Applying to Munk 2019, NPSIA, GSPIA, BSIA etc.

[bbbfan]

I was accepted to Munk, with no funding. Looking at external scholarships to help pay for first year tuition at least. In the final year of my undergraduate B.A. I thought that Munk would give smaller scholarships to a majority of it's admitted candidates, but I guess not. Hopefully the long term benefits outweigh the cost of the program. 

Edited March 19, 2019 by bbbfan

[akmunk]

Hello Everyone, 

Congrats to all that are accepted! Its a great feeling to read that acceptance email.

I am an International student and had been accepted for the Fall 18 intake in the MGA program. I decided to defer my admission to the Fall 19 intake and would hopefully start this year (but I am still not sure if I actually would). I’ve been a bit skeptic about the MGA program in general and also with regards to the work opportunities that once gets after the graduating. As you might have know that the fees for an international student is astronomical which is around CAD $41,500 per year (it was CAD $38,000 last year). This makes me question on my decision to join the program. I am very well aware that fees for international students have always been on a higher everywhere, but what concerns me more is the fact that will I be able to recover such a huge amount after graduating or is it worth investing this much in the MGA program. Once the tuition fee payment notifications are out in July, there would be the additional costs of UHIP (Health Insurance) and other miscellaneous expenses which would drive the total cost per year to around $44,000. I paid my tuition fee for one full year last year i.e fall 2018, but then decided to ask for a refund and defer the admission. What are your thoughts on this ? Any international students here who are facing similar dilemma as me ? If so, what’s your action plan now ? Where do Munk graduates stand after graduation ? 

[bbbfan]

Hello Akmunk, 

I am not an international student, but I was thinking about deferring my application, taking time to work/save, apply to more scholarships, and etc. I wish there was more information on careers/the work field after individuals graduate from Munk? 

[another_canuck]

7 hours ago, lily22 said:

I’m not sure when you have to get back to GSPIA by, but the program coordinator at Munk told my friend that all students would be notified of the status of their application within the next few days. 

Many acceptances have already gone out from Munk yesterday and it’s not in alphabetical order. I would wait it out a bit longer if you can — you should hear back from Munk soon. 

Thanks for the info, my deadline is March 28th, so I will wait until then.

[user647]

For domestic students, how much money for MGA will OSAP actually give? Is it correct that OSAP will not give enough money to cover a majority of the tuition costs? 

[another_canuck]

20 hours ago, d00n626 said:

Same here. (woo!)

Maybe it has something to do with Ford? Does anyone know if U of T has made an official statement on how the funding cut will affect scholarships?

No, it doesn't relate to Ford. Munk is rather stingy, when I was inquiring about funding in September, the program coordinator told me that if Munk was giving out scholarships, it wouldn't be more than $4k and no TA or RA positions because they're normally reserved for PhD students and that the program is professional, not academic.

[revalith]

17 minutes ago, maple_panda said:

No, it doesn't relate to Ford. Munk is rather stingy, when I was inquiring about funding in September, the program coordinator told me that if Munk was giving out scholarships, it wouldn't be more than $4k and no TA or RA positions because they're normally reserved for PhD students and that the program is professional, not academic.

I think that's just general stinginess - NPSIA is a professional-oriented program too and that doesn't stop them from providing a bit more funding than that.

[another_canuck]

1 hour ago, revalith said:

I think that's just general stinginess - NPSIA is a professional-oriented program too and that doesn't stop them from providing a bit more funding than that.

What I meant by Munk is "rather stingy" because they charge so much and only give peanuts back.

[modesteffect]

After days of research, I found gspia is really worth it- less than half of the price of Munk, research oriented, federal govt coop, overseas exchange, generous scholarship, French, etc

 

btw, the best schools in IR in Canada according to a professional survey among Canadians IR experts is:

Npsia 

munk

Gpsia

Edited March 19, 2019 by Chrisopps

[Timbit]

For anyone still waiting on Balsillie MAGG, I emailed the Program Director and he got back to me pretty quickly with a time estimate and confirmed I was put on their 'reversion list'/waitlist. Just thought I'd share in case anyone was in the same boat.

[snowflake96]

42 minutes ago, Chrisopps said:

After days of research, I found gspia is really worth it- less than half of the price of Munk, research oriented, federal govt coop, overseas exchange, generous scholarship, French, etc

 

btw, the best schools in IR in Canada according to a professional survey among Canadians IR experts is:

Npsia 

munk

Gpsia

Is there a Facebook page for GSPIA yet?

[Munkin]

11 hours ago, Munkie2020 said:

Current student
RE: funding
Munk is expensive. But in my opinion it's the best program in Canada because of its international recognition (UofT and Munk compared to Carlton and NPSIA) but that's my obviously a biased opinion. $25k a year, minus 6.5k from OSAP and 5k that Munk gave us in Jan/Feb from their extra finances (I think it's called UTAPS) that's less than 15k... yeah it's a lot, but that's Munk for you. Can't really help you out otherwise, you need to make that decision on your own because it is very important.... but then what's the long run diff between 15k a year and 7-8k somewhere  else.
There are a few scholarships available here and there, and a few RAships, but don't count on it.

Thank you for the reply! The cost is definitely expensive compared to other programs but I am super excited about the opportunities Munk offers and have saved up so I am all in. I am glad that as a current student you agree that it's worth it. I was mainly concerned/wondering about further scholarship opportunities but this helped - thank you for the information!

[takeuaec]

6 hours ago, Timbit said:

For anyone still waiting on Balsillie MAGG, I emailed the Program Director and he got back to me pretty quickly with a time estimate and confirmed I was put on their 'reversion list'/waitlist. Just thought I'd share in case anyone was in the same boat.

would you mind sharing what the time estimate for emails is? 

