U of Toronto MPP SPPG 2015 FALL

[stressulcer]

laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame.   see some of y'all at queens.

[stressulcer]

anyone else hear anything yet? this is crazy...just tell me if i'm rejected already.

[hiddentunes]

Received a generic form email yesterday indicating that I was wait listed. I guess it's better than an outright rejection... 

[stressulcer]

ha, ya....better than outright hearing nothing...

 

did your online status change before you got the email?

Edited April 22, 2015 by stressulcer

[hiddentunes]

Nope, still says "under review." 

[kma92]

@stressulcer, my status did not change before I received the e-mail. My assumption is that it wont change unless the waitlist status (i.e. accept/reject) changes. 

[maozedong]

ha, ya....better than outright hearing nothing...

 

did your online status change before you got the email?

Honestly, don't worry about what your status says. I have been accepted to another program at UofT three weeks ago and my status still says "under review".

Edited April 22, 2015 by maozedong

[stressulcer]

Honestly, don't worry about what your status says. I have been accepted to another program at UofT three weeks ago and my status still says "under review".

i just don't understand why they wouldn't send out all the emails at once. it's the interminable waiting that's pissing me off.

[katiemarc]

LOL just got rejected and I had a dean's statement, 4 years of professional experience and internships within my undergrad, an A average in the last two years along with 4 references even though people with nothing on their resumes and minimal reference letters got in just because they had good grades for a full four years for a "professional program that takes a holistic approach" this does not seem correct.

 

Everyone go check their other folders within their social or promotions email thats where mine was, or possibly another folder.

 

Queens was my first choice because it was shorter but so happy just to know after the effort put into the application!

 

whattttttupppppppp Queens MPA class of 2016!! 

Edited April 22, 2015 by katiemarc

[maozedong]

LOL just got rejected and I had a dean's statement, 4 years of professional experience and internships within my undergrad, an a A average in the last two years along with 4 references even though people with nothing on their resumes and minimal reference letters got in just because they had good grades for a full four years for a "professional program that takes a hollistic approach" this does not seem correct.

 

Everyone go check their other folders within their social or promotions email thats where mine was, or possibly another folder.

 

so happy just to know!

 

whattttttupppppppp Queens MPA class of 2016!! 

If what you say is true, then my chances aren't looking too good.

Are you an international applicant by any chance?

Edited April 22, 2015 by maozedong

[katiemarc]

If what you say is true, then my chances aren't looking too good.

Are you an international applicant by any chance?

Nope! Ontario University, I do not think they are being honest with their students, I think for the majority of the class they are only looking at grades, I had friends who got in that had one sales position on their resume and 2 reference letters, however, they had straight A's for all 4 years and they got in 1st round, while I understand that academia is important, it is a professional program, if they are going to choose solely by grades like a Master of Arts instead of the holistic approach they are promoting they at least need to be honest with people and not waste their time and money.

 

p.s. check your social, promotions, or junk folder! That's where I found mine since it was a generic letter converted to an image.

Edited April 22, 2015 by katiemarc

[maozedong]

Just got rejected. I am not surprised since my cGPA is only -A with no working experience.

Edited April 22, 2015 by maozedong

[H34LTHP0L1CYN3RD]

LOL just got rejected and I had a dean's statement, 4 years of professional experience and internships within my undergrad, an A average in the last two years along with 4 references even though people with nothing on their resumes and minimal reference letters got in just because they had good grades for a full four years for a "professional program that takes a holistic approach" this does not seem correct.

 

Everyone go check their other folders within their social or promotions email thats where mine was, or possibly another folder.

 

Queens was my first choice because it was shorter but so happy just to know after the effort put into the application!

 

whattttttupppppppp Queens MPA class of 2016!! 

I just got my rejection email too, though I have that minus the internship and a little less experience.  I would hesitate to assume it's because of good grades in all four years though... I have an 8.28/9 with consistent grades for all four years. I also know people that got in with what seems to be inferior files.  Personally, I think it has a lot to do with the statement.  Mine was pretty strong but, of course, it only matters what SPPG Admissions thinks.  

