anonyouknow

Wow, TakeruK, thank you SO MUCH! This is all invaluable information and an absolutely huge help. I'll look up plans for BMO, TD and CBIC, after a bit more looking around it seems like there are quite a few complaints about President's Choice. We're looking for a low minimum balance account, which it seems pretty much everywhere offers for student accounts. That's a lot of really great information for housing too, just what I was looking for! I am slightly concerned about trying to find a place after arrival, as I know even in the States many apartments only have spaces open up after a few months of waiting, but I'm equally worried about signing up for a property and discovering the area, amenities, building or apartment itself isn't up to snuff. Unfortunately the friends and family who could go out scouting for me are about 4 hours away from my closest possible school and that's quite a big commitment to ask of them. I think I'll ask my POI's current grad students and the international student organization on campus for recommendations and follow those to hopefully find a nice place to book in advance. Worst case, we'll move after the first year We don't have any pets so that shouldn't be an issue, but the deposit information was especially useful- I've had rental agreements in both the US and Singapore but it seems quite different up farther North, very renter friendly! I've noticed that it does seem more common in the apartments I've looked at online to include several utilities as well, that's a nice bonus. Your sort of talk/text plan sounds just right, affordable and all the use we'll need. I'll take a look first at the child companies! Fortunately my home State is pretty far up North as well and I've had the opportunity to visit Canada a few times through the years, so I've got the money and food outlets down pretty well. I think I'll just need to ask students at my prospective schools for more local favorites (or should I say favourites?) Thank you so much for taking the time to answer all my questions and give your own impressions, always better to have a recommendation than just have a list of companies! As for other questions, is there anything I need to see or experience while I'm living there? I've been to Niagara a few times but haven't really explored far past it. Any cool sites or recommended stops in the country- really anything within about a day's drive of Ontario you like?

Hello I'm an American citizen living in Singapore and have applied to a number of Canadian schools for the upcoming year. I have one acceptance and one recommendation for acceptance so far, so it's very likely I will be moving now. I have so many questions about the process and life in Canada, I thought maybe Canadian grads or citizens might be able to help! I would be moving with my partner, under the understanding that we can apply for a dependent's pass as being in a common-law relationship. We have proof of living together for over two years, shared bank accounts and could request statements from friends and family if necessary, so proof isn't much of a concern, but how do I get this visa? The closest airport is actually in the US, and as such we will be crossing into Canada by land. More than likely, we'll need to cross at least twice, as I'll be crossing over back to my home state to pick up some of my things as well. I've heard that American citizens can get their student visas at the border, but is this possible is you are bringing a dependent who is not American? Also, would my partner legally be able to look for work after arrival? As for the country itself, are there any recommendations for banks in Ontario? I've heard CIBC and President's Choice have good student accounts. Are the ATMs widely available for those (well, CIBC only, as President's Choice apparently uses CIBC ATMs)? Does anyone have any recommendations for sites to find apartments? We'll need to find something asap after arrival so we don't blow all our savings on hotels! Any popular cell phone companies in Ontario that offer basic plans? We don't have smart phones and just need the most basic call/text plans. And finally, any other advice? It's going to be very confusing for a while between Canada, the US and Singapore, so any advice for how to settle down and find necessary things would be much appreciated

I can confirm this for the psychology department at least. I got my decision early as I'd been in contact with my POI who was also heading the admissions committee, but it was only by personally asking through email. As far as I know, official rejections were not sent out at the time I received mine, though I obviously can't say anything since, as I haven't had much need to keep an eye on the results survey for that school after that

UPDATE: I heard back from the graduate secratary this morning and the email was meant for me!! She apologized for the confusion and assured me it was a copy/paste error but definitely not for anyone else Great start to the weekend!

Haha, that was one of my first thoughts. Perhaps if I just go get a name change everything will match up again and then there's no excuse Fortunately the name was the same gender and I won't have to go around as a Tom or Robert. I'll be counting down the hours until business hours begin!

That's what I'm hoping as well, it was definitely a template email and could have just been a small error on the part of the sender, and I'm hoping if it was for the wrong person my POI would have noticed and corrected the error asap, but it's a terrible feeling Darn this time difference!

I got an email this morning from one of my schools stating I was recommended for admission to the program, with official written acceptance pending committee approval and expected to be sent the second week of March. The email, though sent to my email address and Cced to my POI (who I have very recently spoken with regarding my application, though she didn't say anything about offering a spot at the time), was addressed to a different name. What are the chances this recommendation was sent to the wrong person? I've emailed back politely asking for confirmation the message was sent to the proper person, but due to the time difference (of course I received the email first thing in the morning my time, directly after work hours at the school) I won't have an answer for another full day and may just worry myself to death in the meantime. I would almost certainly accept an offer from this school, as it is one of my top choices, which makes the wait even more stressful.

