MPA/MPP Applications, Fall 2018 (Canada)

[celineemilylg]

3 hours ago, vsbp said:

Thanks! I applied back in December. And yes I had an email saying it was being sent for review. I received the admission email yesterday. I am a domestic applicant from Toronto. 

Good luck!

Thanks for letting me know! I am also a domestic applicant from Toronto. I'm happy for you. Are you considering accepting the offer? By the way, if you don't mind me asking, did the offer email mention anything about funding?

Cheers!

[Oliveira28]

14 hours ago, Hopefulmpp2018 said:

Hi Everyone!

Just to let everyone applying to the MPP program at SFU. I contacted Dawn at the School of Public Policy regarding receiving a response. She states " we will commence the acceptance process in March and it will run until June (or before once the cohort is full)". I hope this helps. I am really hoping that we hear something in March. Honestly, I don't think I can wait too long.

For those of you who got into Ontario schools, what are your stats/grades? I am sorry if that sounds rude...

I only applied to SFU as a domestic student as I want to live in Vancouver at this time.  I don't haven't found any information about applicants in previous years that have applied to SFU.

My stats as I applied to SFU are:

• GPA: 3.3 ( My grades a bit all over the place as I had to full time and go to school full time.  I am not using this as an excuse but as an explanation of what happened to my grades)
• Undergraduate degrees: Bachelor of Social Work from UVic and Bachelor of Science in Psychiatric Nursing at Douglas College.
• Work/Volunteer Experience: I have over 10 years working at Fraser Health Authority as a Dialysis Technician and Nurse. Volunteered with MS Society of Canada, Patient Voices Network, Greater Vancouver Food Bank and Access Pro Bono.  I was affiliated with College of Social Work and Psychiatric Nursing in BC.

I suppose I will "Keep calm and wait on"

Thank you for the information regardinf the SFU acceptance process. I'm so anxious. I hope we hear from them soon!

[mppmgaapplicant2018]

Got into Queen's moments ago. For anyone interested, feel free to message me to inquire about my stats. 

Edited February 23, 2018 by mppmgaapplicant2018

[bureaucat]

This is a copy-paste of my post from another thread buried in the Psychology sub-forum (for some reason there was a Canadian MPA/MPP thread in there), but I just want to share this here to help folks make an informed decision, especially if they applied to Dalhousie's MPA program:

I'd like to give a recent perspective (graduated in June 2016) on Dalhousie's MPA program for anyone who is weighing their options or considering applying (since you can apply until June). I'm going to get into some detail here, as I hope this post will help applicants make an informed decision about their MPA education for years to come, in the absence of other students/alumni speaking up. I made this post extremely detailed because I don't want anyone to spend the ~$18k for a program that you don't know enough about and end up regretting. This post provides some general advice for MPA applications as well.

Overall experience: Would I recommend Dal's MPA? Maybe. It depends on what your goal is and what your other options are. If you want to work in the federal public service, go to Carleton or Ottawa. By virtue of their location, these are feeder schools for the feds. You will have plentiful co-op opportunities across departments, you can work throughout the school year through FSWEP, and this makes it infinitely easier to get into the federal government when you graduated through "student bridging" (i.e. a hiring manager can appoint you to a position without running a months-long selection process with tests, interviews, etc.).

If you want to work for a provincial government, do an MPA program in that province. Although there is no bridging mechanism for the Ontario government, UofT and Queen's seem to successfully push their grads in that direction. If you want to work for a municipal government, generally you should go to the closest-located MPA program, except in Ontario, where you should consider Western's MPA that focuses on local government. If you want to do a PhD or pursue public policy research, Dal is not for you. Dal's MPA is course-based only, there are very limited research opportunities, and hardly any leading scholars left (shout out to Jeffrey Roy).

If you only applied/got accepted to Dal, it's still worth going instead of waiting a year. By the time you graduate you will have taken all the courses that government employers want you to have (and many more). You will have government work experience (Dal's internship has had a 100% placement rate since it started 15+ years ago). Dal's program is more professional than academic, which governments appreciate. They recently added a professional development certificate program, which students hate but employers like. The bottom line is that you will not be that knowledgeable in any area of public policy (most courses are focused on public administration/management), but you will know how government works, and you will be very employable.

