Canadian MSW Applicants 2018

[msw3]

41 minutes ago, Aslwin said:

Did she happen to say if it was all MSW acceptances? or was she just referring to the 2 year program? I can't handle this suspense! 

She didn't specify.. Sorry. I totally feel your anxiety though.. ugh!! If I don't get in here, UNBC is my last hope

[socialwerqer]

19 hours ago, heather.m said:

Were you applying for the advanced standing program at U of T or the 2 year? When did you hear?

I was accepted to UofT's advanced standing MSW program (health and mental health stream). I saw my ACORN status changed to "invited" on Feb 20th and my acceptance package came in the mail that week. 

 

edit: when I was waitlisted to the 2 year program last year heard back last week of march (waitlist letter in mail). 

Edited March 9, 2018 by socialwerqer

[Rach3600]

Hi everyone, 

I seem to be in the same anxious boat as everyone else. It’s driving me over the edge, I’m doing my best to stay calm. 

I was hoping for some reassurance: 

I’ve been digging around on the forum but I haven’t found confirmation from someone with experience applying to WLU. I applied to the Laurier 2 Year program. According to their website, acceptance will go out via email (not LORIS?). Can anyone gaurentee this, or should I be making another call to register services?

Also- will the acceptance/rejection be in the subject line of said email? I want to brace myself in case I get my answer in a public space! ?

Thank you in advance. Even if I don’t make it this round, I can see so many excellent candidates on here. All the best to everyone! 

[jage24]

5 hours ago, socialwerqer said:

I was accepted to UofT's advanced standing MSW program (health and mental health stream). I saw my ACORN status changed to "invited" on Feb 20th and my acceptance package came in the mail that week. 

 

edit: when I was waitlisted to the 2 year program last year heard back last week of march (waitlist letter in mail). 

Can someone please help me out with ACORN? How am I able to make an account?

[karisma]

1 hour ago, jage24 said:

Can someone please help me out with ACORN? How am I able to make an account?

When you registered with the SGS to process your app, they must have emailed you sending the following info (yourJOINid is basically your ACORN info; after you set it up using the info below, use the following link to sign in to access ACORN [ya uoft is confusing AF but it is what it is -____- ] https://idpz.utorauth.utoronto.ca/idp/profile/SAML2/Redirect/SSO?execution=e1s1):

 

 

 

Thank you for applying to the School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto.

 

NOTE: This e-mail message is not an offer of admission.  We are sending this to give you your JOINid and instructions for enabling it. The second half of the e-mail provides information on how to use the JOINid to apply for student housing.

 

Every applicant to the University of Toronto is assigned a JOINid. For graduate applicants, the JOINid gives early access to the online resources of the student housing office. If you begin studies at U of T, it will become your UTORid, which will allow you to access a number of services such as email, library resources, and Blackboard. 

 

Please keep your log-in information private, as you would for any other online username or password that grants access to sensitive personal information.

 

This is your JOINid: __________________

 

Your JOINid will not work until you enable it.

 

Step 1: Retrieve your student number.

·         Go to the SGS Admissions Application login page and log in with your 12-digit Applicant ID and password.

·         After logging in, click “Profile Update” in the blue menu bar at the top of the page.

·         Find your U of T Student Number at the top of the page that follows.

 

Step 2: Enable your JOINid.

As a new applicant, you will need to first enable your JOINid in order to login to MyRes and apply for residence.  

 

• Go to the Enable Your JOINid website
• Enter your JOINid in the JOINid box.
• Enter your U of T Student Number into the “applicant/student number” box, and then click “Continue” 
• When prompted, enter your date of birth.

 

If you have any trouble enabling your JOINid, please contact admissions.sgs@utoronto.ca.

[Mari*]

I phoned York to ask about their strike and they said it did end up delaying  the MSW applicant results for 1 year and 2 year, each by one week. So 2 year program applicants will know the week ofmonday 19th. And 1 year would know this coming week of Monday 12 . 

[heather.m]

11 hours ago, jage24 said:

Can someone please help me out with ACORN? How am I able to make an account?

Hi jage24! On the previous page (27) cat_not_kitty explained how to create an account. Here's what they said:

"Acceptances for U of T first show up on the student portal, ACORN (no email prompt, we just check it obsessively until something shows up ). Check your email for instructions from SGS admissions on how to create a U of T JoinID, then use those credentials to log in here: http://www.acorn.utoronto.ca. If you have been accepted, you will see "Invited" in orange in the "Academics" section in the bottom left hand side of the main dashboard page that pops up after you log in (there's a screenshot of what it should look like in the last post of page 11 of this forum topic). Keep in mind that nothing will show up there if you have been waitlisted or rejected – these results are mailed, and generally don't come until all rounds of admissions are complete sometime in early- to mid-April. Also, on rare occasion, people have received acceptances in the mail without their ACORN updating first."

