nomadic_joe

Hi all - I live in Ottawa and just received my letter this afternoon. Not sure what we are allowed to post here so I will wait.

Good question! Also does anyone know of any podcasts (besides the DoM - which I love but have listened to them all) that cater to poli sci / IR scholars?

I am not sure exactly how they determine admission to the co-op program and I don't know if that information is publicly available. From what I understand the main criteria is your marks in your first semester at NPSIA. I don't know anyone who was refused admission to co-op but then again I don't think people go around bragging about that. I do know friends at OttawaU that were denied though so perhaps it is more stringent there. Once you are "in" you just pay the fee to stay in and keep your grades up as far as I know. Honestly the main competition comes when actually applying to jobs and interviewing. Your fellow NPSIA students are extremely experienced and accomplished so it can be tough to compete; with that said, on the whole people are very supportive and encouraging of each other, the student body is active and (at least in our year) have great rapport. You would have to contact the co-op office to get details on numbers of applicants who get jobs and do not (I am not in co-op as I am a PhD student so my knowledge here is limited - maybe another NPSIA student who is in the program can comment?).

No you are right they are not posted in a central location. You have to be resourceful and use your google skills to find them, and not all will be available, however I have found the ones for most of my course before starting. Try googling the course number and for a specific filetype (eg. INAF5001 filetype:pdf; or filetype:doc) other key words would be the course name, instructor, etc. I don't know what the policy is on summer admissions, I have never met anyone who did what you describe above, and I don't know that they would let you (you have been admitted for fall 2013, not summer 2013) - check with the department though. If you plan on doing 4 courses a semester don't plan on working part-time. I know people who have done it and you won't have time. Also you have to get special permission to do that, the max course load is 3 courses per semester.

You mean just general advice? That's tough... what do you want to know about? Academic life, social life, practical aspects? If you give some more specifics that would be helpful for me. I think another student posted this already but the NPSIA Student Association has a blog: npsiasa.wordpress.com, and there is also an academic blog as well npsia.wordpress.com. These may help with answering your questions. I will talk to the other students and try to put together a series on how to prepare for NPSIA or something similar for the summer. For now honestly my instinct is to say relax and enjoy your summer - you are in now, no need to fret! I suppose if you wanted to be super keen you could look up the past syllabi for the classes you are going to take and do readings ahead of time. This may be problematic though, as instructors (and thus assigned readings) change and if you read things now, by the time you need to recall the details for class you will have forgotten most of it. More practically I would say try to get a feel for which classes you want to take and when they post the schedule for next year choose them and be prepared to register early, as some classes fill up quickly and you may not get a spot if you wait too long. Also start thinking about where you want to live in Ottawa; I recommend, in this order 1) Centretown near Elgin, 2) Byward market area and 3) the Glebe/South Ottawa. If you have more specific questions just let me know

I am a current student at NPSIA and I don't think that they are having an official open house/program information night but I could be wrong. With that said, I am more than happy to answer questions about the school, program, faculty etc. either on here, via pm or in person if you want to grab a coffee/lunch when you come to visit. Just let me know and congrats on your acceptance, it's an amazing school!

Hey everyone, Glad to have found this thread. I will be starting at NPSIA in September as well (PhD program) and am keen to meet some new people. I am also from BC originally but living overseas at the moment. My girlfriend is doing her MA at the University of Ottawa so we are trying to find a place downtown as well. Thanks to jojik for the post about centretown being a good place to live - I pm'd you, but in case you don't get it, if you can send me some more info about your apartment it would be greatly appreciated. We are going to be arriving in Ottawa on the 14th of August so we are a bit worried about finding accommodation. It seems like the leases only start on the 1st so we may have to secure a place before we get there. Does anyone have any advice on this? Also does anyone know how the cost of living in Ottawa is compared to other cities like Vancouver or Toronto? If you live downtown and go to Carleton is it a good idea to have a car or do most people use public transit? We would like to avoid getting a car but if the commute is bad we might need one. Any other tips or advice anyone can share would be great, and for those who are new as well, we should set up a meet and greet for late August/early September! Cheers, Joe

Thanks for the update Amy. I haven't ever been there and its good to hear that it is nice. I am arriving in August and have been looking at apartments online. I am 26 too and going to be living with my girlfriend. We really want to get a dog so I am hoping I can find a place with a backyard but I don't know if that will be possible. I also noticed that parking is expensive and have decided to sell my car and rely on public transport, but who knows, if we really end up needing a car I will have to buy another one. I am definitely leaning towards living in the Glebe but it does cost more than other areas, so we will see. I am planning on spending about $1000 a month all in, so I hope we can find something for that price.

I am starting my PhD studies in the fall at Carleton; I have never lived in Ottawa before, I am from BC and have only spent one weekend there, so I would love to get some tips and advice as well. I have been looking at apartments on craigslist and kijiji and have narrowed the best areas down to the Glebe and the "Golden Triangle" (off Elgin street), since my girlfriend is going to be attending the University of Ottawa for her Masters too, and those locations are both in between the two campuses. Let's get this thread going and maybe we can get some advice and bounce some ideas off each other. I am arriving in August so I'm a bit worried about finding a place right away...

Got an email on March 21st confirming admission to PhD program at NPSIA. No word on funding yet. Does anyone know what kind of funding has been given in the past for this program or what I can expect this year? Thanks and congrats to everyone who got in to their programs!!