Employment prospects: Pretty good. The Dal MPA is still a valued and well-regarded degree among government organizations (side note: don't get an MPA if you want to start your career in the non-profit or private sectors). Although your chances of being bridged into the federal government are lower than Ottawa-based programs, this program will equip you with the laundry list of qualifications that most government jobs require: econ, stats, policy analysis, research methods, government work experience, etc. When you're applying for a government job, it really doesn't matter where you went to school (unless you're a Rhodes/Marshall scholar or something). It's on you to demonstrate you have the qualifications -- your degree will not speak for you.

Some anecdotal data: although I haven't kept in touch with everyone in my graduating class (~25), many of them got government jobs (ON, NS, Feds) within 6 months of graduation (including me) -- keeping in mind that application processes can take several months. 

Value for money: Okay. All in, the Dal MPA will cost you about $18,000. There are no entrance scholarships greater than $1000. There are a few little cash scholarships throughout the program ($800, $500, $1000), but nothing substantial. There are more expensive programs, but they usually offer more financial support. Fortunately, it's easy to get TA positions every semester ($1500-3000/semester). You are also near-guaranteed a summer internship that pays ~$10-12k for the summer. So, you can earn about a year's tuition through TAing and the internship, but you do have to work for it. 

Teaching quality: Poor. Honestly, this is my main complaint about Dal. Most of the curent group of core MPA instructors are terrible teachers -- disorganized, disinterested, or sometimes even disrespectful. It's very apparent that the School of Public Admin is in a state of flux; the golden age of the Dal MPA (which has been around since 1968) has passed, which is really too bad. The school used to be much better, with the likes of Aucoin, Pross, Brown, Lindquist, Bakvis (all have since died, retired, or moved), whose work you will read in any MPA/MPP program. The permanent faculty has continued to shrink, replacing PhDs with adjunct instructors who recently retired from government, shifting the balance too much in my view. If you're looking to be inspired by your professors, look elsewhere.

Courses: Okay. The program is very course-heavy: 17 courses over 4 semesters, plus the summer internship. The first year of the program is all mandatory courses: these are the courses that governments want you to have under your belt. They are a mix of quantitative and qualitative courses, and unfortunately the quantitative courses are terrible, but you suffer through them to get the credits. In second year, you have mostly elective courses, which is somewhat misleading because the course offerings are quite limited, so you will have to take certain courses just to fill your schedule. There are virtually zero "<insert topic> policy" courses; Dal focuses heavily on public administration/management. Fortunately, you can take up to 3 courses in other departments, which you will do to find better instructors.

Halifax: Love/hate. I loved Halifax. Many people (mostly from Toronto) did not. For a smaller city, it has many of the amenities of a large city (being not only the provincial capital, but the de facto regional capital). In my opinion, it was a great place to spend 2 years. I enjoyed making weekend trips to see the rest of Atlantic Canada, and I appreciated the laid back atmosphere of the city. The weather is not great -- lots of precipitation year-round, damp, windy (lots of snow days!). But the temperate (but short) summer weather was great.

TL;DR: Dal should not be your first choice, unless it is your only choice. Frankly, there are better MPA programs for every career goal (feds, province, municipal, PhD/research), unless you want to live and work in Atlantic Canada. But you will have all the qualifications public sector employers want you to have, you will have government experience, and you will be employable. 

[Pound Cake]

Looking forward to seeing all of the successful UofT MPP applicants in September! I was accepted in 2017, but got my admission deferred to this year.

[Skerr]

Hi everyone, I applied to the MPA program at Queen's, and received an offer of admission on February 22nd! They promised "a minimum of $5,000 in financial support in the absence of any other major scholarship support" as well as "the opportunity to apply for one of a limited number of research assistantships in August"

Does any one know if this 'minimum' amount of funding is likely to increase at all? 

Thanks, and best of luck to everyone with their applications!  

[mppmgaapplicant2018]

2 hours ago, Skerr said:

Hi everyone, I applied to the MPA program at Queen's, and received an offer of admission on February 22nd! They promised "a minimum of $5,000 in financial support in the absence of any other major scholarship support" as well as "the opportunity to apply for one of a limited number of research assistantships in August"

Does any one know if this 'minimum' amount of funding is likely to increase at all? 

Thanks, and best of luck to everyone with their applications!  

