NPSIA admissions - Fall 2022

[cuddles492]

Mine changed just now to Recommended for Assessment ! 

Edited February 23, 2022 by cuddles492

[cuddles492]

40 minutes ago, bobu said:

mine has not even passed preliminary review, would this be considered a bad sign? this is the first time I am applying for Grad school so I'm just curious!

Wait ! Did you check Carleton Central! Because mine said Preliminary Review for Carleton 360 but then the other site said Recommend for Assessment.

[Cautious_Citron]

27 minutes ago, cuddles492 said:

Wait ! Did you check Carleton Central! Because mine said Preliminary Review for Carleton 360 but then the other site said Recommend for Assessment.

Same here!

[Cake4Life]

On 2/19/2022 at 11:10 PM, wmd222 said:

Oh no!! I'm sure they are still strong!! How come if you don't mind me asking? I used two of my professors I had a close relationship with. One who I worked on organizing a conference and the second I've taken all their classes. I also added a third one for luck lol.

My professors in political science that taught me really well either left the university or didn't respond to my email  or even LinkedIn. 

[Cake4Life]

6 hours ago, bobu said:

mine has not even passed preliminary review, would this be considered a bad sign? this is the first time I am applying for Grad school so I'm just curious!

That's what mine says!

[Cake4Life]

On 2/20/2022 at 4:16 AM, Cautious_Citron said:

Hey, don't worry too much about that! The admission committee takes many factors into consideration when reviewing applications, even tough I am sure your letters are totally fine. Also, from what I read in past threads, they send admission offers throughout the entire month of March so we just need to be patient and not overthink it! Good luck ?

Thank you! You as well  

[bobu]

5 hours ago, cuddles492 said:

Wait ! Did you check Carleton Central! Because mine said Preliminary Review for Carleton 360 but then the other site said Recommend for Assessment.

Just checked and we are under preliminary review for both websites ? hopefully it changes! I was looking back at the 2021 NPSIA submissions and a few people said they were in preliminary review for a while and some jumped str4aight from preliminary review to acceptance! so hopefully that's the case for me! I had 3 reference letters so I hope it works out!

[wmd222]

49 minutes ago, Cake4Life said:

My professors in political science that taught me really well either left the university or didn't respond to my email  or even LinkedIn. 

Aw that's okay, I attended the info session and they mentioned that they look heavily into merit and what you have accomplished. I think as long as you shine in those areas you'll be good!! Sending you good vibes and much love!!  

[cuddles492]

Good luck you guys!! Sending positive vibes. The best tip I have is just keeping busy with school and honestly not worrying too much about the application. 

[temporarylemon9]

On 2/23/2022 at 4:43 AM, Cautious_Citron said:

That's amazing, congrats!  I would personally love to know more about your stats so if you don't mind sharing them here or in private it would be great! 

 

On 2/23/2022 at 9:50 AM, moon3741 said:

Congratulations!!! I hope to see you there in the fall. I would personally love to know as well. I am mentally preparing myself for a negative answer regarding admissions, so that I am not disappointed lol. Mine is past preliminary review but no movement in 3 ish weeks.

I did my undergrad in political science and finished with a 3.98 GPA. Four work terms in the federal government and former political staffer. I also did one semester of directed research with a professor and had three volunteer/leadership positions, but nothing directly related to international affairs. I didn't even do my concentration in international relations and only took intro econ courses, but got into IEP.

Good luck to both of you! I have friends still waiting to hear back as well. Don't be discouraged!!

[colonelby]

Hi everyone, long-time lurker here.

Happy to see this thread starting to pick up some speed. While checking previous years can be helpful, it is nice to have some up to date info, and people to talk to!

After being denied admission for both programs last year, today I was accepted to GSPIA, and I am currently "Recommended for Assessment" for NPSIA. 

Academic stats aren't great (9.21 CGPA, 10.6 final 1.5 terms) but I currently work at GAC and had five government work terms during my undergrad, including in Foreign Relations/Issues Management and CabParl Affairs. I was also part of the planning team for an international-oriented national student conference in first and second year. 

