Introduction

The year is divided into three academic terms:  Fall (September - December), Winter (January - April), and Spring (May - August). Graduate study may begin in any term, but there is a strong preference for students to begin in Fall term, and the program is structured so that it is much easier to keep up with progression requirements when they do so.  The official application deadline is February 1 to ensure consideration for Fall Term (September) admission.

Students are accepted on the basis of the following criteria:

1. performance in undergraduate work, especially in philosophy;
2. recommendations of previous instructors; and
3. quality of written work submitted with the application.

It is required that a paper demonstrating philosophical attainment be submitted with applications; an undergraduate course or seminar paper, or a Bachelor's Thesis will serve the purpose.

Academic Background of Applicants

a) From Normal Undergraduate Programs in Philosophy

 

The normal background for MA students is that provided by the four·year Honours BA at Waterloo. The core courses in the program are in the fields of Epistemology and Metaphysics (where students select at least three from a variety of upper year courses in these fields), Logic (Philosophy 240, Introduction to formal Logic, plus at least one of a selection of other upper year logic courses), Ethics (Phil 221, History of Ethics, and Phil 322, Contemporary Ethical Theory) and History of Philosophy (200A/B, survey courses in Ancient and Medieval and in Modern Western philosophy, plus at least one other upper year history course). Students with deficiencies in these areas may be required to take specific courses in order to rectify them, either in addition to or as part of their regular graduate program. In the case of the logic requirement the student must have facility with classical quantificational logic and its basic metatheory.

Foreign students with qualifications judged to be equivalent to a Canadian Honours BA in philosophy are normally admitted to full graduate student status, but may be required to take certain specific courses in order to rectify deficiencies in background, either as part of or in addition to their regular graduate program.

b) From a Canadian General B.A. or Equivalent Program

Students admitted with the three-year Canadian general BA degree or its equivalent will be as qualifying students.   A qualifying student is admitted to graduate status but not to a degree program.  The qualifying year is a year of work approximately equivalent to the fourth year of an honours program.  Students who do well during that year are eligible for admission to full degree status.

c) From Undergraduate Programs in Fields Other Than Philosophy

Students with an Honours Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent in some field other than philosophy may be considered for admission as  transitional students. Each transitional student will be required to complete a program of up to five one-term graduate or undergraduate courses, to be specified in writing at the time the student is recommended for admission, in addition to the usual requirements of the MA program.  A transitional student is admitted directly into the MA program and is eligible for financial assistance.

d) From Graduate Programs

 

Students admitted with advanced degrees (M.A., M.Phil., B.Phil.) will, in most cases, be given advanced status in the program for the Ph.D. degree. Those applying with such degrees should submit theses or other major research papers to the Department as soon as convenient, to assist in placing them in the Waterloo program.

Introduction

The following are descriptions of the program as revised for the 2004-05 academic year.  Students admitted prior to the approval of the revised program have the option of completing the program under the previous requirements.

1. Master of Arts

Course work option:
For the Course Work option students must complete: Philosophy 680 A/B (the Departmental Graduate Seminar); three one-term graduate courses (0.50 unit weight per course) at least one of which is a Philosophy 674 course; and three Directed Research courses (Philosophy 696).  The three Directed Research courses involve writing research papers under the supervision of three different members of the department.  The choice of subjects is not restricted in advance, but must be agreed to by the student’s supervisor and by the Graduate Officer.  Students with special interests may take one of these courses with a member of another department if they have received approval from the Graduate Officer.

To be granted the MA degree, students must complete 680A/B and the three one-term courses required for the MA degree with a 78% average with at least one mark in the 80-100% range. The grade requirement for the three Phil 696 research courses in lieu of a thesis is no mark lower than 78% with at least one in the 80-100% range.

Thesis Option:
For the Thesis option students must complete: Philosophy 680A/B (the departmental Graduate Seminar); three one-term graduate courses (0.50 unit weight per course) at least one of which is a Philosophy 674 course; one Directed Research course (Phil 696), plus an MA thesis. The Directed Research course will normally be taken with the thesis supervisor, and will involve research leading to the production of the thesis.  Students wishing to take this option should have decided on their topic by mid-year.

To be granted the MA degree, students must complete Phil 680A/B and the three one-term courses required for the MA degree with a 78% average with at least one mark in the 80-100% range. The grade requirement for PHIL 696, the preparatory research course for the thesis, is a mark no lower than 78%.  The thesis must be accepted by a committee made up of the thesis supervisor and two other members of the department, to be selected in consultation with the Graduate Officer.

2. Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Requirements

A) Course work

The pre-thesis requirements for PhD candidates are the following:

Complete the department graduate seminar 680A/B twice. The seminar is a graduate level survey course intended to acquaint students with a number of topics under active investigation in the philosophical literature in a specific area of philosophy.  The topics covered will vary from year to year, so students will not study the same material twice.

Complete three one-term graduate courses (0.50 unit weight per course) at least one of which is a Philosophy 674 course;

Complete two Research Areas (Phil 698), each supervised by a different member of the department.  The intention is that each Research Area will prepare the student to make a research contribution in a particular area of philosophy.  One of the Areas will normally cover the subject in which the student intends to write a dissertation.

The student selects the Research Areas in consultation with the Graduate Officer, and in each is assigned a faculty member who determines the program in that Area.  The department must approve the student’s choice of Research Areas.  While it is possible to do an Area in one of the traditional divisions of philosophy (e.g., Metaphysics, Ethics, Logic or History of Philosophy), they will normally be on a more specific topic (e.g., Theories of Meaning and Mental Content, Theories of Human Rights, Theories of Truth, Plato’s Later Dialogues). Faculty members in charge of Areas are free to assign readings, require the taking or auditing of relevant courses, assign papers, and so on, and also examine the student as they see fit---orally, by formal examination, on the basis of papers, etc. See the handbook for the Graduate Program in Philosophy. 

