Canadian Public Policy/Admin. Graduate Programs

[Pound Cake]

Hey guys,

I'm beginning to work on my grad school applications for Public Policy/Admin. If any of you could provide any general advice on public policy programs around the country that would be awesome, particularly on Letters of Intent/Statements of Interest for applications. I'm scheduled to finish my undergrad in May 2017 from UBC with a double major in Political Science and International Relations. 

I've actually been pretty set on UofT's MPP program for a while. In fact, I've been intending to only apply to UofT, as I don't feel like spending money on application fees on schools I'm not fully interested in. This is probably not the best justification, but my preference is mostly because I've been wanting to live in Toronto for some time now. The program has courses that greatly interest me as well, but location is playing a pretty huge role in my choice for grad school, and I feel that this isn't the approach I should be taking with grad school selections. I realize that there are some other great programs out there such as Queens, Carleton, and even UVIC which would be very close for me, being from Vancouver and all. 

Having said all that, I don't mind getting into grad school a year later (Sept. 2018), as I'm trying to get a years worth of relevant work experience before heading into grad school, so not getting into UofT this year wouldn't be tragic by any means, but at the same time, there's still this concern in the back of my mind with the risky path I'm taking by not opening up to other options and only applying to one school. Any advice for my situation would be much appreciated!

Perhaps this could even become a general thread for Canadian public policy/admin. programs, but I just wanted to get some of your guys' thoughts. 

Thank you so much!

EDIT: I realize that there's an "Am I Competitive?" sticky thread, but it seems to be greatly focused on U.S schools. Not sure, if I should just post my applicant "stats" here in this thread instead...

 

Edited October 30, 2016 by Pound Cake

[kaboom987]

I sent out two applications for the Winter 2017 term (because only two accept in the winter).

Still waiting on them. If it goes badly then I'll reapply everywhere end of November...

[Pound Cake]

9 hours ago, kaboom987 said:

I sent out two applications for the Winter 2017 term (because only two accept in the winter).

Still waiting on them. If it goes badly then I'll reapply everywhere end of November...

That's pretty early. Where did you apply to? Most of the schools seem to have a deadline in late January...so results probably won't be out until around March.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Pound Cake

[kaboom987]

On 11/1/2016 at 0:07 AM, Pound Cake said:

That's pretty early. Where did you apply to? Most of the schools seem to have a deadline in late January...so results probably won't be out until around March.

Applied to Ottawa and HEC for the time being as they accept in the Winter (I'd start in January). Deadline was October 1st!

So I'm expecting results in the upcoming weeks!

 

[Pound Cake]

On 02/11/2016 at 4:38 PM, kaboom987 said:

Applied to Ottawa and HEC for the time being as they accept in the Winter (I'd start in January). Deadline was October 1st!

So I'm expecting results in the upcoming weeks!

 

If you don't mind to share, what was your GPA for your application? Any work/volunteer experience? 

[kaboom987]

On 11/14/2016 at 10:47 PM, Pound Cake said:

If you don't mind to share, what was your GPA for your application? Any work/volunteer experience? 

Ten years later, my apologies! 
I got accepted into the Public Policy and Public Administration Program, with a 3.3 overall and 3.6 final two years. I've volunteered in poverty alleviation groups and in local government with my MP + election campaigns. I've also worked as part-time management within a store for a couple years throughout my undergrad which I  made relevant in my SOP. Hope I could help!