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I was the person who posted the UToronto acceptance. Let me just say this: don't give up on UofT just yet since the department is conducting admissions on a rolling basis. From my interactions with the DGS it appears to me that they are handling waitlisted applicants on a case-by-case basis. What most likely happened was the person in front of me (presumably in my subfield) rejected his or her offer and hence it is relayed to me. I obviously got lucky but this by no means that other waitlisted applicants are automatically rejected. Good luck!

Hey! Just stumbled upon your post and I glad to meet someone who's in a really similar spot! I am also a sociology phd applicant with a Bachelor's from HK (I am assuming you are in one of the HK top-3s judging from your profile) interested in authoritarianism. And with our similar interests it's really likely that we ended up meeting each other in our future careers lmao. Anyways, similar to the first reply, I believe you are in really a comfortable spot. I cannot overstate how enviable it is to have 3 US letters as an international applicant. (This is 80% of the reason why international students commit to a US MA) The 3.85 GPA is quite high considering you are from HK, which certainly does not suffer from gpa inflation. The GRE scores are insanely good as well. My only (tiny) worry is that since all of your LORs are from US professors during your exchange, they do not know you as well as the professors you likely interacted much more frequently in HK. (If I have the choice, I would swap a med US letter with a strong letter from a HK professor) But given how competitive apps are due to COVID and the sheer amount of competitive applicants, you probably just need good luck provided you have a strong SOP. My personal situation is obviously a little different. I have a BSc double majoring in (pure) mathematics and philosophy before deciding to pursue a MA in sociology at a top terminal MA so-sci program in the US. But the bottom line and the tldr is that, I think you are in a spot which your competitiveness should be the least of your worries. Good luck! (to me as well)

Thank you for the insightful reply. Funny enough, I am finishing my undergrad in Hong Kong and I stayed in Zurich for my exchange semester. (It seems like I am collecting the experience of living in expensive cities as if I am collecting post stamps!) Chicago is the cheapest choice out of all my offers and it is extremely well-known for its strength in political theory, so it is definitely the safest option. I am a little worried about the reputation of the MAPSS program and the large cohort though. Its sheer size meant mentorship is limited compared to other MA programs which do a greater job of assigning students a supervisor.

I am also in a similar situation as you. I was accepted by UBC and rejected by York MA Politics program. (Which is weird since I thought my deeper background in Marxism and critical theory would give me an edge.) However, for me it is more about picking Canadian vs. American institutions for my MA. The tuition for UBC on top of the TA bonus is really attractive, but if my plan is to stick to the academia and go to U.S. institutions for a phD, then the extra tuition may be worth investing from the perspectives of an international student. (non-American and non-Canadian.) In the U.S., I have been accepted into UChicago MAPSS, NYU, and UCLA. Their tuition are all about the 40-42k. Interestingly, it is my Asian parents (who would be the ones paying my tuition for graduate studies) who prefers the U.S. programs without any hesitation. For them the prestige the U.S. universities carries outweigh the costs. My undergrad background is in mathematics and philosophy, and my main concentration is political theory. Although my interests in the past year have been gravitating towards political economy over ethics. I also have a solid background in East Asian affairs, and I heard UBC is one of the strongest in regional studies. Lemme know what you guys think~