To be admitted to the thesis proposal stage, students must complete these requirements with an average of 83% in the seminars, courses and Research Areas, with no mark lower than 75%. 

Students are expected to complete their seminars, course work and research areas during the first two years of their doctoral studies. Students who do not complete this work within two years may only continue in the program at the Department's discretion. The Department may choose to set a further deadline for the completion of outstanding course work or areas on a case-by-case basis. Again, students who do not meet all such further deadlines may not be given permission to continue in the program.

B) Thesis Proposal

Upon completion of their courses and Research Areas, students are admitted to the thesis proposal stage. They should then undertake discussions with a member of the Department and invite that person to be supervisor of their doctoral thesis, and should consult with the Graduate Officer concerning the formation of their thesis committee.  Students will then complete a dissertation prospectus.  The thesis committee examines the student about the prospectus as they see fit, though normally in an oral exam.  The committee may pass the proposal; pass it with revisions; require the student to revise the proposal for re-examination; or they may reject the proposal and require the student to withdraw from the program.

C) Thesis

Upon successful defence of the Dissertation Prospectus, students proceed to the thesis stage.  The PhD degree is awarded after the thesis has been successfully defended in a public meeting and three copies of the thesis have been deposited in the Graduate Studies Office.

Normal time line for completion of the PhD

Yr 1: Fall and Winter: Three one-term courses, plus departmental seminar.  Summer: begin first Research Area.

Yr 2: Departmental seminar, complete Research Areas.

Yr 3: Within 6 months, write and defend dissertation proposal. 

This leaves 18 months to complete and defend the dissertation within 4 years of beginning the PhD program.

Students will normally complete Grad Studies 901—Preparing for University Teaching I in the first year. (Completion of this course is required before students are eligible to teach courses independently for the department.) The department recommends that students who intend to pursue a career in a university also complete Grad Studies 902 in the second year and Grad Studies 903 in the third year.

An MA student is expected to complete the course work (the graduate seminar and three one-term courses) during the first two terms of registration and will normally be eligible for a teaching or research Assistantship for these two terms.  The department encourages students to finish their MA program within three terms. For students progressing from the MA to the PhD program, the Department's offer of admission to the PhD is contingent upon completion of the MA before the first PhD term begins. The Department may reconsider its offer of admission to the PhD program to a student failing to complete the MA on time.

Introduction

Financial support for graduate study is currently available from federal, provincial and internal university sources.  The Department  offers incoming full-time graduate students financial support, made up of a combination of teaching or research assistantships and University of Waterloo scholarships of $15,000-$17,500 per annum.  Two distinctive features of the funding in our department are that:  students admitted to and offered funding for our PhD are offered funding for the entire four years of their program (provided, of course, they keep up with progression requirements); and that students who win external funding, from SSHRC or OGS for instance, normally do not have to give up their internal funding (see example below).

(Note the relevant time limits mentioned earlier.)

From University Sources

Teaching Assistantships in 2006/07 are about $6,021 per term plus 4% vacation pay.  Students within their program time limits normally receive teaching assistantships for two terms in the M.A. program, and eight of twelve terms in the PhD program.  The Department can offer University of Waterloo/Arts Faculty Scholarships of $3000– $5000 per year to incoming students with an overall average of at least 80%, subject to availability.  These Scholarships are normally tenable for the duration of a student's program time limits, provided the incoming average is maintained.  There are also a limited number of Endowment Scholarships and Provost's Doctoral Scholarships to be awarded to eligible candidates (ranging from $1000 - $3150), and the annual award of the Seligman Memorial Scholarship to a student working in the area of Ancient Philosophy, and the Ardeth Wood Memorial Scholarship, which normally goes to a woman PhD student.

Additional financial assistance beyond employment income from assistantships offered to Canadian students entering the Philosophy graduate program in the 2005/06 academic year ranged from $3,000 to $7,000.

From External Sources

Graduate students in the program are strongly urged to apply to both the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowships program. An application to the latter also makes students registered at Canadian graduate programs eligible for the Canadian Graduate Scholarship program (which was available for the first time to those who applied in 2003). Students can, and are urged to, apply for Ontario Graduate Scholarships and for SSHRC MA Scholarships during their final year as undergraduates.  The department and the university both offer sessions giving advice on how to prepare applications each fall for these awards to those already registered in the program.  Students not currently registered at Waterloo should check the OGS and SSHRC websites at
http://osap.gov.on.ca/eng/not_secure/OGS.htm

http://www.sshrc.ca/web/apply/students_e.asp

to see whether they must apply through the department where they most recently attended university or directly to the programs.
        In 2006-07 these awards have the following values:  OGS: $15,000 per year; SSHRC  $20,000 per year for Doctoral Fellowships—awarded for up to four years; CGS $35,000 per year, awarded for up to three years; MA Fellowships $17,500 per year. The University of Waterloo also has various programs to “top up” these awards. Most important is the President's Graduate Scholarship for OGS or SSHRC recipients ($10,000 top-up).
        In recent years our students have been quite successful at attracting external funding.  In 2005-06, we had two students win OGS and two win MA - SSHRC awards, which was a good performance as several of our students have ongoing SSHRC support. In the 2004-05 competitions, the department received received one CGS ($35,000/yr for three years), one SSHRC ($20,000/yr for four years), two MA SSHRCs ($17,500) and two OGSs ($15,000).  In 2003-04, we won three CGSs and three OGSs. In 2002-03 we had one student win a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship for four years, and five students awarded an OGS. In 2001-02 we had two students win SSHRC doctoral fellowships, one for four years and one for three years, and six students were awarded an OGS.

Examples

Here are two examples of typical financial packages