Congrats to everyone already accepted, and fingers crossed for those who are still waiting!

[ah_097]

Hi everyone,

Wondering if there's anyone here who applied to the NPSIA PhD program? I'm a NPSIA MA grad (convocated in October 2021), and really enjoyed the program. Seeking to do my PhD to build some "expertise" and authority on IA and Security. I applied late to the program (just submitted a few days ago) because I was battling with whether I should or shouldn't, but after talking with some profs, made the leap. If anyone knows - do they accept PhD students from the second-round?

Otherwise happy to answer any questions about the MA program. I was in the IIA stream.

[bobu]

21 hours ago, ah_097 said:

Hi everyone,

Wondering if there's anyone here who applied to the NPSIA PhD program? I'm a NPSIA MA grad (convocated in October 2021), and really enjoyed the program. Seeking to do my PhD to build some "expertise" and authority on IA and Security. I applied late to the program (just submitted a few days ago) because I was battling with whether I should or shouldn't, but after talking with some profs, made the leap. If anyone knows - do they accept PhD students from the second-round?

Otherwise happy to answer any questions about the MA program. I was in the IIA stream.

As a person looking to do a Masters in the first place I wanted to know your personal experience with the program if that's possible, did you find the experience worthwhile?

[ah_097]

2 hours ago, bobu said:

As a person looking to do a Masters in the first place I wanted to know your personal experience with the program if that's possible, did you find the experience worthwhile?

I found the program to be excellent, especially if you are looking to become employed in the government. NPSIA is unlike some other options in that it is a professional school, meaning that many of the assignments seek to be practical in nature (i.e. write a briefing note, do a group presentation, etc.) as opposed to theoretical. All of the professors I encountered were really passionate about their area of expertise, and were pretty informal with classes and really wanted to have conversations. Course enrolment can be a bit of a hassle, as many of the most popular courses are already gone by the time registration opens up for first-years. All of the IIA courses were full; however, I submitted a course registration override request in Carleton Central immediately and got into all my classes eventually.

The required statistics course was much easier than it has been in previous years (read: no more coding or learning complicated software). It's all about how to perform basic statistical analysis in Excel. The other required courses (law and public policy) were great too. Both of these courses rely on a 100% final exam, but they're not too difficult if you paid some attention to the recordings. I actually found the law exam to be fun. Both a pass/fail - no grade.

I did NPSIA during COVID, so I didn't really get to experience much of the student life. However, everyone was great about putting together study sessions online and supporting each other though the program. The level of collaboration and genuine wanting everyone to succeed was something I just didn't experience in undergrad.

[sunp_]

On 2/24/2022 at 3:07 PM, colonelby said:

Hi everyone, long-time lurker here.

Happy to see this thread starting to pick up some speed. While checking previous years can be helpful, it is nice to have some up to date info, and people to talk to!

After being denied admission for both programs last year, today I was accepted to GSPIA, and I am currently "Recommended for Assessment" for NPSIA. 

Academic stats aren't great (9.21 CGPA, 10.6 final 1.5 terms) but I currently work at GAC and had five government work terms during my undergrad, including in Foreign Relations/Issues Management and CabParl Affairs. I was also part of the planning team for an international-oriented national student conference in first and second year. 

Congrats to everyone already accepted, and fingers crossed for those who are still waiting!

Congrats on the GSPIA acceptance! I am in the same boat as I also received an acceptance to GSPIA yesterday, and my admissions status for NPSIA is also at "Recommended for Assessment". I would say that my academics are also around the same as yours, but my extracurriculars/work experiences aren't as impressive. 

[wmd222]

22 hours ago, ah_097 said:

I found the program to be excellent, especially if you are looking to become employed in the government. NPSIA is unlike some other options in that it is a professional school, meaning that many of the assignments seek to be practical in nature (i.e. write a briefing note, do a group presentation, etc.) as opposed to theoretical. All of the professors I encountered were really passionate about their area of expertise, and were pretty informal with classes and really wanted to have conversations. Course enrolment can be a bit of a hassle, as many of the most popular courses are already gone by the time registration opens up for first-years. All of the IIA courses were full; however, I submitted a course registration override request in Carleton Central immediately and got into all my classes eventually.

