The School of Graduate Studies (SGS) at U of T receives over 30,000 applications to the university’s three campuses each year. With such steep competition, applying to graduate programs can be a daunting task.
The best way to tackle the challenge is to arm yourself with strategies and accurate information about the expectations and nuances of the application process. From taking advantage of summer courses to applying for relevant work and volunteer positions, there are several ways in which a grad school-minded student can lay the foundation for a competitive application.
Getting ahead in the summer
Many of the St. George campus’s academic departments offer summer courses, though the selection of courses offered during the summer term is limited compared to offerings in the fall and winter semesters.
There are obvious advantages to taking summer courses, including the opportunity it provides to have a reduced course load during the fall and winter terms. However, some students shy away from taking these courses because of the misconception that they are less difficult than full-year courses and consequently less impressive on transcripts.
“Some people may think that you failed a course or that summer courses tend to be easier than courses during the regular school year,” says Paige Sambrook, a third-year undergraduate student double-majoring in English and history. “[M]any people take summer school to reduce their work load the following year and summer courses may in fact be harder than courses during the fall/winter because of the compressed format,” she says.
Andrea Day, a PhD student teaching the summer session of Children’s Literature (ENG234), agrees with Sambrook: “I’ve assigned the same number of texts and assignments that I would during the term; however, [due to] the compressed nature of a summer course, the assignments are due more closely together than they would be otherwise, and students need to read twice as quickly for a six-week summer course as they would for a twelve-week term course,” she says. “Missing one three-hour lecture is like missing an entire week of term instruction, which makes it easier to fall behind,” she adds.
“I have taught [PHL370] both during the year and during the summer. I would say that my goals for the course are the same, although I sometimes use slightly different methods to meet these goals depending on the summer versus year term,” says Mark Schranz, a PhD student currently teaching a summer session of Law and Morality (PHL271). “Generally speaking my goals are to give the students a deep appreciation for the subject matter of the course that will connect with other similar courses they may have taken and therefore enrich the breadth of their knowledge (and hopefully also their knowledge retention),” he says.
SGS vice-dean, students Dr. Luc De Nil and director, student services Don MacMillan assert that, by most Canadian graduate program standards, summer school courses are perceived as equal to any other course. “These are credit courses that are part of a program, and there’s no differentiation made, whether they’re fall, winter, or summer courses,” says De Nil.
“We have a lot of students who apply as part-time students; the norm there would be to do a lesser load in fall and/or winter, take something in the summer, and then take five or six years to graduate…that’s kind of normal,” says MacMillan.
According to Dr. Leanne Carroll, instructor of The Practice of Art History (FAH102), another key benefit of summer classes are the much smaller class sizes, compared to those of fall and winter classes. “When I taught FAH102 in the winter, I had 264 students. The summer enrolment is 65. When FAH102 is offered in the summer, there are no tutorials. So I build more time for class discussion into my lectures,” she says.
Student participation in class tends to improve as a function of these small class sizes. “I have a very different rapport with my summer students. Having the opportunity to learn almost all their names probably helps. They pose questions during lectures and approach me during the break and before and after class far more frequently. This one-on-one interaction is immensely helpful to me in understanding their learning. It seems to help them too… My TA has graded regular-academic-year FAH102 papers for other professors in years past, and he noted that my students’ Formal Analyses are the best batch he’s seen,” Carroll says.
The enrolment deadline for S-category summer courses is July 8.
Research, volunteer, and work experience
Some SGS programs require research and work experience in order to be admitted; psychology is one of these programs.
“We look for people who have some lab experience, or some research experience,” says Dr. Morris Moscovitch, professor at the Department of Psychology and chair of the graduate psychology program. “Quite apart from their scores on tests, they have to have excellent letters of recommendation [and] if they’ve conducted some research, they’re looked on more favourably than students who haven’t,” he adds.
Work experience can also be invaluable for many programs. “Pay attention to what your department is looking for, in terms of experience,” says MacMillan, adding: “If you’re going into something where experience is going to matter, make sure that either through volunteer or work experience that you’re not only meeting, but probably exceeding the minimums.”
