Social Work at York University
Maheen (Year 3)
maheennn@my.yorku.ca
What did you wish you knew before going to your university? What made you choose this institution over all others? What are advantages and disadvantages of your institution or campus? List any advice for incoming first-year students about your university.
I chose York over other institutions because it was one of the best for my program. Some advice I would give for first year students is to join clubs to be more interactive. Try to join as many opportunities as you can that are related to your career. Ask professors questions and study hard!
What did you wish you knew before choosing your specific program? What are the advantages and disadvantages of your program? List any advice for incoming first-year students about your program of study.
An advantage of the social work program is that it’s very focused on critical thinking so it challenges your ways of thinking and gives a lot of knowledge on issues and how to approach practice in the future. A disadvantage is that all marking is based on papers and assignments so it could be difficult for individuals who do better on tests. Some advice I would give to students would be to ask questions when something is unclear. To also start assignments a bit early so that if you don’t understand something or need help you can ask before it’s due.
What was your favourite university experience?
Having classes with friends.
What was your least favourite university experience?
Having to do many group projects and being in classes where the professors go through the slides very quick and don’t use any technology such as a moodle page which makes it difficult to take notes.
What is the hardest part about your program and what were the steps that you took to overcome any difficulties?
I think the hardest part of my program is the papers we have to write. They are very short so it’s hard to get all your points across. I wish high school taught more on how to write short papers rather than long ones. There are also a few group projects required in my programs courses and it’s difficult when some members don’t finish their tasks on time but to cope with that it’s very important to communicate with them. It’s also required for most courses to read the textbooks because the profs want to see you integrate the readings into the papers as well.
If you were able to take electives, what was your favourite elective? If you were not able to take electives, what was your favourite course and why?
My favourite course was MODR 1760 the prof made it fun to learn and it was pretty easy to get marks as well.