how competitive are canadian philosophy MA programs?

[zimu]

hi everyone!

im currently looking at MA programs for philosophy in canada and im wondering how competitive they are. im specifically interested in simon fraser u, university of calgary, dalhousie university and university of victoria. if anyone knows the acceptance rate (especially simon fraser), id love to know! thank you!

[Hugh_]

On 10/11/2022 at 11:11 AM, zimu said:

hi everyone!

im currently looking at MA programs for philosophy in canada and im wondering how competitive they are. im specifically interested in simon fraser u, university of calgary, dalhousie university and university of victoria. if anyone knows the acceptance rate (especially simon fraser), id love to know! thank you!

It depends on your GPA, the quality of your application (personal statement and writing sample if required), and especially the quality of your letters of recommendations. There is no real existing way to assess the degree of competitiveness for these programs. All that can be said is the admissions committee will take a careful look at all components of your application

[maxhgns]

A Canadian with an honours UG will usually have completed round twice as many philosophy courses as an American honours UG. So that's part of the competition. International funding for the MA may also be more limited.

[Mischief]

On 10/11/2022 at 8:11 AM, zimu said:

hi everyone!

im currently looking at MA programs for philosophy in canada and im wondering how competitive they are. im specifically interested in simon fraser u, university of calgary, dalhousie university and university of victoria. if anyone knows the acceptance rate (especially simon fraser), id love to know! thank you!

The first question is the number of applicants. This varies a LOT from place to place, but it wouldn't surprise if e.g. SFU got 100+ applicants in a year and very strong ones considering their preparedness to take on international students (if you look at their cohorts every year, it's largely international students not domestic ones). Within Canada, some of these programs get 30-60 applications a year, others get less. The matter is more funding than anything--if you're applying, can they fund you and will they admit you if they can't? Dalhousie is a good example of this: the department is direct that department-level funding for grad students students (MA + PhD) is scarce, so beyond TAing they have to nominate you for funding or you have to win on your own. They might admit you without, but it's a consideration.