Canadian Universities

[Neontrotsky]

I'm currently a Junior in college considering graduate education in Political Science(specifically theory and/or comparative). I recently toured the University of Victoria, mainly because I was there and had a free afternoon. 

 

 

I'm curious about the quality of Canadian schools in general(Are Canadian degrees taken seriously in the U.S?-no offense intended Canada ), and if it's worth even considering. It seems like they may be a bit more generous with funding/assistantships (even giving them to master's students, which seems to be almost unheard of in the U.S)

 

 

Is there anything weird about the way Canadian schools work that I should keep in mind? (For example, U. Vic. seemed tor require a masters in order to be accepted into the PhD program, is this standard?)

[PoliticalOrder]

Canadian grad school operates different than what is typical in the US. Yes, it is very typical for Canadian students (or any student for that matter) to require a masters' degree to enter a Ph.D. program at Canadian universities. Basically, much of the coursework part of a typical American Ph.D. program would be done at the masters' level in Canada (although it is different than the UK system where a Ph.D. still has a coursework component). Basically the system uses a masters' degree as a stepping stone rather than something you just get along the way. 

 

As for the quality, generally, University of Toronto/McGill/UBC are really the only universities in the country that can stack up to top 50 universities in the US. The aforementioned 3 are pretty good schools, with University of Toronto generally being the best, and are definitely taken seriously in the US. There is a caveat however, I would advise against doing a Ph.D. at a Canadian university. It's unlikely you would be able to find a TT position in the US with a Ph.D. from a Canadian university, even from University of Toronto or McGill. 

 

If you are interested in doing a masters' degree for any potential reason out of many, doing one in Canada can actually be quite a good move. You will probably receive enough funding to completely pay for your tuition and possibly your living costs as well.