Abyss21

Rejected with 15.2, committee 1. I know someone who got it in the same committee with 15.54

Congrats on your decision! It was great meeting you during UofT's Visitors' Day! I'm so happy that we'll be in the same cohort this upcoming fall, and I look forward to getting to know you better. Also, I'm always available to answer any Toronto-related questions that you may have over the upcoming months.

As a Canadian who did an MA at a Canadian university, I can safely say that it was a great decision on my part. I really didn't know much of what I wanted to do for my research while I was in my undergrad, but the MA (especially the thesis at the end of it) really helped me develop my research and strengthen my application significantly. I was able to get in to a top program this year for my PhD, and I highly doubt that I would have been able to do that without the MA and the insight that it gave me into my research interests. So, in short, I would go for it! Plus, BC is beautiful.

From what I've heard, all Canadian universities (even the highest ranked ones) are typically considered second-tier in comparison with the top American universities. What this means is that places like NYU and Duke, even though they are ranked lower than University of Toronto, are still considered more prestigious. That being said, going to one of the top 4 Canadian universities (UofT, McGill, UBC, or University of Alberta) is still considered competitive for post-grad jobs. For instance, even though it is not an American university, UofT has about a 50% placement rate, which is still quite strong. McGill's placement rate is likely similar and UBC and University of Alberta might be a bit lower, but it's still not bad.

No problem! And thanks for the congratulations! Yeah, I was pretty bummed about some of the other rejections earlier on in the application process, but when I saw how many people applied to those places (especially Yale), it became difficult to take them personally.

Since we're having this discussion, I posted this in the Venting Threat but I'll post it here too. This is what my rejection letter from Yale said: Thank you very much for applying to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Yale University. I regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you admission. As you know, the very high number of extraordinary candidates among our more than 10,700 applicants far exceeds the number of places we have in each program, so we are not able to admit many excellent candidates. Take from it what you will.

Hopefully I can clarify some things. This is what my rejection letter from Yale said: Thank you very much for applying to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Yale University. I regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you admission. As you know, the very high number of extraordinary candidates among our more than 10,700 applicants far exceeds the number of places we have in each program, so we are not able to admit many excellent candidates.

Thanks! I'm so excited and relieved now that I've finally made a decision! And of course - any GCer is welcome to be my friend! I very much look forward to meeting you too! Haha and no problem! I look forward to the pestering about Toronto Don't worry, I'm definitely not one of those fans of the Maple Leafs or any other Toronto sports team for that matter. It's very easy to spot them here though - they congregate like flocks of peacocks during their respective seasons and flash around their memorabilia, honking their cars and cheering loudly whenever there's a goal. It's actually the Blue Jay fans that are more exhausting probably because they fill up the streets during summertime. But don't let that discourage you - there's a lot more to Toronto than crazy sports fans!

I've already posted this on another thread, but I've also made up my mind even though I'm waiting for one more program - University of Toronto! I can't be more excited!

That's fantastic to hear! I just mailed them my acceptance confirmation form today so it's official - I'll be going to UofT this fall! I look forward to seeing you on visitor's day. Also, I currently live in Toronto and have lived in the area most of my life, so if you have any questions about the city, feel free to PM me.

Yeah, I just reported it all as spam so hopefully it gets cleaned up quickly too.

Ok so has anyone else been noticing that someone has been spamming the results page with questions and comments about the U of T English PhD program? I don't think they've figured out the forum option of this website and I therefore doubt they'll see this but it has to stop. I would tell them on the results page but I don't want to contribute to the spam by replying constantly. I'm not sure if this really qualifies as venting but it just keeps popping up when I check the results page and it's been increasingly getting on my nerves.

Same here (although I'm also waiting on UBC at this point). Are you leaning more towards UofT? I know I am!

GREs do matter. That's what I learned. I was applying to mostly top 10 US schools with a verbal GRE score in the 150s when they expect 165+. Having gotten into Canadian schools but no US ones, I feel like that indicates that GREs do indeed matter.

WHOA. Congrats! That's incredible!!!