Applying to NPSIA for 2018

[Tyxce]

Hi everyone! 

I'm new to the forums but I had a few questions I thought I'd ask you all for advice! 

Last week I got my funding offer for NPSIA, which was $25 000 over two years through scholarships and a two year TA position. It's not necessary as much as I was hoping but I'm also not sure whether this is good for NPSIA or not.  I also got accepted to the MIPP program at Balsillie with $20 000 of funding for the one year program, which is enough to cover tuition and a large portion of my expenses there. 

So I'm wondering if you all had any advice on which one to pick!

Is NPSIA 100% worth it despite the lower offer or would going to Balsillie be comparable in terms of the quality of education and employment options after? 

Edited March 5, 2018 by Tyxce

[Delidas]

@Tyxce From what I hear, Balsillie offers a great education. It's a very well-funded program. That being said, as to whether or not it beats out NPSIA (in your case) depends on your vocational goals. If you aim to work for the feds after graduating, I don't think NPSIA can be beaten; the location alone would suggest that. If you're more interested in NGO work, I don't think it matters AS much where you go to school, just that you develop tangible skills and a network. Personally, I'd go with whatever lessened my debt burden the most drastically.

But maybe I'm just cheap  

[adelhiboy]

Hi Everyone, I'd like to pass my best wishes to everyone who received got their results. For those of us still stuck, anyone has any idea on when can we expect the results? 

I have to reply back to SIPA and Maxwell by 15th of March (and this is after I requested them for a deadline extension!) but I want to know my NPSIA results too before I make any decision. I tried calling all night yesterday (and yes the time difference is 10+ hours) but the calls never went through. Does anyone have any idea on when can the second list be announced?   

Thanks in advance  

Edited March 6, 2018 by adelhiboy

[gemmi]

9 minutes ago, adelhiboy said:

Hi Everyone, I'd like to pass my best wishes to everyone who received got their results. For those of us still stuck, anyone has any idea on when can we expect the results? 

I have to reply back to SIPA and Maxwell by 15th of March (and this is after I requested them for a deadline extension!) but I want to know my NPSIA results too before I make any decision. I tried calling all night yesterday (and yes the time difference is 10+ hours) but the calls never went through.   Thanks in advance  

I have the same issue. If we accept an admission from another school and then hear back from NPSIA positively and want to decline that offer from the other school to go with NPSIA I beleive some here mentioned that schools would still be okay with that. Correct? And I say “Okay” meaning they may have more work on their plate but that is happens.

This is not obviously a good practice but schools that give offers late and those that give early must experience this issues frequently.

Do you think they share communication with similar departments especially  knowing students who applied to their program and accepted..for example like inter province schools for example must know, no? GSPIA and NPSIA..eg

Would they know if a student gets accepted to one of the other and accepts..? And would that affect our admission to the other school if we accept before the school sends out official acceptance letters to us?

 

[Corenn]

I emailed GPSIA about extending my offer of admission deadline and they said that the response deadline is not a firm date, and that they'll accept my admission even after the date.

Wondering if anyone else got this response.

Edit: This was to the scsgrad@uottawa.ca email. not the faculty department email.

Edited March 6, 2018 by Corenn

[alexma63]

1 hour ago, Corenn said:

I emailed GPSIA about extending my offer of admission deadline and they said that the response deadline is not a firm date, and that they'll accept my admission even after the date.

Wondering if anyone else got this response.

Edit: This was to the scsgrad@uottawa.ca email. not the faculty department email.

@Corenn I was also told the same by GPSIA. I spoke to the department on the phone and they said I could also alternatively accept the offer and cancel my acceptance very easily.

 

[Corenn]

@alexma63 Awesome, good to know!

[Darda18]

10 hours ago, gemmi said:

I have the same issue. If we accept an admission from another school and then hear back from NPSIA positively and want to decline that offer from the other school to go with NPSIA I beleive some here mentioned that schools would still be okay with that. Correct? And I say “Okay” meaning they may have more work on their plate but that is happens.

This is not obviously a good practice but schools that give offers late and those that give early must experience this issues frequently.

