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Anyone applying for iSchool for the Fall 2018 term? Couldn't find any active forums so I thought I would start one to discuss applications and whatnot!

Hey, I am wondering who else has applied to the MT program at OISE! What concentration did you apply for, what teachable(s), and what did your application look like? I applied to intermediate/senior for biology & social science. I had volunteer experience in a high school and ~4.0 GPA average in my last two years.

Hey Everyone! I haven't been able to find a thread for uoft ischool so I thought I would just start it here. I haven't heard back yet, I applied on January 31st for the program as well as OGS, I was wondering if anyone has found out if they have been accepted or rejected yet? I know they told us we would hear by the 3rd, but with that approaching so quickly I just thought it would be useful to have this forum. Best of luck to everyone! Thanks in advance for the responses!

Hello everyone, I thought I would start a forum for people to ask and answer questions regarding the MIRHR graduate program at The University of Toronto for 2018. Good luck to everyone who is applying!

This thread is for anyone applying to the Munk School of Global Affairs program for Fall 2018.

Hello everyone! I thought to start this SSHRC-M thread for UofT. Feel free to join and let's wait it out together...!

Hello everyone, Thought I would make a group for those applying to Master of Health Informatics at University of Toronto for Fall 2017. Perhaps we can keep each other updated regarding interviews, acceptances, etc. Other health informatics programs at other universities are welcome too! Good luck!

Hello all, it has been 10 days since I accepted my offer at U of Toronto's ECE app. website, after which they sent me an email saying that they'll start working on my offer papers and send them to me when they're done. How long should I wait before sending them a reminder ? Thanks

I am currently debating between UofT's MPP program and Carleton's MPPA program, however I am struggling to find someone who has completed either program. Does anyone have an opinion on either school's policy program? Does anyone know if UofT's program is heavy on the math/econ side?

Hi, I'm debating whether I should go into CMU-Pitt CompBio PhD program or UofToronto CS for Masters, with conditional offer for PhD after completion of Masters. In short, I'm currently in UofT, working with my possibly future advisor if I were to stay. I really like my lab and my advisor, but I do feel that the UofT CS courses are not as instructive/organized/structured as CMU-Pitt ones, esp in ML and computational genomics. In point-form: UofToronto CS: pros: - like the lab/research advisor a lot - current grad students in the lab are very helpful and friendly - I'm already a UofT student - my family and friends are here cons: - courses are not as helpful and students are not as guided - may take longer to complete a PhD - not as much emails about internship/work postings in comp bio CMU-Pitt CompBio: pros: - the directors of the program seem to care a lot about the student - students seem closer to each other since they all have to take the same courses in 1st year - courses seem very structured and can give comprehensive view of the field - they also have courses on writing a journal, etc, so I would say they guide the students a lot - students get email about intern/work postings all the time cons: - I don't know what it's like working with the possible advisors/the culture of the labs. There are rotations though - away from family and friends -> this might be good thing due to less distractions Any advice is appreciated!

Hello everyone, Thought I would make a group for those applying to Master of Health Informatics at University of Toronto for Fall 2018. Perhaps we can keep each other updated regarding interviews, acceptances, etc. Good luck!

Hi everyone, I'm considering applying into the University of Alberta for Environmental and Occupational Health. For those who were admitted into the program what was your GPA? I'm just trying to understand what the competitive average is. Also, did you come straight from undergrad or did you work for a few years?

Hi all, I'm currently accepted for a MSc in ECE as an international student at both UofT and UBC in Canada. I'm confused to accept one over the other. Here are some info regarding both programs: UofT: 1- GRA Funding of 41k CAD/year (from which I'll pay 23,700 CAD/year for tuition and leaving to me around 17k CAD/year for living expenses). 2- Co-supervised by two professors (one of them is well-known in the research area). 3- Research project is 70% interesting to me. UBC: 1- GRA Funding of 18k CAD/year (from which I'll pay around 5K CAD/year for tuition and leaving 13K CAD/year for living expenses). 2- Supervisor is not well-known 3- Research done with Nvidia. 4- Research project is 100% interesting to me. After finishing my MSc degree, my goal is to work in the industry in Canada. I need to know whether my funding offer meets the average funding at both programs, whether both funding offers are sufficient to fully depend on them, and please advise me which offer should I accept. Thanks!

I love doing research, no doubt about that. I have 4 publications in international journals by the time I finished my Bachelors of which two were first-author. However, I realize the cost of a PhD - in terms of the time - that I cannot afford. Instead I have chosen Masters for probably having my last official research experience (though I am sure I would continue that independently later). So, I want to do research in Masters, but settle in the industry later as opposed to going for a PhD. With these possibly conflicting issues, I had applied to MSc at UBC and MSc AC at UofT. What do you suggest? If the UofT brand largely shadows UBC later for jobs, I would rather go there. Also, if the MSc AC included research component that is more of fundamental than applied, I would be okay. Since I would be going for a job for sure later anyhow (but applying to have my last dedicated research experience - to which I am fully committed), let me know what you would do if you were me? Thanks.

