Babban_D

Not sure if this is helpful to anyone but I have been at "recommended for assessment" for NPSIA for ages and finally reached out to Lauren to see where I was at in the process and she replied with this:
"Thanks for your email. At this time, your application has been reviewed by the admissions committee and has not been selected as part of our first round of offers. Your application is currently being held for consideration for our second round of offers, which will be distributed on a rolling basis starting at the end of this month and going out throughout the spring (and possibly into the summer). All final admission decisions will be made no later than August 31st. Unfortunately, due to the competitiveness of the program it’s difficult to provide a more exact timeline."
So if anyone is at the same stage or wants to check if they are being held for second round offers I suggest emailing.
For reference my GPA is 10.45/12, Polisci undergrad finishing this year, no relevant work experience. 

If your goal is private sector/NGO work, I would probably not go to Waterloo. The MPS is very much a public service feeder program. Something like 95 percent of the graduates work in government. Out of a cohort of 40-50, only 2 or 3 end up private sector.

Not too sure if it will help - but a couple of prof. overlap between Queen's MPA and MBA - thus, there is a bit better chance of networking from a pvt. sector perspective. Waterloo is a great prog. as well, but it is very much designed for public sector. Queen's is too, but given that Queen's MBA and BCom are farily well regarded in the pvt. sector, the chance to network in pvt. sector might be a tad bit better.
One thing to consider, though, is that Waterloo's co-op seems stronger compared to that of Queen's but it is mostly PS. I attended Waterloo's welcome session and could feel the "support" vibe. At Queen's you will have to put a bit more effort (so if I were to split your effort vs. school effort, it may be 50:50 at Waterloo, but will be like 65:35 at Queen's.
Background: I am a Queen's grad.
Please feel free to PM for anything else.

1. Did you have to learn Tableau or any other software for any MPPA course?
No to Tableau and depends on the research methods prof you have, some might teach Nvivo, R, or SPSS.
2. How much readings are involved per courses per week? And, how much writing (assignments - group/individual) is involved beside the final exams in courses?
Depends on the course. Seminar courses are more reading and writing than lecture courses. From my experience, the usual seminar course is about 6-8000 words of writing and about 100 pages of readings a week. Lecture courses are highly variable but always less than seminar courses. 
3. How the gradings are in courses - as in profs are too hard or moderate in grading or depends on the course?
Most students earn either a B+ or A- as final course grades regardless or professor. Some students earn higher and some lower. The grade you earn is largely dependent on your ability to write a concise and coherent argument and make useful class discussion contributions. 

This is very similar to the process I went through as well and indeed, you have summed it up very well! One thing I wanted to add for OP and highlight the value NPSIA places on grades, was a coversation I had with a very senior member of the administration. During the conversation I was told that, ".. your CGPA is an A-, which would put you in a good position to gain admission. While it also depends on the pool of applicants but your chances of getting in are good."

I hope it help, OP. It may also be worthwhile to reach out to the admin team around June/July as I guess they would have a bit more time to discuss the application and steps one can take to strengthen it. I reached out to a couple of programs and they were fairly helpful and supportive. Please feel free to PM for anything, if needed.

Just to expand on this: I wrote the first draft of my Statement of Intent focusing on the prestige of NPSIA and my future career goals (liberal internationalism, "golden age of Canadian foreign policy," you get the picture). I showed it to a few friends - beyond a few grammatical changes, no major revisions needed, in their eyes. I showed it to one of my academic references - a change or two, but no major changes. I felt great about what I wrote and thought I was a shoo-in. 
Well, I showed my statement to my other reference, who sent me back comments with no fewer than four paragraphs needing to be deleted, and the remainder being scratched heavily. We worked on my statement together afterwards, but his main advice was: NPSIA is a research school, so focus on research, and the skillset you have that would lead to strong research. Think of your statement as if you were applying to a research position: what experience do you have that will make you a strong candidate, and what drives you to want to attend the school?
Here is a brief outline of my Statement:
P.1.: introduction/personal background 
P.2.: research experience #1 (fourth-year research paper I wrote)
P.3.: research experience #2 (third-year research paper)
P.4.: professional experience (identify the skills you have gained here that would serve you well)
P.5.: objectives (what courses do you want to take? Be specific, down to the course code. What do you hope to accomplish at school? I.e. internships)
P.6.: conclusion (here, I expanded on future career goals briefly)
I don't think a weak statement would keep an otherwise strong applicant from being accepted, but I do believe a statement where you present yourself as an asset to the school can significantly boost your application. My GPA was not phenomenal, nor do I have international experience. I truly believe aligning my statement with the school's interests, and making my statement about the work itself, made my case much stronger. 
Hopefully this helps, OP!

Folks, for thoes planning to go to NPSIA and have to take ECON courses, Carleton has opened summer registration for ECON 1001 and ECON 1002. The courses via Carleton are less costly than what is available via Athabasca. Thought to share.

It is a good news!  .. just a matter of time now!

Ah! Sounds good and happy to help. I did Eco literally once upon a time and was asked to re-take Econ 1002  .. happy to connect when the course starts. 

Folks, for thoes planning to go to NPSIA and have to take ECON courses, Carleton has opened summer registration for ECON 1001 and ECON 1002. The courses via Carleton are less costly than what is available via Athabasca. Thought to share.

Agree with TSK here. I am also going to decline my MPPA offer - second round offers thus, will certainly be coming out. Wishing the best for everyone.
 

