Paulcg87
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Posts posted by Paulcg87
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1 hour ago, masterapplicant030 said:
Thank you, this is some great information that I was actually looking for.
In addition to this, I guess I am interested in people's opinions/experience between the UofT and Ryerson's MPP/MPPA programs. Which would you chose based off of the value you get out of the degree (job market prospects), return on investment (based on the cost of tuition; UofT is obviously substantially more). If you were in the position of deciding between the two programs and the only deciding factors are the job prospects and the value of the degree, which would you chose and why?
"Job placement" can mean many things. Do you mean job placement in Ontario? Eastern Canada? The entire country? Canada + US? Worldwide?
Degree value is another subjective term with substantial complexity in determining...
Let's say you are referring to the GTA specifically for job placement. In Toronto, Ryerson is as well known as UT, so they'll probably have a relative equal number of local connections for job prospects. So if you plan on staying in the GTA, I would venture to say job placement is roughly the same. Even nationally, I think they're probably very similar in terms of job placement, with maybe a very slight advantage to UT only because a significantly larger university (almost 20k students more) with higher profile faculty that publish more (I'm basing this on the fact that UT is #2 in the world for publishing and #3 for citations), therefore, it's reasonable to infer that nationally, UT might have slightly more alumni to network with and UT faculty might have slightly more connections. But I would stress that this is a negligible inference that I'm making based on some very basic data, so that's why I say that even nationally, job placement is probably roughly the same.
Where things change is outside Canada. By virtue of the fact that UT is probably the best known (and definitely the highest ranked) Canadian school, your job placement chances just based on the name on your degree will be better with UT than Ryerson outside of Canada, particularly in the US. When I studied and worked in the USA, most of my American classmates and coworkers had never heard of any Canadian schools but even the academics and the people who hired me were only familiar with the Canadian top 3 (UT, McGill, UBC). And yes, if there are any narcissists from Waterloo reading this who feel their ego is bruised, you go to a very good school too, but outside of tech bros in California and STEM people, no one in the USA has heard of your school either. The one time a fellow Canadian brought up Waterloo at the big-4 consulting firm I worked at in the USA, our American coworkers thought that we were referring to the 1815 battle in Belgium and had no idea there was a school named after it in Canada. If you ever want to work in the USA, don't go to Ryerson. Frankly, I would recommend you either go to Munk or to an American school if you want to work in the USA at any point in your career.
As far as degree value, it depends on what you define as value. They're difficult to compare because the Ryerson MPPA is fundamentally a different degree than the Munk MPP. The Ryerson MPPA is structured more like a Canadian political science MA. It only has one core course with any kind of research methodology training and no requirement (that I can see) to take a substantive quantitative/statistics core course, no requirement for a core economics course, no data analysis/analytics electives, and only one soft stats elective called something like "statistics in the social sciences" which looked and sounded easier than an undergraduate intro stats class designed for liberal arts majors who don't like math. Go compare that to the Munk MPP. Stats, research methods and economics are core (required) courses, an internship is required, and there are additional stats/data/econ electives. Simply put, the Munk MPP is modeled after a US policy analysis and research degree, whereas the Ryerson MPPA is modeled after a Canadian political science MA. They're both good degrees but they're very, very different. Go to Munk if you want math/data driven analytical research skills and an actual public policy degree. Go to Ryerson if you want a qualitative, thesis-based research degree. But do not go to one expecting the other, and be really aware of the differences.
Ultimately, if you ever want to leave the door open to getting a PhD in the US or work in the US, the Munk degree is the way to go because of the name brand recognition and the quant/data driven skills from the Munk MPP that literally every US public policy and polisci PhD program wants incoming students to have. Additionally, if you want a real policy analysis degree, go to Munk simply because they offer core and elective courses that give you a proper quant/data-driven analytical framework, and Ryerson will not give you this with only one required research methods course and a soft stats elective course. Go to Ryerson if you plan to stay in Canada and you aren't particularly interested in quantitative policy analysis; you'll save a lot of money.
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13 hours ago, uwosf2020 said:
- Hey everyone!
- I've been accepted to Ryerson's MPPA (Feb 4th) with $6,000 in grants plus a TA/GA-ship and I was told on Friday that my stats have put me in the running for OGS ($15,000). I've also been accepted to Queen's MPA and Concordia MPPPA, but I'm not accepting those.
- I applied to Munk as well but I haven't heard anything back yet. Does anyone know when they're going to start making decisions? Last year it was the first week of March.
