Frequently asked questions for admitted students

Concordia University

• North America’s top “young” university (under 50 years old)
• Internationally ranked Department of Education
• Co-curricular programs in the department and the School of Graduate Studies that build complementary skills, such as communication, leadership and collaboration, digital technology, and career development among others.
• Our location in the centre-ville of vibrant Montreal, one of the top locations in the world for university students and a reasonably priced community in contrast to other large cities in North America

PhD

• Interdisciplinarity: connection among the  four specialities of our department: applied linguistics, child studies, educational studies, and educational technology
• Rigorous training in qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods research methodologies
• Reputable faculty engaged in cutting-edge research across diverse areas of education

MA in Applied Linguistics

• Immersive academic experience in the multilingual and multicultural city of Montreal, which provides an ideal setting for exploring second language teaching and learning. Whether you choose to write a thesis or explore an area of interest through a research paper, you will find ample opportunities to achieve your academic objectives.
• A vibrant and diverse cohort of faculty and students pursuing research in various subfields of applied linguistics, including second language acquisition, second language teaching, assessment, psycholinguistics, and the use of technologies in language teaching. This collaborative atmosphere encourages the exchange of ideas, perspectives, and experiences, enriching the overall learning experience.
• A well-rounded curriculum divided into three clusters, offering a comprehensive understanding of language, learning theories, and second-language pedagogy. This approach equips students with a solid foundation to pursue various research interests and career paths such as language teacher, curriculum designer, university lecturer, and language consultant for software design. 

MA in Educational Studies

TBD

Graduate Diploma in Adult Education

TBD

MA in Educational Technology, GDip in Instructional Technology

• Opportunities in both the thesis and non-thesis tracks to gain work experience. For non-thesis students entering the field, a 675-hour internship. For MA students with prior work experience, an opportunity to pursue a thesis equivalent, a work project that can help demonstrate their new level of competence and position them for new challenges. For research-focused MA students, an opportunity to pursue a self-conceived and initiated study.
• Rich foundations in learning theories, instructional design, Human Performance Technology, research methods, and applications of educational technology in real-world settings.
• Opportunities to engage in research on artificial intelligence, digital literacy, workplace learning, maker culture, innovation, and similar issues.

Montreal is consistently rated among the top cities in the world for university students. With four major universities and numerous colleges, Montreal has a vibrant student community and leading research and scholars in nearly every discipline.

The multi-cultural population of Montreal offers a unique opportunity to interact with people from all corners of the earth and life experiences.

Montreal also has a rich cultural and intellectual life, from major conferences like C2 (the international creativity conference), festivals year round from our summer jazz, comedy and mural festivals, to the High Lights and book festivals during the fall and winter), and numerous internationally recognized museums. Most of all, Montreal is the centre of French culture in North America.

In terms of cost-of-living, Montreal is the most affordable large Canadian city and among the most affordable in North America. It is also one of the most livable and green; with its extensive public transit system, most people can live here without cars.

We recommend doing two things:

1. For general information, visit Concordia's welcome page for admitted students. 
2. From our department, you'll receive an email message about academic advising from your program. That message will contain key information about academic advising, course registration and other useful tips to help you get started.

Our faculty and students look forward to welcoming you to campus!

Note that your offer of admission only becomes official when we have authentic copies of all transcripts of your prior studies. Authentic transcripts must be sent directly to Concordia by the issuing institution(s). Although applicants can upload their transcripts to initiate the admissions process, formal admission will not be granted until all transcripts are received.

How to submit transcripts

Yes. Work with your Graduate Program Assistant  (the person from whom you received the letter of admission) to request a deferral of your start of the program. The University charges a small fee to process the request.

We use Moodle and Microsoft Teams and Sharepoint to communicate with students after admissions. We generally use Moodle to share both general program information and course-related information, Teams for communication (starting Fall 2025, it is our phone system), and Sharepoint for sharing individual files, especially for research.

You will receive information on how to set up an account and how to receive training on these systems after you become a Concordia student.

The short answer is no.

Although the offer of admission was written in the positive — stating the program to which you were admitted — it implicitly means that you were rejected from the thesis option. 

