sonsofeasterly
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Everything posted by sonsofeasterly
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The PGS-D is tenable outside Canada, which means it may be more competitive only because it casts a wider net than the the CGS-D and CGS-M, both of which can only be held at Canadian universities. I'd suspect that the CGS-D is more competitive, as (from what I've anecdotally heard) a lot of MA students enter their programs having never heard of the CGS program, that's likely no longer true at the doctoral level. However, a prof told me the funding tends to 'snowball', meaning if you have a CGS-M you may have a leg up over an applicant who doesn't.
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Yeah, you're correct about having to do the MRP or thesis route at NPSIA. I poked around Carleton's site a bit this weekend and couldn't find any info on them topping up SSHRC, which is weird because everywhere else I got offered SSHRC, the school extends funding. I may try calling someone today - but let me know if you come across the info first! As far as how the topping up works, the schools should send you an email letting you know how that process works.
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Same boat, different program. Ultimately, I'm not going with UT because the prospect of more debt during a MA kills me a bit. If you're thinking about law, obviously they're not going to care about where you did your MA, or even if you have one. For a PhD, it probably matters less than you think it does, especially if you're staying in Canada. An upside of being in Hamilton, you can still keep an eye on what's going on at UT and make it in for some lectures, etc. that interest you and meet with some faculty. Ultimately, I think for a MA in Canada, if you want to stay in Canada, it had a lot to do with finding a good mentor and getting face time with profs. Might be a little different if you're intent on going to the US for a PhD after, but even then I think the prestige factor is balanced out a strong GRE, quality LORs, etc. I'm still struggling with this, but I've come across the CVs of more than a few profs with MAs from schools I've never heard of, and PhDs from top programs in Canada and the US who are now tenured profs at places like UT.
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They deposit it into your bank account...so you're free to do whatever you want with it. I know someone who bought a car with it. They really don't care - as long as you maintain your status.
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That's really strange - but I'm sure it's coming! If they gave you SSHRC, you're obviously a very strong candidate. I'd follow up with admissions and ask what the hold up on the offer is.
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It's obviously going to be university-specific, but I'd try to get in touch with someone in the grad studies faculty, rather than your department. CGS-Ms are managed at the university-level, so they'll be able to give you more info. I think...
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Some schools seem to be willing to indicate where you are on the waitlist while others explicitly mention they can't (as was the case yesterday when a university sent an email basically just saying "we can't tell you anything"). Its worth getting in touch with them though. I suspect most people will be making their decisions quite quickly. I'll be choosing my school on Monday and declining some offers.
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No, I missed out on applying to OGS, which I regret. The one nice thing about SSHRC is the schools will usually top it up - independent of other funding you're getting, so it works out to usually be between $22,500 and $24,000. I also thought that was the case when I applied, but that is no longer true. When the CGS-M was centrally adjudicated, it used to be portable but now that they're done at the university level, you have to petition the school to allow you to take it elsewhere.
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Yeah, the critical theory stuff there I don't love - but oh well. I think it'll come down to where (if anywhere) I get a SSHRC offer. You too!
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If it is a two year program, yes. Anecdotally, my friends who have gone to McGill (PoliSci and History) both applied and ultimately got SSHRC, but were only successful once they were in the second year of their program. I think with two year programs, departments tend to prioritize second year students.
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I'm kind of in the same boat. I'm leaning towards trying to do some more school after - and the faculty at BSIA is a lot stronger than at NPSIA, so the possibility of LORs from well-known people and smaller class sizes is pushing me that way. However, BSIA has pretty terrible name recognition and NPSIA offered me almost $10k more, which BSIA seemed kind of unwilling to match.
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Yeah, the grad course in French is enough to make me happy I didn't apply to GSPIA. NPSIA's path to language proficiency is a little more palatable.
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Meh, don't read in to it too much. I have had two update, neither of which showed an ineligible or anything. The timing is more likely just correlated with how fast the schools are uploading decisions. A quick peek at last year's results suggest that it was about 50/50 for people who got a notification before the 1st.
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Some brief thoughts: 1) It sounds like the professors who are doing exactly what you're interested in are at GSPIA, and to find a school where academics are really closely aligned with your own interests is often a struggle, so you're pretty lucky! 2) The MRP probably isn't as daunting as you think it will be. For GSPIA's MRP, you don't need to cultivate primary sources or original data, and you can probably turn one of your seminar papers into the bones of the MRP, which will make the overall process pretty manageable. 3) As far as reputation, here's my take: within Canada, employers looking specifically for grads with the type of coursework that both NPSIA and GSPIA offer - they're likely to view both schools as approximately equal. For employers just looking for a 'generic' MA grad, they'll likely view Carleton and UOttawa as approximately equivalent schools. Outside Canada, neither school has much name recognition (I'm working at a think-tank in DC right now that does defense/security stuff and my boss had no idea what NPSIA was when I mentioned it to him, despite the school's security-oriented faculty), so its really more what you can show employers you've done. Here, the differential access to co-op placements may matter more, but I got my current job because I wrote a really good paper that I submitted alongside my application - which brings me back to the importance of going to a school where the profs are doing work you're interested in. Plus GSPIA is giving you (a bit) more money, which never hurts.
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Its reasonable to ask schools to do so, especially if the financial support is big part of your decision making process. You won't be the first student or the last to ask them about it, and if they say they can't it isn't a big deal. My experience with this thus far has been they'll generally ask you to send them your other offer letters and they'll see what they can do. Usually it's only maybe another 3-4k, but I've seen some people post saying they have received significant additional funding.
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So did you have an actual change in something on the portal, then?
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But if McGill is your top choice you're still all good! Did one of your statuses change then, or did you just do some more looking around?
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The worst! I'd rather not know if anyone has made a decision yet, rather than know someone has but I can't tell what they decided...
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Has anyone received an email basically saying "the status of your application has changed"?
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Hey! I was admitted to the MAGG earlier this month. I haven't really seen anyone talking about the MIPP program though, so it's possible those admissions haven't come out yet.
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My understanding is the results aren't formally posted until the 1st, and you'll have to log into the research portal to view them. It may vary based on school, I've been told by one school that I was nominated by the department. However, it's ultimately up to the grad faculty, but I suspect it's uncommon for them to refuse a departmental nomination.
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Yeah, I got that 100% wrong. Oops. I've had a few friends who have been able to move it, but apparently those were special cases. Its great you already heard - I'm stuck waiting it out until the 1st.
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If you applied for the MRP or thesis at NPSIA, the sshrc is portable, although that may depend on when you intend to write.
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Hey! Yeah, I heard last Friday I think and then my unofficial offer came on Monday. I also applied at NPSIA, UCL and LSE. I'm received acceptances at all three of those, but I'm staying in Canada as the prospect of living in London (even with ok scholarship funding) makes me weep. It's more or less between BSIA and Queens now. Good luck!
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Just for interests sake, now that you've got your offer from NPSIA can you tell if you can stack internal and external? I'm just curious with sshrc coming out at the end of the month.
