wheatGrass

This was me... well, close. And I've been accepted at top PhD programs with funding +. This is what I did: I kept working, and took upper level undergrad courses in relevant areas. Then, once I had enough to have a 3.0+, I took a professional track masters program at a no-name university, while working part time. I got excellent marks. Then, I applied to an unfunded MA program at a decent but small university, got great marks, a few little scholarships and developed some excellent relationships with faculty. Then I applied for PhD programs. Good luck, I think you can do it. If you do some extra courses to pull up your GPA and you get less than A, then I agree with what andsowego said and you should re-evaluate.

CSTD... I'm wondering how much fluidity there is between CTL and SESE... can I take courses at both, for example? What do you think the OISE 'reputation' is worth? Argh! I'm so torn!

Yes, in the same envelope. I just changed my post above, but I was actually waitlisted for SESE.

Got my offer from OISE this morning... accepted in CTL but rejected from SESE. Disappointed but at least this makes my decision making process easier. Or does it? Edited: read it too fast--Waitlisted for SESE, not outright rejection.

It was a mass email. Doesn't say anything about which program... I applied to two.

Well, I got a "welcome, congratulations on your offer of admisison" mass email from the Dean at OISE. However, I have not yet received an offer. Hopefully it is on its way! [Edited for clarity]

Hot Lips

Surprisingly, I have already heard from McGill. I got, in but their funding was not great, even considering the low cost of living there. York sounded really strict about their acceptance deadline--on the phone they said it was the one thing they wouldn't budge on. I need to find not only an apartment but also a daycare with a subsidized spot, so I need to get on this!

I am waiting very impatiently for SESE. I am thinking about emailing my POI there to see if she can give me any info on when I might hear. I already emailed the RO and they said that if you applied by Dec 1, you should hear by early April at the latest, but that some decisions have already gone out. The problem is, the SESE deadline wasn't til February or something, so I don't know if that means I have to wait longer?

In every conversation I've had with POIs, the conversation always gets around to lifestyle issues at the school/city in question... you know, how's the commute/transit situation, that kind of thing. This is when I'd bring it up, not necessarily in the "why do you want to be in our program" part of the interview

Just a quick thing about the "training" comment... There are some critical pedagogy people who write about teacher education and who take quite a critical stance about the increasing move towards "technicism" and "extreme pragmatism"in teacher education (I think this is H. Giroux and/or Peter McLaren, in case you are interested). Basically, the idea that teachers are being trained perform certain pre-determined tasks rather than think critically about education, their roles, education's role in society, etc... Maybe this is where your professor is coming from with the harsh reaction to the 'training' word. Not a very effective way to get her message across, though...

Thanks. This has been very useful. I have actually gotten quite fast at this, and find that it's actually not that bad... somehow, I can let my mind wander while listening to someone go on about whatever it is they're talking about and manage to type it out, too. BUT, if I ever end up transcribing for someone else again, I will never do it at an hourly rate--I'd go by the audio minute or better yet, the page. My supervisor is constantly doing calculations to make sure I'm not ripping him off (right in front of me--kind of rude, I think).

I think you will need to show them that you have a experience in a field related to mental health, even if it is only tangentially related. You can flesh out that connection in your SOP (I think however, there may be some limits to how far you can push this, i.e., a career as a bartender might not get you into an addictions counselling stream...) If none of your recent work experience gives you this, I would find a way to volunteer or get involved in some way in your field. Then you can get a LOR that way. You'll need to prove not only that you are interested in your chosen field, but that you are suited for/capable of working in that field as well. Good luck!

School three is tied for top spot.

Hi, I've heard good news from 2 of my 3 schools. The deadline to accept the offer from one of them is right about when I expect to hear back from the third school. When can I call them and let them know I have other offers? I feel like I want to have a while to make up my mind... this is a big decision. I'm not 100% sure I'll get into school 3, either, but the first two have been very encouraging in terms of extra incentives so I'm feeling pretty confident. Anyone else in this situation?

Oh yeah. Get a bunch of Canadian grad students together and you know there's gonna be a fight. Happens every time.

Just got off the phone with my first PhD decision--accepted with full funding (standard) plus an extra bonus. So I guess they don't focus on old news. Yay!

I think it will help that you have your own funding. I think what happens if you have your own funding is that you automatically go into a flex-time situation. I think flex-time is a euphemism for not funded by the department. I think. But for Canadians, the major grants won't be announced until after the OISE decisions are made, so they just have to admit everyone they want as fully funded students.

Ha ha, I'm sure it's probably because you are overseas or something... (if you are where your profile says you are). If it makes you feel better there was a thing on the bottom saying "everyone welcome" and "accomodation information." So pretty sure it had everything to do with a random mailing list and nothing to do with admissions. Where else did you apply?

Just heard good news from York Education via the myfile site.

And you've been accepted... I'm going to go with the 'good sign' theory! Ha ha! Chienkerwei, I applied to both SESE (well, future new department...) and CTL but I found out through the grapevine that my CTL contact has completely changed her research focus (no mention of this to me...) so I don't think that's going to work so well. Thanks for telling me! SESE is my first choice, though! (at OISE, at least)

I billed 7.5 hours plus 1/2 an hour of set up on the day of the presentation, at a standard (well, on the low side) RA rate.

Hi, I haven't heard anything, although I did just get an invitation to the Dean's Graduate student research conference addressed "Dear Students..." Could this be a sign? Did everyone who applied get this email? Probably.

For sure. But one advantage of having an RA-type of employee do the work is that they are familiar with the concepts and can just hand over the paper with some amount of confidence that the powerpoint will make sense/contain relevant examples and images that exemplify the core concepts. And I'd like to think she asked me to do it because she thinks (from previous experience) that I make nice presentations!

Yes, that's right. I guess I should have asked, "How many hours should it take me to do this?" I am terrible at billing hours appropriately. With a task like this I tend to get dragged down into tangential google searches which sometimes yeilds really interesting stuff, and sometimes a lot of wasted time.