Poppet

I called the University of Toronto today regarding my Masters application to the Department of Political Science - They said that the admissions committee met last week and were to submit their list of probable applicants today. This list is expected to be finalized by Friday, with the first round of offers going out early next week. Applicants will be notified via email. Fingers crossed!

FYI, applicants for the Doctoral Fellowships must be either a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, AND if they are applying the SSHRC to a degree program abroad, one of their first degrees MUST have come from a Canadian university. So just being a Canadian or a Permanent Resident is not necessarily enough if you are applying this to a program elsewhere in the world. This is untrue though. You don't need to be Canadian to be eligible for the Doctoral or Masters SSHRC award, but you do need to at least be a Canadian permanent resident. See above for the Doctoral fellowship and below for the Masters Scholarship:

Why does the consensus seem to be that competition was easier this year and will be even easier next year? I thought we were still right in the middle of increased numbers of applicants. Enlighten me?

Whereas Columbia's MA is unfunded, does anyone know if funding is ever giving regardless? I know in some other schools where programs are unfunded, departments or professors can still push for funding for a particular student if they feel that student really deserves it, or if they're trying to convince him/her to join their program and not another. Does this sort of thing ever happen at Columbia? Tuition waivers, scholarships, TAships, anything?

There's another thread where people are discussing whether an MA at Columbia, since they are unfunded, is I'm applying for the Liberal Studies MA in Human Rights so the thread was interesting (and disappointing) to me, but thought you might want to take a look since the question of whether it makes you marketable for a PhD program or not is addressed quite thoroughly. What I'd really like to know is whether or not departments or faculty ever push to fund MA students even though the program is typically unfunded. I know that in other schools "unfunded" doesn't necessarily mean unfunded, but I'm not sure about Columbia.

For Canadian schools we don't have to submit a deposit as soon as we accept though, right? Can't we accept the offer and then decline it later if we change our minds (without penalty)?

Yeah, I really love this personalized USB idea. Good for you for thinking of that, I'm sure they really appreciated it.

I already posted this question in recently and received some good advice. I am planning on making decorative thank-you cards from scratch, and buying a small gift. I like the idea of a box of chocolates, but that might sound too cliche.. I'm going to wait until I get some responses before I actually send them though, which might mean another month or two. THAT part of it bothers me though, I would rather send the thank you cards immediately. But it seems like everyone waits until they find out whether the letters were moderately successful, so I guess I'll do that too.

I think it will depend on your school. This is my second semester acting as a TA in a department that is not my own. I also know that at my university graduate students who are guaranteed funding may be given TAships in different departments if their own runs out of money. Since you want to teach in the history department, I would imagine that your qualifications would be less a problem than the question of whether you'd be taking a TAship from a history student. So in all it's not unfeasible, but you'll probably have to find out the rules from your own department as well as the history department to see what limitations there are, if any.

I think there's room for negotiation but I have no idea what the protocol is for it, or how it works everywhere... My sister was accepted for a masters at a top-tier Canadian university (University #1) which refused to fund masters students. When she turned the school down to go to another top tier school (University #2) which had offered her funding, one of the professors in the first school contacted her and said that he'd managed to secure funding on her behalf - and not only did he get her funding, but he was willing to top whatever funding the second school had offered. So she accepted the offer, only to have University #2 contact her and top the already-topped offer by University #1! So she went to University #2 in the end. But the point is that even for a masters program, she went from no funding in the first case and regular funding in the second, to having two schools fighting over her - and ended up with around $13,000. That's comparable to PhD stipends! Given the fact that she'd obtained external scholarships totaling almost $20,000, she not only had a free ride during her masters, but she made money off of it. So, I don't think this is a typical situation, but it appears that rivalry between departments can be healthy, and that there is some room for negotiation if schools really want you there. Like I said though, I have no idea how to initiate any bartering between schools, but I think that sending an email to the department of a school and thanking them for their acceptance but informing them that another school has offered more funding might work to your advantage in some situations. Does anyone else know about similar situations where this kind of thing has worked?

Ah, ok, but this is only for PhD students. That's why I was confused, I forgot that you guys were allowed to take your SSHRCs abroad. You are lucky!