- Further, if I do get in, what is everyone's opinions on Ryerson (1yr) v Munk (2yr)? I really don't want to be 60k in debt and I've read some older threads where people were saying that stretching an MPP into 2 years is unnecessary. I really love UoT's campus (I'm from UWO so the campus environment is similar). I don't really like Ryerson's but I'll have almost no debt if I go there, plus opportunity for bridging to full-time employment through their internship program (which is paid... I know that Munk also has internships btw)... I have to accept Ryerson by this Friday, so I'm going to accept for now and then if I get into Munk I might change my mind.
- Ryerson also has the choice of doing a major research paper or a thesis, which Munk doesn't have.
- I'm really stressed about the choice between Munk (if I get in) and Ryerson. A lot of people say UoT is just a lot of clout and people get the same learning experience at other schools. Ryerson's program is much smaller, too (35ppl). Will it really matter 10 years down the road when we are in the middle of our careers? Will I hate myself if I'm paying off my debt for much longer than I would've if I had just gone to Ryerson? LOL help
On 2/27/2020 at 3:43 PM, kellz said:Hello!
I got accepted into Queens last week and go my acceptance from Carleton today with $15k funding! I'm still waiting on UofT, has anyone heard from them??
The offer from Carleton is really tempting, especially since UofT is notoriously known for giving out little funding (if any at all lol) but I'm conflicted between choosing between Carleton and UofT if comes down to it. I know that within Canada, the prestige/title of schools doesn't really matter much, but I were to live outside of Canada in the future (I'm in a longterm relationship with someone from the US so it's a possibility) would it be better to go for UofT just for the name? I also love big cities so...
I know there are so many other important factors that come into play when choosing a program (courses/research interests of profs/working federally vs in OPS, etc...) BUT can anyone shed some light for me on the aforementioned question? Thank you and good luck to everyone still waiting to hear from schools!!
@uwosf2020 and @kellz -
you're both asking pretty similar questions here. Carleton/Ryerson versus UT, is it worth the debt/longer program, and whether it will really matter long term. I've been in your shoes; I'm Canadian and currently an admitted PhD (political science) student at UT with a US master's degree. My PhD subfields are international relations and public policy, which intersects with MPP studies. I also spent a few years working in policy analysis and quant IR research, one year in the US and the rest in Canada, so I'm familiar with the job market.
I figured I'd answer both of your questions at the same time since this might come up again with another user. Munk has a two year MPP because it is trying to emulate the MPP model at a lot of US schools, particularly UC Berkeley (Goldman School) and Harvard (Harvard Kennedy School), both of which have two year MPP's. In fact, the majority of top MPP programs in the US are two years, not one. And like those programs, UT/Munk is a bit more quant, data analytics and economics intensive than a lot of other Canadian MPP's, because quantitative policy analysis is pretty much the name of the game at the elite US programs right now.
So what does this mean for you? The answer really depends on what you want to do with your degree. If you are content with staying in Canada and you're more interested in qualitative policy, go wherever you want, because under those circumstances, the name on your MPP degree really doesn't matter. IF, however, you want to at least leave the door open to working in the US, go to UT/Munk instead of Carleton/Ryerson, for two reasons: 1) You'll be better prepared to compete with US MPP grads given Munk's program does a better job of emulating the US-style data/quant/economic style policy analysis, and 2) Carleton and Ryerson are great schools, but they don't come close to UT in foreign rankings (US News & World Report, THE, QS, etc), and in the USA, rankings do matter. You won't be able to compete with HKS grads but at least a lot of American non-profit and consulting firms who hire policy analysts have heard of UT.
One other thing worth mentioning: If you plan on doing a PhD in public policy or polisci, particularly in the USA, having a two year MPP that is heavy on quant and research methodology is a benefit that will help you in the admissions process because policy PhD programs are increasingly emphasizing this. But as I said before, if you want to stay in Canada and nothing else applies to you, save your money and go to Carleton/Ryerson. Only you can make that decision, not anyone on here.
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Just now, kestrel18 said:
Top-3 Canadian universities, with a considerable margin, are staffed with people holding US degrees, not necessarily from CHYMPS.