I'm an international student from the US originally and every single program aside from one required I submit GRE scores. Tell me about it though, that's the ONE thing I'd love to leave off my applications

Had a phone interview with Windsor last night, after 11pm local time. I was super tired after a 13 hour work day and though I think overall it went well since my POI and I have a lot of matching interests, I think I blew it when asked if I had any research directions in mind I do! The problem came when I tried to clearly state what they were and my muddled brain just flopped. I think I must have said "um" 20 times while trying to formulate what I wanted to come out... Followed up with a positive email thank you anyway and going to really hope that one answer will be drowned out by not mucking up the rest of the interview (at least not as badly, haha!). But oww, bruised ego!

Not necessarily...my GRE is pretty abysmal as well (V550, Q580, A4.5) and the only rejection I've had so far this round explicitly told me it was because of my GRE. I have a 3.96 GPA, 5 independent experiments with 3 conference presentations and 2 poster presentations, glowing letters of recommendation and what I hope is a fairly strong and focused SOP. Not that I am a perfect candidate by any means, but it's pretty clear my biggest chink is that horrifying GRE score (quant especially). In my rejection I was outright told everything else in my application looked great and I had strong matching interests with my POI but they typically accept applications with stronger scores. Of course, this is not the case for all schools, it may simply be this one puts an overemphasis on GRE. Ah well, I've got an interview with a better program tonight!

Thanks guys, I'll send out those emails this week Ameonna is correct concerning the April 15 decision date, unfortunately. My potential schools are in Canada and not held to the agreement, and as such can tell me to respond by whatever date they see fit. Hopefully if the other programs aren't able to pass along their decisions in time I'll be granted an extension!

I have received an acceptance from one of my potential programs, but they have requested I either accept or decline the offer within 30 days (actually, I need to sign the acceptance and have it back to them within 30 days, which means I only have about 20 days since shipping around the world can take some time). Of course, I very well may not have heard back from all of my programs by that time and I don’t think I could comfortably accept an offer before I know if I am accepted or rejected from my top choices. I am planning to send a short, polite email asking for a status update and reconfirming my interest in the programs, ending by letting them know that I have received an offer and would appreciate any updates so I can better weigh any options. Is this acceptable? Should I not mention my reason for wanting an update? I’m concerned if I don’t have a valid reason for needing this I may get the standard “Your application is in review, be patient” type of email, which while it would give me hope wouldn’t help me make this decision. Of course, I realize if it actually is in review there is very little to be done but wait for the committee to make decisions, but I am terrified thinking I may end up passing up admissions to a program that can offer more in terms of funding and research opportunities because of a premature "yes". If worse comes to worse I will first request an extension for making my decision, but I have no idea what to do if I don’t get it and I think it may to early to request that yet since I've only very recently gotten accepted.

I had serious issues with Singpost and Canadapost this application round. I got tracking on all my packages, which made me neurotic in checking the status to begin with. Usually packages I send from Singapore to the US take 6-7 days to arrive, including weekends, when I send them via registered mail. I was told they would arrive in 6-11 days when I sent them out to Canada. The first package took 14 days to arrive, the second and third packages, sent out the same time, each took three weeks to arrive. My second to last and last packages, after ONE MONTH were still showing them stuck in customs. It turns out someone either in Singapore or Canada never updated my tracking (which I paid good extra money for!). The package was now sent two months ago and is still showing in customs, even though I've contacted the school and been assured my application was received and complete before the deadline. I'm just glad I sent everything in very early...

OH THANK GOD NO. Haha, I was embarrassed enough to discover that one mistake, I would have been absolutely horrified to have "pubicly" in my statement!

I've heard back from 3 of my 7 schools (all in signature), though the others may possibly take a while longer to update since the deadlines were a bit later than most US programs I've seen. 1 reject, 1 interview, 1 acceptance so far, though I emailed my POI to get the rejection and likely would have been waiting much longer to get it otherwise. Phone interview is on Wednesday, doing my best to prepare and crossing fingers for good luck!

