Lymrance

I don't think this can be right. In the past, acceptance and rejection letters have been sent out at the same time, and no one else has heard anything.

I too am starting at McGill in the fall. Although I am from Montreal and did my first undergrad there a few years back. A word of advice to apartment-seekers: The "Ghetto" is overpriced and noisy. I don't recommend it for a grad student who is actually looking to get work done in his/her home. Landlords of nice places in the ghetto know that they can charge an arm and a leg, as the majority of undergrads (or their parents) will pay it, and even the more expensive places are cheap compared to other cities. The less nice and more affordable housing in the ghetto (500-700) range is just a rip off. Head east a couple of blocks (past Parc Ave. or even closer to St. Laurent or St. Denis) and you will find nicer places, at the same or lower prices, with no one smashing beer bottles outside your window at 2 am. Trust me, this happens regularly. And the authorities don't do anything about it, as it is a student area.

Montreal also has an excellent (and cheap compared to other cities) public transit system. There is a metro stop practically across the road (maybe a block away) from the main gates to McGill and the no. 24 bus, which runs along Sherbrooke and drops you off at the door. NDG, to the west of downtown, is on the 24 line, about a 10-minute ride with no traffic or maybe 20 during rush hour. Lots of apartments, parks and all of your required amenities. If you take the 24 the other way, toward the Plateau - more bohemian and trendy - the distance is probably even less, and again, a great area. You can also go north into the "Plateau," which lies on the other side of Mount Royal. Less direct by public transit (although still not far) and excellent for cyclists or walkers. Montreal has the Bixie bike rental system, so you don't even need to own a bicylce or worry about having to store it in your apt. Of couse, that doesn't work in the winter.

Good luck to you all! Please don't hesitate if you have questions re. Montreal housing or anything else about the city. I probably can't answer too many questions about the school, as I believe undergrad and grad studies are two very different worlds.

Last year they were late. Fourth week of April for Ph. D and second of May for Master.

May I add that while the reviewers are doing it for free, they have to respect deadlines. My supervisor is a reviewer there and took a moment to explain how it works. Simply, during springbreak, they gather up in Ottawa, they read and review, they make piles (yay or nay) and they have to all agree on rejections (like a jury). They choose and then tell SSHRC. Our faith has already been decided. Right now, it's all paperwork, preparation, etc. It doesn't mean that, as of now, the person responsible for our division actually knows.

Anyway, they are not supposed to tell us anything. Though, depending on the person, they have a hard time not telling: last year *he* told me "not to worry" about my master application and I learned that I had the master fellowship for a year a couple days later (by mail).

One thing is for sure, we will know. No need to stress them.

Anyone applied for the FQRSC in Quebec ? This I don't remember how it works.

Good luck to everyone,

Alex

I am struggling with two very good, but very different options...

Option A - This Prof is the closest thing to perfect a grad student could hope for in a mentor. He reminds me of rootbeer, kittens, sparkly unicorns, and eagle scouts. I met this prof in person nearly a year ago, instantly felt very comfortable to talking to him (we exchanged research ideas/personal stories/questions about lab style for five hours...). I interviewed at the school recently and also met the Profs family, kids, etc... (in a way he cares for his students like they an extension of his family) and one of the perks of the weekend was going out to the forest hiking and looking at plants, bugs, birds, snakes, etc.. like an old school naturalist. He is tenured and has a relaxed mannerism of finding the magical balance between career and personal life. This fellow was described to me as being "two standard deviations from the norm in terms of niceness" and the best mentor a grad student could ask for. Whenever I mention his name people (scientific peers, grad students, etc...) folks automatically comment that he is incredibly nice (even at the other schools trying to recruit me!). One of his grad students even cried while defending her dissertation because she was so sad to finish such a wonderful project and to no longer have him as an advisor. Another former grad student described the outcome of the PhD experience as leaving him as a better, happier, more well adjusted person. On "Rate My Professor" he got a score of 5 and was voted as being hot!

The Prof's niceness is not to be confused with easiness... all of his students have a history of publishing early, doing amazing research, acquiring super prestigious grants, and he is regarded as the most challenging prof in the department and has published with some of the top names in the field of research. Via his connections I would most likely end up doing research at a site that is the absolute epicenter of research in my field of study (but the trade off is that anything "new" is not easy to come by, the place is very competitive, and I would have to deal with a bunch of politics and social hierarchies)...

The main negatives have nothing to do with him...but the city where he is located scares me (it is the epitome of everything I dislike); the department is so so; the school is underfunded, falling apart, and facing economic crisis. The school itself is not the best (but not bad either) top 100 and offers a fairly good stipend. I am also feeling mixed about the fact he is not likely to ever go into the field with me to help with research in far away difficult to work in places (but he does provide remote guidance from afar, plus contacts around the globe). The other feeling of doom (intense enough to cause near emotional breakdown) is the sense that my partner of 11 years would leave me because he would be miserable and face unemployed limbo the city where the university is located...


