Canadian MSW Applicants 2018

[SWMommy]

On 2018-04-07 at 3:18 PM, msw0913 said:

For those of you that have been accepted to Laurier’s 2 year msw, what was the deadline you have to accept or decline the offer? Also, who will be accepting and declining their offer? Just want to have an idea if their will be any movement for those on the waitlist. 

The deadline to accept is the 24th but I accepted this morning. I have seen several people say they will decline though! My guess is waitlist people will start being called after the 25th. Good luck!!! 

[spers]

18 hours ago, Mswnewbie said:

Hey everyone,

I was planning to apply to social work programs this coming fall and was wondering if I could ask you a few questions! Noticed this forum was buzzing so thought it would be a good time to do so.

I did my undergraduate degree in communications and graduated with an A in my final year (B overall cgpa) and A+ in my research methods course. 

I don't have much experience but the roles I've undertaken are as:

- a mentor for a girls mentorship program

- camp counsellor for youth and children from 6-18)

- some research experience for an external organization focusing on discrimination (based in toronto and in windsor)

- volunteering with elderly folks at a nursing centre

- fundraising and donor relations for a grass roots organization

- worked in communications at a non-profit organization

- volunteering online as a mental health listener

1) Would you believe that I should probably gain more voluntary experience to apply for the msw program? or should i look into the post degree programs as well?

2) Do many of you already have experience with social work vocabulary? I personally did not know what intersectionality, reflexivity, and social constructs were until this year- I've known what AOP is for a while now as well as some social work issues but would this affect my performance in a msw program? 

3) Coming from a degree such as communications, would it affect my performance in the masters degree? or to understand the curriculum?

4) Has anyone been accepted with little volunteering experience?

What would all of you suggest?

 

For those who did post degrees, do you think it helped you gain more insight in social work practice but also become more prepared for the msw?

 

I look forward in connecting with you all!

 

Sincerely,

 

MSW newbie

14

It's always a good idea to have more volunteer experience if you have the time to do it and it would strengthen your application. I think your experiences are relevant to social work practice, and your research experience is definitely an asset. Knowing social work vocabulary will make it easier to understand the course-work so I would recommend becoming more familiar with the vocabulary for your own understanding.

I don't think you will have any trouble understanding the curriculum or doing well in the program with your communications degree. 

I would suggest applying for post-grad BSW programs because it will open up more options for MSW programs. However, I would apply to an MSW program and have the post-grad program as your back-up. A lot of BSW programs will have placements so you will get more volunteer experience that way. 

[Mswnewbie]

Hi everyone! For those of you with a post degree BSW, did you all apply to the msw right after completing your program, or worked for a year in the field? If you don't mind me asking, was it difficult to get a job with a bsw?

[tr11]

Hi Folks,

Looking to connect with anyone who might be wrestling with the Laurier vs. U of T debate at the moment - trying to weigh the pros and cons and am struggling a bit without someone to bounce ideas off of, or to weigh the strengths of each program with!
Send me a DM if you have any insight or would like to share/process!
 

[foxstock]

7 hours ago, SWMommy said:

Hi! I also got into Laurier 2 year on campus and can relate to this so much. I am definitely accepting but it is really expensive!! Do you know if there are any scholarships etc that we may qualify for? Going to try and go that route if possible. Plus OSAP 

I haven't found anything yet! It looks like Laurier offers admission scholarships for those with top grades, but you would have already been notified about that I think. I'm going to keep digging though...

[bvo]

3 hours ago, Mswnewbie said:

Hi everyone! For those of you with a post degree BSW, did you all apply to the msw right after completing your program, or worked for a year in the field? If you don't mind me asking, was it difficult to get a job with a bsw?

I finished my post degree program in 2016 and am starting my MSW this September. I really appreciate the experience that I've had working in the field over the past two years, especially since I had just finished a 4 year BA before doing my post degree, and I think it will enhance my learning in the MSW. I've been in two positions since, the first I got about 3 months after graduating, and it was in child protection. 

