WhiteIR
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Posts posted by WhiteIR
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congrats, guys!
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several posts back we were discussing the 5k TAships vs. the 10k TAships. I just found out that it's because there are "half" TA positions, which essentially offer half the number of hours as the full TA positions. The reason for splitting some positions into "half" is in order to offer more funding to more people.
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i will be refusing my offer tomorrow. good luck to everyone on the waiting list!
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i would think that the only people who would submit their application before the fall semester is over are people who already finished their undergrad and therefore already have all their grades on their transcript
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theres so many good schools out there that it's hard to say what could be a good "second choice" to NPSIA. i think it would mostly depend on what each student's personal interests are. personally, im giving serious consideration to Balsillie right now. They offer the best funding packages, give great fellowships to a lot of students, have good connections for research internships/placements, and have some guaranteed spots for a UN internship. The crappy connections to government sector turn me off though.
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Congratulations, very happy for you!!! I gather you will be going to Balsillie then?
i havent decided yet but balsillie is definitely a top contender. im going to take the next few days to think it through.
im really thrown off by these admissions committees. i dont know how i was offered admission to some programs above some other applicants with much higher stats than me. i also dont know why Munk and GSPIA offered me no funding whatsoever, yet npsia offered me 15k in scholarships, and balsillie offered me a CIGI fellowship (15k) plus scholarships. These admissions committees almost seem very arbitrary at times!!!!
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they're still sending out acceptances for balsillie! i just got mine right now!
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has anyone received their acceptance letter in the mail yet?
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It seems like most of us have only received an email. has anyone received an official letter of acceptance?
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Speaking of Balsillie, has anyone gotten into that program yet?
Leeu, aside from IGOs, does the school have other strong aspects?
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i agree with everyone's opinion that Munk is quickly rising in reputation. With the high quality of research going on and with the business connections ever expanding, munk's reputation may likely surpass npsia soon. However, as of 2015, munk's career opportunities are still no better than npsia's.
i agree 100% with Kamins0d. i met up with a professor from Munk and the way she compared npsia and Munk was essentially like this: if you're searching for connections to land a position with the federal government then npsia will meet your goals. if you're looking to gain analytic and academic skills that will give you the potential to even "change the world" then Munk is the school for you. Just as Kamins0d said, Munk is a high-risk, high-reward sort of school.
Edit: when i say "career opportunities" i mean typical international affairs/government career opportunities. if one is talking about more non-traditional jobs then Munk is just as good, if not better than npsia. -
admitted into gspia without any scholarships.
admited into npsia with 15k in scholarships. lol easy decision there....
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It seems every school but Munk offers generous scholarships. Assuming everyone who applied to Munk also applied elsewhere, and assuming those who've gotten accepted to Munk also get accepted elsewhere, my bet is many people will be rejecting Munk in favour of elsewhere. So, for those still waiting, there is much to be optimistic about.
Does anyone have anything negative — or know anyone who has anything negative — to say about Munk besides its often poor funding, lackadaisical teaching, being located in a "terrible" and "insensitive" city, or the general overestimation of its MGA program? I'm asking because these are the trite complaints I usually hear about Munk. Its funding is poor, true. As for lackadaisical teaching, I hope anyone hoping to go to grad school has learned to learn with or without enthusiastic teachers. Toronto is neither terrible nor insensitive, to the best of my knowledge (which is very limited since I have never lived in Toronto). I also don't think Munk's MGA is any more overestimated than NPSIA and GSPIA's IA, or even Balsillie's MIPP and MAGG (these are the only schools I know of).
What do you guys think? I hope I haven't just begun a conversation with myself alone.
a critique that i've heard about Munk that it follows an interdisciplinary ie. "generalist" approach to education. this reason why some people may see this as a weakness is because students learn a little bit about everything but not a significant amount about anything. In other words, the program can generally prepare you for most jobs in IR, but does not make you a specialist in any particular field. Depending on who you speak with, this may be either a weakness or a strength.