Hey guys, I am hoping someone who has attended either Uoft, UWO or McMaster for their MPH program can help provide some insight on the strengths and weaknesses of the program they attended. I am not really looking to do a thesis, but I love the idea of a practicum or cumulative project and a team oriented learning environment So what really sets these programs apart from each other? Thanks

University of Toronto, checking in! Thought I'd start a thread incase anyone else is out there in the void...

To everyone that applied to architecture, landscape architecture or urban design, did you hear anything yet? I emailed the department today. I'll post if/when I get a reply.

Didn't see a thread about the MSc.Pl program at UofT. Saw someone post an acceptance this morning on the results page. Anyone else hear any news? I contacted Marija in mid February and this year she said they received over 200 applicants for approximately 30 spots. I applied on February 1 and haven't heard anything FYI.

Anyone get into Toronto's religious studies program? Planning on visiting? I'm heading later this month for the religion, culture, politics are and am looking to touch base with other prospective students.

I thought I would start this chat, seeing that the first round of acceptances will be given out shortly. My last years sessional gap was 3.88 also from UofT and CGPA is 3.74.I have over 3 years of government experience working at the provincial and municipal level and have done various policy based research projects with professors. Hoping to hear back soon... fingers crossed.

Hey guys, I was wondering about who has applied to bachelor of education or teaching programs in Ontario! I have some questions: Which schools have you applied to? For what age concentration? What are your teachables? What was your GPA? What relevant experience did you have? I've applied to OISE, UOIT, and York for intermediate/senior. My teachables are biology & social science. I had a ~4.0 GPA in my last 2 years. I worked in a local high school for the past 2 years.

Just wondering if anyone has been offered admission to msw programs in canada for advanced standing and two year applicants!

I've never used this site before and not sure what I'm doing but I just felt like I should inform everyone that I am scared... SHITLESS! Currently looking for future careers/jobs in case I don't get accepted into the Two Year MSW program for September 2017!!!! I hope I get in but damn it looks competitive reading past forums and people's background/experience/grades, etc.

