NPSIA admissions - Fall 2022

[Cake4Life]

For those admitted for Fall 2022, do you know if the program is fully in person? Or are they offering an online/hybrid model? Just curious!

[Hcmarie]

On 4/14/2022 at 6:18 PM, Babban_D said:

Hey everyone, current NPSIA student here - let me know of any questions that you may have and I will try to answer as best as I can.

Hey, who could we talk to about our application process? I have been asking questions but it seems like nobody has any answers to my questions! 

[7s7s]

Hi @Babban_D I had a few questions about NPSIA! I accepted a TA position but I'm wondering how rigorous this is? How many hours per week do you set aside for this role? and do you have any pieces of advice to share for this? 

In addition, do you mind going over what your terms at NPSIA will be like? I've been slightly confused of whether it will take 1 year or 2 years to complete this program, including coop? 

It would be great to hear from you! 

[Babban_D]

7 hours ago, Cake4Life said:

For those admitted for Fall 2022, do you know if the program is fully in person? Or are they offering an online/hybrid model? Just curious!

Hellos -- so it may be a bit too soon to say anything on this. Like Winter 2022 term was online for first couple of weeks and then things moved in-person. Some courses were still completely online. Thus, it will evolve based on the situation pandemic wise. Even in Fall 2021, most courses were online and a few in person. It depends on class size as well. Core courses, which everyone has to take, were online as social distancing would not have been possible. I hope this helps.

[Babban_D]

2 hours ago, Hcmarie said:

Hey, who could we talk to about our application process? I have been asking questions but it seems like nobody has any answers to my questions! 

Hellos - if you have not yet heard back on any emails all this while, it may be worth it to reach out to program team listed here -- https://carleton.ca/npsia/contact-us/ -- Avi maybe a good person to reach out to. That being said, this tends to be super busy season so reply may be delayed. 

[Babban_D]

1 hour ago, 7s7s said:

Hi @Babban_D I had a few questions about NPSIA! I accepted a TA position but I'm wondering how rigorous this is? How many hours per week do you set aside for this role? and do you have any pieces of advice to share for this? 

In addition, do you mind going over what your terms at NPSIA will be like? I've been slightly confused of whether it will take 1 year or 2 years to complete this program, including coop? 

It would be great to hear from you! 

Hellos -- I will give a short reply to this and will circle back in a couple of days (exams approaching). TA position depends on what you end up taking. I did for economics in both Fall and Winter. It was easy and managable for me as I come from economics and my prof. was super chill. I think not more than an hour or two was spent by me in Fall 2021.. even less in Winter 2022. 

2 years with co-op. As co-op runs for 8 months (if you do two co-op terms). One year i think if you are already working and not looking for co-op. I hope this helps.

[Hcmarie]

Thank you! I’ll try ! 

16 hours ago, Babban_D said:

Hellos - if you have not yet heard back on any emails all this while, it may be worth it to reach out to program team listed here -- https://carleton.ca/npsia/contact-us/ -- Avi maybe a good person to reach out to. That being said, this tends to be super busy season so reply may be delayed. 

[happytimes012]

I emailed NPSIA today as I hadn't heard back about my application and they replied with this:

"All of the first round offers for the MA & MA/JD program have gone out and the candidates have been selected. If you were not selected in the first round, your application will remain in preliminary review or recommended status until a decision has been made. There may be an opportunity to be selected in the second round of admissions and we will be sending out rolling offers until the end of August. Due to the competitive nature of the program, unfortunately it is difficult to provide a more exact timeline."

Hope this is helpful for others still waiting to hear back!

[MiddleAges]

Woohoo! My application status has changed from "recommended for assessment" to "review in progress by department." I'm still not hopeful, but it's nice to log in and see a change!

[bobu]

On 4/20/2022 at 7:47 PM, MiddleAges said:

Woohoo! My application status has changed from "recommended for assessment" to "review in progress by department." I'm still not hopeful, but it's nice to log in and see a change!

same! mine changed from "recommended for assessment" to"review in progress by department."  and then to "Review in progress by Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs" in a matter of days! staying hopeful!

[sunp_]

Anyone who has lost hope - I just receieved my official acceptance letter from NPSIA today with funding! I guess they have started sending out second round admissions

[MiddleAges]

2 hours ago, sunp_ said:

Anyone who has lost hope - I just receieved my official acceptance letter from NPSIA today with funding! I guess they have started sending out second round admissions

I just got mine, too!!! I'm not even sure how I feel about this. Stunned? There's so much to do now!

[MiddleAges]

On 4/14/2022 at 4:18 PM, Babban_D said:

Hey everyone, current NPSIA student here - let me know of any questions that you may have and I will try to answer as best as I can.

How do you find the program workload? I'm debating whether I will be able to manage part-time remote work for my current employer, or if I should just quit my job and focus 100% on school. 

[R2D2]

I also was accepted. I received $6000 in funding.

[Babban_D]

5 hours ago, MiddleAges said:

How do you find the program workload? I'm debating whether I will be able to manage part-time remote work for my current employer, or if I should just quit my job and focus 100% on school. 

