Lymrance

I am having a bit of trouble figuring out quite what your question is. Are you asking whether you should still visit a school if you've actually decided to already go elsewhere? If that is your question, then I'd say the answer is "No." No, you should not waste a school's time unless you are still seriously considering going there and have not accepted an offer from another school. Another poster asked almost this same question earlier, so you might want to read the responses: "Should I still meet with an advisor, if I'm not going to that school?"

My perception of McMaster is that it's a really good undergraduate school. I've heard good things about it, but no one suggested it to me as a school for PhD work. But again, I am probably in a totally different discipline than you are. In general, I would say it has a good reputation in Canada. I don't think many outside of Canada are familiar with it (based on my survey, Americans are generally only aware of the U of T, McGill, and UBC).

The U of T is traditionally thought of as the better school, but I've noticed York is really starting to come into its own! I applied last year and got into their MA program with decent funding (but then decided to stay in my home province). Adjectives I've heard people (including faculty) use to describe York include: "leftist", "liberal" and "cutting-edge." Not bad adjectives, if you ask me. If York is offering you good funding and Toronto is offering you nothing, then I'd seriously consider York. Everygirl, thanks for the thread!

I really appreciate the feedback, guys! Oh, and Wtncffts, my advisor went to Western for part of his PhD. He thinks it's a great school. I've heard a lot of good things about it. Good luck there!

You can see in my signature which schools I've been admitted to. The offer from McGill has so far been the best, plus they've been very warm and welcoming (well, as much as it's possible to be welcoming via email). I think my decision is pretty much set, but I'd still like to torture myself by hearing some further opinions, good or bad regarding McGill's overall reputation. Here in Canada, I think McGill is generally in the top 3 or higher of our universities (especially if you go by the MacLeans survey). However, I know that in the US, McGill is not always well-known. I'm wondering if that has changed at all. I'm also looking to hear your opinion regarding their English program, specifically. Any comments are welcome. Thanks.

Ruslik -- I checked the accommodations website and believe it specifically said they do not have any family housing (e.g. for couples or students with children). I am finding rather incredible that they don't, considering it's such a large school! Does anyone have any additional information on the possibility of family housing...? I'll be moving with my partner. Also, since you mention it Kywai, do you have any rough idea on the cost of apartments in the McGill vicinity? Ideally, I want something extremely close by -- e.g. 5-10 minute walk (or subway ride). I'd check Kijiji, but I don't read French... yet.

Vancouver is a beautiful but extremely expensive city. Your program is Library Sciences, correct? Would it really be worth it to go into that much debt for an MA? I'd stay in Ireland if the Irish school is a similarly decent one. Not worth the debt to move to Canada (says the Canadian ). Good luck!

For your MA, I would definitely go with the school offering the funding! You can always reapply to Toronto for your PhD -- and hopefully they'll offer you funding then. There's no point going into debt for a Masters degree and the quality of the school seems to matter less than your overall profile at the MA level. (e.g. I'm coming from a very small school with a nonexistent reputation at the graduate level, but I've still had no trouble getting into most PhD programs.)

Yeah, thanks for sharing, Brownbear! I've heard such varying opinions on the subject of whether to contact or not to contact. On the one hand, I hate harassing the department and secondly, it's Oxford so I am just plain nervous to contact them, period. But I've now heard back from everywhere else and I need to make a decision. Even if they've rejected me, at this point, it's not going to be the blow it would have been if they were the first school to get back to me -- thank goodness. Oh, and I should mention that when I contacted Edinburgh with my little 'form letter' request for an update last week, they got back to me within 24 hours with an offer and a very nice email. So, right now I am a proponent of making contact rather than sitting idly by and waiting and panicking. Good luck to the rest of you!

That's so weird! Ottawa was the first Canadian school that got back to me this year -- in mid February. Coincidentally, they also lost my transcripts last year when I applied there for my MA (but then ended up staying in my home city for one more year). I had to email them in March to ask my status. That was when they realized they had misplaced my transcripts and so just hadn't processed my application at all. They immediately processed it without having paper transcripts (I think I emailed them copies) and accepted me. But I suspect that if I hadn't emailed them, I would never have heard from them at all... I don't know whether there is any way to call them on this, Everygirl, but I wish you could...