Yeap, can absolutely increase. However, I believe you'd have to accept the offer in order to receive further details on your funding. You could always call/email to inquire if there's a way around that.

Also, congratulations!   

[celineemilylg]

4 hours ago, mppmgaapplicant2018 said:

Yeap, can absolutely increase. However, I believe you'd have to accept the offer in order to receive further details on your funding. You could always call/email to inquire if there's a way around that.

Also, congratulations!   

 

6 hours ago, Skerr said:

Hi everyone, I applied to the MPA program at Queen's, and received an offer of admission on February 22nd! They promised "a minimum of $5,000 in financial support in the absence of any other major scholarship support" as well as "the opportunity to apply for one of a limited number of research assistantships in August"

Does any one know if this 'minimum' amount of funding is likely to increase at all? 

Thanks, and best of luck to everyone with their applications!  

Congratulations to you both! Did the offer say when you would need to accept it by? what is the deadline for accepting that offer? Thanks very much!

[Skerr]

3 hours ago, celineemilylg said:

 

Congratulations to you both! Did the offer say when you would need to accept it by? what is the deadline for accepting that offer? Thanks very much!

 

7 hours ago, mppmgaapplicant2018 said:

Yeap, can absolutely increase. However, I believe you'd have to accept the offer in order to receive further details on your funding. You could always call/email to inquire if there's a way around that.

Also, congratulations!   

mmpmgaapplicant2018, thank you - congratulations to you too! Fingers crossed that more funding is offered.

celineemilylg, they asked that I email them to indicate whether I intend to accept or decline their offer by March 14th, but the deadline to pay a deposit for them to hold my spot in the program is not due until June 1st.

[mppmgaapplicant2018]

2 hours ago, celineemilylg said:

 

Congratulations to you both! Did the offer say when you would need to accept it by? what is the deadline for accepting that offer? Thanks very much!

like Skerr, my deadline's on the 15th of next month with a deposit to be paid by June 1st.
 

1 hour ago, Skerr said:

 

mmpmgaapplicant2018, thank you - congratulations to you too! Fingers crossed that more funding is offered.

celineemilylg, they asked that I email them to indicate whether I intend to accept or decline their offer by March 14th, but the deadline to pay a deposit for them to hold my spot in the program is not due until June 1st.

  thanks! Is Queen's your first choice?

[Skerr]

12 hours ago, mppmgaapplicant2018 said:

like Skerr, my deadline's on the 15th of next month with a deposit to be paid by June 1st.
 

  thanks! Is Queen's your first choice?

Queen's is the only MPA program I applied to, but I also applied to two other MA programs. At the moment I'm leaning towards Queen's. How about you?

[mppmgaapplicant2018]

4 hours ago, Skerr said:

Queen's is the only MPA program I applied to, but I also applied to two other MA programs. At the moment I'm leaning towards Queen's. How about you?

Definitely seriously considering Queen's at the moment too. It's both economical (in terms of time and money) and well established. I'm waiting on responses from the MPP and MGA programs too, and haven't quite ordered my preferences in terms of which school I'd like to attend yet.  For now, Queen's is a highly attractive choice. Also, I've been searching up on alumni from the program, and the more I dig into it, the more inclined I feel to attend Queen's, haha.  

On a related note, March 15th feels a wee bit early to accept/decline the offer. I'm not entirely sure if I would've heard back from the other schools by then. 

Edited February 26, 2018 by mppmgaapplicant2018

[DCrSS]

My MPPA status for Carleton changed to 'Review in progress by Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs' today. Hopefully will hear something soon.

[StrawberryFields67]

@DCrSS The same for me as of yesterday, we'll see what happens! Is Carleton your first choice?

@guwajes Thanks for posting this again! I've read it over before and it was very helpful. I love Halifax but Dalhousie's program seems more focused on management and I'm more interested in the change-making process.

[Skerr]

On 2/26/2018 at 9:05 AM, mppmgaapplicant2018 said:

Definitely seriously considering Queen's at the moment too. It's both economical (in terms of time and money) and well established. I'm waiting on responses from the MPP and MGA programs too, and haven't quite ordered my preferences in terms of which school I'd like to attend yet.  For now, Queen's is a highly attractive choice. Also, I've been searching up on alumni from the program, and the more I dig into it, the more inclined I feel to attend Queen's, haha.  