Hi folks, as the decisions are now trickling down, I am wondering how and what factors are you leveraging to decide on the final one to accept? NPSIA is something that has been right at the top of my list, but wondering if anyone is/will be declining it for others such as GSPIA and if yes, it will be a great insight to know why.
NPSIA of course has a solid reputation and a bit mature course offerings I would say. Reading previous years' posts, I see that some folks decided to go to GSPIA given there more professional/international opportunities but reading from GSPIA's website, it seems fair to deduce that both co-ops and exchange programs are pretty competitive. I am also finding a bit tough to find GSPIA alumni/alumnae. 
Would be good to hear inputs and opinions.

I would say the VAST majority of students at NPSIA are placed in co-op positions in the public sector, mostly in federal government departments/agencies. Out of the first years I currently talk to and have secured summer co-op positions, every single one of them will be working for a federal department/agency. And that's mainly because most (I would say 90%+) of the job postings on the co-op portal are with the public sector (and most NPSIA students do seem to want to end up with federal government jobs after graduation). There are quite a few positions posted with the Ontario provincial government too. 
There are some private sector jobs posted, but they're mainly with large corporations (Bell, RBC) as part of their general student recruitment initiatives, so the positions may not be too specific to International Affairs. However, you are free to look for a co-op position on your own (not using the Carleton platform) if you're more interested in private/non-profit work, and if eligible, would still count as a 'co-op' by NPSIA standards. 
Hope this helps!  

It is! Congratulation.. my offer came in a couple of hours, once the specialization was updated. Looks like you are good to go!

It is! Congratulation.. my offer came in a couple of hours, once the specialization was updated. Looks like you are good to go!

My application pretty much followed the process listed on their website - for some reason, it even went back a step ?.. the process it followed was:
Review in Progress by Dept. >> Recommended for Assessment >> Review in Progress by Dept. >> Recommended for Assessment >> Review in Progress by Faculty of Grad Affairs >> Offer.
The last two steps (in bold) kind of happened with in a span of few hours. My specialization was updated while the status was still review in progress by grad affairs. I hope this helps.

Hey, congrats on the GSPIA offer!
Honestly, getting a job after graduation was also my most important factor when choosing programs. I applied to NPSIA, GSPIA, and the MIPP program at BSA for the Fall 2020 cohort. Though I got into all the programs, here are some of the reasons why I chose NPSIA:
- Great co-op program (you can complete up to 2 co-op terms), where it seems like the vast majority of students get full-time offers following graduation (based on testimonials from many of my undergrad classmates who went to NPSIA before I did). And because I was really interested in working for government, NPSIA seemed like the place to go since the majority of their co-op positions are within federal departments and agencies (and pretty much all NPSIA profs are practitioners in their field and have worked extensively within government). However, if you're more interested in working for non-profit or international organizations, it seems that GSPIA provides more of those opportunities. 
- NPSIA has a course-work option where you can just take courses (and not do a thesis or research essay) to complete your degree. GSPIA requires all their students to complete a final masters research paper, and I wasn't too keen on doing that haha.
- Reputation. Based on everyone's comments here, I kind of also jumped on the bandwagon since most people seem to choose NPSIA over GSPIA. And so far, I've really enjoyed my experience with NPSIA.
- Everyone dubs NPSIA as a 'professional' program rather than an 'academic' one, which I really appreciate, because most of our assignments are very practical. Not sure if you experienced the same, but my undergrad was in International Relations, and all my assignments were 15-20 page research papers and essays. But at NPSIA, the profs do a really good job of giving assignments that replicate the kind of work you'll be doing in a government/think tank kind of job. For example, I have written a few policy briefs (from both a government and industry/stakeholder perspective), Memorandums to Cabinet, and country profiles. This also becomes very handy when you're applying to co-op positions and they ask for a writing sample.  
I wouldn't call all these points 'advantages' of picking NPSIA over GSPIA, since this was based on what I personally wanted out of my masters program. And because I genuinely don't know how GSPIA is with their networking and co-op opportunities (and how successful their students are with finding placements), I won't comment on which one is better than the other. But I would say, that despite COVID, there's still quite a lot of co-op opportunities that have been posted for this upcoming summer term for NPSIA students. There are networking opportunities that Carleton's co-op office holds, but most of them are with private companies. Since most NPSIA students are looking for positions with the government, they are not really relevant to us (and the government doesn't really hold networking sessions for the policy analyst positions that we usually apply for). 
I hope this answers your questions, but let me know if you have any more!  

Hey guys, apologies if you already know about this, but munk is actively being discussed on this forum - 
 

Hey guys, apologies if you already know about this, but munk is actively being discussed on this forum - 
 

My specialization choice just changed in Carleton Central, when it was just N/A and "Review in Progress by Department". I think we're finally getting closer to hearing a decision! 

Hi everyone! 
I'm currently a student at NPSIA (started in Fall 2020), so let me know if you have any questions about the program. I am happy to share my experiences with the application/acceptance process and the program in general. I remember checking this forum regularly last year around this time since I was also super stressed about getting in/not getting in and the responses from current students really helped quell my anxiety (so here I am paying it forward haha). 

Just got in GSPIA!
Did not get any email from them and saw it on portal. Wishing the best to all - there will be second round for sure as people continue to finalize their respective offers. Funding offered - $8,000.

Just got in GSPIA!
Did not get any email from them and saw it on portal. Wishing the best to all - there will be second round for sure as people continue to finalize their respective offers. Funding offered - $8,000.

Not that I applied to Munk (NPSIA only), but these night-time acceptances have officially validated my obsession with checking Carleton Central every hour. 

My Carleton 360 account does, but not Carleton Central - which says "recommended for assessment"
Also, for those of you anxious about being on "Preliminary Review Required" I received this:
"At this time, we are aiming to complete the first-round of admission offers by the end of March (or possibly into April), as we received a very high volume of application files this year."
 
So - mixed feelings about that, as its bound to be more competitive, but also reassuring since it appears that they're about a month behind.