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(Canada 2022) MPP/MPA Applications


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6 hours ago, sharingan1999 said:

Congratssss!!! Also, did you receive an email yet? & What does it say under there? What I'm seeing is:

"You do not have any enrolled courses for 2022 Winter." 

 
 

I see the same thing.

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Received an offer from Carleton and Queen's for Fall 2022 but unsure which program to go with. If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it! I'm looking into working in the federal government, I'm just undecided if I should go with the 1 year (Queen's) or 2 year (Carleton) program. I really like how Carleton has the possibility of Co-op but not sure how the co-op placement numbers are like. 

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Hi! 

I was accepted into the Waterloo MPS programs, however, I missed the open house because I was working. If possible, would anyone who attended mind sharing any important insights from the open house? On the forum or through messages is fine.

Thank you!

Edited by GradBound22
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3 hours ago, GradBound22 said:

Hi! 

I was accepted into the Waterloo MPS programs, however, I missed the open house because I was working. If possible, would anyone who attended mind sharing any important insights from the open house? On the forum or through messages is fine.

Thank you!

I missed too. Would appreciate an update if anyone else attended! :)

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On 3/17/2022 at 3:01 PM, Nicole13 said:

FYI I just got an offer for university of Calgarys mpp. Not sure if any of you also applied. But also waiting on sfu and uvic.

CONGRATS!! Did you get an email or was it updated on the portal? Would you mind sharing your stats? I'm so anxious waiting to hear back! 

Edited by whatthefriction
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14 hours ago, Juven said:

Received an offer from Carleton and Queen's for Fall 2022 but unsure which program to go with. If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it! I'm looking into working in the federal government, I'm just undecided if I should go with the 1 year (Queen's) or 2 year (Carleton) program. I really like how Carleton has the possibility of Co-op but not sure how the co-op placement numbers are like. 

  I found a thread by TheZarosian here:

On 2/2/2021 at 3:44 AM, TheZarosian said:

Hi All,

Just thought I'd share my writeup about some of the MPP/MPPA style programs out in Ontario:

About Me:

I am a policy analyst that works full-time in an indeterminate (permanent) position for the Federal Government. Started working full-time in Spring 2019 and started my MPPA at Carleton part-time in Fall 2019. Currently finishing the Masters up, expecting to graduate Spring 2021.

I graduated from my BA in Political Science in Spring 2019 from Waterloo. Prior to graduating, I did some time in provincial and federal government in various internship roles. This included roles in environment policy, transit policy, infrastructure policy, education infrastructure, and finance policy. By the time I graduated from my Undergraduate, I had about 20 months government experience, plus a couple of full-time offers from the Federal government on the table.

Here’s my rundown of the MPP/MPPA style programs out there:

Waterloo MPS

Waterloo MPS is overall a solid pick for people wanting to enter all levels of government. I sat with these guys during my undergraduate, and the caliber of the teaching plus the Co-op is great. Plenty of these people are with me in Ottawa, many having secured permanent full-time roles. The MPS boasts a Co-op hire rate of 95-100 percent (100 percent for Fall 2020) and has excellent job outcomes both federally and provincially.

The format of the program is 8 months full-time school, 8 months paid Co-op, and 4 months a major team project. Almost everyone does the major team project remotely and works full-time during it. So it’s pretty much 8 months of schooling only and you’re off to doing paid work. People usually transition from being a student to a full-timer right after their 8 months Co-op is done.

All-around a very solid program. The only downside is that the MPS is not funded, so you’re going to be paying the full $23,000 tuition bill.

Queen’s MPA

Queen’s is the king (or the Queen I guess?) of provincial government. I would say that Queen’s is the number one place to go if you’re intent on working for the Ontario government. The Ontario government hires from Queens in droves, mainly due to having a long reputation with Queens and a historically strong relationship.

The program format is 8 months full-time school, followed by Co-op of 4 months, and then 4 months schooling on weekends. Similar to Waterloo, most people work full-time after they are done the first 8 months.

Queen’s is definitely the top choice for provincial, and along with a cheap tuition of less than $20,000 (oftentimes funded generously by scholarships), it’s a great deal. With a strong application, you are likely to pay less than $10,000 total for the tuition.

