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Hi everyone! I'm planning to apply to the MA in Political Science at UBC for the September 2021 intake (I've got everything ready but the three recommendation letters but that shouldn't be a problem) Here's my "stats": GPA of the last two years (BA degree): 3.73/4.0 and 3.8/4.0. My final grade was 110 cum laude which in my country (Italy) is the highest you can get TOEFL: 107/120 Extra curricular: sadly not much except for the fact I've spent a semester in China (my BA is in East Asian studies, so I want to conduct research into Asian politics at UBC as it's one of their strengths) and that I've done my internship abroad (Taiwan). Also my final dissertation centers around Asian politics I also hold an HSK5 for Chinese and a N3 for Japanese so I have a certified intermediate level for both languages I have no idea about my chances of being admitted tbh, so if anyone could help me understand what my chances are and/or give me some heads up I'd be extremely thankful!

Hi political scientists. I have been preparing my application for 2021 MA application at UBC. I was hoping some one may have some advice about what classes should I take and an evaluation for my profile. Here are my stats. Undergrad Institution: Known research university in Vancouver, Major Communication (current CGPA 3.85) Minor Political Science. Relevant courses: Pre cal (A-), Introductory Stat (A-), Communication quant research (A+), Communication qual reseach (A), Political Economy (A-) Political Science courses: Introduction (A), Introductory game theory (A+), Intro Pol quant in R (A+), 2 courses in Pol Intermidiate quant (A, A-), International Relation (A) GRE: not required Type of student: International female Applying to: UBC MA Pol Sci, SFU MA Pol Sci, U of Vic MA Pol Sci Research experience: only through coursework, can coworking with a PhD student in writting a paper. My profile is weak in many dimensions. Fortunately, I have 2 more semesters to improve. Unfortunately, I have no idea what committee is finding at applicant. Could you please advice; Could you please advice me on what additional classes I should take to improve my chance of getting into these programs? What should I do to improve my current weak profile And, generally, what makes a good candidate applicant for UBC MA? in term of GPA, courseworks, research experience Thank you for your help!! I appreciate any input, bashing, etc.

Is there anyone who has not received the application result for the application fall 2020? Has anyone been waitedlisted?

It's weird for waiting so long. I guess my chance is slim.Asking for the application progress two times, always get an official general response. What's wrong with this department......., let's be quick, the result is not that matter.

Hey! Has anyone here applied to UBC IRES for their Ph.D. program? Have you heard back?

Just wondering if anybody has heard back yet from UBC's School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP)? I applied to their MCRP program and was told they start getting back to admitted applicants in early March. Haven't seen any 2018 posts in the results search but I thought I may as well ask here. If not, have any of you applied to the program as well? Or former/current students who may know if I have a chance? Haha, sorry, just a bit anxious along with everyone else here. Undergrad (Political Science) GPA: 3.8 (4.33 scale) MA (Political Science) GPA: 3.7 (4.0 scale) Presentations: 4 Publications: 2 (one undergrad and one grad student journal, though) Other stuff: TA experience, RA experience, two major funding awards and a variety of other smaller awards Many thanks, and best of luck to all of you!

Hi, I would like to know if there are any current grad students from UBC Vancouver here. I will be starting my PhD in linguistics at UBC in fall 20, and would love to get in touch with the current/upcoming students beforehand! Cheers! -Aaditya

A thread for political science and global affairs applicants 2020! A place to share worries, post decisions, and wish each other good luck!

Thread for MA Political Science applicants at Canadian universities! Let's wait it out together.

Hi. I've received admits from University of British Columbia, Vancouver and McGill University, Montreal. Both these are funded masters programs. I'm unable to choose between the two! I like the McGill research topic better. The stipend value is also greater here. Plus Montreal is much more cheaper than Vancouver. However, Vancouver is an amazing city to be in and I wouldn't want to miss it(?). Also, not being a francophone might hurt me in Montreal. Any inputs from seniors would be appreciated. For UBC: MASc in Mechanical Engineering For McGill: MEngg (thesis) in Biological and Biomedical Engineering My research interest is along the lines of microfluidics. I am someone who wishes to join the academia, and would be looking into PhD opportunities post this masters.