[Mswnewbie]

6 minutes ago, bvo said:

I finished my post degree program in 2016 and am starting my MSW this September. I really appreciate the experience that I've had working in the field over the past two years, especially since I had just finished a 4 year BA before doing my post degree, and I think it will enhance my learning in the MSW. I've been in two positions since, the first I got about 3 months after graduating, and it was in child protection. 

If you don't mind me asking, what school did you attend for your post degree? Are you located in Toronto?

[SwagMaster]

5 hours ago, Mswnewbie said:

Hi everyone! For those of you with a post degree BSW, did you all apply to the msw right after completing your program, or worked for a year in the field? If you don't mind me asking, was it difficult to get a job with a bsw?

I did a BA, then straight into a post grad BSW. I tried to get into an MSW right after my BSW, but didn't get in anywhere. From my BSW class, the only people who got into an MSW right away were those who had full time work experience before their BSW, or had a related college diploma before their undergraduate degree. I worked for a year, and I will be returning to school to do my MSW this September. 

Was it difficult to get a job with a BSW? Well let me put it this way, I don't think that it's ever easy to get your first job. I live in the GTA, and I applied for every job that I sort-of qualified to do in the GTA, for about 2 months. After 2 months, I managed to find a related full-time permanent position. I consider myself very fortunate though. I was among the first among my peers to get a position -- not because I'm an outstanding social worker in any way, but mostly because my girlfriend is incredibly talented at everything and taught me everything about how to land a job. Some of my former classmates took positions at their practicum organization (which I could have done but didn't want to), some went back to working where they worked before their BSW, some are in multiple part-time positions, some found completely new full-time positions (like me), and some are still unemployed. So in summary, I would say that getting a job with a BSW is not easy, and can be sometimes difficult -- really depends on your experience and how well you can sell yourself.

[mswkm]

8 hours ago, Mswnewbie said:

Hi everyone! For those of you with a post degree BSW, did you all apply to the msw right after completing your program, or worked for a year in the field? If you don't mind me asking, was it difficult to get a job with a bsw?

3

I am going straight into my MSW  from a post-degree BSW at McMaster. I found a job in the field while doing my post-degree. It was probably luck and the fact that Hamiton is a service-rich city and there are a lot of jobs available. A lot of people in my program got hired as relief or part-time staff at organizations around the city while in the post-degree bsw program. I obviously can't speak about other regions in Ontario tho... Also you get tons of opportunity to network while in placement so that's a bonus of having the BSW!

[bvo]

On 2018-04-10 at 6:07 PM, Mswnewbie said:

If you don't mind me asking, what school did you attend for your post degree? Are you located in Toronto?

I went to York, I'm in the gta

[Mswnewbie]

17 minutes ago, bvo said:

I went to York, I'm in the gta

Is it cool if I message you?  

[2 Year MSW]

On 4/9/2018 at 10:03 PM, ashketchum said:

I applied to the MSWwp in Peel! I don't think they are doing full rolling admissions at this point. I had all my documents and references in by the end of February but am still waiting. Danielle (program administrator) sent an email saying that "Due to the large volume of applications we have received, application decisions may take longer than 8-10 weeks to process." So by large volume I wonder how many that is....

I was told that they receive about 200 applications for all the programs so advance standing peel, foundations peel, and foundations windsor 

[2 Year MSW]

Was windsors mswwp program deadline always may 1st or was it an earlier date and they just extended it?

[Meemoo]

On 4/10/2018 at 12:26 PM, Mswnewbie said:

Hi everyone! For those of you with a post degree BSW, did you all apply to the msw right after completing your program, or worked for a year in the field? If you don't mind me asking, was it difficult to get a job with a bsw?

I graduated with my bsw in 2015, and just got into the UofC msw. I would not recommend going straight into an msw because you're missing out on all the juicy experience you get by giving it a year or two! Getting a social work job was super hard for me. I lived on Vancouver island in BC and it's basically paradise, and it's super close to Uvic and UBC so it was super saturated to say the least. I was working as a support worker at a men's then also a women's shelter. Then I lucked out and got a job as a clinical counsellor but that was strictly because of who I knew. After I stopped that job I looked for a social work job for the better part of a year and no dice. I moved to Alberta and landed a job super quickly working in prisons as a case manager. It depends where you live! How resource rich the community is. 