I'm in the same boat! I just went back through my emails and the confirmation one stated: "The date by which departments are expected to make decisions on applications submitted in this cycle is 18 March 2011. You can therefore expect to hear the result of your application from the department, in writing, after this date." I think the key phrase here is "after that date" -- in other words, in who knows how many days or weeks after this date... In the meantime, I'm being pushed to accept an offer from another great school and don't know what to do. So frustrating! Why oh why can't there be some consistency between the schools in terms of an acceptable time line in which to respond within...?

It's not greedy; it's practical. Schools are used to having to compete with each other for grad students and they frequently are expecting you to ask them to match other offers. I had this happen to me last year. I very naively and unintentionally ended up playing two rival schools off each other. Because I mentioned to one that I was considering the offer of the other, the school started talking about giving me further scholarships. I went back to the other school with this information and they promptly added another lucrative RA-ship to my package. The advice I have been given from advisors is to actually plan for this eventuality. In fact, some of the letters I've received this year actually mention how they anticipate my receiving other offers and how they will do their best to match competing packages. Just be very polite and appreciative and respectful when you bring up the matter. But don't sell yourself short. A good grad student will be a good resource to the school and they know it. Good luck!

At this point, I don't think it will come across as over-eager to email for a status update. It is mid-late March and results have been going out since the beginning of February from many schools. Based on the advice given in another thread, I wrote to two of my schools last night. One of them got back to me right away (this morning). I've yet to hear from the other. But now that I know a letter is in the mail from UT, I am prepared to accept their rejection and can at least focus on the schools I have been accepted to. Oh, and Foreign Guy, check your inbox -- I pm'd you a copy of the email I sent. Hope it helps and hope you hear good news soon!

Now that I think about it, would you really want to waste postage on the people you're rejecting? We above all should be getting the (FREE) emails! Aww, Everygirl! I say you burn the letter, keep the dreams.

Has anyone received an acceptance letter by postal mail from the U of Toronto? I emailed them to find out my status and they said result letters had gone out last Friday. However, when I look at the GradCafe survey page it looks like only rejection letters went out by postal mail. Acceptance notices seem to have been delivered by phone or email. If I've been rejected and I specifically asked to know my status, why not just tell me via email instead of forcing me to wait for a letter...? It seems unnecessary.

I'm not in Theology (though that would be a coincidence!). And right now McGill is my top pick, but that could change just depending on what I hear from the other schools. Ottawa offered a great funding package and an awesome advisor who says she could put me on a project that is just up my alley. If I were to pick based on faculty alone, then it would be Ottawa. But I'm trying to be really practical. Oh, and if I were to pick based solely on location/weather, then it would be UBC, of course. (The hilarious thing, though (well, hilarious to me), is that I've never even been to half of the places I applied: Ottawa, Vancouver, Oxford, Durham.) Oh, and congrats on yours, too!

Yeah, SSHRC could definitely change everything.... Based on your current offers, personally I'd go with UBC because of 1) funding and 2) reputation. I feel like picking based on the faculty I want to work with is almost a luxury at this point, but that's just me. I know a lot of people who pick primarily based on who they'll be working with. It's kind of like the top 3 things, of which you can only have 1-2 out of the 3. Anyways, if you get a SSHRC, I say you ask Toronto and/or McGill which one of them will admit you with a tuition waiver.

Oh, geez, that is confusing. In the rankings I posted (above), Toronto beats McGill in one while McGill comes in higher in the other. I wonder how they'll fare this year... And by the time we graduate, it could be totally reversed again! I guess it's enough that they frequently are high up in the rankings. Interesting to know about UBC, too, as I applied there. So, what methodology are you going to decide then...? Please share.

Well, I heard from the U of Ottawa at the end of February which was less than 2 weeks after I applied, so they aren't all super slow. I also heard from McGill eight days ago. I'm still waiting on UBC and Toronto. Good luck, guys.

Tigerlily, I am holding an MA SSHRC, an RA-ship, and have outside employment. I've had no issues doing this at all. Once you sign off on the initial forms, no one comes back to you with more questions. It really is between you and your university. And in this case, my university has been totally unconcerned as my other employment has not affected my performance or my RA-work. Good luck!

