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Mine still hasn't updated. They just emailed me to say they hadn't received my GRE scores. So I'm assuming if you're missing anything they will most likely contact you this week.

My official GRE scores were not received by Dalhousie even though I had them sent directly on December 19th. How frustrating! Hopefully this doesn't happen to anyone else.

This is probably a stupid question but what's ApplyGrad? What school is that for?

For anyone applying to McGill... once you complete the checklist (i.e., upload transcripts, answer the questions, etc.) is there something to do to completely submit your application? I don't see any button to press that gives me a sense of completion haha. I guess once you've completed everything that's it? Just wanted to make sure. Thanks!

I contacted ORPAS and they told me this: As stated on our website, we are currently processing a high volume of mail. It is possible that your references are here and simply waiting to be processed. Please continue to monitor your account for updates. ORPAS will process all references regardless of when they arrive at the OUAC, it is simply up to the rehabilitation schools to decide how to deal with references received after January 9th.

Western has confirmed that its okay to have a late reference and/or transcript: "as long as it was postdated it will be fine. There is a bit of extra time that we allow for transcripts so if a reference is a bit late that is fine."

Also if anyone is wondering about Dalhousie not updating their checklists, this is what they told me: Thank you for your email. I would like you to know that due to the volume of admission documents we are receiving and processing, we are unable to respond to individual inquiries regarding the status of received documents. As you know, you can check the status of your received documents by logging into the system. Please note, however, that it can take up to 5 weeks after the admission deadline for the online checklist to show the status of received documents. In addition to being able to check online, we also send out acknowledgment emails to all applicants to let you know if we have received all required documents (again, this can take up to 5 weeks to occur). Please expect an acknowledgment email after the deadline to confirm receipt of your application and keep checking the status of your application online, to see if your information has been updated. If, at that point there are still documents missing from your application, we will give you a chance to re-submit them to us.

Don't freak out about ORPAS!! I also have an outstanding reference letter so I emailed both Toronto and Western about it. Toronto said: "Thank you for your email. Not to worry. It’s fine if your reference arrives a few days later." Western said: "Do you know for a fact that the other reference was mailed, did you check with your referee? If so, wait a few days and check, ORPAS might be still keying information in after the deadline." So even though we don't know for certain about Western, I'm assuming it's not a big deal as long as the document is post-dated (i.e. shows the date that they mailed it). One of my referees does multiple references each year for people and he knows a lot about the application process. He said that they won't penalize you for receiving late documents from your referees. I'm pretty sure it's true. Don't worry!!

Mine says the same thing! The transcripts and references both say "initiated". Not sure what requires action. I'm assuming it just hasn't fully updated yet.

Does anyone know if it's okay to send a personal copy of your CV to ORPAS? I can't find it anywhere on the Western or Toronto websites.

Thank you that is really helpful! What did you guys put as the course URL for each prerequisite on the ORPAS application? I'm just putting the link to the page that lists all of the course descriptions of each department... but I don't know if that's ideal.

I think grades are definitely more important. I don't think your reference letters need to be particularly amazing if you have a competitive GPA. But if your references are special in some way I think it would definitely help. I've heard that University of Alberta and Dalhousie place a slightly less importance on grades. Not that your grades don't matter, but apparently they may be more willing to accept a wider range of applicants (such as people with great references/work experience and slightly less competitive GPAs). But as we all know, its incredibly competitive at every school, but it's still something to consider!

Is anyone else writing the GRE? Or has written it recently? Are you guys studying really hard for it? I'm mostly studying the math section because I am beyond rusty.

Is anyone planning on applying to University of Maine? If so, do you know the prospects of getting a job in Canada? Also, what is the actual degree considered there? A Masters of Arts? Their website is not very helpful haha

I think it's extremely normal and pretty expected to get a bit discouraged once you've already applied and didn't get in. I think a lot of people are in this position though. I applied when I was finishing my 4th year off my undergrad and like someone else said above, I'm not surprised I didn't get in either. My GPA was definitely not competitive enough (it was around 3.4 I believe). Even though I applied with good research experience and volunteer experience, my GPA and bad GRE scores definitely held me back. To improve my application I started a Masters in Child Language Acquisition and continued volunteering in different locations. I improved my GPA (to around 3.6) and got all A's in my graduate courses (which are not always calculated in your GPA, but still make a difference when they are assessing your transcript). I redid a Stats course, got a position as the Lab Manager at a Language Acquisition Lab, and took a position as a TA for profs in the linguistics department. I'm also going to be rewriting the GRE in December but I don't know how much I will be able to improve my grade because I don't have much time to study for it I think it's important to just keep your eye on the prize and realize that it's not the end of the world if it takes you longer to reach your goal. I honestly feel like I learned a lot since I last applied and it really has been a great experience.

Amazing thank you! Does anyone know the what gpa conversion scale University of Alberta uses? I found this one online but its not really reliable: http://www.efs.ualberta.ca/Intranet/~/media/English%20and%20Film%20Studies/Documents/Instructor/GradingChart.pdf I've been bombarding U of A with so many questions lately that I want to see if anyone here can help me first Thanks!

Does anyone know if you apply for the thesis track option at University of Alberta if it removes your chances of being accepted into the course based option as well? Like can you only apply for one or the other as opposed to both? I'm wondering if applying for the thesis route will help my chances of getting in, but I don't want it to mean that I'm out of the running for the course based option. Anyone have any information about that? Thank you!

Does anyone know what schools accept an additional reference letter? (As in a reference letter from someone other than the required academic/professional references) Thanks!

Does anyone know what scale University of Toronto and Western University use to calculate your GPA? Do they both use the ORPAS grading scale? *linked here: http://www.ouac.on.ca/docs/orpas/c_orpas_b.pdf Or does each school have their own individual GPA scale? Because I found this on the University of Toronto site and now I'm not sure http://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/newstudents/transition/academic/grading Any info would be really appreciated! Thanks

... by the way I will be applying to U of A, Toronto, Western, and Dalhousie (in case anyone is interested!)

Thanks for the feedback guys! I will definitely ask them if they include graduate courses in the calculation and I'll post the respose here in case anyone is interested Does anyone know if saying you'll do the thesis option for SLP increases your chances of being accepted? I've heard of people contacting proferssors in advance saying they would like to do research with them and they got accepted mostly because of that. But I wonder if the thesis option is enough to increase my chances in general. It seems like a really intense option though and its not ideal for me, but if its going to get me accepted I would do it! Anyone have any info? Thanks!

Hi everybody! Does anyone know how much a masters degree in linguistics helps with your application? I applied when I finished my undergrad and didn't get accepted. I'm now halfway through my masters in linguistics (child language acquisition) and I'm really hoping it will improve my chances when I apply this time around. Does anyone have any experience with this? I've read that they don't include graduate courses in your gpa calculation which is very frustrating. But your graduate courses must count for something right? Thanks!