For instance, four (!) faculty members at UBC obtained their Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota. One TT is from Brandeis. Almost the same tendency is traceable in U o T and McGill.Agree with you that the majority of faculty at UBC have US degrees. Regarding Minnesota, that's a bit of an outlier and it's misleading to use that as an example. The four Minnesota grads at UBC are something of an anomaly, so much so that they're called the "Minnesota Mafia" by some of the grad students I know at UBC. Minnesota doesn't come close to replicating this at UT/McGill, but it's impressive. With that said, again, the largest number of UBC faculty degrees come from the CHYMPS by far if you tally and combine. And this is also the case at other Canadian schools. I stand by my point that there are UT grads in every major Canadian polisci department, which is not as impressive as the CHYMPS presence but overall is still saying something.
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50 minutes ago, kestrel18 said:
I hold an MA degree from a reputable University located in Ontario. Our Graduate Coordinator once mentioned they would give preference to applicants who graduated from US schools (mostly due to training in methods).
I don't doubt that Canadian schools prefer US quant/methodology training, or that top US schools would easily hold more sway over any Canadian school when all else is equal and it's a Canadian job applicant. This is evidenced simply by looking at the polisci faculty at UBC or McGill. If you look at both, the vast majority of faculty have US degrees, and of those, the most common degrees come from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford. I went to MIT, I understand this; the best minds in the world are at the CHYMPS schools, and the Americans pioneered the 5-year coursework and quant methodology PhD model that Canadian schools now try to emulate (versus the British 3-year research PhD model).
With that said, I'm talking about objective facts based on open source data here when I say that the Canadian top 3 are at least as competitive as the US non-CHYMPS schools.. If you look at a random sample of Canadian polisci department faculty, almost every single polisci department and certainly every department from a comprehensive research university will also have faculty from UT and McGill, and often UBC as well. They don't number anywhere near as many as the CHYMPS schools. For example, UBC polisci only has three faculty with UT PhD's but more than twice that many from the CHYMPS schools. But, what I'm saying is, outside of the top-10 US schools, if all other things are equal, you stand as good of a chance coming from a top-3 Canadian school as you do from most US schools within the Canadian job market. I know a lot of people disagree with me, but again, look at the current composition of Canadian polisci faculty and you'll see that everything I've just said is fact. I see a lot more UT PhD's than Florida State, Iowa or Wisconsin PhD's in Canadian polisci departments, and that says it all.
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1 minute ago, kestrel18 said:
Johns Hopkins or Georgetown vs U o T or UBC?...
Well, this is disputable.
Difficult to say. I've met Georgetown PhD's who go from postdoc to postdoc and can't get anything, and others who are rock stars. Georgetown and JHU are fantastic schools, as are Berkeley, Harvard, Penn, and a number of other top 20 schools I did not mention. But without the pedigree of the Columbia/Harvard/Yale/MIT/Princeton/Stanford (CHYMPS) name behind you, you need to have some stellar credentials whether you want a job in Canada or the US. The same goes for UT, McGill and UBC. They don't have the prestige of the CHYMPS and they probably never will. They also can't compete with the CHYMPS in terms of quant/methodology training. I don't think anyone could argue otherwise. But they do give you solid training, just like Georgetown and JHU. If you have strong credentials (published, relevant research, excellent recommendations/references, etc), I would argue you have about an even chance of getting a tenure track job in Canada if you're at Georgetown/JHU or UBC/McGill/UT and you're also already a Canadian citizen/PR. My point earlier was that top-40 is way too broad and the lower end of the top-40 can't compete against UBC/McGill/UT within Canada. If everyone in the US top-40 is more competitive than the Canadian top-3, you would not see any faculty anywhere in Canada from top-3 Canadian schools, which is simply not accurate. Outside of the US top 10, the Canadian top 3 have the next largest presence in Canadian polisci faculty.
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15 minutes ago, kestrel18 said:
The best option is to be a Canadian citizen/permanent resident and to obtain a degree in the USA. - If the aim is to get a TT position in Canada.
With all due respect to Canadian top-3 schools, those schools can not compete with the US schools located within top-40 (in terms of methods training, funding, networking, placement, etc).Mmm, disagree. Top 10 US, yes. Top 40? No way. As a Canadian who got an SM at MIT and has spent the last five years working as an IR researcher in Canada, most of the search/hiring committees absolutely give preference to Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale, Columbia and Stanford IF it's a Canadian citizen/permanent resident with the degree. With all due respect to the University of Iowa and Florida State University (both US top 40 for polisci according to USNWR), a Canadian from UT, UBC or McGill will be hired over a Canadian from Iowa or Florida State if all other things are equal. I've seen it.
