Prospective Graduate Students

You should send (or arrange to have sent) hardcopies of the following supporting documents directly to the Philosophy Department (address follows):

• A statement of intent - there's a space for this on the application form, but you may send a separate sheet as well.
• Official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions - 1 copy only
• 3 confidential letters of reference (there is no standard form for these)
• A writing sample (normally a single, term-paper-length piece)

Please note that we cannot consider any application that is missing any of these essential components, although you are welcome to send any additional material that you think is relevant. Also note that we do not have the staff to make it possible for us to monitor each application as various materials come in and either acknowledge their receipt or notify the applicants when the file is complete.

IMPORTANT:

If you are thinking of applying for our Specialized MA, you need to establish contact with the faculty member you wish to work with well in advance of applying. At the time of application you need his or her agreement to supervise your work as well as a solid outline of your proposed project and course of study.

For all other programs it is neither necessary, nor even advisable, to have your Supervisor arranged before you arrive. The vast majority of graduate students in philosophy (not just in our department) do not get a Senior Supervisor until most of their coursework is completed and they begin to research for their thesis, dissertation, or Professional Paper.

You do NOT need to decide between the Thesis and Non-Thesis MA stream at the time of application.

The application deadline is January 15th (although exceptional applications may be considered at other times)

Contact information:

Department of Philosophy
Graduate Admissions
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby , BC V5A 1S6

Fax: 778.782.4443
Tel: 778.782.3343

Strictly procedural questions should be addressed to the Graduate Secretary: philsec at sfu.ca

Substantive questions about the program and applying to it should be addressed to the Graduate Chair: hanson at sfu.ca