You can definitely accept the offer and then decline it later! This was the suggestion made to me my by own advisor. He anticipated my getting into multiple schools, some of which may pressure me for a reply (so far I am holding them all at bay). He said if worse comes to worse, accept the best offer but then if a better one ends up coming along, you can always write to the school to which you accepted and explain you have changed your mind. You are not signing your name in blood to anything. The school may be annoyed at you for rejecting the offer down the road, but that may be better than missing out on a better offer from another school. Good luck!

A Self Made Winter: What makes you think you won't get any funding from McGill or the U of T? The reason I ask is because I haven't heard back from Toronto yet, but I just got into McGill with an excellent funding offer in a Humanities PhD program. Also, I find it interesting that Toronto got back to you with an acceptance but with no funding! Weird! Don't they normally write back with an answer regarding both...? Hopefully you'll hear back from them again soon with some info on funding. Regarding your primary question on how they all compare, I would suggest you look up how the schools fit into the national and world rankings. I know we all grew up with the Macleans rankings, but you might want to check out the schools global scores for some more perspective. In general, I've found that McGill usually comes in higher than Toronto, but Toronto is second best. UBC is rarely on the world rankings charts or if it is, it comes in much lower than Toronto or McGill. E.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QS_World_University_Rankings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Higher_Education_World_University_Rankings I also think that considering your school's reputation is a good idea. The way in which the school you attend is perceived is ultimately (and somewhat unfortunately) going to count quite a bit when you apply for jobs later on. I would say, the more well-known the school, the better. My advisor confirmed this as well.

Cranberry, I am so glad to hear that I am not the only one who feels 1) terrible about rejecting good schools and potentially-wonderful advisors and 2) who fears there has been some terrible mistake and the admissions offer will be withdrawn! I am pretty sure the offers are no mistake though and that we are simply, indeed, being neurotic. One of the things that was suggested to me by my current (awesome) MA advisor is not to burn any bridges and to keep these faculty members in mind as future peers and friends. In other words, try to turn them into contacts rather than simply sending back generic rejection letters. I admit, I am still procrastinating writing my rejections as I'm still in the midst of decision -making, but when I do write back I'm going to personalize the letters and in the cases where I am basically rejecting based on the reputation of the school and not on the basis of the faculty-advisor, I'm going to state all of the reasons why I am disappointed not to be getting a chance to work with the person and state my hope that we can meet in person in the future -- e.g. at an upcoming conference.

It's admissions time. Some of us are still in limbo; some of us aren't. I'm in the process of making a decision on where to go for my PhD in the Humanities next September. I applied to 7 schools in Canada and the UK. I've already been accepted into three of them (waiting to hear from the other four). I'm now in the lucky but still not entirely uncomplicated position of deciding where to go. I am also trying to get informed on the experiences others have had with negotiating the best funding possible at the best school possible. So, what I'm wondering is: What is the best funding package (in the Humanities) that you have ever heard of a doctoral student receiving in Canada, specifically? I'm looking for responses on packages that were arranged to include the SSHRC or without the SSHRC. If you're curious (but skip on to replying if you aren't), I was successful in gaining SSHRC funding for my MA and I'm on the waiting list for the PhD SSHRC funding. The best funding offer I've received so far is from (what I consider to be and what the rankings consider to be) the top school in Canada. The school is offering me almost $25K in fellowships and TA/RAships guaranteed per year for four years (I am hoping to finish in 3 though -- don't laugh!). If I get the SSHRC, however, I would only be permitted to keep the $9K TA/RAship. In particular, I'm wondering if anyone has ever managed to negotiate a funding package along the lines of: SSHRC funding, tuition waiver, TA/RAship. I'm also interested in hearing suggestions on how to negotiate funding between schools -- i.e. by mentioning to each school that you have received a great admissions offer from more than one place and need something to push you towards one or the other. (This may sound somewhat mercenary, but I love my field and know that I'll do the best work in it if I'm not frantic over money issues the entire time.) Thanks in advance for all responses!