Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum so please excuse my ignorance. I'm currently enrolled in a combined MSc/PhD program where I entered as an MSc student and "reclassified" to a PhD track after 18 months, having completed the same requirements as an MSc student would. Because of this, and the fact that our reclassification exam is structured very similarly to an MSc thesis defense, I was wondering whether the IRCC would accept an official letter from the department/university stating that our reclassification exam is essentially an equivalent of an MSc, just without the diploma. I also say this since some of the big Canadian scholarships such as Vanier removes the first 12 months of someone in a combined Masters/PhD program, suggesting that these 12 months are not counted towards one's PhD term. Any advice/suggestion would be greatly appreciated!