Do you think they share communication with similar departments especially  knowing students who applied to their program and accepted..for example like inter province schools for example must know, no? GSPIA and NPSIA..eg

Would they know if a student gets accepted to one of the other and accepts..? And would that affect our admission to the other school if we accept before the school sends out official acceptance letters to us?

 

I had a few doubts as well in regards to NPSIA knowing that I accepted GSPIA and then simply not contacting me. I strongly doubt that the two school communicate about acceptances, or that there's some database that won't allow them to send you and offer because you've already accepted another school. At the very least, I would assume that GSPIA would have made that information available when I explained my situation to them

You're right that the decline offers after accepting is okay, the office don't mind it and you don't lose anything. 

As for when we'll hear back, I've heard that Carleton staff are currently on strike and there was something about it lasting 19 days. Although I'm not sure if the NPSIA administration staff are involved or not.

[Npsia2018]

I spoke with npsia administration. For those of us who got the unofficial acceptance email, but no funding details yet, we would have to wait until mid to end March for official acceptance and funding details. The current strike is significantly slowing down the process.

[alexma63]

10 minutes ago, Npsia2018 said:

I spoke with npsia administration. For those of us who got the unofficial acceptance email, but no funding details yet, we would have to wait until mid to end March for official acceptance and funding details. The current strike is significantly slowing down the process.

Thanks @Npsia2018this is very helpful!

[sunshine18]

20 minutes ago, Npsia2018 said:

I spoke with npsia administration. For those of us who got the unofficial acceptance email, but no funding details yet, we would have to wait until mid to end March for official acceptance and funding details. The current strike is significantly slowing down the process.

Thank you! The suspense was killing me! Lets hope we both get good funding!

[alexma63]

27 minutes ago, Npsia2018 said:

I spoke with npsia administration. For those of us who got the unofficial acceptance email, but no funding details yet, we would have to wait until mid to end March for official acceptance and funding details. The current strike is significantly slowing down the process.

8 minutes ago, sunshine18 said:

Thank you! The suspense was killing me! Lets hope we both get good funding!

Yes, crossing fingers for good funding packages. Good luck @sunshine18 and @Npsia2018

 

[Risotto]

1 hour ago, Npsia2018 said:

I spoke with npsia administration. For those of us who got the unofficial acceptance email, but no funding details yet, we would have to wait until mid to end March for official acceptance and funding details. The current strike is significantly slowing down the process.

Thanks for this! I was starting to get a little nervous...

[Tyxce]

On 3/5/2018 at 8:29 PM, Delidas said:

@Tyxce From what I hear, Balsillie offers a great education. It's a very well-funded program. That being said, as to whether or not it beats out NPSIA (in your case) depends on your vocational goals. If you aim to work for the feds after graduating, I don't think NPSIA can be beaten; the location alone would suggest that. If you're more interested in NGO work, I don't think it matters AS much where you go to school, just that you develop tangible skills and a network. Personally, I'd go with whatever lessened my debt burden the most drastically.

But maybe I'm just cheap  

 I worked it out with friends, and the funding actually isn't that different when calculated by semester. I really want to work for the federal government after. So I'm definitely choosing NPSIA then! Thanks for the help and advice!

[alexma63]

Hi all,

I know this has been brushed upon already, but I was wondering if any current NPSIA students or alumni have anything else to add about the economics requirement. I am currently taking a microeconomics course with Ryerson at a distance while finishing off my MSW this year. I'm really finding it difficult and scored a 45% on my last quiz... which has been hard to swallow since I typically have good grades. The course through Ryerson uses the McGraw Hill Connect system ... which has great practice questions but I find the materials have not prepared me well for analyzing the graphs. 

I'm just wondering if people who have taken the Carleton course can speak to how it is organized. Alternatively, if anyone has suggestions to make meeting this requirement easier (a different online course? Athabasca?) that would be greatly appreciated. The benefit of taking the course with Carleton is that I would not have to pay any extra tuition. 

I know I have the summer to complete this requirement, but I'm getting antsy as I may have to drop the course I am currently taking. 

Thanks! 

