happy little pill

PMing! Anyone who has questions about Montreal can also feel free to PM

Alright TO peeps! I'm making the move from MTL to TO and I am wondering what areas of town to check out when looking for apartments - my budget (unless I get SSHRC and then I can afford a cushier place), I have around 1000$ for rent a month including utilities. I'd PREFER to live alone.

Re: Apartment leasing times. Most leases begin July 1st but you can definitely find some places for August 1st or September 1st because landlords seem to be conscious of the school year. A word of caution for NDG and Lachine: Not the most accessible by bus. Be careful of where you live in Cote-des-Neiges. I wouldn't go farther north than the Metro cote Neiges because a lot of those apartments have serious bedbug problems. If you live around the cemetery though (as I do) you generally won't run into any problems!

Heh that was me. I was getting really curious and I was going to post up a screenshot. what. the. eff. sshrc.

Your GPA from your undergrad certainly isn't going to help you, but it's also not the be-all, end all I would say. As you mentioned, you had a great GPA in your MA program and you can really play that up in your application (if you told us what the related field was it would probably be more helpful in figuring out if that no thesis thing is going to really hurt). It sounds like you've made some good traction though in the Art Historical field since leaving school - being the associate editor on 7 book projects is no small thing and you have two publications of your own which were obviously well received if they've been translated/republished. Could you not expand on those articles/submit one of them as a writing sample? Taking an MA level class as an independent in Art History could be advantageous insofar as a) you'll get to write that paper and b ) it shows that you're dipping your toe back into the pool that is academia, so to speak. I think that the decision is ultimately up to you, but I personally wouldn't do an MA. You already have one and you've clearly been successful outside of school which is where it counts - honestly, unless you have a killer supervisor at the MA level who is willing to go above and beyond for you, you're probably not going to make that many contacts. Going to art shows, meeting artists and other people interested in the arts has always been a lot more fruitful for me than mingling with my cohort. Don't get me wrong, I love them all to death and we hang out all. the. time, but I don't think that any of us have made any connections of note through each other. Just be sure that you write a really amazing SOP that highlights your best qualities and your experience in the art world and how that's gone well for you!

Congratulations! That is a huge accomplishment!

I just met two people who are in the Yale PhD program this weekend and they both seemed to really like it...

I'm surprised that artist isn't included in this thread title, haha! I was very much hooked by a Canadian indigenous artist, Brian Jungen - he had a show at the MAC here in Montreal in 2006 and I have a distinct memory of feeling exhilarated by what I was seeing and it was a lightbulb moment for me that art could be more than landscapes and still life paintings (nothing wrong if that's your thing, but it's just not for me). After several detours in various programs, I ended up applying to a joint Art History & Film Studies program figuring that Art History would be my "back up" in case I hated Film Studies at uni and it's a good thing... here I am!

Hello to my fellow York (Toronto) kids! I'm going to be starting my PhD in Art History there in the fall... not expecting to find the other applicant here as they only accept two people a year heheh, but maybe there are some other York students who'll be starting in the fall! If so, where are you from? What did you get accepted to? I'm from Montreal, did my BFA & MA here, so I'm excited to be changing locales.

Isn't that information confidential, though? I'd imagine that the university would have to report to you that they were sending that information on to SSHRC - it's the same reason why your mom can't call up your university and ask for information about your grades. Plus, if you're applying for SSHRC, chances are that your GPA is pretty high and you have a clear project idea in mind, so if you aren't already in a program, then you're most likely going to be admitted. I don't see how this would actually help them in evaluating your file.

I had one school where I wasn't offered a TA/RA position so I e-mailed my POI and was told that all students are offered TA and RAships and can teach a course later on, but collective agreements prevent them from being offered as part of your admissions package, so you can always inquire about this as well.

I live in Montreal and I can tell you that if you have good winter boots and a warm jacket, you'll be fine. McGill has an excellent reputation and Montreal is a very welcoming city. Living here is also super cheap and tenants have a lot of rights in Quebec vs. most other places.

I didn't end up applying but their GPD told me that it was about 80 people for 4-6 spots.

I am so frustrated that one of the programs I applied to seems to be rolling out acceptances slowly. Someone was accepted yesterday to the program that I applied to and yet my POI only met with me yesterday to discuss my application in more detail. I'm not surprised that this particular department is kind of laissez-faire about their acceptances but it's still nerve-wracking. AHHHHH.

I would e-mail program 2 back and explain your situation. The worst that's going to happen is they're not going to offer you more money.

My first presumed rejection today after meeting with my POI. Ugh. :/ She said that after reading my final proposal, she wasn't sure if the institution was the best fit. I attempted to steer her otherwise because I do really think that I'm a fit with their institution but I doubt that she's going to forward my application on. It's a good thing I was accepted somewhere else or I'd be going mental.

Yes! I had a few schools who said that they'd expedite my application as I received an offer from somewhere else with a tight deadline and I was wondering why I hadn't heard back but I imagine that this explains it.

I really like my topic. It ended up only retaining about 10% of my original idea that I presented to my professor, but I think that that's why I like it. I think it's important to have a balance. For me, the non-academic things that I do on campus help get me through some of the tough points of being a grad student, but I can imagine it getting pretty tedious/terrible to have to work on a project for 4-7 years that you haven't liked from day one. I don't think I would make it to the end because that's a lot of time to devote to something I don't feel particularly passionate about.

Blah, this is pretty stupid. I'm trying to decide between offers (one official, one presumed based on heavy hinting by dept. chair) but having a decision from SSHRC would make that a lot easier since the $ question would be gone.

Just to weigh in on the QC question: The schools are all doing the best that they can, but the government has massively slashed uni budgets, and it seems like that's going to continue into the foreseeable future. Since about 95% of faculty budgets are tied up in staff, that only leaves about 5% that can be wiggled around - which unfortunately means grad support & TA/RA positions usually are the things that take a hit as they tend to be some of the heaviest hitters outside of capital expenditures. The thing is though that living in Montreal (where all but two of the universities here are located) is significantly cheaper than basically anywhere else in Canada so on some level it balances out, I guess. I know that the university where I am now does tend to fund its grad students more lucratively than other institutions in the province, so that's maybe something to consider when applying?

*rolls eyes*

All of my friends have heard back this far except for me - so frustrating! Granted, we applied to different schools but the wait time has been three weeks or less for them!

Congrats to the UofT admit. They were super fast, considering that the deadline was exactly one month ago.

My backup is to become a Paralegal working in an intellectual property firm or a firm that deals with a lot of arts-based clients!

I'm trying to help fix that I think that we are all in that place. This waiting game is the worst.