Carleton MPPA

Definitely the king of federal government, and my number one choice for anyone who wants to work federal. Carleton has an over 50 years established relationship with the federal government, and the professors here are routinely retired public servants or current public servants who teach part-time here and there. Carleton, by nature of being in Ottawa, feeds their students into the Federal government. Hire rates are absolutely top notch – I would say around 30-40 percent of my floor where I work is from Carleton.

The program is 8 months of full-time school, followed by Co-op of 4-8 months, and then people usually finish off their degree during the evenings while working part-time. Again, similar to Queen’s and Waterloo, you really only do 8 months of school.

An added benefit of Carleton is the absolutely amazing funding packages. And it’s absolutely amazing. Carleton offered be a whopping $46,000 in funding. Of that, $26,000 was straight up scholarships, while $20,000 was from a TA position. The tuition of the program is only $23,000. So these guys essentially PAID ME to go to their school.

For the federal level, Carleton absolutely comes on top here.

University of Ottawa MA Public Admin

I won’t say much here because it’s Carleton all over again. Whatever I said for Carleton, applies to uOttawa. Funny enough, uOttawa and Carleton have a small rivalry with their Master’s programs.

All around another top federal choice.

UofT Munk MPP

I’m sorry. I know how hyped up UofT is at times, but I mostly have bad things to say about this program.

UofT MPP is overall a disappointment and it seems like an outdated program. While all the programs I mentioned above are one-year “job creation” programs that focus on feeding people in Co-ops and having them transition to full-time work quickly, UofT’s MPP reads more like a traditional 2-year academic program, with a strong focus on rigorous courses.

The UofT MPP has some of the worst internship options out here, with a 4-month internship between your first and second year. Because you’re expected to go back to school full-time after this, you are unable to be seamlessly transitioned into full-time work like many of the other programs above. Managers love it when they can just promote a student to a full-timer and have them start right away. They love it much less when the student says, “hey sorry, can you wait 8 months for me to finish school?”

You’re sinking an additional 8 months in lost wages, plus additional tuition. The UofT MPP tuition is $45,000 in total, double the other programs mentioned above.

It’s just not a good deal overall. When people from Carleton, Queens, and Waterloo are being fed into the workplace within 8 months, UofT’s program just lacks “feeder” mentality on getting people on the job quickly.

The small upside is that the UofT MPP does have some more diversity in employment. Non-profits, NGOs, private sector consulting, and other positions tend to be more noticeable at UofT’s MPP, compared to the straight up government feeders of other programs.

But if your goal really is to get onboarded into a government job quickly, with a cheap degree to boot, UofT is not the place to go in my view.

Ryerson MA Public Policy and Administration

This program is, in my opinion, a relatively mediocre choice. The problem that I usually see here is that if you got into Ryerson, you might as well go to Queen’s or Carleton because you probably got into those too.

The employment prospects here are just not as good, mainly due to the lack of an established relationship between Ryerson and either Provincial or Federal government.

The degree itself is the cheapest out of anything mentioned, but it’s just not as good of a deal. This is especially true if Carleton and Queen’s are pumping out huge scholarships

Western MPA

Admittedly, I know very little about this program, but it seems to be the place to go if you want to be in local government. Western’s MPA specializes specifically in municipal government, and I can’t see Waterloo, Queen’s or Carleton filling this gap.

 

 

 

Based on what you said, Carleton is a better option.

 

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6 hours ago, whatthefriction said:

CONGRATS!! Did you get an email or was it updated on the portal? Would you mind sharing your stats? I'm so anxious waiting to hear back! 

I got an email and says 6k funding. My gpa wasn't the greatest 3.6/4.33 the last 2 years. But I've worked for the govt for 4 years and in policy for over a year now. Goodluck!

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36 minutes ago, Nicole13 said:

I got an email and says 6k funding. My gpa wasn't the greatest 3.6/4.33 the last 2 years. But I've worked for the govt for 4 years and in policy for over a year now. Goodluck!

That's amazing! So happy for you and maybe we'll get to be class mates :) I'm wrapping up my degree and don't have professional policy experience but have lots of related EC's and a 3.82/4 in my last 2 so fingers crossed! 

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8 hours ago, Joseph_Eze said:

  I found a thread by TheZarosian here:

 

Based on what you said, Carleton is a better option.

 

I got excited for a moment and thought TheZarosian posted something on this thread :P

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