Expansion on SSW

So far, only three people that I know of from HSF have been accepted. At the beginning of the year, one of the profs said that 89 out of 90 HSF students want to do SSW, but that about half change their minds partway through. He said of the remaining half, most get in, but there are always a few that don't. HSF seemed like a really good option for people wanting to go into Conestoga's SSW, because it turned the odds of getting in from 60 out of 600 (is that 6/60? Could probably lower it even further... 3/30. Is that the lowest you can go?) to more than 50% chance of getting in.

Our program was different, because we introduced the degree stream option. That meant that HSF became the primary preparatory program for Community and Criminal Justice as well as SSW. It became the second "big name" lead-in, and comprised... Let's see.. I counted 46 members in diploma stream the other day, so if there's 72 students of the original 90 left, that puts...Wait, let me get a calculator... 26 people in degree stream, although I know that a few of them are just in there because they wanted to apply themselves, and not because they want to do CCJ.

But our course was still different, because there was a disproportionately large number of people going for the less-known programs right off the bat, such as Rec and Leisure, Child and Youth Work, Early Childhood Education, Police Foundations and Firefighting. Well, Police Foundations and Firefighting aren't less-known, but using HSF as a path into those programs is kind of new.

So we've got far fewer people going for SSW this year, and of course, there are a number of people who changed course partway through who were originally going for that program. But even taking all this into consideration, so far we've had... I guess maybe eight people go to info sessions, and three have been accepted.  That's a little less than half instead of just a few not getting.

And they're not waitlisting anyone. Everyone that hasn't gotten in has been given an alternative program. Normally, if you have the credentials to get into the info session and aren't accepted, they will send you to HSF, but apparently, if you have done HSF and have gotten to the info session stage but are still rejected, then the program they offer is Rec and Leisure. I would think that they would have a "maybe" list in case they can't find anyone better, but no. You're either in or you're out.

They've made the course smaller, too. This year, they're taking 37 students. Last year, they took 45, and the year prior, they took 60.  That's why I said that back in the day, it was a 60/600 chance if you had the qualifications, even though in my last post, I said I had a 37/600  shot.

I've heard that, once you've made it to the info session with an 80% English grade,  a letter of recommendation from a social services place you've volunteered at, and a resume or autobiographical statement, then the academic credentials are more or less thrown out the window in terms of acceptance. You need the credentials to get inside the info session, but once you're inside, everyone's on equal footing (well... I know I've also heard that thing where they try to diversify the class, so maybe not totally equal).

I've heard people in SSW or who have completed it who say that they couldn't handle the session... panicked, botched the assignment... and got accepted. It's always a surprise that in such a competitive program, such unlikely people get accepted. Got me worried, because my grades, experience, and writing level are all good. I didn't know how to prepare for this mysterious quality they look for.

And that's another thing I've heard a lot. That they choose their participants based on an "invisible quality" that determines "how well they will do inside the program" which doesn't necessarily correlate with past successes. Looks like I had the invisible quality. Nice.

The coordinators say that they have so few students because "If we take 37 students, we want 37 successes". The other colleges all take far more students than Conestoga (I got accepted into all five colleges that I applied for, btw), and they said that if they wanted to just make graduates, they'd take a few hundred students and not care about attrition.

That being said, despite the high number of successes inside this program, they had a University grad who is taking SSW because she couldn't find employment with her degree speak. She said that SSW is more difficult than University level, and the prof said he hears this all the time.

I've also heard this from someone else who is in SSW, who is also a University grad. And someone who did SSW and is now taking CCJ called CCJ "easy" while he ramped up SSW's difficulty level.

Conestoga's SSW has the highest percentage of success post-graduation than any other SSW program in Ontario, and it has long been like this. Apparently this program destroys marriages and and stuff, because family and friends have difficulty comprehending the intensity and have difficulty accommodating the transforming student.

Today, I bought a Bagel BELT at Tim Hortons for breakfast (with a hashbrown!), bought a cafeteria hot chicken wrap for lunch, and for tonight, I have a bottle of wine. This is how I live fancy. I'm celebrating my success!

Last night, I couldn't sleep at all, because I was so excited! YEAH! Although now I have a headache from sleep deprivation (I needed that sleep...)