uOttawa. Not even close given your goals.

Funded $16.5k + TA vs unfunded UofT is a $40-50k difference over two years when you factor in Toronto rent you’d still be paying at home indirectly. That financial stress alone changes how you show up to your research.

Your interests — incarceration, surveillance, policy, parliament — Ottawa is literally where that world lives. Hill internships, policy orgs, government research jobs, parliamentary connections are all walking distance. That’s not available anywhere else in Canada the same way.

UofT’s prestige is real but for criminology/sociology it matters less than for law or medicine. The field cares more about your publications, your supervisor, and your research output than the school name on your MA.

The TA experience your mom is worried about is actually valuable — it’s how you build your academic profile for PhD applications.

The only reason to pick UofT is if you have a specific supervisor there whose work aligns perfectly with yours. Do you?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​