero prior experience so I felt really not competent.  I also felt like I couldn't be really creative in that setting. There are also a lot of changes that are undergoing in Quebec in the health care system, lots of budgets cuts so I could feel a lot of pressure. On top of that, I had a horrible relationship with my supervisor. It was a combination of all these things. But some people love hospital settings and there are a lot of people who have great experiences in those type of settings. It really depends. You have to try to know for sure. I originally thought I would like it and that it would be fine, but I was actually heading towards a failure (and not getting my BSW) this year if I had not asked to change placements and I am a good student who had prior work experience in the field.

 

Hope this helps.

[Hopeful18]

So...it's almost the end of February and nothing.  Come on York put us out of our misery.

[2017hoping]

Hey lindaMSW - I think diversifying would be good, having some back-ups, so maybe try and find 3 or 4 that you can apply to next year that would fit your lifestyle/where you are at in terms of location of study or method.  I know Windsor has some flexible programs and some coursework that is closer to the city as well I think.

Also you can go back and take a research course or a stats course to strengthen that part of your application if GPA is something you want to boost.  I recently found these courses for a friend of mine, they are through Athabasca - one can do them all online. Keep working on it and building up your social work experiences for your resume!  As someone on here already said if you are building up your career in that direction and your resume reflects that, so will your opportunities

[cupcake]

On February 15, 2017 at 6:56 PM, SW15 said:

It's hard to say why...one thing I've heard is that at U of T you pay for connections/partnerships that U of T has with other organizations, so while other schools prioritize funding students U of T prioritizes it's professional ties for students to get the best placement opportunities (i.e. U of T's monopoly on the university health network--all of the main hospitals in Toronto can only take U of T MSW students). Even if this is the case though, it would only be a partial answer at best.

Unfortunately there are zero opportunities to TA at U of T, mainly because the school doesn't have a BSW program. There are RA opportunities though, I have several friends who help professors in the faculty with research for good wages, and there are frequent emails that go out to students detailing new opportunities! Also, U of T has like this central online hub thing that has all campus job postings so I have a bunch of friends who are getting paid to do research in other faculties/other social worker relevant jobs on campus :).

It could also be because schools of social work that require students to do research - such as Mac, Ryerson, and York, fund students because of the fact students do research - which, in academic institutions, is a recognized form of currency and work (regardless of what becomes of it). Schools of social work that do not require students to engage in original research, such as Laurier, Windsor, and UFT, typically offer limited funding - reserved to a handful of scholarships.

That being said, I do think you are onto something about tuition fees being connected to "best placement opportunities". If you go on some of the hospital websites, you will see that they are affiliated with UfT, and that money is involved - which probably comes from tuition fees as the source of university's money making 

 

Edited February 21, 2017 by cupcake

[jaylynn]

THE WAITING THOUGH 

[MSW-hopeful-2016]

14 minutes ago, jaylynn said:

THE WAITING THOUGH 

Its very very very hard, but what has REALLY helped me is practicing mindfulness. 

Two books I will recommend to everyone on this forum for not just the waiting period, but also for life in general:

1) Mindfulness in Plain English
2) The Happiness Equation

[KarebearSW]

Hi everyone!
Boy...it sure is comforting to know that I am not alone with my anxiety over acceptance letters.  I found the first 2 months, I was totally fine and not thinking about it, but now it's ALL I can think about.  I just logged onto this cafe today and felt better knowing that everyone is feeling the same way.  Misery loves company (lol).
I have applied to UofT only, advanced standing MSW program.  
Anyone else heard anything yet???

[SW_Student]

6 minutes ago, KarebearSW said:

Hi everyone!
Boy...it sure is comforting to know that I am not alone with my anxiety over acceptance letters.  I found the first 2 months, I was totally fine and not thinking about it, but now it's ALL I can think about.  I just logged onto this cafe today and felt better knowing that everyone is feeling the same way.  Misery loves company (lol).
I have applied to UofT only, advanced standing MSW program.  
Anyone else heard anything yet???

Nothing yet either, I applied to the MSW social justice stream at UofT