 

Good luck!

[smntoronto]

2 hours ago, Mari* said:

I phoned York to ask about their strike and they said it did end up delaying  the MSW applicant results for 1 year and 2 year, each by one week. So 2 year program applicants will know the week ofmonday 19th. And 1 year would know this coming week of Monday 12 . 

It looks like all the 1 year applicants heard from York this past week. Another person on this forum mentioned when they spoke to the admin dept over the phone that 2 year applicants would hear starting this coming Monday, and that if you didn't hear for the 1 year program by this past Friday that you'd either been rejected or waitlisted. It's so frustrating when they tell everyone something different! 

[Monoo]

2 hours ago, smntoronto said:

It looks like all the 1 year applicants heard from York this past week. Another person on this forum mentioned when they spoke to the admin dept over the phone that 2 year applicants would hear starting this coming Monday, and that if you didn't hear for the 1 year program by this past Friday that you'd either been rejected or waitlisted. It's so frustrating when they tell everyone something different! 

I spoke to the Graduate Program Assistant on late Thursday afternoon, and he confirmed that all of the acceptances for the advanced standing program had been called (he said he called them personally), and if you haven't heard by now, that means you haven't been accepted (but still may have been waitlisted).

I am guessing the Monday date refers to when people can expect official letters.

I am just saying this so people don't have to wait anxiously all weekend. Even hearing that I wasn't accepted was better than the anxious waiting for me.

If you haven't been called though, don't feel too bad. The Graduate Program assistant said the program is so competitive that, often, it just comes down to whether your research interests match those of the research supervisors.  It seems kind of unfair to me (ie, why wouldn't they welcome new and different perspectives into their school?).

[Monoo]

I have also heard (from a reliable source) that York's process for selecting applications is to divide all of the applications to individuals on the committee, then each committee member selects their top X number of applications and the rest are eliminated. Which means, if one committee member had an usually high number of strong applications, very worthy applications could be unfairly eliminated.

The process makes sense given how many applications they have to sift through, but it also means that very worthy applications sometimes get eliminated through luck of the draw.

So, if you didn't get accepted, try not to take it personally (easier said than done, of course).

[socialtwerker]

39 minutes ago, Monoo said:

I spoke to the Graduate Program Assistant on late Thursday afternoon, and he confirmed that all of the acceptances for the advanced standing program had been called (he said he called them personally), and if you haven't heard by now, that means you haven't been accepted (but still may have been waitlisted).

I am guessing the Monday date refers to when people can expect official letters.

I am just saying this so people don't have to wait anxiously all weekend. Even hearing that I wasn't accepted was better than the anxious waiting for me.

If you haven't been called though, don't feel too bad. The Graduate Program assistant said the program is so competitive that, often, it just comes down to whether your research interests match those of the research supervisors.  It seems kind of unfair to me (ie, why wouldn't they welcome new and different perspectives into their school?).

first post- yay! 

I also spoke with York's graduate program assistant and he assured me that he had personally called all those that got into the advanced standing program, and if we didn't receive a call that either we've been denied or wailtlisted. He said the strike only affected the 2year offers going out, and those would be delayed by a week. 

I'm also with Monoo on this one. it was much nicer hearing that i wasn't accepted rather than waiting around. he was extremely helpful with going through options with me and hearing out my story. i'll say (and this might be just my experience), but i've had the best customer service experience from York's social work department. the only other ones i could compare were UofT and Ryerson that would just blow me off  i must have called York's graduate program assistant a bazillion times these last few months and he was always kind, patient and helpful.

I know that isn't mentioned on here much and probably isn't relevant, but i really think it counts for social work departments to be warm and welcoming to applicants. 

[Mari*]

On 3/10/2018 at 8:08 AM, Mari* said:

I phoned York to ask about their strike and they said it did end up delaying  the MSW applicant results for 1 year and 2 year, each by one week. So 2 year program applicants will know the week ofmonday 19th. And 1 year would know this coming week of Monday 12 . 

The day I phoned them was Friday (March 9). I might have misheard about advanced standing but I know for sure he said the 2 year program applicants will hear the week of March 19. 

[ciders_only]

The application process has really taken years off my life. I don't know if my heart can take waiting beyond the 23rd of March to hear back from UofT. The only thing that helps to make time pass is swiping on Tinder (my first foray on there, which is making me like an unremarkable person :'S ).

