Anyone hear from UofT yet for the LLM program starting September 2010?

I heard this week, they accepted me into the thesis stream LLM. Still haven't heard from other schools so I haven't decided yet.

I heard from Toronto a couple of weeks ago (January 6). Haven't yet heard from the other schools in Canada I applied to, but apparently Osgoode is reviewing my materials now(ish), as they emailed to ask me about my references, which they hadn't received yet.

Hello!
Congrats for getting accepted at UofT. I have a question for NYC_Charles and zomba1: did you send the recommendations by mail together with the other documents or did you have online references and did it take a long while between completing the application and receiving an answer from them?
I would really appreciate an answer from you guys! Thanks a lot!

My referees both did the online thing. If I remember correctly, they both did it pretty quickly after I applied, so that didn't delay anything (in fact, they may have gotten their references in before I submitted all of my supporting docs). I believe I sent in everything at the beginning of December or possibly end of November and heard back at the beginning of this month, so it was about a month between getting getting everything in and hearing back, but I'm not sure if that timeline would still apply now.

NYC, did you apply to the thesis or course-based LLM at UofT? What general area was your prospoal on?

I ended up applying to the course-based program.

Oops, realized I didn't answer the proposal part of your question... The proposal I submitted to Toronto was basically a "comparative legal history/legal theory" project, where I plan to examine how differences in the political cultures in the United States and Canada (esp. the existence of a tory/collectivist tradition in Canada) have led to differences in laws enacted. Since I submitted the proposal, I'm increasingly inclined to limit my focus (at least for my thesis/major paper) to the way this has manifested in competition law.

Cara - I had one of each - one referee submitted online and the other by mail. It took about two business weeks after my status changed to "under review" to get a decision by email and then snail mail (don't trust the SGS system as it lists my application as "under review" even though I got accepted two weeks ago!

Charles your paper sounds very interesting, have you decided if you're going to accept UofT's offer?

Hello !
Charles and Zomba, thanks for your answers. I really appreciate! Congrats and good luck.Keep me posted!

Zomba - not sure yet - still waiting to hear back from a few places and to hear about funding. But I'll let you know when I've figured it all out...

Hello!
Has anybody from non-Canadian applicants already heard from U of T (a refusal or an offer of admission)?

yuriy - I'm from the US, though not sure if that says anything about applications from outside of continental North America.

Charles, I'm from Ukraine. I sent the application and all required docs in mid-November. Only on January 14 they changed status of my application to "under review". Given the fact you've received the admission decision already, I just wonder how long will it take to get a decision from them?...

Not sure what insight I can provide, but I wouldn't be surprised if it took a little longer to review your application because of the substantial differences in the North American/Ukrainian higher education systems. That may actually account for why your status did not change to "Under Review" until now - they may very well have dealt with some of the "easier" decisions earlier (i.e., they looked at North American, UK, etc. applications first because they are pretty familiar with the qualifications, etc.), and are now moving on to the more complicated applications. Of course, this is entirely conjecture and I have no inside knowledge at all.

Thanks! may be you're right. Do you think it would be ok to write them an email asking about timing? or it is not an appropriate approach?)

Personally, I would give it a little more time before contacting them. Their graduate office is, to my understanding, all handled by a single woman in a tiny room, so answering these sorts of questions has got to take up a lot of her time. That said, I also wouldn't wait forever - if it gets to the point that you've heard from pretty much everywhere else or you need an answer from U of T in order to make other plans (esp. visa issues), then things are different.

For context, I have not heard back from the three other Canadian schools I applied to, so Toronto seems a little ahead of the game.

Hello yuriy. I agree with what was said earlier about the delay in your decision. It may well be that your education or legal system is a bit different from Canada, and that's why its taking such a long time for them to decide. I applied last year, somewhere around late January or February (I know it was pretty late), but didnt hear a decision till May 7th. I think it was because my thesis proposal was related to *Islamic* constitutional law, which is a pretty different field. What is your proposal about? By the way, dont worry about it, i think they do appreciate diversity. Also, i couldnt go to UofT last year and had my admission deferred. Hope to see you guys when im there, God Willing. Oh, and im from Pakistan.

One more thing, did any of you guys who were offered admission get any financial aid? If not, how do you plan on financing your education at UofT?

I was told in my admission offer that they weren't sure on funding yet, as their budget for next year hadn't been determined yet. I wouldn't be shocked, though, if some people had already been offered some funding.

My worst case scenario is to pay for the LLM entirely through savings and loans - since I'm a US citizen, I can borrow up to about $20,000 through the Stafford Loan program at a relatively low interest rate (though not nearly as low as when I got my JD).