Questions for Toronto Grad Students

[CakeForBreakfast]

I received an offer of admission to Ryerson, UofT and York's English M.A program and I have been really struggling with trying to make a final decision.

I was wondering if anyone on here was in a similar position? If so, how did you decide to pick the M.A program that you did, and what made you decide to reject the other offers? Are you happy with the decision you made?

Also, do you know someone who attended one of these universities? What was their overall experience like?

I have considered the whole fit and funding aspect, but it would be incredibly useful to hear someone's personal experience with any of these programs.

 

[tacitmonument]

PhD student at U of T here. PM me! Happy to chat & answer any questions you might have.

[CakeForBreakfast]

Yay! Thank you tacitmonument! 

[teainateacup]

I've accepted an offer at Ryerson (Literatures of Modernity) and it looks like a great program!

I have a friend who started there this past fall and is really enjoying it. I haven't heard much in favour of UofT's program (too big, no funding, detached, etc.) and I haven't heard much at all about York. But it depends what you're looking for. Ryerson seems to be more of a creative MA in terms of being able to do almost anything with your major research project (sort of an open-to-interpretation thesis) or a practicum, and the course listings emphasis more contemporary works over the canon-based education you might find elsewhere. Creative suits me best, so it's likely that my take on the other schools is on account of having friends with similar interests.

Since all the schools are in the same city, are you able to go visit for a weekend and meet with the graduate program directors to get a better sense of the programs?

[CakeForBreakfast]

On 3/31/2016 at 9:33 PM, teainateacup said:

Since all the schools are in the same city, are you able to go visit for a weekend and meet with the graduate program directors to get a better sense of the programs?

I actually did end up going to Toronto recently and had a tour of the various campuses and departments! I'm pretty sure that I will be accepting Ryerson's offer at this point since I have yet to hear of any negative experiences from that program. 

And according to your profile, you're from Montreal as well! Are you a Concordia or McGill student by any chance? We might have some mutual friends or we might have attended some of the same classes!  

[teainateacup]

On April 1, 2016 at 5:24 PM, CakeForBreakfast said:

I'm pretty sure that I will be accepting Ryerson's offer at this point since I have yet to hear of any negative experiences from that program. 

That's great! Honestly, I've only heard positive things about this program. 

On April 1, 2016 at 5:24 PM, CakeForBreakfast said:

Are you a Concordia or McGill student by any chance?

I'm at Concordia, English lit & creative writing. Are/ were you as well?

[Abyss21]

Literatures of Modernity at Ryerson student here! I'm currently finishing up my final research project and I've overall had a fantastic time in this program. It really is an unconventional master's program that offers great funding and many opportunities to explore possibilities outside of a straight line towards a PhD. I highly recommend taking a creative writing class as well as taking on one or two research assistantships. Sadly the current grad director is leaving (he was the absolute best) but he's being replaced with someone who seems great as well. I can't say enough good things about this program!

[rojano]

I would like to apply to Comparative Literature for fall 2017 and I am a permanent resident of Canada living in Toronto. I have A- GPA (3.7 out of 4) and a refereed published article out of my M.A thesis, a presented article in an International conference, and I am working on 2 more articles at the moment. I am a fluent speaker of Persian. My Academic IELTS is 7.5 and I know French at upper-intermediate proficiency levels. I know German and Spanish at elementary levels. I am still studying my French, Spanish and German. 

Do you think I have any chances to get accepted with funding? Some of my friends tell me to email the professors and ask for appointments. They say it will work better than just applying to the department directly without talking to a supervisor. What's your idea? I don't know what to write to them to get an appointment. I don't know what the subject of my email should be. Is it bad to go to university without emailing them first? I would appreciate that if you would help me with these questions and guide me even about the things I should know.