Has anyone gotten a hold of Laurier in terms of when we can expect to hear back from them? I've mostly seen people disucssing York/UofT - regarding Ontario MSW programs.

Also does anyone know when we would hear back regarding OGS applications? My friend got rejected for OGS before getting accepted to her grad program (not an MSW btw).

[lastsupper]

52 minutes ago, ciders_only said:

Has anyone gotten a hold of Laurier in terms of when we can expect to hear back from them? I've mostly seen people disucssing York/UofT - regarding Ontario MSW programs.

@magfish made a really helpful summary (page 3) of the dates people heard back from all universities last year. For Laurier's 1-year, looks like February was when people heard either waitlists or rejections, and for the 2-year it was the first few days of April. So still a bit of waiting to go on that one!

[rendom5]

On 3/9/2018 at 5:43 PM, Rach3600 said:

Hi everyone, 

I seem to be in the same anxious boat as everyone else. It’s driving me over the edge, I’m doing my best to stay calm. 

I was hoping for some reassurance: 

I’ve been digging around on the forum but I haven’t found confirmation from someone with experience applying to WLU. I applied to the Laurier 2 Year program. According to their website, acceptance will go out via email (not LORIS?). Can anyone gaurentee this, or should I be making another call to register services?

Also- will the acceptance/rejection be in the subject line of said email? I want to brace myself in case I get my answer in a public space! ?

Thank you in advance. Even if I don’t make it this round, I can see so many excellent candidates on here. All the best to everyone! 

My status changed on Loris and I received an email entitled Offer of Admission. I got accepted into the Advanced Standing but I'm sure the process is the same for 2 year. 

Good Luck!

[cat_not_kitty]

I feel you re U of T admissions – hang in there...we've waited this long. 

Re OGS: Results vary wildly (like, literally by months) from school to school. Not sure when Laurier's are released, but last year a Grad Cafe member heard back from U of T for social work on May 31st (see linked forum). The online application site says updates will be posted there by the end of June...so looks like we shouldn't start holding our breaths anytime soon, but we may hear directly from the FIFSW or SGS before the system updates.

Thought I'd share what I'd found in terms of our chances, since the FIFSW has very little transparency around their OGS quotas (take this info with a healthy dose of salt, as it's all based on my own investigative work and conjecture). The only information I've been able to dig up on the number of awards granted is on page 38 of their 2014 Self-Study (http://socialwork.utoronto.ca/about-us/utqap-self-study-2014/), where they said that they awarded a mere four(!) external awards in 2013-14. This was down from an average of 17 over the 8 years prior (this massive shift downwards is likely due to the overhaul of OGS in 2013). This number could include CGS-M (for second year/advanced standing students pursuing a thesis...I've seen at least one get awarded in the past few years) and likely does include at least one international student OGS award (there's a quota between one to three international OGS awards allocated to each graduate unit, per the info on their "Financial Support" page, http://socialwork.utoronto.ca/current-students/financial-support/). Taken together, I'm assuming that a maximum of three OGS awards are awarded to all ~384 enrolled students (95 1-years + 145 first year 2-years + 145 second year 2-years – 1 international OGS recipient), meaning our chances of getting one are sitting at less than 1%. Please don't shoot the messenger ! 

Good luck!!

 

 

4 hours ago, ciders_only said:

The application process has really taken years off my life. I don't know if my heart can take waiting beyond the 23rd of March to hear back from UofT. The only thing that helps to make time pass is swiping on Tinder (my first foray on there, which is making me like an unremarkable person :'S ).

Has anyone gotten a hold of Laurier in terms of when we can expect to hear back from them? I've mostly seen people disucssing York/UofT - regarding Ontario MSW programs.

Also does anyone know when we would hear back regarding OGS applications? My friend got rejected for OGS before getting accepted to her grad program (not an MSW btw).

Edited March 12, 2018 by cat_not_kitty
Correcting date from June 1st to May 31st and math

[Meemoo]

Sorry about that blank post, I can't seem to get rid of old quotes from previous posts. Anyway, if it's true that the one year advanced stream for the university of Calgary hear back on the 19th we have one more week to wait!!!! Ahhh

[Aslwin]

On 3/6/2018 at 6:00 PM, bigdreamsandclassicplaid said:

Hi friends!

Another long-term lurker here! Just  as a heads up - I was told by a friend of mine that UCalgary's decisions will be out no later than Monday, March 19th! 

I hope that puts many of you (myself included) at ease! 