 

Oh well, in any case, here I come Munk! 

Edited April 23, 2015 by H34LTHP0L1CYN3RD

[Poliphilo]

Sorry to hear not everyone on here got in. Hope everyone enjoys their other grad programs or jobs. 

 

Received an email from U of T today welcoming me to the MPP class of 2017. It mostly had dates about orientation, the summer Math bootcamp and when class starts. It went to my spam filter. so fellow MPP'17s check your spam filter if you didn't get it. 

 

Folks from Toronto and those who went to U of T, what is a good place to live in Toronto as a U of T grad student? I'm looking for something that is reasonably priced and not too far from campus. I'm okay living in a really small unit.  

 

Best wishes to everyone. 

[MatthewCasselman]

Hey everyone,

 

I have create a Facebook group for those who have accepted their offers to U of T: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SPPG2017/

The group name is: SPPG University of Toronto Class of 2017

 

I'm looking forward to September!

Edited April 27, 2015 by MatthewCasselman

[blueivy]

I'm in the same situation. I got accepted to Queen's and Carleton right away. My funding package at Carleton was better than others who got into U of T during the first round. So I expect to get in (I already started a Ph.D at U of T, though that was in a different field and I exited after the M.A. Maybe U of T didn't like this? Though I doubt  SPPG would care about other departments).

 

Anyway, I have been hotly debating the U of T vs Queen's with myself. I decided against Carleton because I am interested in municipal and provincial policy jurisdictions. 

 

On the one hand, it is vastly more cost effective to do the program in 10 months (at a likely $18,000 vs $12,000 tuition difference just for the first year). I may learn what I need in 10 months and save on the opportunity cost of the extra year. Even excluding the potential salary that one would earn in the second year of Queen's, I will have to borrow at least $40,000 to attend the U of T, and that is not a marginal cost difference by any means. One good thing about Queen's that I discovered is that you will likely share the summer classes with the Professional stream master's students, so there might be interesting networking opportunities and simply the opportunity to learn with people who have been working in the field already. Also, Queen's policy areas of strength are my areas of interest (social policy, education policy etc.).

 

However, I live in Toronto and loved my time at the U of T, which, though it is a newer program, I am sure can provide an excellent education.I do like the idea of being able to volunteer or better focus on my studies at U of T, given the 4 vs 5 classes per semester, the extra year of studying and then being able to reflect on the internship experience while still at school (I've never worked in government or policy development before). In addition, more time is devoted to Quantitative Analysis and Economics at U of T - an extra course, anyway. Also, the classes are more general at U of T as opposed to Queen's where they have a lot of really interesting classes that are more specific. I feel that the general skill set is more necessary for me to tackle any issues that might come up in my career rather than an investigation of specific topics, which I am readily capable of pursuing on my own. But, I do want to work in social policy, and Queen's has a lot of classes in that area, so it could benefit me also.

 

In the end, I believe that I will choose Queen's. Still, not knowing whether I have the option is killing me! 

Ah i'm in a similar boat having a hard time weighing Toronto MPP vs Queen's MPA. Toronto's faculty seems much more academic (though each course seems to be taught by 3 or 4 profs so i don' tknow how much exposure we'd even get), but the cost difference between the two is enormous. Queen's is 12000 + probably 14000 of living costs (generous) so 26,000 total, whereas Toronto is $33,000 for tuition alone plus about $24,000 for living costs for two years, so more than twice as expensive plus an extra year. i don't know whether the courses would have a different focus, with one being a master of public administration and the other a master of public policy---i wonder how much of that is just naming conventions. I do like that queen's has much more in the way of electives---we could take really specific courses in law, economics, social policy, environment, development, etc. whereas Toronto has only 3 electives it seems over the two years. A few of the toronto mandatory courses also don't appeal to me that much, but i think the work-life balance would be much healthier with toronto than with queen's given the timelines.