How can I increase my chances of admission to the Munk School at the University of Toronto?

[theinterpreter946]

Hello, everybody, first of all, excuse me for my not so perfect English, since it's not my native language.

This is Jorge, a 29 yo from Peru. I applied for the Express Entry program for Canadian Permanent Residence. I was granted a Permanent Residence Visa this February. Unfortunately, the lockdowns against COVID 19 in my country started 1 month later, my visa expired in the meantime and I was not able to land in Canada, so I am still waiting for the visa renewal.

Since I am emigrating to Canada, I am looking to apply for the MA in Global Affairs at the UofT's Munk School  (and other Canadian schools like GSPIA at U of Ottawa, NPSIA at Carleton University, etc.) for the  September 2022 Fall Semester.

Why 2022? Because I don't think my professional experience and academic background would make the cut. So i am coming to this forum for some advice on how to increase my chances of admission to the Munk School as first option. Let me give you some background:

Undergraduate degree: BA in Translation and Interpretation Studies (Concentration in French and German). Final year GPA 3.86

Due to financial and personal reasons reasons I was not able to attend university until the age of 20. Graduated at age 25 (Undergraduate programs in Peru take usually 5 years, as opposed to 4 years in North America).

Extracurriculars:

Spent 3 winters in the United States on a J-1 visa as a seasonal worker during my university summer vacations. In each season in the US, I met a lot of undocumented Mexican and Central American immigrants. They told me about the hardships they went and go through and the reasons that pushed them emigrate to the US even if illegally. This sparked an interest in me in the topic of Migration.

I also invest in cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin and some altcoins). The profits are going to the help me settle in Canada.

Relevant Work Experience:

A 3-month Internship at the French Embassy to Peru. My duties there involved translating press releases, announcements and manuals from and into Spanish-French. That's when I discovered that I did not like translating.

Back in Peru, fresh out of university, I took a job as an English to Spanish, Spanish to English over-the-phone medical interpreter for Latin American immigrants in the US. This was some sort of continuation of my experiences as a seasonal worker in the US. I helped these immigrants (a large number of them were undocumented) navigate the US healthcare system, communicate with doctors for medical appointments and with social workers for social program interviews. Helping people overcome the language barrier was rewarding, but at the same time I did not like translating or interpreting into Spanish. Worked there for 3 years and 7 months. Just quit this month because I need to be ready to fly to Canada as soon as my visa is renewed.

Foreign Languages:

Spanish: Native

English: Near Native (Took the IELTS for my Canadian Visa application Overall Score: 8.5) 

French: Intermediate/Advanced (Took the TEF Canada for my Canadian Visa application )

German: A2

Also have some knowledge of Portuguese, Italian, Latin and Hebrew.

 

How can I increase my chances of being admitted to the Munk School (and possibly other Canadian IR schools?). 

Should I participate in volunteering programs abroad? (There is this program to volunteer in ambulances in Israel, which I find awesome)

Language courses abroad? (Pre-pandemic, I was also considering to learn Mandarin for 3 months in Taiwan)

or what type of work experience I should have once I land in Canada that I can help me get admitted to Munk

Best regards

 

Jorge