[idmsw]

Has anyone accepted their Laurier 2 year MSW acceptance? If so, was there any information provided about the deposit. I am wondering how much it is and when it needs to be paid by! I haven't accepted yet and don't have access to this info! Thanks  

[ashketchum]

13 hours ago, 2 Year MSW said:

Was windsors mswwp program deadline always may 1st or was it an earlier date and they just extended it?

The deadline has always been May 1st. I just think a lot of people have tried to get their applications in as early as possible.

[TLF26]

Got my conditional acceptance to UFV today! They updated the application portal this am. I am currently in my BSW still, but I finished this semester. I was also waitlisted for the 1 year clinical in Calgary last week.

[futureMSWstudent]

Hi everyone,

I've been following this topic for a few months now. I applied to YorkU's MSW program and my status still says on the MyFile "No decisions yet".  Anyone experiencing the same thing?  I'm starting to assume that I am waitlisted. 

[lastsupper]

6 hours ago, futureMSWstudent said:

Hi everyone,

I've been following this topic for a few months now. I applied to YorkU's MSW program and my status still says on the MyFile "No decisions yet".  Anyone experiencing the same thing?  I'm starting to assume that I am waitlisted. 

Mine is the same, and I saw at least one person here say theirs is "reviewed - unsuccessful". I want to be hopeful that I'm on the waitlist, but they did say only 10 get waitlisted in total so it's a very slim chance. York seems to be especially slow with updating MyFile, even for those that get accepted; it's usually a 2 week wait for any online updates, from the day they make the decision.

 

[Arshia1996]

Hey guys 

does anyone know when the deadline is for the MSW online program at laurier? For non BSW people? For sept. I’m thinking of applying even thought I got accepted at Uwindsor. It’s kind of far  is anyone here going to uWindsor for the two year full time MSW program? I’m from the GTA and just graduated from sociology at Mcmaster! 

[Arshia1996]

3 hours ago, lastsupper said:

Mine is the same, and I saw at least one person here say theirs is "reviewed - unsuccessful". I want to be hopeful that I'm on the waitlist, but they did say only 10 get waitlisted in total so it's a very slim chance. York seems to be especially slow with updating MyFile, even for those that get accepted; it's usually a 2 week wait for any online updates, from the day they make the decision.

 

You can call them and they will tell you directly if you made the waitlist or not. I just did that!

[lastsupper]

1 hour ago, Arshia1996 said:

You can call them and they will tell you directly if you made the waitlist or not. I just did that!

Thanks for the heads up, I just called! Sadly I didn't get in.

[Arshia1996]

Hey guys,

does anyone know how the process works if I accept one offer and then get another one and accept that one instead? Can I do that? Also, does anyone have information of the 2 year online MSW offered at Laurier for Sept 2018? Such as what the structure is like and how many people they take? 

[SwagMaster]

55 minutes ago, Arshia1996 said:

Hey guys,

does anyone know how the process works if I accept one offer and then get another one and accept that one instead? Can I do that? Also, does anyone have information of the 2 year online MSW offered at Laurier for Sept 2018? Such as what the structure is like and how many people they take? 

After you accept an offer, you always have the option to drop out. But if you pay non-refundable fees, you just likely won't be able to get that money back. 

[skd05]

1 hour ago, Arshia1996 said:

Hey guys,

does anyone know how the process works if I accept one offer and then get another one and accept that one instead? Can I do that? Also, does anyone have information of the 2 year online MSW offered at Laurier for Sept 2018? Such as what the structure is like and how many people they take? 

Hi there,

I have only applied to laurier online program for May and have been accepted and will be attending. It is six week courses one at a time for 2.5 years. There is a small break (a week) between each course. There is also a placement component. I would apply and I am sure in  a few months you will have feedback from us who have started. It is all that works for me so I'm looking forward to it and blessed to start!!