After you have completed one to two terms of study, you can discuss whether the faculty feels more comfortable about your pursuing a thesis at that time. If they do, a transfer can be processed. 

If you have questions or believe there are exceptional circumstances to consider, this is something you should discuss directly with the GPD or the Graduate Program Coordinator of your program.

Your letter of admission will provide guidance for this process. For more information, check details from the International Students Office. 

Please consult the tuition estimator for a breakdown of costs to expect for your program of study.

Note that this page includes both tuition calculators as well as total cost calculators for various groups of students. Make sure to check the calculator that applies to your situation.

The Department of Education offers two types of funding for students:

At admission

Some letters of admission include funding. If yours did not mention funding, you did not receive any.

After admission

• Funding for current students. Throughout the year, we offer special calls for funding for current students, such as bursaries (scholarships) named in memory or honor of particular individuals. These are offered on a competitive basis and communicated to all eligible students. Consider applying for these.
• Teaching and Research Assistantships: Unlike other institutions and departments in ours, admissions letters for the Department of Education do not include Teaching and Research Assistantships. 

Instead, we offer all students the opportunity to apply for these positions. Positions announcements are shared with all graduate students and provide application instructions. The most active hiring times are August and September for the fall term and December and January for the winter term. We also encourage students admitted to the PhD program to discuss such opportunities with their supervisors.

We advise prospective students to the MA and Graduate Diplomas to be prepared to pay the full price of the program and PhD applicants to be prepared to make up any shortfall in funding on their own.

More information about graduate funding

Yes. Although all international students must be registered as full-time students and take a full-time course load (generally 9 credits per term for MA and Graduate Diploma students), they can work as many hours as allowed by their student visas.

Canadian citizens and permanent residents can register as part-time students and have no limitations on their work hours.

We recommend that full-time students only plan to work a maximum of 10 hours in their first terms (regardless of the program of study, on- or off-campus) to acclimate to their programs of study and a maximum of 20 hours per week during subsequent terms.

We recommend that part-time students consider taking one course in their first term to acclimate to their programs of study.

Generally, no.

We do not exempt students from core (required) courses. Policies of the School of Graduate Studies prevent us from exempting a student from graduate level courses because they took a similar course at the undergraduate level.

If you believe you have an exceptional case, submit a request to the Graduate Program Director that includes: (a) a cover letter explaining the request; (b) the name and course number of the graduate course from which you would like to be exempted; and (c) the syllabus (course outline) for the graduate course you took and that covers all of the same objectives as the course from which you want to be exempted. (If you have taken an undergraduate course that is similar to the one from which you hope to be exempted, as noted earlier, your request cannot be considered.)

We can accept up to 12 credits of transfer credits. But note:

• We generally do not accept transfer credits for core (required) courses.
• The university does not accept undergraduate courses for graduate transfer credit nor for exemptions.
• The university does not transfer credits for courses already used to fulfill requirements for another graduate degree.
• The maximum number of transfer credits accepted is 9.

If you would like to request that credits be considered for transfer: submit a request to the Graduate Program Director that includes: (a) a cover letter explaining the request, including the name and course number of the graduate course(s) for which you would like transfer credits and why the course(s) is applicable to the degree; and (b) the syllabus (course outline) for the graduate course you took.

One exception: if you are transferring from a Graduate Diploma program to its associated MA program, all of your courses that have a 600-level (masters) equivalent will transfer if you received a grade of B or higher. If you are transferring from the:

• Graduate Diploma in Adult Education to the MA in Educational Studies, courses that are cross-listed with MA courses (600-level) will transfer. Those cross-listed with undergraduate courses (200-, 300-, and 400-level) will not.  If you transfer to another program, however, your courses might not transfer.
• Graduate Diploma in Instructional Technology to the MA in Educational Technology, all of your courses will transfer. If you transfer to another program, however, your courses might not transfer.

Note: If the course has already applied to another graduate degree, we cannot transfer the credits. The School of Graduate Studies prohibits such ‘double-counting.’ If you have taken an undergraduate course, transfer credit cannot be offered because of policies of the School of Graduate Studies.