The required statistics course was much easier than it has been in previous years (read: no more coding or learning complicated software). It's all about how to perform basic statistical analysis in Excel. The other required courses (law and public policy) were great too. Both of these courses rely on a 100% final exam, but they're not too difficult if you paid some attention to the recordings. I actually found the law exam to be fun. Both a pass/fail - no grade.

I did NPSIA during COVID, so I didn't really get to experience much of the student life. However, everyone was great about putting together study sessions online and supporting each other though the program. The level of collaboration and genuine wanting everyone to succeed was something I just didn't experience in undergrad.

Thank you for this insight!!  Follow-up question: Did you find it difficult to socialize within your specialization? Or is it small enough to know most people? 

[ah_097]

54 minutes ago, wmd222 said:

Thank you for this insight!!  Follow-up question: Did you find it difficult to socialize within your specialization? Or is it small enough to know most people? 

This is a bit more difficult for me to answer, because I was doing (and finished) NPSIA during COVID-19 and was also working full-time. However, I did find the cohorts were small enough and there were a lot of opportunities to socialize both within and between specializations. I think this would be especially true with in-person classes as well. I happened to make a lot of friends and meet people during the capstone course through NPSIA, which involves working for a client to produce original research in small groups, and couldn't recommend this class enough!

[moon3741]

On 2/25/2022 at 1:57 PM, ah_097 said:

Hi everyone,

Wondering if there's anyone here who applied to the NPSIA PhD program? I'm a NPSIA MA grad (convocated in October 2021), and really enjoyed the program. Seeking to do my PhD to build some "expertise" and authority on IA and Security. I applied late to the program (just submitted a few days ago) because I was battling with whether I should or shouldn't, but after talking with some profs, made the leap. If anyone knows - do they accept PhD students from the second-round?

Otherwise happy to answer any questions about the MA program. I was in the IIA stream.

Thanks for being generous about telling us your experience in the program  Did you find the department was proactive in connecting people accepted to the program virtually prior to September? As someone who'd be moving to Ottawa if I get accepted, I'm just curious on if it was easy get in contact with people, or if there is much communication in the lead up to program start.

[ah_097]

6 hours ago, moon3741 said:

Thanks for being generous about telling us your experience in the program  Did you find the department was proactive in connecting people accepted to the program virtually prior to September? As someone who'd be moving to Ottawa if I get accepted, I'm just curious on if it was easy get in contact with people, or if there is much communication in the lead up to program start.

I don't think the admin facilitated this, but there's generally a Facebook group created by the NPSIA Student Association and they generally try to invite new people into it. I remember they planned a few social events before school started, which was great.

[Cake4Life]

On 2/23/2022 at 8:24 PM, wmd222 said:

Aw that's okay, I attended the info session and they mentioned that they look heavily into merit and what you have accomplished. I think as long as you shine in those areas you'll be good!! Sending you good vibes and much love!!  

Thank you  Likewise, sending positive vibes

[cuddles492]

Has anyones status change?

[bobu]

1 hour ago, cuddles492 said:

Has anyones status change?

Just a week ago I got mine changed from prelim review to recommend for assessment, but no changes other than that. Still remaining hopeful!

[wmd222]

12 hours ago, cuddles492 said:

Has anyones status change?

Still on recommended for assessment for over a week now!

[nck5150]

Hi, I also applied for NPSIA (Fall 2022). I think my academics and letters of reference are strong (I currently have a 9.0/10.0 on the uottawa scale [9 being a A, 10, a A+] and I connected multiple times with the profs who wrote my references and had multiple of their classes). However, I don’t have much IR experience, I worked in politics/politics related jobs since the start of my undergrad but never for GAC or the gov. Plus my only relevant extra-curriculars are JDSP. Like many of you, I’m under “Recommended for Assessment” since early February. Should I be worried? I’m starting to get stressed, especially with people saying they already got in. 

Edited March 3, 2022 by nck5150

[cuddles492]

Ugh the wait is literally killing me! I just want a response ASAP