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I didn't see anything about maintaining grades when I looked through the conditions.
TA duties seemed unclear at this point. Maybe one off the current NPSIA students can illuminate that.
About 13k was for the first year and was split across two semesters. Another award of 4k was split across the second year. I'm assuming that if your grades remain high you will be eligible for more awards.
The TA position is 5k per year and is for both years of the program.
If you have more questions holla at me.
are you sure you will only receive 5k/year as a TA? cause on the website it says its more than 10k per year. Similarly, i was offered TA position for another program at carleton and it was close to 11k/year
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Hey guys,
Just letting everyone know that I was accepted to GSPIA a couple minutes ago!
congrats!
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unofficially accepted
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cant accept or reject anything yet.. official letters havent been sent out.
but personally, im going to make my decision shortly after they let me know what type of funding they can offer (email said it will likely be mid-March).
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reading your stats makes me wonder... how the hell did i get in?!?!?!??!!
im glad munk looked at more than just my gpa....lol i must have had some kick-ass letters of recommendation! -
got accepted into munk
congrats to everyone else who was accepted and good luck to everyone still waiting! -
congrats on your acceptance emmadreher!
and I know exactly how you feel! I've been the same way since I got into my first program. now im even more anxious cause I got into another program hahaha!
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Thanks! I emailed them yesterday and received the official offer through today. It was pretty much exactly as you said: 15K + tuition + a few thousand extra dollars in the first three years from some fellowships. They also said I should tell them if I'm considering accepting another offer on solely financial grounds. Does anyone know if it's possible to live in Toronto on 15K a year? I've lived on very low wages in other cities, so I can definitely scrimp and save, but I don't know what the living costs in Toronto are like.
it's possible, but definitely a stretch. if you find a roommate outside the downtown area it's possible to pay rent for $700 each. you'll have to deal with commute issues though.
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flat butt
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While I would be happy with any of the schools I have applied to - my preference is Balsillie because of the professors that teach and conduct research there, as well as the partnership the school has with CIGI. I want to work in foreign policy so being able to study at and research with people active in that field would be really useful for me, I think.
HOWEVER, Munk is a phenomenal school and I would be just as happy to attend there, but I appreciate the almost guarunteed fellowship opportunities out of Balsillie - a friend of mine is there this year and literally everyone that was accepted was given a massive funding package (so that's very lucrative as well - a brilliant program with lots of money to share with its students! haha)
If you have any questions or want to chat feel free to shoot me a message
Balsillie is right up the street from where I study right now!thanks for sharing all that info! i dont know anyone at balsillie or even anyone else who applied so i appreciate the offer to chat! i might message you in the future if i have any questions
Munk School, NPSIA, BSIA 2016
in Waiting it Out
Posted
Hi all,
Current NPSIA student here.
NPSIA's reputation for preparing you for a government job is 100% true. The way the courses are structured, the assignments that are expected, the readings chosen...everything is done with the purpose of enabling you to be a successful civil servant. The school also makes it very easy to acquire great internships in the Winter term so that you are ready for the more competitive summer jobs. Most first-year students who I have spoken to have been successful in gaining meaningful employment for this summer (though it is not universal). However, NPSIA's strength is also its weakness - there is few coverage on private or non-profit sectors.
Another downside is that the school now accepts more students than it did in the past, and has not added more classes or hired more professors to keep up with the student increase, leading to higher class sizes. Some classes are HUGE - Required INS tutorials have 35 students, and lecture has over 100 students. Many classes have more students than seminar-style undergrad classes. And it appears that this large-classes trend will continue in the coming years.(from my uninformed point of view, it appears that the school is trying to make money by taking more students' tuition but not spending it on more profs/classes?)
Overall, I have enjoyed my time here and i am 100% glad that chose NPSIA over Munk and Balsillie. However, it is definitely not for everyone.
Hope this helps some of you make your grad school decision!