Option B - Amazing Prof with amazing funding. She reminds me of espresso, a wonderwoman-miss piggy-xena mix, the colors red and black, and art deco intensity of geometric line form. The Prof does amazing research in an amazing corner of the globe, utilizes the most cutting edge technology, and is the closest match to my academic interests possible. She was described to me as being very active in her field of research, a very hard workers, and is said to out pace folks half her age treking across some of earths most challenging terrain. Some folks regard her as intimidating because of her intense intellect and rather direct no-nonsense way of being (not in a malicious way, there's just no sugar coating involved). Essentially she is tough as nails to not only survive, but to also excel, in a very male dominated field of study and in a far away location that is not for every one. She is untentured and fairly new in her career.

I get along with her just fine (but she can't compare to Prof A in terms of niceness) and we were able to talk freely after a bit of trial and error newness. I imagine we would have a very professional style of interacting that I have not doubt would be difficult or painful at times - but highly productive and would leave me as a better researcher in the end. I can't really imagine talking with her about very personal things or receiving much emotional warm fuzziness. I would most likely end up doing research in wild frontier land far far with great potential for discovering things that are "new" (but the trade off would be extended periods of solitude, higher cost to get there, lack of resources at the site). The school is ever so slightly more prestigious than the other university I am considering, but has a stronger department and a higher number of profs with complimentary areas of study, and is in a town that is not great but is livable in terms of cost, basics of my needs, etc...plus there is a very slight chance my partner might (no guarantees) agree to follow me to this location.

The big draw here is a very competitive recruitment package that essentially matches the funds that I am bringing to the table (I acquired a rather prestigious secondary source of funding). The financial combo all works out to a $30,000 a year stipend for five years, tuition waiver, TA position for two years/full time research for three, health insurance, plus an extra $32,000 in research funds for my own use....


Any idea which would be better to go with? Prof A that is the best mentor a person could ask for... or Prof B who is amazing and with more funding?

God. I've now seen this post *three* times. You could wait and see if you get a response in one place before just posting it over and over.

There's no reason to do a PhD without funding, unless you just like being massively in debt.

I know this is a few months ahead of time, but I might not remember to post this if I wait until April/May or whenever they decide to send out the awards this year.

In the event that you receive a Master's SSHRC and you are hoping to graduate in spring of 2012, it is in your best interest to start the award in May rather than September of this year. If you start the award in September 2011 and graduate in May 2012, you will NOT get your funding for the summer months after you graduate. The $17500 will be split into 12 equal segments of about $1430, and you will only receive 9 of them (what happens to the leftover money? Don't know. Probably goes back to the government). On the other hand, if you start the award in May, you will receive one payment per month until you graduate 12 months later, receiving your full award. Especially advantageous if you're doing research or fieldwork over the summer and aren't working.

I thought I'd post this just in case; my university made this woefully unclear (really-- they didn't mention it even once) and I thought it might spare some headaches down the road. Plus it distracts me from thinking about application results...

Too bad I learned about this site just now, it wouldn't have been nice to have someone to talk to during the excruciating months of application.

I too have applied for Oxford last January. Then 2 weeks after I got an email that my application will be re-evaluated this March. I sent an email last Monday to follow-up and I got a response today that March applications will be sent out next week...

So here I am still waiting what the results will be.

@Lymrance and @whatshewrote: CONGRATS TO BOTH OF YOU for getting accepted!!!

Another person with a medieval interest - how cool! What is your focus? I also wonder if funding is more abundant for PhD students... I guess I'll just have to wait and see, although I have no idea how I'm going to go about making a decision.

Unfortunately, I won't be in Leeds for the Congress this July. I hope you have a great time! Are you attending or presenting? I certainly hope to make it there in the future, whether or not I wind up at Leeds or elsewhere in the UK.

Logaritym,

You've been unsuccessful in receiving funding from the department, but what about from your college? Have you even been assigned to a college yet? In the UK, you can be funded by the school, the department, and/or your college. Just because you haven't received a funding offer from the department, doesn't mean -- from what I understand -- that you won't be successful in getting funding from the college that selects you.

My advisor told me before I applied that it is not at all uncommon to not receive funding or to not receive it the first year but to receive it in subsequent years. I certainly wouldn't consider this a "rejection."

Final words for this thread:

Everyone, it has been fun to wait with you. You've made this easier, although, at times, more stressful...
By now, the last result I'm waiting on should be updated on the school's website. I can't check it yet, I don't want to know. I'm submitting my MA thesis in two days, so I need to concentrate.
Whatever the result may be, I want to say that this forum is great and I glad I found it.
It allows me to do things as writing over-dramatic posts when I need to vent

I guess I'll see some of you here again next year, unless of course we meet in a couple of days at the got-into-grad part of this forum.
Anyway, good luck to us all!

