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First, thanks a lot to everyone for your replies and suggestions. Ah, how much do Canadian schools care about the prestige of your undergrad institution, in general? Ah ok, good to know on the whole GRE thing. It seems that around half of the programs that I am applying to do require the GRE, so perhaps it's something that is only common in Canadian Econ programs? Hm... With regards to a lot of the Canadian apps being really professor-centric, would it be advantageous to contact any professors beforehand? I know some friends have done it for PhD programs, but would this be all right/advantageous for a master's? Also, do Canadian schools have affirmative action? I'm considered a URM in the US, but don't know whether that would have any weight on my Canadian apps? Ah yes, don't worry, I've talked about the whole immigration thing with a lawyer, yes, I do have a special case, and it is an Ontario-only situation as well...which is part of what led to my particular school selection.

Hi everyone, I have some somewhat unusual requirements for my graduate program -- my family is Canadian and I would like to attain Canadian residency, so the easiest way to do that after chatting with a lawyer is for me to complete a master's in Ontario. Of course, I will also value the academic components of my program, but given that what I want to do is fairly interdisciplinary, I am less interested in applying to programs in certain departments than to maximize my chances of being accepted by applying to programs that would be partial to my particular admissions statistics. Also, I am fine with doing a one year master's in something that is not necessarily what I want to spend the rest of my life doing, as after that one year I will have permanent residency and may decide to pursue law school or a phd program, as those would be financially feasible With that said, my stats are as follows: GRE: 168V (98 percentile), 5.5 Analytical Writing (97 percentile), 161 Quantitative (81 percentile) GPA: 4.1/5.0, which would be a 4.5/5.0 without an F and a D that I received as I had a serious medical issue the week of finals one semester, I have a letter from my departmental administrator confirming this. Overall, all As in my major, a few Bs and Cs in required courses not related to my major. Graduated from MIT. Graduated a year ago, currently employed as a political/economic consultant for an International Development organisation. Research experience/awards: received prestigious departmental award to do research abroad on water accessibility and civil society. Wrote thesis on similar topic. Received a very selective award doing great in social science. Major: Political Science, focus in Applied International Relations, was a few classes short of a second major with urban planning, focus in major was political theory. So essentially I am interested in the interactions between human environments and the natural environment, particularly within the water accessibility context. I've enjoyed my time working on the issue on the macro scale in an international organisation, but think I would enjoy something more micro long-term-- say working as part of a consultancy team on individual projects that deal with the built environment and environmental issues. I was originally going to apply to Econ programs, with a Political Economy/International Development focus, and take a few additional classes next semester, as I still needed a math and 2 econ classes in order to be able to apply. I had narrowed the schools to U of T, York, Western, Queens, McMaster, and Ryerson. However, in light of how I did on the GRE, I was thinking it might be a good idea to apply to schools that really do emphasize the GRE, and broaden my search to political theory as well as urban planning programs. Also, I'm starting to think that the development field is not where I would like to be, and would like to have my options open to pursue alternate options. My questions are as follows: 1. Do you think I have a good chance at the schools that I listed, given my stats, for the economics programs? 2. Would I have a reasonable chance at political theory programs, and if so, should I apply through the political theory or the philosophy programs? What programs should I be shooting for? 3. Would I have a reasonable chance in urban planning programs, and if so, what programs should I be shooting for? I looked at the Geography program at U of T and really liked it, but am not sure what other programs might be a good fit, or how hard it is to get in. Also, I have great recs, and can get some from profs that have taught me in these various fields. Best,