Thank you for your reply; sorry to hear you've been on the same boat as me.
I wonder what is going on this year. There seems to be no one here (other than you and I) who's applied to Canadian universities, especially compared to past years where there seemed to be a number of applicants.
I'm really disappointed that I've heard back from only one of these places, especially because my qualifications were pretty on par with what they claim they look for.
My GPA is nearly a perfect 4.00, I have research experience as a research assistant (albeit, in a different field but it's experience nonetheless), my undergrad thesis was a good topic, and I wrote my statements carefully to frame my research interests as aligning with them. I'm an international applicant... I wonder how that's affected my chances. I thought they would be fair in evaluating the applications in these terms, considering how proudly they go on about equality and diversity.
The lack of feedback from them and the silence has been really disheartening, given that I've directly reached out to ask for a status update from them. At this point, I'm not sure I would even accept an offer from them. I've already begun looking elsewhere and find my options elsewhere just as, if not more, promising than these institutions. I don't think that a candidate of my standing needs to be led on like this, I can just go somewhere else.
Sorry for the rant (^~^;)ゞ
I've been pretty upset with the way I've been treated.
If you'd like to share your journey so far, here or privately, I would love to know.