*Sigh* I've been wanting to ask this question also. The masters programs I am applying to outside of Canada are very, very, very unlikely to give me funding, but it is precisely those programs I want most to attend. I spend so many hours a week with a calculator trying to determine how much money I can scrounge from various sources which will help me go to the schools with a minimum of loans - but even then, the loans alone still amount to 2-3 times the huge loans I have already taken out. I already have student debt, so adding on more doesn't appeal to me, especially when the truth is that schools in Canada will likely give me a free ride. But, yeah, I'd really love to know how other masters students are planning on getting funding in the States since there the masters programs often seem to be unfunded. For the record, my understanding is that you can accumulate as much debt as your expected starting salary - that is supposedly considered a manageable school debt.

Can you guys clarify something for me? How does a US student receive a SSHRC award? Aren't they only applicable in Canada? I'm confused.

It's as they say, "One person's rebel is another person's freedom fighter."

For LSE all you need to do is apply for the deferral and you should normally be granted one (though they are absolutely not guaranteed.) They require a deposit of course, though. Here is the form: http://www2.lse.ac.uk/study/graduate/applicant/howDoI/deferralForm/deferralForm.aspx I am likely going to have to request deferrals for most of my applications because I am broke. I hope "your tuition alone costs more than I would make in a year" is a good enough reason.

I fully intend on writing OMG OMG I GOT INTO MY TOP PROGRAM!!! in the very way that everyone else is knocking, but like another person stated earlier, if I have to read 'OMG WE BOUGHT THE HOUSE!" and "OMG I GOT THE JOB!" and "OMG MY KID TOOK HER FIRST STEP TODAY" then why the hell should I NOT state my own excitement? And I certainly don't think people are conceited when they are happy for themselves and about advancements and progress they make in their lives -- I'd rather a million times over read happy, excited, proud facebook updates than have to read through the deliberately enigmatic posts (why are you posting it publicly if you're being intentionally vague? Then you just look like you're asking for attention, and false modesty isn't modesty) or the moping Debbie Downers who are always complaining about about their jobs, lives, friends, diets, whatevers. I would much rather both of those groups of people shouted happy things at the top of their lungs than post the things they do. Also, I argue that it has nothing to do with "conceit," and conceit has more to do with the fact that anyone here would think it's such an abnormally large accomplishment that everyone on facebook will necessarily be jealous. I can't fathom the number of friends I have on my facebook who have no desire to go to grad school, let alone MY top choice in MY top city, who don't wish to be an academic, are thankful they have full-time jobs and are not poor students, who find the idea boring, who feel SORRY for me that I've chosen to be a lifelong student instead of making other choices, etc. I think it's awfully cocky to presume that people will necessarily be jealous or necessarily think you are "conceited" when the things you are posting about are not universal wants - no matter how much you may want it. So, yeah. I will definitely share my excitement if I feel like it and I know that I won't feel remotely bad about it. [Edited to add: In truth, when I received my acceptance to U of T last year, my update was, "Helloooo Toronto...?" and when I was accepted to other schools it bounced off that also, "Or Helloooo Montreal..?" so it wasn't all in caps and focused more on my impending moves than education, but the point is that I still fully intend to post it, post it, POST IT and share my excitement when/IF I am accepted anywhere this year, guilt-free.]

Well, if you're interested in International Relations, I would suggest that Carleton is one of the best universities you could choose to go to for that subject in Canada, because Carleton is the only Canadian school which has a professional school of International Affairs recognized by APSIA. The Norman Patterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) is very prestigious in Canada because of its APSIA affiliation, and while you are not taking that program, many of the professors in Political Science are affiliated with NPSIA. So that connection, combined with the fact that you will be in the national capital means that I imagine your access to resources and the education you receive, will be quite decent. As an American however, I'm not sure how that degree would crossover once you choose to return home to teach though and it would be something worth considering.

Okaaay.. Well... Alternatively, would anyone be willing to read over my SOP for a human rights law program?