I understand the feeling. We don't want to let anyone down. Let me encourage you, though, by saying that it is a normal part of the application process for a school to make an offer and then have it declined. In all likelihood there are no hard feeling from the program you turned down. They understand that you may have really liked their school but found a position that fit you better somewhere else. In fact, they were probably quite pleased to have your decision this early. By letting them know that you will decline their offer ASAP, it gives them a better chance to land a top student. It sounds like you did everything right to me.

If you feel confident that you made the right decision, then feel good about it--very, very good about it. Congrats on the admittances!

Poliscijunkie -- I don't think you should assume the worst, but I think you have a legitimate right to expect an update by now.

Have you been checking the survey page to see whether other people have heard back from those schools? http://thegradcafe.com/survey/ (go to the page, enter your school name and the program -- e.g. "University of Toronto" "political science")

At this point, I don't think there would be anything wrong with sending polite notes to each of the departments asking for a status update. You could mention that you have already heard back from all of the other places to which you applied and will need to make a decision soon (whether or not this is exactly true). I contacted the last three schools I was waiting to hear from and received positive responses within 24-48 hours. In one case, an acceptance; in another, waitlisted; in the last case, a note saying they would try to rush my application.

Good luck!

Calling all Canadians!

I've seen a few of you around the board and wanted to give us a place to gather. Any Canada specific stories out there? I know a lot of us are still waiting because the April 15th deadline doesn't apply to us (I think) or because Canadian schools just take longer. I don't know why. (Does anybody? Because I'm about to blow my brains out.)

Who applied for the OGS, and got it? Or the CGS, and got it? What's the scoop out there about Canadian schools? From rumor and lore, I hear U of T doesn't give much funding to MAs, they call it 'Rye High' for some reason, UBC is awesome except for that incredibly expensive rent, Western is geared to the 18 year old purple wearing frat boy/girl in Ugg boots, and there is/was actually a bar called Jim Bobs there. Queens is where the prison is, and UofA is pushing its way up there in the rankings. McGill? One time a little French girl beat me up for asking what that sign 'sortie' meant. (Side note: I love all of the above schools. Please let me go to at least one of them.)

Tell me your Canadian stories while we wait it out!



For the record, I have been a Molson cold shot drinker since high school. Small but strong.

I live in the US and have applied to a few Canadian schools. My perception is that McGill is an incredible school, certainly in the top 3 among Canadian universities. It also seems to be very well known among people I've spoken with. I'm in the sciences and so cannot speak to the English programs but I say congratulations on your acceptance and a wise decision!

Like the above, I'm also not in English so I don't know about the reputation of that department specifically, but McGill is as well-known as a Canadian university is going to get in the US, especially in the northeast. I think Toronto may be slightly more well-known, but they're pretty close, anyway.

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.)

Hmm. Not sure there's too much you can do, but perhaps it can't hurt to treat it like a job interview: remind them you're still interested.

If they sent you an email to inform you of your waitlist status, it would be easy and not very out of line to simply reply back, thanking them for their update on your status and telling them that you are still very interested in going to X school (or that X school is still your top choice).

What would be even better would be if you had any news to report and ask them to add it to your file. For instance, if you've had a manuscript accepted for publication, or a paper accepted to present at a big conference, you could email them to say that you have this new accomplishment to add to your application file, and then also take the opportunity to tell them you're still really interested in the program. OR, even better, if you had another acceptance you could dangle in front of them, you could mention that although you have an offer from Y school you're still very interested in waiting to hear from X before making your decision.

I'm not sure if these kinds of emails are risky to send, but it's one idea.

I did a lot of those last fall. It's a hit or miss in terms of getting in- largely it's just politics at the end. But the more professors you can talk to in the same program, perhaps the better. But it can go in a very long way in terms of network contacts.

1. Has anyone done this informal phone meeting thing? How did it work?
Professors will usually indicate how they want to continue the conversation- via e-mail or phone. They usually prefer phone first just to get all the details as to avoid writing a long e-mail. Definitely visit any school if you can because everyone's just better in person.

2. Will the PA ask me questions (like a more formal interview?) or just expect me to do the talking?
They'll expect some talking from you because you're the ONE who asked to talk. Keep your answers brief. The conversation will flow once the two of you hit a good spot to start from. As someone said, you're going to try to establish chemistry. If you can laugh at one point, preferably sooner than later, that's good! You'll want your adviser to share similar sense of humor if possible... makes the whole PhD process easier.