It's still somewhat early for most of my schools, I haven't seen any results posted for several of the programs this year, but I had that problem my first round of applications two years back. I only applied to 5 schools then, but by mid-April I still hadn't heard anything from two of them, which is unusual. I had no idea what I was doing and hadn't bothered checking in at all either... In the end, I found out I had actually been waitlisted at one of the programs, then rejected, but hadn't heard ANYTHING until I called on April 15 to see what was happening myself. I still don't know what happened with the last school, I contacted them on April 15 and found out they hadn't received my application fee and never even considered me, despite the fact that my fee was paid by check and enclosed in the package with all the other documents they DID receive.

Read up on some common interview questions too, it never hurts to be prepared for the expected. The most common question I've had through my last round of applications and the one interview so far this round was "Why do you want to attend ______ specifically". Make sure you have an absolute zinger for this, it's definitely going to be asked.

I belatedly discovered I'd misspelled publicly in 5 of my 7 applications. Somehow word doesn't pick up "publically" as a misspelling. Whoops...

If the Guelph poster is around: do you know if all interview invites have been extended and could you tell me your POI?

I'm keeping an updated list in my signature, but for the sake of posting: Applied: University of Western Ontario University of Waterloo University of Calgary University of Windsor University of Guelph Saint Mary's University Adler School of Professional Psychology So far I've only heard back from Adler, where I've gotten an interview. Ideally, I'd really like to hear back from Waterloo or UWO, but those may be a bit of a reach.

The only school I've heard from out of 7 is Adler, which isn't exactly my top choice. We're lining up the date for a skype interview in the next week. I'm super anxious to hear back from the others, it seems like so many results are coming in and I want to join the party

All of my mail seems to be taking an exceptionally long time. I'm sure it's not just the holidays, since I was facing the same wait for my first packages sent out about a month and a half ago, but there is definitely something causing my packages to double or triple their arrival time. Over the summer I had materials sent to and from Singapore and the US between myself, my undergrad school and my family and it took 1 week from point A to point B. Right now I'm watching n one package I'm tracking that (so far) has taken 21 days and still hasn't arrived at the school to which I'm applying, despite buying a nice expensive stamp that assured me it would arrive in 6-11 days max. I'm pulling my hair out here, it's been stuck in the post office in the city my school is in for nearly a week with no movement!

Definitely second the opinion to apply only to schools with faculty who share your interests! Ahaha, my GPA is good but I think even more than the abysmal GRE scores it was the SOP that killed me. Even with my scores I got invited out to an interview weekend at one place and had a good amount of interest in my apps (I only actually applied to 5 places, but I was waitlisted at 4 of them which is better than I think I deserved!), so I'm thinking those scores at least met the cutoff for a decent review. If I had more clearly defined interests and had actually bothered to match myself well with faculty I think I could have had a better showing. No one wants a student with no clue what they're interested in, and I'm sure that's how I presented myself at the time. To be honest, my GRE showing really was my own fault. I got distracted with plenty of unimportant side interests that summer, so even though I had a few books to study from I didn't open them more than a week before the test. To be completely honest, I didn't even complete one full length practice test and only got about 1/10th of the way through my review. I'd say three months is more than enough as long as you stick to it daily!

I'd say don't stress about it but do check in to ensure everything has arrived and it's not a problem. One of my schools clearly stated all transcripts had to be sent enclosed with other materials by the student, but on a little off to the side page had a little note that yeah okay they don't have to be and a lot of schools don't even issue transcripts to students so sending them direct won't hurt either. Chances are it's perfectly fine!

Sounds like you've got quite a list! I applied to DePaul and BGSU in 2009 (along with a few others) in I/O psych and was pretty much waitlisted across the board. I got two consolation MA offers (unfunded) so took a break to get some experience and I'm applying again to I/O programs, but none of those schools this round. Just for comparison, when I applied fresh out of undergrad I had 3.96 GPA cumulative, 4.0 in Psych, 5 research papers and conference presentations (3 paper presentations, 2 posters, 3 as first author but only 1 really related to I/O), Psi Chi membership and had acted as VP and President for our chapter, awesome LORs and 90th percentile on Major Field Test. I also had incredibly depressing GRE scores (550/72% verbal, 580/40%(!) quant, 4.5/72% AW), hadn't taken the GRE Subject and was coming from a very little known liberal arts school. I'll also admit my SOP wasn't my best piece of writing and I didn't contact any professors before applying. I got waitlisted at both BGSU and DePaul even with those depressing scores and a crappy SOP which didn't really detail any of my interests well. It sounds like you've got the same kind of research background and GPA. I'd definitely recommend a higher GRE than what I applied with and, above all, a very clearly defined SOP. This round I also contacted all the profs I was interested in and got a good score on the Psych GRE, which I'm hoping will boost my apps this time. Good luck with your schools!