Is Political science Masters program in UBC strong??

hi! I was admitted to both University of Toronto and University of British Columbia for a master of architecture this fall 2019. I need some opinions from objective outside sources to help me make my decision! Which do you think is a better school? For reference, UBC is offering me a semesters worth of advance credits and the tuition is nearly 10K less than U of T. BUT U of T is a more internationally renowned school, is where I did my undergrad and is close to my home. They gave me an entrance scholarship but not enough to cover the 10K difference in tuition, and no advanced placement. The biggest concern for me is moving across the country to Vancouver when I have some important familial responsibilities near Toronto that make it challenging to leave. Anyway internet stranger, please help me decide!

hi! I was admitted to both University of Toronto and University of British Columbia for a master of architecture this fall 2019. I need some opinions from objective outside sources to help me make my decision! Which do you think is a better school? For reference, UBC is offering me a semesters worth of advance credits and the tuition is nearly 10K less than U of T. BUT U of T is a more internationally renowned school, is where I did my undergrad and is close to my home. They gave me an entrance scholarship but not enough to cover the 10K difference in tuition, and no advanced placement. The biggest concern for me is moving across the country to Vancouver when I have some important familial responsibilities near Toronto that make it challenging to leave. Anyway internet stranger, please help me decide!

Hi all, I officially committed to UBC today for my PhD in Geography. As I'm an international student from the United States and won't have any close family or friends in the Vancouver area, it would be great to start building a network of ALL UBC Masters and PhD students. Comment here to connect and share what you'll be doing at UBC. This would also be a great place to share housing, neighborhood, activities and such. A bit about me: Married, have a dog, enjoy hiking and the outdoors, looking forward to Vancouver coffee culture. Cheers, C

Hello, Any response from UBC English department yet? The wait is becoming unbearable!

Has anyone heard from UBC Sauder? Anybody done an interview? Any results?

Almost ready to join UBC MDS program for September 2019. (Waiting for Michigan Ann Arbor!) Anyone else joining UBC? Would love to connect. P.S - International Student

Hi! I have accepted an offer from UBCO for fall of 2018. I would love to connect with some other inbound students. I did not see a topic for the Okanagan campus, so I thought I would start one up! I will be new to the area, so it would be wonderful to know some great people when I get there. Please feel free to contact me here or via PM. I would be thrilled to chat with currently attending students as well. Thank you!

Hi everyone! I am coming into political science with a global health background, so I'm still familiarizing myself with the dynamics of the political science job market and inside info on different schools. I've been accepted to the University of British Columbia, Northwestern University, University of California Irvine and University of Southern California. Like a lot of people, I'm still waiting to hear back from the University of Toronto. Right now I am deciding between UBC and NWU. If I get into U of T then I'll need to decide between UBC, U of T and NWU, because those three are my top choices. I'm curious if anyone has advice/insights about each school or the job market post-grad in general that can help me with my decision. For some context: I see myself pursuing an academic appointment in a department of political science or a school of public health to research and teach as well as be in a position to advise or advocate for particular laws/policies based on my scholarship. I am also open to career opportunities in the NGO sector with organizations that have a research and/or policy advocacy mandate. I'm Canadian, so after graduation I would prefer to find a placement at a Canadian university or institution, though I'm of course open to others in Europe or the US. I've been in discussions with a faculty member at each school and asked them questions about strategies for placing students, department work culture and specific questions re: my interdisciplinary research topic. Several faculty at each of the school have significant experience in my research area. I plan to email some current graduate students to get their insights as well. Aside from any general advice you might have, below are some questions I'd be curious to get feedback on: Recommendations for key questions to ask program admin and faculty? Although I know that supervisors or other faculty play a big role in placing students, I'm curious about how important the role of school or department prestige in grad placement? In the case that I do want to pursue a placement in a US university (e.g. post-doc, assistant prof), how is a Canadian PhD regarded by US universities? Vice versa, in general, how is a US education regarded by Canadian universities? (I assume given the large number of schools in the states, this evaluation varies by the prestige/reputation of each school) Thanks in advance for taking the time to give some advice!

Hey guys, So I applied to the University of British Columbia (UBC), McGill University, University of Toronto, and York University (all in Canada) for my PhD in Political Science. Has anyone else applied and heard back from them?? I'm really anxious to hear back!

Any update ?

I thought UBC Computer Science starts sending out acceptances from late Jan. But, still nothing from them. Any idea anyone?