On a related note, March 15th feels a wee bit early to accept/decline the offer. I'm not entirely sure if I would've heard back from the other schools by then. 

Definitely. Even though $5,000 isn't an insane amount of funding, its a year program, so that's only one year of tuition that you have to pay!

How have you been searching up on alumni? I'd definitely like to take a look

I want to pursue a career in child/family policy, and the program coordinator gave me the contact information of three alumni who work as policy analysts for the Ministry of Children and Youth Services. So that's reassuring! I'd definitely recommend emailing the program coordinator if you have questions about career prospects or about the program in general. She is so helpful!

And I already emailed them stating that I intend to accept their offer. I don't think your decision is considered 'official' until you pay the $300 deposit.  

[DCrSS]

15 hours ago, StrawberryFields67 said:

@DCrSS The same for me as of yesterday, we'll see what happens! Is Carleton your first choice?

@guwajes Thanks for posting this again! I've read it over before and it was very helpful. I love Halifax but Dalhousie's program seems more focused on management and I'm more interested in the change-making process.

Oh nice. Yeah I want the federal jobs the best and Carleton is apparently the best at it. What about you?

[mppmgaapplicant2018]

16 hours ago, Skerr said:

Definitely. Even though $5,000 isn't an insane amount of funding, its a year program, so that's only one year of tuition that you have to pay!

How have you been searching up on alumni? I'd definitely like to take a look

I want to pursue a career in child/family policy, and the program coordinator gave me the contact information of three alumni who work as policy analysts for the Ministry of Children and Youth Services. So that's reassuring! I'd definitely recommend emailing the program coordinator if you have questions about career prospects or about the program in general. She is so helpful!

And I already emailed them stating that I intend to accept their offer. I don't think your decision is considered 'official' until you pay the $300 deposit.  

I'm gunna shoot you a PM and avoid hijacking this thread  

[yegMPH]

Carleton offers are being sent out! Just received admission

[DCrSS]

29 minutes ago, yegMPH said:

Carleton offers are being sent out! Just received admission

Congrats, same just got it. Good luck everyone

[StrawberryFields67]

@yegMPH Congrats! I also just got accepted to Carleton!  Are you still waiting to hear back from other schools?

@DCrSS Congrats as well! That makes sense, Carleton was my de facto first choice as I didn't apply to any other schools. I'm based in Ottawa so I'd like to be near my loved ones for my master's degree.

[yegMPH]

28 minutes ago, StrawberryFields67 said:

@yegMPH Congrats! I also just got accepted to Carleton!  Are you still waiting to hear back from other schools?

@DCrSS Congrats as well! That makes sense, Carleton was my de facto first choice as I didn't apply to any other schools. I'm based in Ottawa so I'd like to be near my loved ones for my master's degree.

Congrats to you both! Yep, waiting to hear back on 5 other applications. Seems like a great program though!

[brmv]

I'm glad I've found this thread! Thanks for starting it.

I've applied for the MPPA at Ryerson. I'm hoping, like everyone, to hear from them soon. It makes me a bit anxious that someone else has already heard, but congratulations!

[DCrSS]

1 hour ago, StrawberryFields67 said:

@yegMPH Congrats! I also just got accepted to Carleton!  Are you still waiting to hear back from other schools?

@DCrSS Congrats as well! That makes sense, Carleton was my de facto first choice as I didn't apply to any other schools. I'm based in Ottawa so I'd like to be near my loved ones for my master's degree.

Congratsss  oh then perfect that makes sense. 

[vsbp]

On 2/21/2018 at 8:26 PM, celineemilylg said:

Thanks for letting me know! I am also a domestic applicant from Toronto. I'm happy for you. Are you considering accepting the offer? By the way, if you don't mind me asking, did the offer email mention anything about funding?

Cheers!

Thank you. They offered me $3000 in scholarship. I actually just received an offer from the University of Waterloo for their Master of Public Service program. I am trying to decide between these two. 

[newmem282]

So far i heard back from Ryerson and Carleton. I'm from Toronto and I would need to pass Intro to Economics (full year course, in addition to the program courses) by the end of first year at Carleton so leaning towards Ryerson but not sure. Waiting on Waterloo and UofT.

Some of these programs require a response in a week or two. So would it be possible to accept and later withdraw if we get more offers?

Good luck everyone

Edited March 1, 2018 by newmem282