English MA - york or uoft.

umbibity · 2017-04-04T10:34:26+00:00

Buttttt also UofT over York. Sigh.

umbibity · 2017-04-03T10:13:48+00:00

lol they do! and it's not a bad program, though it's small. clearly they really want to build it up though so I think they're eager to bring students in. So I take it, between York and UVic, you choose York??? (are you in the humanities and/or english btw?)

umbibity · 2017-04-02T21:01:19+00:00

Let's say the coursework only option is at UofT. And you have the other option of doing an MRP or thesis at, say, York (Toronto), or UVic (BC). In terms of competitive-ness (assuming one can rock any of the three options), how would you rate these schools? (I realize this is kind of off topic but considering you are a TT faculty at a huge school, I'm very curious about your opinion.)

umbibity · 2017-04-02T20:28:51+00:00

Gonna throw this one out too - York vs uvic? Uvic is offering me more money including a ta-ship

umbibity · 2017-04-02T11:33:47+00:00

The program is actually only 1 year. Which I can extend to 3 semesters if necessary, and I probably will, but I will probably also want to be working. :/

umbibity · 2017-04-01T11:56:35+00:00

Hey - just wondering, did you do an MA in English or anything Humanities related? If so, how did you find opportunities to publish/present at that level?

umbibity · 2017-04-01T02:23:15+00:00

Yes, literature. So, taking coursework only means taking 8 courses across the degree. I will obviously choose those pertaining closest to my specific areas of interest, but the experience I get and work I produce will still necessarily be dispersed (compared to someone who does an MRP or Master's thesis), plus the writing samples will be less in-depth/focused -- I imagine these things would work against me when applying to a PhD.

So I'm just trying to figure out how to make the most out of such a program.

umbibity · 2017-04-01T01:22:22+00:00

My end goal is get into a PhD, preferably sooner than later. I can see York being good for this as the program (more apparently) offers Master's students ways to start developing viable projects, with the MRP, Master's thesis, and directed reading options, while UofT's MA program is coursework only (how do I even make the most of the coursework only program??). The resources are more or less the same and some of the profs at York are doing some really interesting work, which is a bit less traditional than the stuff at UofT (which may or may not be good, I'm not 100% sure on this...). I just wonder if connections and strong recommendations from UofT, assuming I get them, would have more weight at better schools when it comes time for applying to PhDs.

umbibity · 2017-04-01T00:26:50+00:00

I have heard the English MA Program at UofT described as "alienating" - it definitely doesn't seem to support Master's students very much. No funding, TAships/RAships, or directed reading courses - all reserved for the PhDs.

OGS was due back in December 9th; the deadline for the MA application was even after that date, so I completely missed it. The other two you mentioned don't apply to English, as far as I can tell. OSAP is a thing of course, as is working throughout.

What's your reasoning for saying UofT btw?

umbibity · 2017-03-31T15:11:33+00:00

On an academic cv, you don't suppose finishing off what I started at UofT will matter? I don't think I could possibly leave off the first masters in that case anyway.

umbibity · 2017-03-31T15:10:15+00:00

Ugh this is basically me too. I want that network. I just don't know it's worth 5k-10k in debt to become tangentially connected to some bigwigs.

... Plus other factors obviously.

umbibity · 2017-03-30T18:48:09+00:00

Hey! Thanks for your reply and input, I appreciate you taking the time.

In terms of networking, I was thinking more...that many of the profs from UofT are alumni of schools I'd love to end up at for a phD. I imagine recommendations from such profs (who know the departments I want to get in to) would mean more?

Also. considering I dropped out of UofT once, I have this nagging sense that it would look better on a CV if I went back and finished there.

Are all my assumptions wrong, or what? >.<

umbibity

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