[I'mnotanxious]

9 hours ago, akmunk said:

Hello Everyone, 

Congrats to all that are accepted! Its a great feeling to read that acceptance email.

I am an International student and had been accepted for the Fall 18 intake in the MGA program. I decided to defer my admission to the Fall 19 intake and would hopefully start this year (but I am still not sure if I actually would). I’ve been a bit skeptic about the MGA program in general and also with regards to the work opportunities that once gets after the graduating. As you might have know that the fees for an international student is astronomical which is around CAD $41,500 per year (it was CAD $38,000 last year). This makes me question on my decision to join the program. I am very well aware that fees for international students have always been on a higher everywhere, but what concerns me more is the fact that will I be able to recover such a huge amount after graduating or is it worth investing this much in the MGA program. Once the tuition fee payment notifications are out in July, there would be the additional costs of UHIP (Health Insurance) and other miscellaneous expenses which would drive the total cost per year to around $44,000. I paid my tuition fee for one full year last year i.e fall 2018, but then decided to ask for a refund and defer the admission. What are your thoughts on this ? Any international students here who are facing similar dilemma as me ? If so, what’s your action plan now ? Where do Munk graduates stand after graduation ? 

Hey, I'm also an international student -- I got admitted this year. The fees is astronomical and I was thinking of deferring as well. (The thing is, even if I work for a year in India, I won't be able to make half of the fees at Munk). I really would like to know about job opportunities -- not particularly to immigrate to Canada but so that I can pay off the loan (that I will have to take). 

I got in touch with the person in charge of student experiences and asked her to put me in touch with any international alumni who could speak to me about careers. Consider doing the same?

[takeuaec]

im in the same boat right now where I'm choosing between a fully funded degree at NPSIA vs the MGA at Munk with absolutely $0 in funding. 

for those who have already chosen Munk/are most likely going to go with Munk, would you mind sharing some of the factors that made you choose Munk?

[Timbit]

1 hour ago, moon-girl said:

would you mind sharing what the time estimate for emails is? 

Lol oops, yes that's probably helpful info haha. Andrew (the MAGG coordinator) told me "We should know in the next few weeks whether we’ll be able to offer you a spot." 

But GSPIA is only willing to extend my offer till March 31st, so that's just dandy. ?

[BTF]

9 hours ago, moon-girl said:

im in the same boat right now where I'm choosing between a fully funded degree at NPSIA vs the MGA at Munk with absolutely $0 in funding. 

for those who have already chosen Munk/are most likely going to go with Munk, would you mind sharing some of the factors that made you choose Munk?

What factors matter to you?

[d00n626]

13 hours ago, Munkin said:

Thank you for the reply! The cost is definitely expensive compared to other programs but I am super excited about the opportunities Munk offers and have saved up so I am all in. I am glad that as a current student you agree that it's worth it. I was mainly concerned/wondering about further scholarship opportunities but this helped - thank you for the information!

Would you mind expanding on what opportunities in particular you're excited about? I also just got an offer and am curious about why other people are interested in the program.

[akmunk]

13 hours ago, I'mnotanxious said:

Hey, I'm also an international student -- I got admitted this year. The fees is astronomical and I was thinking of deferring as well. (The thing is, even if I work for a year in India, I won't be able to make half of the fees at Munk). I really would like to know about job opportunities -- not particularly to immigrate to Canada but so that I can pay off the loan (that I will have to take). 

I got in touch with the person in charge of student experiences and asked her to put me in touch with any international alumni who could speak to me about careers. Consider doing the same?

Sounds like a good option. Did you happen to speak to someone ? If so then how was the response ? Did you get the answers that you’re looking for ? 

[ubc123]

Has anyone created a NPSIA 2021 facebook group yet?

[another_canuck]

Out of curiosity, has anybody here applied to York's MPIA?

I considered applying to it as my very last choice, but didn't feel like spending the extra money to write a French knowledge exam that wasn't in Ottawa.

[globalhealthenthusiast]

1 hour ago, maple_panda said:

Out of curiosity, has anybody here applied to York's MPIA?

I considered applying to it as my very last choice, but didn't feel like spending the extra money to write a French knowledge exam that wasn't in Ottawa.

Are you talking about Glendon College? I go to Glendon right now for my undergrad and the sense I get of the MPIA is that there is a strong focus on the exchange and basically a guaranteed scholarship. I did not apply though.

[globalhealthenthusiast]

Does anybody have any info on the Munk MGA waiting list? Wondering how lucky I might be to get accepted or if I need to start planning my gap year!

[another_canuck]

2 hours ago, globalhealthenthusiast said:

Are you talking about Glendon College? I go to Glendon right now for my undergrad and the sense I get of the MPIA is that there is a strong focus on the exchange and basically a guaranteed scholarship. I did not apply though.

Yeah, Glendon College. 

It is amazing how they pretty much guarantee a scholarship, but I guess they can afford it since tuition is only $3.5k ?

[I'mnotanxious]

12 hours ago, akmunk said:

Sounds like a good option. Did you happen to speak to someone ? If so then how was the response ? Did you get the answers that you’re looking for ? 

So Lucia (who's in charge of student experiences) put me in touch with an alumnus from India. I've mailed her some three hundred questions and asked her if she is okay with doing a Skype call with me. As soon as she replies to me, I'll let you know. 

I'm actually waiting to hear from a program in China with which I did an interview. If I get into that, I may just choose it because it'll be fully funded. 

 

Also, are all NPSIA offers done? Should I give up on it now?