the working title for this article, before I ran out of steam and insights, was "how incompetence and greed have spawned yet another fruitless policy degree" I am a recent graduate of UofT’s School of Public Policy and Governance (SPPG), and I am unemployed. I cannot tell you how public policy is formulated (I do know it is generally a governmental response to something), or how to write it (charts are important but who knows how to make those). I could not pick the best public policy document out of a stack and tell you it was the most feasible (I would probably choose the one with the most charts, and jargon). For the two-year all-in price tag of $35,000 (the most expensive public policy program in the country), here is what I can tell you: income inequality is rising in Canada, Canadians are having less children, immigrants are great for the economy, many public policies reflect the interests of certain groups, “program evaluation” is a field which exists although no one understands it, an opportunity cost refers to the savings realized by not doing something, the Ontario Public Service is one of the largest and best employers in the country, and I think that about covers it. In other words, I would equate the SPPG MPP education to regularly following articles in the Globe and Mail. The program suffers from a myriad of issues which are mainly due to choices made by SPPG administration and the University of Toronto, and few of which are due to the larger challenges plaguing higher education in Western Nations. Most significantly, SPPG itself is not its own department within UofT, which from my understanding, significantly curtails its autonomy and authority in deciding how it is run. When the program doubled its cohort in size from 40 to 80 students at only a few years since its inception, despite its obvious growing pains and shaky foothold within the Ontario public policy landscape, that was probably a decision made out of greed at higher levels of UofT’s administration. The Munk School of Global Affairs incidentally suffered the same fate. This is the first way in which greed has negatively impacted students of the program. The second way in which greed has affected the program, is through the decision to have it structured as a two year offering, rather than one (such as the $9,000 program at Ryerson which boasts higher graduate placement rates, or the $7,000 program at Queens which acts as a feeder program to the federal as well as provincial government). While a two year professional program could certainly be designed to benefit students, through more in-depth training of skills actively sought by employers (including actual quantitative analysis, project management, and report-writing) SPPG uses its two years as a cash-cow of billings for professors from other faculties, which peddle lukewarm and at times clearly out-of-touch mandatory courses including: “Ethics in the Public Sector”, “Legal Analysis in Public Policy”, “Comparative Public Policy”, “The Social-Context of Policy-Making”, and finally the disturbingly impractical “Capstone” final course. The third way in which greed has affected the program, is through its annual appointment of high-level public sector “fellows” such as former Premier Dalton McGuinty, Ontario Public Service head Peter Wallace, and Liberal MP Bob Rae. SPPG finances the sponsoring of these individuals, which may make the occasional speech at program events, or teach the odd session, on the backs of its students. The program’s tuition rises yearly by around $1000, another appointment is made, the school attracts attention and higher enrolment due to the fellowship appointment, and the actual cohort receives zero benefit. The pristine, empty offices of the fellows (which all reside on the top floor of the Canadiana building) are surely a sting to the program’s actual professors as well, which reside in the basement, four floors down. And for those who might think that fellows bring with them a network of connections to which students can access, or short-cuts to employment, let me assure you no such benefit exists at all. Dalton was all smiles at the orientation and kick-off to the fall 2015 orientation of the program, but come May 2016, he was nowhere to be seen. Speaking of the program’s professors, SPPG’s non-departmental status has had much more insidious effects on its cohort than its current bloated size (future students: prepare for “seminar” courses with 20+ students in boardrooms which require you to take seats against the edge of the room, or lecture courses in UC which require you to ask professors if they would refrain from writing at the bottom of the whiteboard, since it is challenging to see from 10+ rows back). The most negative effect of SPPG’s current status has been on its faculty recruitment. Most of the professors at the school have no experience in government whatsoever. As such, the MPP degree is more accurately described as an extension of an undergraduate degree in political science, rather than the “professional degree” which it touts to be. For evidence of this, look no further than the program’s recent appointment of its new director, Peter Loewen, an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. The University claims Loewen was selected after an international recruitment campaign, but having read his exclusively academic credentials, and complete lack of public sector or policy development experience, such claims due a poor job at covering the fact that the organization of UofT has found a nice nesting spot for one of its own – to the detriment of MPP students. The recruitment of Peter Loewen is reflective of another dysfunctional trend at the program, faculty departures. The two year period 2014-2016 saw the departure of the founding director Mark Stabile (unfortunately founding administrator Anita Srinivasan did not follow suit), former Mowat Centre director Matthew Mendelsohn (one of the only professors at the school with actual public policy experience), etc. Loewen’s first official act himself as new Director of SPPG speaks volumes about the kind of policy school SPPG is, for it was to take sabbatical at Princeton University. Turning to curriculum, perhaps the greatest failure of the program is its lack of professional development, or teaching of hard skills. To this end, the program offers one 3-hour workshop on writing a briefing note, and a few optional introductory type courses on Excel and data-visualization software Tableau. Upon graduating, you will not have a portfolio of professional work that any public or private sector employer will be impressed by during an interview. You will have a handful of academic papers with proper citations. If in the event I have not persuaded you to not attend SPPG. Maybe because the glowing call of “University of Toronto” is enough to overshadow the money you’ll save, and real employer-sought skills you will learn elsewhere – I will end with some final remarks on how to best navigate the program, based on observation and my own experience: Your job first and foremost, should be to network. There are no awards or employment opportunities for getting high marks on assignments. · All of the professional development events organized by the school are useless, in that their ratio of employer to SPPG student averages around 1:10. Strike out on your own, start by talking to professors and affiliated · The vast majority of graduates who find employment after graduating from the program are hired back on to their internship units from the previous summer.

I have been agonizing over this decision for the past few months, and I'm completely torn apart and exhausted. I've received offers of admission from U of T's Dalla Lana School of Public Health and Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health for the MPH in Epidemiology program, but I cannot decide between the two. Columbia PROS- brand name, ivy league, amazing network, living in nyc, better job opportunities (?) if i choose to pursue a career right after my degree, better support from career services, program has a thesis project which will be good if i choose to pursue a phd afterwards, independence/learning how to live by myself Columbia CONS- costs $150k CAD over two years including living expenses, the exchange rate USD/CAD is horrible so everything will be more expensive, higher cost of living, being away from home, cost of plane tickets to and from parents' place, no $$$ left to enjoy nyc after spending money on tuition, no $$$ left if i want to do law afterwards (i've recently been attracted to law because i've been paying more attention to my options), new country and school system will take time to get used to, program has only one practicum U of T PROS- costs 50k canadian, close to home, family support, easy to get used to because i did my undergrad at uoft too, saving $$$ so will be able to do unpaid internships and pursue law afterwards, program has an option to do one practicum or two practica, best mph program in canada U of T CONS- did my undergrad at uoft too, no master's thesis project (bad if i wanna do a phd afterwards), fewer support services from university, worse job opportunities (?) upon graduation, the thought that i might regret turning down columbia for the rest of my life I'm not sure which program will open more doors for me, or provide better job prospects upon graduation, and I don't know if I'm using the right metrics to judge the two schools, and regardless of the aforementioned issue, I'm not sure which to pick. HELP?!