To be considered for admission, you need an honours degree (or equivalent) with at least a 75% standing overall or in the last two years. Your degree should preferably be in geography, planning, economics, business, or commerce but degrees in other disciplines will be considered.
If you do not have two years of related work experience prior to applying to the Local Economic Development program, you normally complete an internship following your first two terms of full-time studies on campus. The internship will help you gain practical work experience prior to graduation.
You may study the program on a full-time basis, part-time basis, or a combination. Flexibility is encouraged to allow the opportunity for in-career students to register. The actual programs will be tailored to individual needs.
Before you apply online through the Ontario Universities Application Centre, please review the information under "Supplementary Information to be Uploaded on Applicant Quest," below. Please also note that you do NOT need to identify a potential UW supervisor on the application form, as LED students identify potential supervisors during their first term. Once your application has been forwarded to the University of Waterloo's Graduate Studies Office, you will receive an email explaining how to access Applicant Quest for uploading the remainder of your application. See the Waterloo Graduate Studies Office website for more information regarding admissions application requirements.
Application Fee: A non-refundable application fee of $100.00 (Canadian funds) must be submitted to the OUAC with each application. Applications will not be processed without the application fee.
Supplementary Information to be Uploaded on Applicant Quest:
(If any of your documents are larger than 500KB when scanned, adjust the resolution and re-scan the document before uploading. To reduce the resolution of a document, go to the Advanced menu item in Adobe Acrobat, scroll down to PDF Optimizer and adjust the number of pixels per inch.)
Transcripts: Copies of unofficial academic transcripts, with an explanation of the grading scheme (possibly on the back of the transcript - this is especially important for non-Canadian universities) from each post secondary institution that you have attended are to be uploaded on Applicant Quest.
References: These will be completed and submitted electronically by the referees you list on your online application. The University will contact the referees directly by email. Three references are required.
Supplementary Information Form (statement of interest): Complete on Quest. Please describe your interests in local economic development (i.e. why you want to study LED). What aspects of LED (e.g., environment, community, business, regional innovation, or high tech firms, in Canada or internationally) are of most interest to you? This statement should be approximately 500 words in length.
Resume/CV: This will be uploaded on Applicant Quest. Please include your past academic and professional experience.
Writing Sample: This will be uploaded on Applicant Quest. Please provide an example of academic written work in English (published refereed paper, an honours thesis, a major term paper, a professional report, etc.)
English Language Test Scores, if applicable: Upload a copy of your score sheet on Applicant quest. Test scores are valid for two years from the test date. (From the Waterloo Graduate Calendar: "Applicants who have not completed three or more years of post-secondary work at a Canadian institution or a university at which English was the primary language of instruction, or have not completed a graduate degree at a university where English is the primary language of instruction, or have not been employed for a similar period of time in a position in which English was the primary language of business will be required to provide certification of English language proficiency through one of the accepted examinations listed below."
TOEFL: internet-based test - minimum score of 100, with minimum scores of 25 in each of the speaking and writing categories; paper-based - minimum score of 600 overall, with minimum score of 4.0 on the TWE and 50 on the TSE; computer-based - minimum of 250 overall, with minimum of 50 on the TSE and 5.0 on the essay.
Other acceptable tests of English language proficiency include:
IELTS: - minimum score of 7.0
MELAB: - minimum score of 90
PTE: - minimum score of 68
EFAS: - satisfactory completion with 80% overall in level 400
Permanent Resident/Landed Immigrant: If you were not born in Canada, please upload a copy of your card or form (IMM 1000) on Applicant Quest.
Student Authorization/Student Visa: If you intend to undertake full-time studies in Canada, you should inform the Canadian Immigration officials in your home country of this fact. Applicants should not leave for Canada until they have in their possession a Letter of Acceptance issued only by the Graduate Studies Office and a Student Authorization (IMM 1442) issues by Canada Immigration. The Student Visa does not need to be uploaded on Applicant quest, but must be presented to the Graduate Studies Office on arrival at the University of Waterloo.
Sponsorship Letter: Applicants receiving a scholarship or sponsorship from an external agency must upload a copy of the agency letter, detailing the duration and level of funding.
Additional information about each of these uploads is available on the online application web site.
If you have any questions about the program or the application process, please contact us.
