MA Social Work

Anyone else studying MA Social Work at Middlesex for 2021?

Hi Selina2000

Me again! Haha I thought it would be better to speak through this thread, that way the other people on the other thread don’t keep getting notifications.

Also other people from Middlesex doing the social work MA 2021 entry can also reply here as the other one has people taking up the course elsewhere.

Oh haha, no worries! I am honestly so lost, I feel like I have barely any information about enrolment and everything else! How did you enroll into the uni?

I felt completely the same! I was getting so frustrated feeling that the University is kind of slow with processing things but I’m hoping it’s just the Covid stuff that’s making them like this.

So basically they sent me an email with the login details for their app, have you received this? Just some background so intially I had a conditional offer on the basis that I passed my undergrad which I did, so once I had the evidence for that and sent it in then they verified it and about 5 days later or so I received my unconditional offer and then the next day I was sent login details.

So in theory if you already had an unconditional offer you should of received these things already?
Oh and the enrolment was online, once I had received the logins! - If you do have the logins I can just explain to you how to do this.

Honestly I feel your frustration that was me!
I actually used the online chat almost everyday to chase things up and I recommend you do the same as remember they probably have LOADS of students and your focus should be on getting your things sorted.

Did they say when they should get back to you by? Because the way I was paranoid as I said I was following things up everyday. I had a lot of “yes you should get this by x” and it wouldn’t happen. I wouldn’t leave it until the end of the week because induction is set for next Monday (13th) it’s online though, it won’t be much just getting settled I suppose info on how things work. But it’s worth being there from day one to not feel out of the loop.

Yeah I had to do the DBS ID check one million times in terms of submitting my documents, for them to be refused or them taking so long to get back to me that it would be out of the time frame required. However they have now accepted my documents for the DBS and I’m booked in for the ID check.

I was also nominated for the bursary, which I have not yet received as I’m waiting for the uni to let them know I’m now enrolled 😒. You can’t get the student finance and bursary at the same time but if you get student finance you can also get the placement travel allowance part of the bursary too.

Generally speaking the bursary is usually more in value than the loan, I don’t know what your bursary award says but mine says that they will pay like £4,050 or something towards the cost of the course (this goes directly to the uni) and then additional amounts.

However you generally go for what you think will work better for you.

Ahh I did get off the phone to student finance and they said I can’t take any part of the bursary otherwise I won’t get the student loan? I’m pretty confused myself everyone is saying different things. With the login, how soon after you submitted your proof of transcript results on the system did you receive the login by?

Honestly my information is fairly reliable as they (Middlesex postgrad team) told us all of this during an online session they did it was a couple of weeks ago if not longer.

This information is also wrote out on the social work 2021 bursary information. So in regards to the proof I submitted this on the 27th last month and then received the unconditional offer last Friday and then my login details on the Saturday. So let’s say five days as the Monday was bank holiday..

Just to be clear I submitted my transcript and certificate that I received from my old uni and scanned them in and uploaded onto the portal, so I don’t know if you uploaded an online transcript? Because they told me I had to send my certificate and if there were delays in me receiving that I should get my old uni to email them confirming my award and the date I should expect to receive it by.

Sorry quick replies as I’m working from home and bored! Haha

Oh yeah they have another online session tomorrow I believe between a virtual open evening! Might be good to sign up for as they will cover funding again. I have booked myself onto it as they are covering lots of things.

Ahh okay, I couldn't attend that online session because of the way they did the link system How do you know you recieved an unconditional offer? I checked my applicant portal and it says conditional but now that I've met the requirements, should it change to unconditional?

Ahh, I've submitted my certificate as well, along with my GCSE qualifications and my ALevel qualifications, but my degree transcript kept getting rejected so I emailed my old uni to send a record of learning too.

So for me it was update via UCAS track first so if you applied through UCAS it might be the same, I received an email from UCAS to check my account as there had been an update. I then just had to wait for correspondence from the UNI as to next steps.

I’m sure it will get sorted it’s just the matter of when that’s frustrating!
How long ago was it since you did your undergrad? & do you think you will take up the loan or the bursary?

Ahh I spoke to them today and they said they’ll update it within the next few days. I just completed my undergrad back in May, but the results were released in June. In regards to the loan or bursary, I think I will take the loan as the bursary still doesn’t give enough money for me to cover the full £11,000. What will you be taking?