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2 minutes ago, ihatedecisions said:
@Paulcg87 thanks a lot! I am an international and I am considering offers from two US schools (top 25) alongside two top3 Canadian schools. So I am not really sure how the permanent residency in Canada works, that is, if one can get it while being a graduate student, so there is it.
@ihatedecisions no worries. I wish I could tell you about the immigration process but I honestly don't know it (I'm a Canadian citizen, born & raised here). Personally if I were you I'd go to Vanderbilt. You might not be competitive for a Canadian TT job but you'll certainly be very competitive for US jobs and unless you have your heart set on emigrating to Canada and settling here, you're far more likely to get a TT job in the US with a Vanderbilt PhD than a PhD from any Canadian school.
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13 minutes ago, mrsweasley said:
I really appreciate your answer! Your points are very fair. I haven't heard from UT and honestly yeah I'm considering getting a PhD at some point and going into academia. I'm not particularly interested in government, and like you I'd also want my options open for working abroad.
Reasons I was leaning towards York were:
- They give funding (huge bonus, and I've heard UT is famous for not really giving any)
- I get to choose a specialization. For me, comparative politics, which has always been my main area of interest
- I get to do a thesis, which I want to do in case I choose to pursue a PhD. UT MA doesn't offer this, which I find a little odd.
- I like the areas of expertise and topics of the professors and the courses (more leftist, lots of courses on capitalism, neoliberalism, etc.). The political leanings and academic environment of York appeal to me for this reason
- Seems a little bit more "intimate" or easier to have interactions with professors. I've read you can get quite lost in the massive UT Political faculty.
Also, I do work very hard and I think I would succeed at UT, but it also does have the reputation of being hard for no reason; and If I'm going to give me 110% and still not get the best grades, I'd be shooting myself in the foot for a PhD.
UT was originally my desired choice and the others were backups, but I just feel like there's a lot stacked up against it and one of the only things going for it is reputation and ranking. Honestly it's hard these days, I feel like people are divided on the issue of whether this matters or not. If you don't mind me asking, where did you go for your MA?
Thank you so much!
Hi,
Let me jump right in. Regarding your reasons/points:1. You are spot on about UT. They give little to no funding for master's students; strangely, this is the opposite of their PhD program, which is actually fairly well funded by Canadian standards. In fact, it would be fair to infer/surmise that the master's program tuition likely subsidizes at least some of the PhD program students. Average PhD award at UT is full tuition plus about $2k/month stipend, part of which is from TAing. This isn't amazing but it's on part with many US schools and better than a lot of Canadian programs. The downside of course is the cost of living in Toronto, but you face that whether you're at UT or elsewhere, and it's still slightly less than the cost of living in Vancouver. Also FYI, UT does have subsidized student housing that is relatively affordable compared to the rental market anywhere near the St George campus.
2. That makes sense; I don’t have experience with the intricacies of the UT master’s program but I know with the PhD you are actually required to choose two subfields, including IR, Comparative, Canadian Politics, Public Policy, and Theory.
3. That also makes sense. I also have no idea why it doesn’t have a thesis, though in UT’s case I’m not sure this is necessarily a huge issue because if you get into their PhD you still have another 5-6 years even if you did a 1-2 year master’s w/thesis beforehand.
4/5. Fit is extremely important. You need to be happy with wherever you go and ultimately your quality of life is the single most important factor, but it’s also important to know the risks before you make a final decision.
UT does indeed have a reputation for being needlessly difficult and a massive department without a lot of tight knit supervision or relationships. Personally, I prefer this type of atmosphere to the hand holding, micromanagement and rigid structure of US-style PhD’s, which is why I did not stay on with my old department (MIT) for a PhD after my master’s degree. I definitely see the pros/cons with both models. In my case, I thrive under pressure and I prefer independence, flexibility and the autonomy to be able to do what I want without my supervisor or committee breathing down my back every week or two, which is extremely common in US (and to a lesser extent, Canadian) programs.
I chose to come back to Canada for my PhD primarily because if I’m going to spend 5-6 years on another degree, I’d rather do it at home, but at UT specifically because of its reputation for hands-off autonomy. The almost universal theme at UT is that you either sink or you swim depending on your needs and abilities. This is harsh and it’s brutal and it can be ultra competitive and lonely and confusing, but for certain types of people (myself included), this is preferred.
