2019-2020 Canadian Political Science thread

[juh523]

Hi everyone! 
I’m seeking some advice on masters programs. I’ve been waitlisted for uvic and waiting to here back from Carleton, but I got accepted with generous funding to my current universities program. Our program isn’t as competitive or as well ranked, I’m planning on continuing to a PhD and wondering if staying at my current school will hurt my chances. If you guys have any experience with this let me know! Good luck everyone ?

[Paulcg87]

21 hours ago, ibukinoya said:

Hi friends! 

I am happy to report that I have received offers of admission from both UBC and U of T for my MA in Political Science. 

For a bit of background, I am heavily focused on East Asian politics, and will be conducting research on Japanese electoral politics and constitutional politics. I have been offered significant funding from UBC, but nothing from U of T (which I have heard is the norm). I was not expecting to be put in this situation, so picking between these two universities has stumped me. UBC will be a better overall living experience, with more residence options and funding, but I have heard that the academic caliber of U of T, especially in political science, is significant. Also, U of T has offered me a combined Master's specialization in Contemporary East and Southeast Asian Studies, which would be incredibly interesting and useful to my research. 

My long term goal is to eventually get into a PhD program. I would like to maximize my chances, so my natural first choice was U of T. After speaking to my professors, however, they have suggested to me that the U of T name will matter less to future admissions than the research, grades, and publications that I produce. If this is the case, I may be a more successful student at UBC, especially since many have pointed out that it is "the gateway to Asia". 

Does anyone have any advice in picking between these two programs? 

Go to UBC. You are correct that UT doesn't typically fund master's students; their PhD funding is very generous (comparable to US T10/ivy league PhD funding) but their master's funding is not. Do not go into significant debt for a master's degree! It really isn't worth it, whether it's Harvard, Oxford or any school in Canada. UT is a great school but if you plan on staying in Canada, rankings really don't matter here. I've found that rankings only really matter in the USA and in parts of Europe/Asia.  Additionally, in my opinion, for the purposes of U.S. PhD admissions, the Canadian "top 3" (UBC, UT and McGill) are all pretty similar in reputation, so I would agree that your research, grades and publications will matter more than which top 3 Canadian school you went to. 

Edited March 31, 2020 by Paulcg87

[Paulcg87]

6 hours ago, juh523 said:

Hi everyone! 
I’m seeking some advice on masters programs. I’ve been waitlisted for uvic and waiting to here back from Carleton, but I got accepted with generous funding to my current universities program. Our program isn’t as competitive or as well ranked, I’m planning on continuing to a PhD and wondering if staying at my current school will hurt my chances. If you guys have any experience with this let me know! Good luck everyone ?

May I ask what school you are currently at? Also, what do you want to do after your PhD? Do you want to go into academia, work in government, etc? These answers affect which of these programs might be better for you. Carleton is known for its coop/internship and networking connections with the federal government. UVic is probably in the single best location in Canada for quality of life and weather, but the cost of living is horrendous (surprisingly close to Van and Toronto), there is less than a 1% vacancy rate for rentals, and the department is good but it's not among the best in Canada. In other words, unless you have your own funding/savings or get an incredible funding offer from UVic, I'm not sure it's worth going there for a master's degree and paying out of pocket unless you really want to stay in Victoria and settle down there. If you do get into Carleton, they seem to offer decent funding and that is a great school/department. But it's tough to give you advice without knowing the third program you mentioned (your "current" university), or what you want to do after your PhD. 

[GeminiSJG]

Has anyone on the waitlist heard back from UOFT? Louis said they will make offers first week of April and I am still under review when I check. Does it mean I am out or are decisions pending. I'm honestly scared to email/ask

[decisions1234]

Anyone know the placement record of UBC? 

[Paulcg87]

2 minutes ago, decisions1234 said:

Anyone know the placement record of UBC? 

If you mean for polisci PhD graduates, I'm sure you already know that UBC is notoriously mum on specific placement numbers or statistics. They've got a "placements" page (https://politics.ubc.ca/phd-placement/) but it doesn't have much actual data. This is in contrast to McGill (https://www.mcgill.ca/politicalscience/grad/placement-history), which at least provides names and placement locations, and UToronto (https://politics.utoronto.ca/graduate/phd-program/job-placement/), which is the only one of the three that actually provides solid data (name, placement, year of graduation). It's very odd that UBC doesn't provide more info; they pride themselves on being an American style PhD program and they're the only major Canadian polisci PhD program that requires the GRE but they don't publish substantive placement data. I don't know if it's a general reluctance for whatever reason or if their PhD placements just haven't been as good lately. 

[Pusat94]

Did anyone got rejected from York (PHD)?

[GeminiSJG]

I got into Ottawa's politcal science for masters, can anyone tell me about it?

I also applied to York, can anyone tell me about that one too?