The inclusion of work and/or volunteer experience in application requirements is strategic. “For instance, in speech-language pathology, students have to have a minimum number of observation hours before they get in, because we want them to make sure that they know what the profession is all about,” says De Nil.
The quality of a student’s written application is also taken into consideration. “You may need [to include] a letter explaining why you want to get into the program, talking about your background. Admission committees will look at how well the letter is written…[whether] you, as an applicant, can make a coherent, logical argument for why you would be best qualified to be in this program,” says De Nil.
The quality of an applicant’s letters of reference — including the individual providing the reference — is also taken into consideration; professors and other experienced faculty members usually provide the most respected references.
Grades and references
In addition to these requirements, a student’s GPA plays a large role in the determining his or her acceptance into graduate school.
“Really, what the departments are interested in is attracting the best students,” says De Nil. “The department’s admissions criteria are based on academic excellence,” he adds. Each program calculates its own, independent cumulative GPA (cGPA) from an applicant’s transcript, which usually uses grades from senior — 300 and 400 level — courses. Minimum SGS requirements include a mid-B average and an appropriate undergraduate degree. Departments may add to these requirements by, for example, raising the GPA cut-off if they see fit. According to the Department of Psychology’s web page, the minimum GPA for admission to the program is “normally” an A-; preference is given to those who surpass this standard.
However, impressive reference letters and lab or work experience are also taken into account. De Nil and MacMillan add that additional requirements usually include a minimum of two letters of reference and a personal statement.
According to De Nil, this is one reason why relationships with academic supervisors — particularly professors — can be extremely important for a student’s application. “It’s always to a student’s advantage to have an academic reference, because these are the people who can speak best to the academic preparedness of a student,” says De Nil.
While admission into a graduate program does depend heavily on a student’s GPA, there are certain conditions under which the nature of the courses the student has completed is taken into consideration. Specifically, if an admissions committee is faced with two applications that rival each other in terms of GPA merit and work and/or research experience, it may look at the relevance of the students’ respective courses to the program. However, says MacMillan, “that typically would be on the margins, where you really are left with only one spot, and you’ve got one or two or three people that are similarly qualified.”
According to De Nil, the nature of the graduate program itself also affects the weighting of a students’ application.
“There’s a big difference between someone who’s applying for graduate school in a professional program and someone who’s applying … for an MSc or a PhD program… Professional programs [are] essentially course-based. If students are interested in applying for a research-stream program, they will need to identify a [graduate] supervisor… In many sciences, you need to have a supervisor before you can even be admitted,” says De Nil.
What matters more than grades
Both MacMillan and De Nil emphasize the importance of establishing relationships with academic supervisors and professors. “Choose your letters of recommendations wisely… It’ll be much better if you have two letters of recommendation that are academic, rather than have somebody who can just talk to your character,” says MacMillan.
De Nil adds: “Get to know your professor… Make sure that the professor knows you. Talk to him or her, make sure that you participate. ” He also suggests offering to volunteer for graduate faculty members’ projects. “There’s no better way of getting to know a supervisor, and for a supervisor to know you, than volunteering in a lab,” he says. Schranz advises students to prepare extensively for their written application. “What tends to matter more [than high grades] are one’s writing sample and the letters of recommendation one gets from one’s professors,” he says.
“In this sense, it is really important to spend time to develop one sustained piece of very high quality writing, and it can often be very beneficial to cultivate good working relationships with a few professors — such people will know the students better and will be able to both write better letters and direct them towards graduate programs that are better suited to their needs,” he adds.
Carroll also emphasizes the importance of writing skills: “Regardless of your field, your application will be stronger if you can submit clean copy, and your professors will require clean copy for your graduate work anyway. How something is said determines what is said. Writing style and skills play a fundamental role in the meaning that is conveyed,” she says.
Visit the SGS’ web page to find out more about U of T’s graduate programs and their respective requirements.