With all of this said, while I appreciate UT’s culture, the main reason I chose UT is because it’s one of only a few Canadian schools that regularly sends graduates to the US for Tenure Track (TT) and postdoc positions. UT is much stronger in theory than it is in IR so I have an uphill battle if I ever want to go back to the US to work after graduation, but at least it does happen. Personally, I’m really interested in doing a postdoc in the US and then doing either another postdoc or a TT position in Australia/NZ. I have a better chance of doing this at UT than at any other Canadian school and that is based on objective placement statistics, not rumour or perspective. Full stop.
Don’t get me wrong: If you do a PhD at a non-top 3 in Canada, it’s still possible you’ll be able to work abroad in a postdoc/TT job. Anything is possible. But if you do the math and look at placement history at various programs, the statistics are strongly against you ever working outside of Canada in a postdoc/TT job if you do not go to a top-3 school. Some people who read this will hate me for saying it, but you can’t argue with the empirical evidence of placement statistics or the probability that this provides.
My advice to you is to go to York. You sound like you would be happy there and your reasons for going there are great. If after getting a taste of polisci grad school at York, you decide you still want to pursue a PhD, you should apply to the top 3 here and also consider US programs because they do vary from their Canadian counterparts. The best way I can describe it is that US programs emphasize quant analysis and methodology significantly more than Canadian, British or Australian political science programs. This is why I got my master’s degree in the US; I wanted a quant/methodological background that you will not get enough of in any Canadian program, whether it’s a masters or a PhD. I have that background now so I don’t have any reservations about going into a Canadian PhD that will be weaker on the quant side of things (and trust me, UT is probably the strongest quant/methodology polisci PhD in Canada), but if you do 100% of your education in Canada and don’t get this kind of a background, you will also be limiting yourself in external job markets that value at least some quant/methodology background or experience. Especially in the US, because TT jobs require you to supervisor and mentor students in quant heavy programs and if you don’t have that experience, you’ll be at a disadvantage.
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6 hours ago, ihatedecisions said:
How does it look for Canadians from top 3 programs in the job market in Canada? As abysmal as in the US or a little better
Assuming you graduate from a top 3, assuming your department/supervisor/committee have connections, and assuming there are open jobs in Canada in your subfield, the outlook is good. Keep in mind, the Canadian job market is extremely small. In any given year there might be only 2-3 open/hiring TT polisci positions within a given subfield in all of Canada. I've seen U.S. states that have more TT polisci openings than all of Canada combined in a given year.
The other really important part is citizenship/residency. Many schools (especially UT) put a strong emphasis on hiring Canadian citizens/permanent residents, which makes sense, given how small the market is and the extra time/complexity in sponsoring a foreigner for immigration for a TT job. It's absolutely possible to get sponsored for immigration to Canada for a TT job at a Canadian university as an American/foreign citizen and it happens every year, but it's only a handful of people. Canadian polisci departments seem to frequently hire candidates with American PhD's but they are, more often than not, Canadians who (like me) went to the US for at least part of their education. Don't be misled just because UBC, UT and McGill have a lot of faculty with foreign PhD's; many of the faculty you see in Canadian polisci departments who have US or UK PhD's are Canadians who went abroad for their education, not Americans/Brits.
With all of this said: If you have at least permanent residency, went to a top-3 school in Canada, have interesting research and good references from your supervisor/committee, and there are open Canadian TT positions in your subfield, you will be extremely competitive for those positions in Canada. If everything else is equal and you've published and the rest is true, your odds are at least 50/50 if not higher, which is more than I can say for your odds in most places/circumstances. I hope this helps.
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PROFILE:
Type of Undergrad Institution: Top 3 Canadian university
Major(s)/Minor(s): Political Science/History
Undergrad GPA: 3.61
Type of Grad: Top 10 U.S. university
Grad GPA: 3.78
GRE: V166/Q161/AWA5.0
Any Special Courses: Calculus, stats & calc-based stats in undergrad; inferential stats, research methods & modeling in grad school
Letters of Recommendation: MA supervisor, three work supervisors (two supervisors have PhD's in field; all three are senior positions in IR related field)
Research Experience: Professional work experience as a quantitative researcher in IR-related field; MA is a research-based degree
Teaching Experience: 3 semesters TA experience
Subfield/Research Interests: IR
Other: MA is from a quantitative-intensive program that specializes in statistical modeling
RESULTS:
Acceptances($$ or no $$): University of Toronto ($$), McGill ($$), UBC ($$)
Waitlists: none
Rejections: none
Pending: none
Going to: University of TorontoLESSONS LEARNED:
1. Fit is the most important part of the PhD application process in my opinion. If you aren't happy, you'll be spending 5-6 years regretting your choice and you might even drop out. "Fit" includes not just your department and how well you get along with your mentor/supervisor, but also, location, funding and quality of life.
