I want to echo the comments about researching the programs at the various schools. I would also strongly encourage you only to consider enrolling in a program that is accredited by the Canadian Institute of Planners.
Here is the list of accredited programs:
http://www.cip-icu.ca/web/la/en/pa/5...1/template.asp
When I was applying for my masters of planning I made a point of visiting the schools to which I applied that were located outside of my home province. I found that a valuable exercise but I would also not consider it mandatory by any means.
I chose Ryerson's programs for several reasons. It is located right downtown and I had previously attended a suburban campus for my undergrad. I was born in Toronto but my family moved away while I was still little more than a toddler and I have wanted the opportunity to experience living in Toronto and grad school was a perfect opportunity. I was offered a healthy financial award package and the opportunity to serve as a teaching assistant during my first year for a pair of interesting undergraduate planning courses; one in the planning school and the other in the architecture school. Finally, Ryerson has built a reputation of being a very practical, skills-based school that prepares planners to begin practising in either the public sector or a private firm.
I was also intrigued by the idea of a brand new masters-level curriculum that would focus on urban development and its environmental and multicultural dimensions in the country's big cities. To bridge some gaps on the economic side of things, which is a broad weak spot in planning schools, I am taking my elective courses through the Ted Rogers School of Management and its commercial real estate MBA program. So far I have found that Ryerson is an unapologetically urban program that looks at the regional scale through the lens of the central city. We also delve pretty deep into the legal aspect of planning and have studied the central city's relationship to region within the broader provincially-led planning regime that we have in Ontario.
Our program is studio-based, so we spend a large part of our second year of study working on real projects for local groups and organizations. I also knew that I wanted to practice planning after grad school, as opposed to going further in academia, so a more practical program that emphasized skills and theory and the acquisition of experience was attractive to me. I don't say that to denigrate other programs and in reality I suspect all of the schools' programs are closer to one another that many appreciate.
Good luck, and give yourself a LOT of time to prepare and iterate your written submission material.
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