[Darda18]

57 minutes ago, alexma63 said:

Hi all,

I know this has been brushed upon already, but I was wondering if any current NPSIA students or alumni have anything else to add about the economics requirement. I am currently taking a microeconomics course with Ryerson at a distance while finishing off my MSW this year. I'm really finding it difficult and scored a 45% on my last quiz... which has been hard to swallow since I typically have good grades. The course through Ryerson uses the McGraw Hill Connect system ... which has great practice questions but I find the materials have not prepared me well for analyzing the graphs. 

I'm just wondering if people who have taken the Carleton course can speak to how it is organized. Alternatively, if anyone has suggestions to make meeting this requirement easier (a different online course? Athabasca?) that would be greatly appreciated. The benefit of taking the course with Carleton is that I would not have to pay any extra tuition. 

I know I have the summer to complete this requirement, but I'm getting antsy as I may have to drop the course I am currently taking. 

Thanks! 

I'm also currently taking introductory economics courses to fulfill the requirement. Course also uses Connect.

From what my professor has said, most introduction to micro and macro economics courses are pretty uniform throughout most institutions in Canada and the US. So in terms of content, your course would be very close to a course offered at Carleton or online

[Chuupa]

So, I got into both GSPIA and SIDGS ! But I am not too sure which one to pick... I feel like for what I want to do later, GSPIA is exactly what I need. However, I absolutely love development and I'd like to do research on that subject (especially on the environment). The professors at GSPIA are amazing, but it looks like they're more interested in defense/conflicts, etc... I also don't really know what are the careers opportunities with a master in development. I'm lost. I read from last year's topic that the work load for the first year at GSPIA is really intense, which kinda scares me. It's more relaxed at SIDGS, so I thought I could do more extra activities. 

I also got a TAship from SIDGS, which is nice. I called GSPIA and they told me they give TAship to students with 8,5/10 and I have 8/10 haha. I'd like to work to limit the student loans as well. I hate to make decisions. 

[sandradee]

On 3/9/2018 at 10:04 PM, Chuupa said:

So, I got into both GSPIA and SIDGS ! But I am not too sure which one to pick... I feel like for what I want to do later, GSPIA is exactly what I need. However, I absolutely love development and I'd like to do research on that subject (especially on the environment). The professors at GSPIA are amazing, but it looks like they're more interested in defense/conflicts, etc... I also don't really know what are the careers opportunities with a master in development. I'm lost. I read from last year's topic that the work load for the first year at GSPIA is really intense, which kinda scares me. It's more relaxed at SIDGS, so I thought I could do more extra activities. 

I also got a TAship from SIDGS, which is nice. I called GSPIA and they told me they give TAship to students with 8,5/10 and I have 8/10 haha. I'd like to work to limit the student loans as well. I hate to make decisions. 

Congrats on getting in! I too have some draw to GPSIA, which is why ill be trying to take some courses there. I mean overall, I want my degree from NPSIA so I only applied there, but I really like some of the public affairs courses that GPSIA offers so I hope to take three of them (which is the max allowed by NPSIA). Maybe doing something like this will give you the best of both worlds that you are looking for?

I officially accepted my NPSIA offer and all my awards. I was emailed by carleton central to fill out my TA preferences. Does anyone know what to be selecting for that? As in can we only TA in courses that we've completed? Or courses that were in your undergraduate degree? For example, can I only TA to social work classes, even though I've completed/have much work history in some of the sociology ones? I guess its too early, but the email states the faster you fill it out the better. (I was thinking too how there is no undergraduate program through NPSIA so I guess we just choose what we think we should teach based on experience?)

[Ronnieb]

For those of us who received an unofficial offer a few weeks ago and have not received an official offer yet, I just checked my status on Carleton Central and my application status has changed to "Review in progress by Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs", and my specialization says International Development Policy. Hopefully this is a good sign, and we'll be receiving our official offers soon!

[sunshine18]

34 minutes ago, Ronnieb said:

For those of us who received an unofficial offer a few weeks ago and have not received an official offer yet, I just checked my status on Carleton Central and my application status has changed to "Review in progress by Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs", and my specialization says International Development Policy. Hopefully this is a good sign, and we'll be receiving our official offers soon!

Mine has changed as well to intelligence and international affairs!

[Risotto]

Hi all,

Happy Monday 

My specialization was added this morning and my status changed from "Recommended for assessment" to "Review in progress by department." It looks like the process is moving slowly but surely. Has anyone else seen a change today?

