<U of Toronto> informal acceptance from Prof. means admission?

[Pacific.O]

Hello, I'm a prospective PhD student in neuro fields.

Actually, I already had a Skype call with prospective professor, and he said to me 'I can offer you a funded position, and I will write a supporting letter for your application.'.

In this case, in the Canadian graduate admissions system, although I have to submit my formal application to the department admissions committee, can I expect successful result? 

As I'm not accustomed to Canadian graduate system, please let me know. Thank you.

[TakeruK]

This is a really good sign, but it's not 100% certain that you will be admitted. Although it can vary a lot between fields, in the Canadian system, grad positions are more like hiring for a job than admitting students. To compare with the US system, generally, American admissions committees tries to pick the best X students that meets the overall department needs. In the Canadian system, generally, the admission committee is there only to verify that the student will be able to meet the requirements of the program and that they will succeed, however, it's up to each professor to offer funded positions and many PhD programs will require a professor willing to fund you for admission (because the source of most of your funding will be from the professor, not the department). This doesn't mean that you must have contacted a professor ahead of time (although it's a good idea in my field) because what generally happens is that the committee will review all of the applications, determine the ones that make the cut (and maybe trim them down if there is a lot) and then forward them to all professors and they can "hire" out of that pool. In addition, professors can advocate for certain applicants to be accepted if they want to hire that specific applicant, even if the admissions committee didn't select them originally.

So, in your situation, having an offer like this from a professor is a good sign that you will be successful in that department. But, it's hard to know for sure if the professor you want to work with will say this for everyone who he is interested in working with, or if he is saving this "offer" only for the students he really wants to work with. In my experience, I've found that it's hard to "calibrate" what a professor means until I get to know them better. For now though, I would be optimistic  Good luck!

[rojano]

Dear Pacific, 

Was it necessary to contact a professor before application? Because the prof I was gonna contact at u of t is on leave until December and on the website it's written that students apply directly to the department while people say there's a little chance of admission without cobtacting! What did the website of your department say? How many publications did you have on your résumé?

[Pacific.O]

2 hours ago, rojano said:

Dear Pacific, 

Was it necessary to contact a professor before application? Because the prof I was gonna contact at u of t is on leave until December and on the website it's written that students apply directly to the department while people say there's a little chance of admission without cobtacting! What did the website of your department say? How many publications did you have on your résumé?

As far as I know, it's dependent on departments' policies. The department that I'm applying says it's unnecessary to contact potential professor in advance. However, they recommend to file a potential professor's supporting letter into my application. If you want to initiate a contact with prospective professor, I suggest you that mailing to him as early as possible. Maybe, he can express interest in your case, yes or no. Additionally, it's good idea to ask the effect of contacting to graduate coordinator or administrator in the department that you want to get in. Good luck!

[rojano]

3 minutes ago, Pacific.O said:

As far as I know, it's dependent on departments' policies. The department that I'm applying says it's unnecessary to contact potential professor in advance. However, they recommend to file a potential professor's supporting letter into my application. If you want to initiate a contact with prospective professor, I suggest you that mailing to him as early as possible. Maybe, he can express interest in your case, yes or no. Additionally, it's good idea to ask the effect of contacting to graduate coordinator or administrator in the department that you want to get in. Good luck!

Actually I don't see any info on potential supervisor supporting letter on my depatment's website. Thanks for help.