2a. If "Yes," what kinds of questions?
Typical ones are:
Tell me about your research interests (Scary! But keep your answers concise if you can!)
Tell me about your project.
What languages do you have? (Don't worry, they won't switch languages here just to test you )
What can I tell you about our program?
What questions do you have about the program?
How can I help?

A lot of the questions will be quite open-ended. The last ones will especially make any applicant felt uncomfortable because the tone can come off as pretentious as if you're wasting their time. Academics don't always realize this so don't take the tone too personally. If they thought you were wasting their time, they won't even bother to pick up the phone, right?

3. The PA said I could ask any questions I had about the program, but I really cannot think of anything that's not answered on the website? What are questions people typically ask at these things?

You ARE interviewing so ask interview-type of questions. You will get a feel for the professor's expectations, not necessarily the department's.
1) Ask about other graduate students they're advising. This serves two purposes: the attention s/he can give you once in the program and the chances of the PA getting a new student the following fall. Where are they in the program?
2) Ask about languages- do you have sufficient preparation?
3) Summer funding opportunities- what do first and second year students do over the summer?
Definitely ask them about their CURRENT projects- professors change interests too! This also will give you an idea of how busy they are.
4) Try to express your thinking about your fit with the department and other professors and see how the professor responses. Some are quite easy enough to divulge details on the admissions process and whom you should also work with- this signals a very cooperative and helpful professor who wants to work in a team. Others are pretty tight-lipped about other professors, possibly signaling that the professor may prefer to be in strong control of your academic studies and probably doesn't offer a lot of flexibility. But if s/he does talk about the department in general, it's a good sign that you'll get a responsible and reasonable advisor who will manage you well but is willing to let you explore the whole department. In sum, this question will give you a basic sense of the professor's expectations of his or her graduate students. Then you can think afterward if this is the right person at this department to be your #1 professor or is there a better alternative in the same department? I actually switched professors in two separate programs for PA because of their responses to questions such as these and I'm/was actually happier this way. And actually, I think the professors are happier too.

4. Any ideas how long this "talk" will be?
Anywhere from 30-45 minutes, like a regular job interview.

Good luck! Don't forget to stand up and smile while talking!

I don't see why you'd force yourself to wait. You've already found yourself in a situation where your transcripts were lost and you were not notified of this properly. I don't think there is anything unreasonable about calling your top school and saying, "I realize that this is a very busy time and I apologize for bothering you, but I received disturbing news from another school that my transcripts had not been received. Can you please confirm for me that my application is complete?" I adamantly believe that it is far more prudent and reasonable for you to watch out for your application than to practice a passive politesse that neither ensures the success of your application nor prevents the (realistic) possibility of error. As long as you are polite and gracious in your request for information, I do not think this is an unreasonable concern in the least.

I worked in an immigration law firm for years and managed over 1200 clients myself - I received hundreds of emails and telephone calls every single day from panicked clients asking if they'd signed documents properly, if I'd received the email they sent 30 second prior, if they were going to receive a decision soon, etc. Sure, some of the calls and emails were fruitless and annoying, but human beings are generally capable of understanding the stress and anxiety of other human beings who are trying to process life-changing decisions. The administrative staff of graduate admissions are also people, and as long as they are treated with respect and appreciation, and as long as communication with them is polite and gracious, I do not think that anyone should worry about the call causing any negative consequences. In contrast, sometimes the act of passively waiting instead of calling can have very bad consequences.

A friend of mine worked in the graduate admissions office of the program I want to do and said that it is definitely okay to do it. I got a pretty good scholarship from my #1 school and felt weird asking for more money, but did it anyway. I'll hear from the school within the next week or so, so I can't tell you how it turned out, but no one acted like I was wrong to ask. In fact, everyone has been really helpful and kind so far.

If they wrote that there have been some drama, may be they really mean it? May be they mean Japan, may be they have faculty members there. I don't see anything bureaucratic about it.

you are right, they have nothing to lose. but you my friend on the other hand, have everything to lose. grad programs are very connected these days, and one way or the other, they know which student is working is working for which prof in which school. this is even more true if your program is research based. at the end, you will end up looking as the rotten egg in both baskets. don't do this. wait till april 15 for the funding info, and then decide. if they have funded offer, it is very less likely that they will back out. if you are scared of them backing out, take that offer. but don't double cross grad schools, this ain't time to play blackjack.

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.

U of T:
Someone posted in another forum that they called the Geography Dept. last week and were told that all decisions for the MA stream had been made, and that they'll send out remaining replies on Monday.
Now it's Wednesday, and I still haven't heard anything. My application status on the website is still "under review".
Although I'm waiting on the PhD stream, I'm guessing I'm just waiting for a snail mail rejection.

I wish they would just take 30 seconds to look at my address, realize I'm waiting for their mail to reach the other side of the globe, and then take 30 seconds more and write me a simple email: "Sorry. You're rejected".