Well fingers crossed for you it all comes before the course starts! I wouldn’t worry too much about possibly missing the induction, it’s annoying but you can’t be penalised for not attending if you don’t have the logins yet.

Yeah I completed my undergrad back in May too. I will be taking the bursary as they have awarded me the maintenance parts which I will use to top up on the course cost. Do still apply for the PTA from social work bursaries, will you be attending the postgrad online session today? As that would be good for you to get clarification on loan and bursary.

The only problem I found was with the loans they had wanted me to provide evidence that I had not been nominated for the bursary, as I initially thought I would apply for the loan as I didn’t know if I would be nominated or not and planned that if I was nominated I would just state I no longer needed the loan money. However they wouldn’t process my application until I had evidence to show I had not been nominated, so with that said I don’t know how it works if you have been nominated and don’t want to take it.

Oh yeah the postgrad open evening starts at 5pm today till 7pm, it’s divided into different sections for the range of topics.

Will you be working while studying?

Really? Thats super weird, because I was given the postgrad loan and I put down that I wasnt nominated because I wasnt at the time I applied. Now I'm worried, will that affect my postgrad loan? They never asked me for any evidence about the bursary so I thought there wouldn't be any issues with the loan.
With the maintenance and the basic fees, how much will you be getting from bursaries? I couldn't figure out the total of how much they could give and thought the max they would give altogether would probably be around 7k? Unless I calculated wrong That's one of the reason I gave up on the loan was because it wouldnt cover the full degree. Will you be paying for the rest of the masters?

I couldn't attend the open evening today as I had work but how did it go?
I work now part time and I take up shifts when availiable, but when I start the masters, I'm going to be working weekends only. Will you be working too?

Also, I finally recieved my login! Thank you so much for helping me, I felt like I was in the dark with everything, but you've honestly helped me so much <3

I wouldn’t worry about it if it did not ask you the same things when you applied, the point is you can’t receive both at the same time and so long as you make it clear to whichever that you don’t want to receive the money from them then that should be fine in theory, but you should really consult either SFE or the social bursary people to get an idea of where you stand.

The open evening is still running, to be honest aside from some bits of information it was tailored more to students attending to enrol next year because it was just general information on the course that I have read before.

So with the social work bursary they notified me on my bursary account on what exactly I was awarded have you checked to see you have this?

So yeah mine was around £7K too but I also have one child (3years old) so I receive the parents learning allowance too but anyways I have calculated that I will have some “extra” once payment has been taken out to top up the remaining fee balance. As I said I will be working too!

Yeah I will be working night shifts probably, maybe two nights a week but will see. Do you mind me asking your age?

I’m glad you now have your login! I was excited when I received mine, do not forget to enrol as you have to do this online by a set date which I don’t remember off the top of my head.

I’m just super eager to see the actual timetable but from what I have heard this information might not be out till next week.

Ahh, I called Student Finance today to see where I stand with the bursary nomination and they seemed unsure themselves although I mentioned I had not applied for the bursary. This is so confusing to me

I havent applied for the bursary yet and I think I won't apply for anything as I'm worried it'll cause issues with the student finance end of things just to make sure. Aww, bless you have a child? How old are they?

And nope, I dont mind at all! I'm 21, how old are you?

I enrolled today but now I'm just waiting for the timetable as well!

Can you see the induction week timetable for the programme too?

I’m 25 & my child is 3!

Well either way I’m sure it will get sorted, so long as there’s been no issues with applying for finance and they have said you can get it.

I competed the online ID check also, make sure you do that too as I read somewhere they said it can delay your payment from Student Finance if that’s not done in time.

Yeah I can see the induction timetable for the programme, the induction is only three days! Can you not see it? I downloaded the apps for Middlesex.

Do you know anyone else on the course? & will you be living in student accommodation?

Is home a reasonable travel distance from uni then? As I’m hoping it’s online so I don’t have to travel so much as I live rather far 😂, but from my understanding it’s apparently going to be 50/50 in terms of online and in person.

No I have not done anything in regards to the fees, I’m
Just waiting on the university to notify the bursary people that I have enrolled which apparently only happens once they have confirmed students have attended for 3 weeks and until I get money from the bursary people I can’t pay the fees.

I’m not concerned about it as I’m sure I’m not the only one in this position and the University are probably used to this with people getting support with their fees.