So the first semester can be a bit demanding because you have 2 full courses and 2 half courses (so 1.5 credit) - second semester is still okay to manage, because the demanding course will be primarily the economics one. A lot of folks have been working in the program (assuming because they are with the government), so it is managable for sure. Just that first semester may need the best of you, specially if you are moving to Ottawa from another city (like I did) I hope this helps.

[MiddleAges]

13 hours ago, Babban_D said:

So the first semester can be a bit demanding because you have 2 full courses and 2 half courses (so 1.5 credit) - second semester is still okay to manage, because the demanding course will be primarily the economics one. A lot of folks have been working in the program (assuming because they are with the government), so it is managable for sure. Just that first semester may need the best of you, specially if you are moving to Ottawa from another city (like I did) I hope this helps.

Thank you so much for your reply! I'm honestly baffled about how the program and courses actually work. Why only 5 courses per year? Undergraduate programs often have 10 courses per year. Are these courses twice as heavy? 5 courses isn't even between the two semesters. 

I've been searching for orientation sessions or program overviews, but I can't find anything. Can you recommend who to contact to get some basic information? I need to understand how this works so I can plan my other responsibilities (employment, spouse, kids, elderly parents, etc...)

[Hcmarie]

20 hours ago, MiddleAges said:

I just got mine, too!!! I'm not even sure how I feel about this. Stunned? There's so much to do now!

Congratulations ? I hope I’ll receive mine soon ?

[Babban_D]

6 hours ago, MiddleAges said:

Thank you so much for your reply! I'm honestly baffled about how the program and courses actually work. Why only 5 courses per year? Undergraduate programs often have 10 courses per year. Are these courses twice as heavy? 5 courses isn't even between the two semesters. 

I've been searching for orientation sessions or program overviews, but I can't find anything. Can you recommend who to contact to get some basic information? I need to understand how this works so I can plan my other responsibilities (employment, spouse, kids, elderly parents, etc...)

No worries. I am not too sure if I understand your concern. So the academic year runs from September to March and you can take upto 4 credits (which is equal to 8 subjects/courses). Most of the students, end up doing 3 credits (i.e. 6 subjects). The usual suggestion is to take 2-3 hours of self study for every 1 hours of lecture, thus, on a weekly basis, you have around 9 hours of lecture and around 18-27 hours of self-study time. Given these are graduate level courses, they are a bit more demanding for sure.

The best person will be Avi Slack, whoes information is on the program website and I guess in a link I shared earlier on the forum. The program, honestly, is a bit more each person for themselves kind - with a class size of around 100 plus, one ends up being just a number rather than a close knit cohort. That being said, most of the folks have held full time jobs in the public sector, but I cannot comment upon how did they performed overall grade wise. I hope this helps.

[nck5150]

16 hours ago, Babban_D said:

No worries. I am not too sure if I understand your concern. So the academic year runs from September to March and you can take upto 4 credits (which is equal to 8 subjects/courses). Most of the students, end up doing 3 credits (i.e. 6 subjects). The usual suggestion is to take 2-3 hours of self study for every 1 hours of lecture, thus, on a weekly basis, you have around 9 hours of lecture and around 18-27 hours of self-study time. Given these are graduate level courses, they are a bit more demanding for sure.

The best person will be Avi Slack, whoes information is on the program website and I guess in a link I shared earlier on the forum. The program, honestly, is a bit more each person for themselves kind - with a class size of around 100 plus, one ends up being just a number rather than a close knit cohort. That being said, most of the folks have held full time jobs in the public sector, but I cannot comment upon how did they performed overall grade wise. I hope this helps.

Honestly, coming from a program that has a few thousands students, 100 people per cohort sounds pretty small. Also, within each stream, I imagine that small communities form. 

[Gradgradinternational]

On 4/29/2022 at 12:34 PM, MiddleAges said:

Thank you so much for your reply! I'm honestly baffled about how the program and courses actually work. Why only 5 courses per year? Undergraduate programs often have 10 courses per year. Are these courses twice as heavy? 5 courses isn't even between the two semesters. 

I've been searching for orientation sessions or program overviews, but I can't find anything. Can you recommend who to contact to get some basic information? I need to understand how this works so I can plan my other responsibilities (employment, spouse, kids, elderly parents, etc...)

Hello, fellow NPSIA student here finishing it's 1st year in the program. It's pretty simple to be honest.

So basically the whole program is 5 credits, 1 course being 0.5 credit. So for example, if you take the coursework stream (as 95% of NPSIA students do), you will only have to do 10 courses to get your M.A. (plus the second language requirement).

All students have to go through mandatory courses in the 1st semester (September - December), which are the following:

1. International Law (0.25 credits) - This course is mandatory but only last 6 weeks (September- October).  It's also Pass or Fail.

2. International Affairs and Canadian Public Policy (0.25 credits) - This course is mandatory but only last 6 weeks (november-December). It's also Pass or Fail.