Hey Guys! I have applied to the following unis for a masters in computer science for fall 2019: 1. ETH Zurich 2. University of Waterloo 3. University of British Columbia 4. McGill University My profile is as follows: 1. GPA 3.7/4 (BSc Computer Science from University of Bahrain, best in my country) 2. GRE: 166Q 160V 4.5AWA 3. IELTS: 8.5 4. A senior project on facial recognition using deep learning 5. A year of relevant work experience that includes developing websites and web apps, and teaching robotics and programming to kids. *No publications or significant research experience (except for a term paper and a few other projects done as part of my bachelor) Given the information, what do you guys think are my chances? I was pretty confident when applying, but pretty nervous now. Anybody who's been admitted into any of these programs, what do you think about my chances? Any information is appreciated :) Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone! I am applying for a Doctorate in Psychology at UBC. I have pretty much completed my application but for the funding section, though I am late to apply for a lot of the available scholarships, the site says I can apply for it after joining if I am accepted. Also, UBC has a minimum funding policy for all accepted graduates. There is a section in the funding part of the application that asks if I would join if I didn't get funding and I can choose 'likely' or 'unlikely'. Since I have funds available to fund at least the first year, after which I can apply for funding, I have chosen 'likely'. I am hoping I will be able to apply for funding late if I get accepted. My question is, would this factor into the selection process? I have listed all the scholarships I would be applying for in the future in my application. Is anyone else applying for PhDs in psychology at UBC? Help!

I would like to provide some information regarding the reality of getting admitted to top 5 ranked Canadian graduate schools in the Computer Science Program. I work in the field and it appears to me that many applicants are not aware of some of the basic requirements to be admitted that are not overtly stated but definitely required. Unfortunately, I am unable to reveal my university or position as I wish to remain anonymous. Most of the time, you MUST have previous degree from a top school of your country, especially for students with a degree outside of Canada/USA/UK. This is extremely crucial for international students and unless you meet this requirement, it is extremely difficult to be admitted. For most countries, you will need to be in the top 5-10 universities in your country (excluding Canada/US/UK/India). For India, UK, and Canada you will generally need to be in the top 20 universities and for the US, top 50 may be considered, however, top 20 has a greater chance of being admitted. One of the first considerations of the reviewer is the school in which you graduated and how that school ranks in your country. To elaborate, having a degree from a top university is important because this is the only sure way to prove that you are performing well academically because the teaching standard and research caliber of top schools are widely recognized and can easily be compared top Canadian universities. It is impossible for each top Canadian university to understand the teaching, grading and research standard of hundreds of thousands of universities in the world, including many in a foreign language with public and private systems and most reviewers will not dig around for information regarding unknown institutions. For example, there are some universities that give a grade of 75% or above to only one in a few thousand students, whereas another university can have a graduating average of 3.7 GPA. With variations like these, unless you graduated from a top university in your country where the general grading trend and teaching quality is recognized by the Canadian school, your chances of admission are slim to none. Furthermore, the other reason a top university is important is that reviewers want to see reference letters from colleagues or faculty they know and value the opinions of. Since most top researchers in Computer Science meet in major conferences, presentations and events around the world, they are aware of each other’s work, reputation and standards when writing and reading reference letters. Most of these outstanding members of the academic community are also positioned in top schools coinciding with the reviewer’s search applications from top schools. The top Canadian graduate programs in Computer Science receive over 1000 and sometimes even over 2000 applications per year, with three reference letters per application this is an astronomical number of letters to read. Taking this number into account, while the content of reference letters matter, the respectability of the reference writer is arguably even more important. For example, a reviewer reading 100 applications a day would have to read 300 reference letters, 100 of them may indicate that the student is in the top 10% of their program. In the end, being top 10% may not mean anything because there are too many top 10%s and it does not indicate the quality of the student or education. Moreover, there have been examples where the same reference writer indicated that three different students from the same year and class were the number one student in their class. In cases like these, reviewers go back to looking at the top universities, since the caliber of education is known, and they may know the reference writers, therefore, ensuring the letter is reliable. If you believe that there are many exceptions to the rule, consider that the admission data from the previous year from one of the top Canadians schools: only TWO offers out of more than 100 offers made were outside of the guidelines above. Of course, an excellent statement, GPA, reference letters, GRE, and English proficiency are also required even from a top university. Moreover, other factors such as publications, conference experience, research projects and work experience, other achievements are also considered, however, if you do not meet the top university requirement, you will likely need astounding achievements in the other factors to even be considered for admission. The information provided refers to research Master’s and PhD programs in top Canadian universities and does not necessarily reflect industry targeted master’s programs in Computer Science. I am happy to answer any questions or clarify any points, feel free to contact me or respond to this post.