 

 

10 hours ago, Meemoo said:

Sorry about that blank post, I can't seem to get rid of old quotes from previous posts. Anyway, if it's true that the one year advanced stream for the university of Calgary hear back on the 19th we have one more week to wait!!!! Ahhh

Looks like it will be no later than March 19th, meaning the decisions could come out this week!!!!! 

[TLF26]

2 hours ago, Aslwin said:

 

Looks like it will be no later than March 19th, meaning the decisions could come out this week!!!!! 

I really hope so! I am surprised the 2 year program heard back first. I can't stand waiting anymore. I just want to know whether its a rejection or acceptance.

[Emactastic]

Just chiming in to see if there is anyone else out there that applied to Kings (Western). I was waitlisted on Feb 20th. I just haven't heard/seen much about Kings on here. Mostly the schools in the GTA.

[lastsupper]

3 hours ago, Emactastic said:

Just chiming in to see if there is anyone else out there that applied to Kings (Western). I was waitlisted on Feb 20th. I just haven't heard/seen much about Kings on here. Mostly the schools in the GTA.

A past coworker of mine got into the King's/Western program (1 year) sometime two weeks ago, likely around the time you got waitlisted. Don't know much more than that I'm afraid.

[Erin32796]

I e-mailed admissions at U of T and they are saying that we won't hear back about the 2-year MSW program until mid-April. Apparently they enjoy the suspense of making us wait! Lol, but good luck to everyone, hopefully we hear back sooner than later!

[msw007]

Does anyone know when Laurier's 2-year admission will be out? I've only applied to Laurier so my eggs are all in one basket and it's so nerve wrecking!

[cat_not_kitty]

Thank you for the update, Erin32796! UGH . I remain hopeful that this is just her usual stock answer when asked about results (see a couple of past exchanges about this from earlier in the thread)! Did she say 'by' or 'until' mid-April?

48 minutes ago, Erin32796 said:

I e-mailed admissions at U of T and they are saying that we won't hear back about the 2-year MSW program until mid-April. Apparently they enjoy the suspense of making us wait! Lol, but good luck to everyone, hopefully we hear back sooner than later!

 

On 2018-02-23 at 2:26 PM, smntoronto said:

Totally the same! I'm waiting on York, Windsor and U of T for their 2 year programs.. Angela just told me no news until mid-April. Could be something she's saying so that we don't expect anything sooner than that. 

 

On 2018-02-23 at 3:59 PM, cat_not_kitty said:

ARGH. I'm clinging to the idea that it is something Angela might have said just so that we don't expect anything until then. Support for my (delusional?) hope:

• They seem to be dead on track with last year's timeline, in which 1-year acceptances began February 21 and then 2-years began a month later, but she had told an applicant (see first quote, below) that people would know by the end of April.
• In 2016, she gave a similar response to a forum member 2.5 weeks after a couple of 2-year applicants had already been accepted.
• The year before, there was quite a bit of conflicting information from her in that she said in early March that the admissions committee hadn't even begun going through (the 800+) applications and then a few people were accepted that very week.

(Highly relevant aside: I clearly need to get a life.)

Did she specifically say that we would have NO NEWS at all until April or that decisions would be sent out BY mid-April? 
 

 

 

 

On 2018-02-24 at 5:40 PM, viclane96 said:

Hey everyone! Angela from UofT emailed me back! I asked her about acceptances and she sent this! Hopefully this calms everyone’s nerves a bit  

Quote from March 10th of last year (referred to in my quoted post above), when results started being released March 23:

On 2017-03-10 at 10:04 AM, kb161616 said:

I called Angela (at U of T) a few days ago to ask about the status of the 2-year applications, and she said that it would still be a while longer. Specifically, she said that people will know by the end of April (unsure whether she meant that is when all waves will be finished, or just starting)....

Regardless, not sure if we should get our hopes up too high for next week

 

 

[SW Sevante]

1 hour ago, msw0913 said:

Does anyone know when Laurier's 2-year admission will be out? I've only applied to Laurier so my eggs are all in one basket and it's so nerve wrecking!

I only applied to Laurier’s 2 year program so I completely understand how you must be feeling right now.  Based on what I have heard/read on this forum and previous years threads I don’t think we will hear anything until after the Easter weekend. I’m hoping that we will hear by the first week in April. From what I have read on this thread the on-line applicants for the May start program still haven’t heard anything.  I have read on here that a few people received emailed acceptances for the advanced standing program recently. That’s all I’ve got but know that you definitely aren’t alone in this excruciating waiting game. ?