3. Statistical Analysis (0.5 credits) - This course is mandatory and last the whole fall semester.

Besides the above courses, students in the first semester usually pick an additional course (0.5 credits) in order to have 1.5 credits in total (since it's 2 half courses, and 2 full courses, it only counts for 1.5 credits in total, even though you are basically doing 4 courses). You always have the option to take on an additional full course in the fall as well if you want to make it faster/quicker (like I did) so you have 2 credits.

In the Winter semester therefore, students usually only have 1 mandatory course left in the program, which is their ECON course (that varies depending on the stream you are). So students in the winter basically just chose their ECON requirement (0.5 credit) and an additional 2 courses (for 1 credit).

If you count all of that right, it means that students usually have 3 out of 5 credits after 2 semesters at NPSIA, which leaves them with all their mandatory courses completed and only 4 electives left (or outside faculty courses). Then begins the co-op stuff and 2st year. You can also take on more courses in each semesters, do summer courses or do 1 courses while doing co-op if you want to complete your M.A. faster.

 

That's pretty much all there is! Happy to answer questions if you have additional ones.

[Cake4Life]

Still nothing

[Hcmarie]

5 hours ago, Cake4Life said:

Still nothing

Same here !

[MiddleAges]

On 5/2/2022 at 10:02 AM, Gradgradinternational said:

Hello, fellow NPSIA student here finishing it's 1st year in the program. It's pretty simple to be honest.

So basically the whole program is 5 credits, 1 course being 0.5 credit. So for example, if you take the coursework stream (as 95% of NPSIA students do), you will only have to do 10 courses to get your M.A. (plus the second language requirement).

All students have to go through mandatory courses in the 1st semester (September - December), which are the following:

1. International Law (0.25 credits) - This course is mandatory but only last 6 weeks (September- October).  It's also Pass or Fail.

2. International Affairs and Canadian Public Policy (0.25 credits) - This course is mandatory but only last 6 weeks (november-December). It's also Pass or Fail.

3. Statistical Analysis (0.5 credits) - This course is mandatory and last the whole fall semester.

Besides the above courses, students in the first semester usually pick an additional course (0.5 credits) in order to have 1.5 credits in total (since it's 2 half courses, and 2 full courses, it only counts for 1.5 credits in total, even though you are basically doing 4 courses). You always have the option to take on an additional full course in the fall as well if you want to make it faster/quicker (like I did) so you have 2 credits.

In the Winter semester therefore, students usually only have 1 mandatory course left in the program, which is their ECON course (that varies depending on the stream you are). So students in the winter basically just chose their ECON requirement (0.5 credit) and an additional 2 courses (for 1 credit).

If you count all of that right, it means that students usually have 3 out of 5 credits after 2 semesters at NPSIA, which leaves them with all their mandatory courses completed and only 4 electives left (or outside faculty courses). Then begins the co-op stuff and 2st year. You can also take on more courses in each semesters, do summer courses or do 1 courses while doing co-op if you want to complete your M.A. faster.

 

That's pretty much all there is! Happy to answer questions if you have additional ones.

Thank you so much! That is very helpful!

Based on your experience, is it reasonable to work part-time for 15-20 hours per week? Or do most students just focus 100% on school with no part-time work? I would plan to take only 1.5 credits in the first semester, and then another 1.5 in the second semester. (Bearing in mind that I'm used to working full-time and managing a household, so I'm no stranger to heavy workloads.)

[Gradgradinternational]

8 hours ago, MiddleAges said:

Thank you so much! That is very helpful!

Based on your experience, is it reasonable to work part-time for 15-20 hours per week? Or do most students just focus 100% on school with no part-time work? I would plan to take only 1.5 credits in the first semester, and then another 1.5 in the second semester. (Bearing in mind that I'm used to working full-time and managing a household, so I'm no stranger to heavy workloads.)

I definitely think it's doable, especially if you're use to managing a busy schedule. You're probably just going to be pretty busy at the end of semester especially, but that is to be expected nonetheless.

The mandatory courses are not so difficult (that is Policy, In'tl law and Statistics) because all NPSIA students basically come together to help each other's out in order to succeed. They are also mostly pass or fail, and they were online/asynchoronous for some of them (might be the same in the fall 2022, I have no idea).

In sum, yes, working part-time and doing the program is doable, a lot of students actually do it. For those who have never done it and come from undergrad, it might seem like much but if you're organized, it's not that bad. I personally took 2.0 credits in my first semester (so all mandatory course + 2 electives) and I was also working part-time, and I am still alive!

[Confused2022]

Hi everyone,

Congrats to all who have been accepted into either program at NPSIA and GSPIA. I have been accepted to both and am so torn between which school to attend and which program would be best for me. Looking for any NPSIA or GSPIA graduates/current students thoughts and would love to hear about your experience at either school! I am looking to get some practical experience throughout my degree (highly interested in the Co-op options and/or internship opportunities). I don't know anyone who has completed either program, so any comments/stories/intel would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks in advance and good luck to everyone!