2. Despite what some might tell you on here and on PSR, rankings do matter when it comes to getting hired for a Tenure Track/postdoc job after your PhD. Fit is vital to your happiness but rankings are still an important part of your post-PhD job success, as are the connections that your supervisor/committee have.
3. If you want to work in the US afterward, go to a US school. If you want to work in the commonwealth afterward, go to either a top-30 US school, a top-3 Canadian school, Oxbridge/LSE or ANU/Melbourne. This is not a hard and fast rule, but it's the advice that most professors gave me based on hiring committee preferences and reputation.
4. Only go somewhere if they're funding you for your PhD. Please please please do not go into a program that will require you to take out a lot of student loans, even if it's a good program. The chances of you getting a decent paying job the first few years after you finish your PhD vary but in many cases you might be a postdoc, visiting prof or adjunct for a while, and it's not worth taking out a lot of student loan debt for a PhD in a field that generally doesn't pay very well unless you're Tenure Track (TT) at a top-20 program. Go somewhere where your program is paying you to be there, not the other way around.
Some additional comments.. Despite what the derelicts on PSR constantly trash talk about, you can go to a non-US school and still get a decent TT/postdoc job in the US. It's difficult and you'll have a harder time than if you go to a US school, but it's absolutely possible and that is an objective fact based on a cursory search of polisci department faculty at US schools. With that said, if you go to a lower ranked, lesser known school in the UK or Canada, you're really going to have a hard time getting anything in the US.
So, I recommend that if your heart is set on doing a PhD in Canada or the UK, you go to one of the top 3 polisci programs (Toronto, UBC, Mcgill for Canada; Oxford, Cambridge, LSE for the UK), and if you can't get into one of these programs, go to a US school instead (even if it's a middling or lower tier program) or re-apply in another year with stronger credentials. Go to some political science department faculty pages and look for yourself if you disagree with me; there aren't many faculty in TT jobs at US schools who got their PhD in war studies online from KCL or at the University of Victoria, but with an Oxbridge or Toronto/UBC/McGill degree you at least have a chance. And if you are 100% sure you have no interest in working in the US and you don't care if you close the door on that option now, just go wherever you have a good fit and good funding.
Above all else, do what makes you happy, but know what you're getting yourself into and understand that if you're one of the small group of political scientists who some day is making six figures in a prestigious TT job, it's probably not going to be at any point in the next decade of your life. More likely, unless you go to a top program, you will either be unemployed, working in the private sector (including non-profits & consulting), for the government as a civil servant, or you'll spend at least the first year or two after graduation in a postdoc, visiting/adjunct professorship or teaching at a community college. Accept this before you commit the next 5-6 years of your life or you might regret doing this.
- ihatedecisions, Dwar and ChooseHappily
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On 2/26/2020 at 7:05 PM, needanoffersobad said:
Hi all,
I am looking for a topic on this forum in making a careful decision on which school to attend, especially I might not be able to attend all recruitment weekends. some of them take place at the same time. I know there is one topic on decision but it is not specifically designed for poli sci people. Grateful if you can recommend one to me. or we can just use this one to help people know more about each school and make a choice.
I will share my concerns here first.
Faculty support
I am really interested in one school I was admitted. But compared to other schools, most of the faculty in my subfield are assistant professors. (They have 2 associate professors with good publications). There are pros and cons. They are from great great schools and have decent publications as well. and Assistant professors are generally younger and more energetic to work with students. But they may leave? I guess? I can't forsee what would happen with them in 3-4 years when I need a committee.
Really appreciate your opinions on it. Also if you have any thoughts or concerns, it would be great we all share it together!
