University of Toronto iSchool Fall 2019

[marloe]

17 hours ago, jiessicaaaa said:

Thanks for your reply. It's difficult for me to make a decision.?

Tuition fee: UMich ($140K USD= 2-year TUITION FEE + Living) > UofT ($110K CAD = 2-year Tuition fee + living)> Waterloo.  ($30K CAD = 1year tuition fee+living)
Length of program: UMich(2-year)>UofT(20 months with co-op opportunity)>Waterloo(1 year)

Are you considered an international student for the Canadian universities ? I am guessing that is why your costs are a bit higher ?

[jiessicaaaa]

3 hours ago, stuart_d said:

Are you considered an international student for the Canadian universities ? I am guessing that is why your costs are a bit higher ?

Yes, I am an international student. 

[marloe]

20 hours ago, jiessicaaaa said:

Yes, I am an international student. 

I was once told to really try to minimize the costs of going to grad school, because it can be a bit of a toss up on what the impact of a grad degree can have compared to actually working in the field or developing your own portfolio in the field on your own. That is part of what motivated my decision to take a grad program that was funded over the iSchool, even though the iSchool probably has the more relevant research and course work. That being said I am 40, so I only have about 20 years of working life left and I have been working for about 17 years aswell. If I was just starting to enter the workforce, the higher costs would probably be more justified. 

If you haven't worked in the field of study and you are relatively young, I would probably choose the program that has the best career support. I don't know the other programs super well, but the iSchool seemed to have great industry support / co-op options which might give it a leg up over the others if you were a new worker. 

 

[Applicant2019Canada]

I was admitted this year but I decided to defer admission and will instead go for a funded degree. I am also a mid-career professional so I don't want to spend much on my education at this point. @stuard_d may I ask where you are headed?

 

On 5/31/2019 at 6:27 PM, stuart_d said:

I was once told to really try to minimize the costs of going to grad school, because it can be a bit of a toss up on what the impact of a grad degree can have compared to actually working in the field or developing your own portfolio in the field on your own. That is part of what motivated my decision to take a grad program that was funded over the iSchool, even though the iSchool probably has the more relevant research and course work. That being said I am 40, so I only have about 20 years of working life left and I have been working for about 17 years aswell. If I was just starting to enter the workforce, the higher costs would probably be more justified. 

If you haven't worked in the field of study and you are relatively young, I would probably choose the program that has the best career support. I don't know the other programs super well, but the iSchool seemed to have great industry support / co-op options which might give it a leg up over the others if you were a new worker. 

 

[marloe]

2 hours ago, Applicant2019Canada said:

I was admitted this year but I decided to defer admission and will instead go for a funded degree. I am also a mid-career professional so I don't want to spend much on my education at this point. @stuard_d may I ask where you are headed?

 

Ryerson for Communication and Culture MA. I was constrained a bit by the fact I needed to stay in or at least near Toronto. The coursework is a bit similar to the CIPS or Culture and Technology concentrations. I wanted grad school to be a chance to study the social impact of new technologies (particularly AI) and think about policies related to them. I already have a comp sci degree from like 20 years ago, so I have been just brushing up on my tech skills on my own a bit. The Ryerson program is more of a traditional graduate program, so it comes with funding. It also isn't as coursework focused, is more researched focused, which for me is appealing because I want to chart my own path a bit, and it gives me more time to work on my own projects and extra flexibility to balance school and family life. 

[Applicant2019Canada]

I'm happy for you. I am also an older student (37 years old) with a computer science background and I also decided to go for a funded program so I deferred UoT. I don't know why I deferred rather than turn UoT down. I guess I wanted to keep my options open.

 

On 6/4/2019 at 5:55 PM, stuart_d said:

Ryerson for Communication and Culture MA. I was constrained a bit by the fact I needed to stay in or at least near Toronto. The coursework is a bit similar to the CIPS or Culture and Technology concentrations. I wanted grad school to be a chance to study the social impact of new technologies (particularly AI) and think about policies related to them. I already have a comp sci degree from like 20 years ago, so I have been just brushing up on my tech skills on my own a bit. The Ryerson program is more of a traditional graduate program, so it comes with funding. It also isn't as coursework focused, is more researched focused, which for me is appealing because I want to chart my own path a bit, and it gives me more time to work on my own projects and extra flexibility to balance school and family life. 

 

[Applicant2019Canada]

@stuart_d Sorry, for the second message but I wasn't aware that Ryerson offered fully funded masters. I got into their master's in data science with partial funding. If you don't mind, can you confirm whether Ryerson offered full funding?

 

On 6/4/2019 at 5:55 PM, stuart_d said:

Ryerson for Communication and Culture MA. I was constrained a bit by the fact I needed to stay in or at least near Toronto. The coursework is a bit similar to the CIPS or Culture and Technology concentrations. I wanted grad school to be a chance to study the social impact of new technologies (particularly AI) and think about policies related to them. I already have a comp sci degree from like 20 years ago, so I have been just brushing up on my tech skills on my own a bit. The Ryerson program is more of a traditional graduate program, so it comes with funding. It also isn't as coursework focused, is more researched focused, which for me is appealing because I want to chart my own path a bit, and it gives me more time to work on my own projects and extra flexibility to balance school and family life. 

[marloe]

9 hours ago, Applicant2019Canada said:

@stuart_d Sorry, for the second message but I wasn't aware that Ryerson offered fully funded masters. I got into their master's in data science with partial funding. If you don't mind, can you confirm whether Ryerson offered full funding?

 

In their traditional masters programs there are opportunities for fully funded studies. The Data Science program I believe is still considered a professional program. The traditional research based masters programs are usually two years long, and usually have a thesis / research component. 

For example the Ryerson's Computer Science Masters program is a traditional masters program, while something like there Masters of Digital Media program is not. 

Professional programs can still have funding options, but is rarer. It is more common with research based traditional masters program. 

There is also a bit of discrepancy in tuition rates between certain programs, so sometimes funding amounts can cover all of your tuition depending on the cost of the program. Some professional or semi-professional programs have a higher cost than traditional masters programs. 

[nat_an91]

Hi Guys,

Apologies to hijack this thread. I am a masters student from Singapore who graduated with a masters in information systems. I intending to pursue an advance diploma program here - https://ischool.utoronto.ca/areas-of-study/diploma-of-advanced-study-in-information-studies/

Just want to find out if there is any folks who has taken this course before? Would like to find out the job prospects after graduating from UX concentrations. Additionally, i am a Canadian permanent resident who has only lived in Canada for 2 weeks. Would also like to find out if i would be eligible for any subsidies for the course.

Thanks and look forward to hearing from you guys!