Since you are not typing it directly into the space given to you, you are supposed to write "Please see attachment" or something like that, and then you upload your SOP at the end, on the last page. On this last page it will give you space to upload specific documents like your transcripts and CV, and then the last option will say something vague like "Other Document" or something like that -- that is the space you use to upload your SOP.

As the title says, I'm applying only to masters programs, all terminal - MA's, LLMs and MSc's in Human Rights, Law, Politics, etc. I am applying to all of them with the knowledge that even though they are course-based programs, they will nonetheless require a thesis by the end of the year. So in all my personal statements so far, I start off by saying that my recent experience in a post-conflict country has inspired me to question a specific human rights question, and that I think the resources offered at University X will be helpful to my proposed research on that question. Then I explain in a paragraph the specific project I was working on in the post-conflict country that lead me to question Potential Thesis, and the next several paragraphs concentrate on why I think Potential Thesis is question that must be addressed, why I think certain course requirements or offerings at University X will be complementary to my Potential Thesis, and what qualities I think I can bring to the school because of my own unique characteristics - though admittedly this last bit is a brief sentence or two. Finally, I explain that I think all of this will be beneficial to my future career plans and why. So the question that I am asking is that I keep feeling like I am writing a research proposal far more than I am writing a masters personal statement. Most of the statements I see at the masters level tend to focus much more on personal attributes or experiences that lead to character development and intellectual growth, hobbies that sparked interest, an explanation of why they want to take the masters course, but without seeming to dwell much on the actual upcoming thesis. So am I out of line by stating the subject that I propose to write about? I mean, I am applying to these schools because they have faculty who are interested in similar things, and they have courses which are directly related to the subject I want to study - and I think that by doing this I am showing them that I have thought very seriously about what I want to take a masters for and why I want to take it there. But I keep also feeling like I'm about a paragraph short of a Phd research proposal, and I don't know whether that is a big faux-pas for a masters personal statement. So how much info are you "allowed" to write about your proposed subject of research? I understand that there is a risk they say, "Sorry, you're too specific in your needs and we don't have anyone willing/capable/interested in working on that subject" but otherwise... Am I spending too much time explaining to the ad-comm the wrong thing? Should I be concentrating more on myself and my own attributes? Sorry this is so long-winded and thanks to anyone who offers advice.

I'm an MA applicant. I was put on the A-list by my university and received a formal letter from them, and following that I was sent the above email from SSHRC. So you should get an email from SSHRC, yes. Epyion, I do not have a definitive answer, but my suspicion is that this is merely a confirmation of receipt. My understanding is that both lists are sent by the university to the committee, so it makes sense that they would send the same email to everyone irrespective of their ranking.

Well, I found the answer to my own question so I'll post it here just in case it's of use to anyone in the future -- the deadline is March 15th and admissions are NOT rolling, which means that applications will only be viewed when the deadline passes. So if you apply by the deadline there's no reason to panic as I did.

I've always heard the same as what the OP's professor said - but that anything under an A- was actually a bad mark in grad school, and not merely an average one. My understanding is that you are expected to stay at an A/A- level throughout your grad studies and if you dip below, something's wrong. Clearly this appears to vary by institution or field though, so I'd say that it weren't a big deal - except that your professor specifically told your class that it was. So I'm going to presume that in English, or at least at your particular school, you are expected to maintain much higher marks as a grad student. I would take his comments seriously if I were you, and beware of those B's. If you have actually received any there's nothing you can do but charge forward and try to get some A's to compensate for them. But as we all know, reference letters and POS's count for a lot in applications, right? So hopefully those can help mitigate a B or two on a graduate transcript if they occur.

I don't think that's a fair comment. Some very reputable schools don't require them, such as the University of Helsinki and for some programs at least, the University of Amsterdam. Both are very good schools (if not the best) in their respective countries, and are highly respected internationally as well.

Bumping this because I haven't applied to Columbia yet, and I imagine my references won't get in until the beginning of March. Is there even any point in applying by then, or do you all think that anyone interested will have pretty much already submitted by January, pushing me out of the running? For the record, because I have a lot of HR work experience I consider myself otherwise quite a strong candidate... But with such a late application I'm not sure if there's even any point... Does anyone even bother applying after early February?