Hi, I think part of this depends on what you want to do with your degree. Do you plan to stay in the US, and do you want to go into academia as a TT professor after your PhD or are you more interested in government work, non profits, consulting, etc? I ask because part of what matters in terms of your committee is the networking and connections that your supervisor and committee members have. They will be writing your recommendations for TT/postdoc positions you apply for and it helps if they already have connections at other schools. Personally, I'm of the opinion that assistant and associate professors can be just as well connected as full professors, but it really depends on what you want to do with your degree. As far as name brand recognition, they're both great schools. Vanderbilt is generally considered to be one of the best private non-ivy research universities in the United States and is ranked higher than Penn State in both polisci and overall rankings/reputation. Nashville is an extremely fun city and personally I think it's got a lot more going on with better weather than State College, PA. I'd go with Vandy unless you're just a better fit at Penn State.
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7 hours ago, mrsweasley said:
Does anyone here know anything about the McMaster Political Science program / the faculty in general? I'm pretty set on York now from what I've heard about it in terms of faculty but nothing from Mac, and no info online. I don't think that's their area of specialty...
Hi,
I went to McMaster for part of my undergrad and took classes in the polisci program there and I'm an admitted UT PhD student right now. It's a good school/program, as is York. I don't think there are a lot of substantive differences in the quality or culture in either department. You really can't go wrong with either. For me, I didn't want to live in downtown Toronto and Hamilton isn't perfect but I wanted the quieter (and slightly lower cost of living), more traditional campus feel of McMaster than York or UT.
Have you heard yet from UT? I know their M.A. decisions seem to me on a later schedule this year so I would say that if you haven't heard from UT, wait for them (if you can) before you make a final decision. It also depends so much on what you want to do with your degree.
For me, I chose UT for my PhD because I want to at least keep my options open for living/working abroad (Australia/NZ), and UT is the most recognizable Canadian school abroad with the most connections. Ranking and reputation doesn't matter as much here at home but it matters a lot in other parts of the world. It's the only Canadian school to consistently rank in the top 20 in different world rankings (USNWR, QS, THE, etc), it's #2 in the world in published works and #3 in the world in cited works. Do you want to get a PhD eventually? If so, do you want to go into academia? If the answer to these questions is "yes", I recommend UT simply because of these things. If a master's degree is as far as you want to go and it's for personal fulfillment or you plan to work in government or consulting, ranking doesn't matter as much and you can't go wrong with any of your choices. In this case, if you fit better at York and your choice is between York and McMaster, go to York.
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8 hours ago, needanoffersobad said:
Wow really? I dont know how this site works but 30-60 seems a lot? How is it possible? Or they are assuming lots of people will reject their offer?
According to the Polisci department website (https://politics.utoronto.ca/graduate/), 25-30 PhD and 45-50 MA students enroll each year. So it’s reasonable to assume they sent out at least 30 PhD offers every year but perhaps twice that many some years if there are a lot of first round candidates who reject admission.
8 hours ago, needanoffersobad said:Anyways, please lemme know if rejections have been out. So I will stop wishing for an offer from U T
Best way for you to know is to check the self reported stats on this website. I’ve already been admitted and have accepted my admission offer at UT so I am not tracking other people’s stats anymore. Good luck.
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13 hours ago, needanoffersobad said:
congratulations! May i know how u are informed ?
Thanks! I received an email yesterday from the department’s graduate administrator, Ms. Carolynn Branton. If you look at the history of admits for the UT Polisci PhD for the last decade, the first wave of PhD admits almost always starts with informal emails from Ms. Branton offering admission. It looks like 4-5 admitted PhD candidates listed their admission yesterday on this site; my guess is they probably sent out 30-60 first round admission offers yesterday.
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Admitted today to the University of Toronto for a PhD, IR/CP track. I was clearly off in my last post (by an entire month!). I think this is the earliest that UT has ever released PhD admissions decisions, at least over the last 14 years according to this website.
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PhD applicant here. I applied to a few British/American schools and the University of Toronto, IR/CP. I've already been accepted to a British school and an ivy, the latter with funding. For UT, looks like we should know in just about one month if this year's notifications are on the same schedule they've been on for at least the last decade. I'm betting the first wave of PhD acceptances will go out on Friday, March 6th.
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11 minutes ago, Double_Espresso said:
Me too! I guess by sending early interview offers on 12/6, and then waiting until 12/20 to send an avalanche of rejections, Gates (unintentionally) did a pretty good job of managing down expectations.
Received Gates Cambridge rejection email this morning. Disappointed but oh well. Congrats to those who got interviews! My PhD application is still in departmental review, which is the same status it’s been in for over two months. I’m hoping the Gates rejection isn’t a negative sign for my broader application.
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I guess that’s subjective because I went to MIT and everyone there says the M is for MIT. Personally I couldn’t care less.