[alexma63]

24 minutes ago, Risotto said:

Hi all,

Happy Monday 

My specialization was added this morning and my status changed from "Recommended for assessment" to "Review in progress by department." It looks like the process is moving slowly but surely. Has anyone else seen a change today?

Hello everyone,

Hope you all had a nice weekend

Mine has changed to "Review in progress by Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs", and my specialisation is conflict resolution and analysis.

Looking forward to getting our official offer letters.

[DaretoZlatan10]

Hi everyone,

Congrats to everyone's early acceptance, and to those who are still waiting (I included), hopefully we hear soon.

I just got accepted to Carleton's European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, but I am still waiting on NPSIA. I currently hold a BA in Political Science since June 2017, and my last two years of undergrad were 80 on the dot.  In addition, I completed my economic courses at Ryerson, and finished with average grades, micro (B-), macro (B-) and development economics (A-). 

Aside from academics, I completed two internships within the last 16 months at the Czech and Ukrainian Embassies to Canada. I was responsible for trade policy research, finding ways to strengthen economic relations between Czech and Canada, as well as working on the Ukrainian-Canadian Free Trade Agreement. From these enriched experiences, I asked one of the Ambassador's to be my reference for NPSIA.  I also have a proficiency in Czech, German, Russian and English.  

My nerves are roughly lately, since my Carleton center says "recommended for assessment". 

To anyone that has accepted their offer, or currently in the program, what are my odds for admission this fall?

 

 

 

[Npsia2018]

53 minutes ago, DaretoZlatan10 said:

Hi everyone,

Congrats to everyone's early acceptance, and to those who are still waiting (I included), hopefully we hear soon.

I just got accepted to Carleton's European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, but I am still waiting on NPSIA. I currently hold a BA in Political Science since June 2017, and my last two years of undergrad were 80 on the dot.  In addition, I completed my economic courses at Ryerson, and finished with average grades, micro (B-), macro (B-) and development economics (A-). 

Aside from academics, I completed two internships within the last 16 months at the Czech and Ukrainian Embassies to Canada. I was responsible for trade policy research, finding ways to strengthen economic relations between Czech and Canada, as well as working on the Ukrainian-Canadian Free Trade Agreement. From these enriched experiences, I asked one of the Ambassador's to be my reference for NPSIA.  I also have a proficiency in Czech, German, Russian and English.  

My nerves are roughly lately, since my Carleton center says "recommended for assessment". 

To anyone that has accepted their offer, or currently in the program, what are my odds for admission this fall?

 

 

 

From what I know, they work on a points system. Each part of your application (CV, CGPA, SOP, letters of recommendation, etc.) is worth a certain amount of points. They add the points up and start admitting the highest rated students in the first wave.

[Omie]

1 hour ago, DaretoZlatan10 said:

Hi everyone,

Congrats to everyone's early acceptance, and to those who are still waiting (I included), hopefully we hear soon.

I just got accepted to Carleton's European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, but I am still waiting on NPSIA. I currently hold a BA in Political Science since June 2017, and my last two years of undergrad were 80 on the dot.  In addition, I completed my economic courses at Ryerson, and finished with average grades, micro (B-), macro (B-) and development economics (A-). 

Aside from academics, I completed two internships within the last 16 months at the Czech and Ukrainian Embassies to Canada. I was responsible for trade policy research, finding ways to strengthen economic relations between Czech and Canada, as well as working on the Ukrainian-Canadian Free Trade Agreement. From these enriched experiences, I asked one of the Ambassador's to be my reference for NPSIA.  I also have a proficiency in Czech, German, Russian and English.  

My nerves are roughly lately, since my Carleton center says "recommended for assessment". 

To anyone that has accepted their offer, or currently in the program, what are my odds for admission this fall?

 

 

 

I unfortunately can't speak much on your chances, however I am on the same boat as you as I've been "recommended for assessment" since Feb 23rd. 

I spoke with the NPSIA office this morning, and they said my app was still under review, and said that the process has been slowed down due to the Carleton strike. She also mentioned that those who are still under review (I am guessing this applies to your case as well), should be hearing back from them by the end of this month. 

All to say, there is still hope! Hang in there!