RunnerGrad

It depends on exactly what you mean by "very high chance". I put my plans to go back to school on hold for 5 years because my husband had an incredible opportunity that we decided together we couldn't turn down (and I had a great experience out of it as well - we were living in Europe for four years, which was well worth the delay in my schooling). I knew that delaying my education by five years could be significant. As a non-traditional student already, I knew my chances were smaller than someone who went straight through along a traditional path. However, my husband and I discussed things together, and we made the choices that were best for us, as a couple. When I made plans to return to university when I was in a position to do so, I ended up going in a completely different direction than I had been planning earlier. It actually ended up working out better for me, I think. Although the university I'll be attending for graduate studies in the Fall was never on my radar before our international experience, it had become my top choice for program and discipline over the past several years. You never know what life is going to bring. My husband and I made all our decisions together as a couple, always respecting each other and deciding what was best for us.

The report you linked only seemed to list US schools, at least at a quick glance. I certainly didn't see any Canadian schools listed there. You also said that public health was not a competitive field. All I'm saying is that some public health programs, in Canada, are incredibly competitive. There is no maybe about it. According to the reports I've read from Dietitians of Canada, the public health and community nutrition programs in Canada are extremely competitive and difficult to get into.

If you look at the numbers for the University of Toronto's MPH in community nutrition, you will see they admit only ten students per year. That program is indeed very competitive. Now, public health in the US may not be competitive, but here in Canada, there are only two public health programs with a community nutrition focus, and they each accept no more than 10 students per year. (MUN is the other public health nutrition program.)

My point was that some of us were accepted to both professional masters and research-based masters programs. So telling us that we don't know what we're doing when it comes to applying to research-based programs is inaccurate. Also saying that universities want to admit as many professional masters students as possible to make money off of us is also inaccurate. I know that one of the professional masters programs at my undergraduate university loses money each year, as tuition doesn't even begin to cover the costs of running the program. It is actually online undergraduate courses that help fund some of the graduate programs, including the professional programs. Also, after completing my professional masters degree, I will be eligible to apply to PhD programs in Canada, just as if I had done a research-based masters, because my professional programs includes elective research courses and practica, which I plan on taking to keep my options open. Now, things in the US may be different (I still can't believe you can go straight from undergrad to PhD programs without doing a Masters first) but you can't say all professional masters admit tons of students just to make money off of them. That is simply not the case.

The MPH program that I've gained admission to only accepts 10 students per year, and is incredibly competitive. While not fully funded, I will receive financial assistance through scholarships and TAships. So I don't think you can generalize about professional programs. Why is our cohort so small? Well, it includes an accredited dietetic internship, and they can only provide the required types of internship and practicum placements for that many students. I was also accepted to a fully funded MSc program. You just don't go from undergrad to PhD in my field in Canada. You need an masters degree to be able to apply to a PhD program.

I find the Kitchener-Waterloo area to be quite family friendly. I've volunteered at the Y for quite some time, and they have a lot of great programs for the entire family. There are also lots of opportunities to get involved in sports, Guides, Scouts, or arts if any of those appeal to your family.

Professor (may get there some day, but probably not) Public health and community nutrition registered dietitian (working on it - step 1 is complete0 Full time group fitness instructor (I'm certified, but don't have the talent to do it full time, nor would my body be able to handle the wear and tear) International group fitness presenter (again, don't have the talent for it) Work part-time as a registered dietitian, and part-time as a sessional instructor (this may happen some day if i go on to acquire a PhD after the MPH) Food service officer in the Canadian Armed Forces (sadly can't pass the medical exam) Okay, that's more than four.

Sorry for the double post. Kitchenever and Waterloo are very nice places to live. Both continue to be growing cities, with lots of new housing springing up on the outskirts of the city. In the area around the universities you will find a lot of summer sublets, because leases are often for a full year, so students who go home in the summer, or who have co-op terms elsewhere, try to rent out their rooms. Good places to find roommates are on the various Facebook pages for the universities. Lots of students will post there that there are looking for a roommate, or have a room to rent out, etc. It might be hard to find a nice place close to the university come August, simply because a lot of upper year undergraduates will have already signed a lease for the full year at the end of this semester. You may get lucky though - I haven't actually tried looking for a place in Kitchener/Waterloo in August myself or know anyone who has. Be prepared for a lot of aggressive Canada geese on the Waterloo campus, especially during nesting season. There is a reason they sell "I survived nesting season" shirts at the university! Be sure to check out Oktoberfest in October - it is supposedly the largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany! It's not necessarily all about beer either, unless you want it to be. About the only thing Kitchener-Waterloo doesn't have that I wish they did is an Eddie Bauer. The closest one is in Hamilton or the outlet in Georgetown.

1. Depends on the time of day. There is the GO train that runs between Waterloo and Toronto, but it only runs into Toronto in the mornings, and then out of Toronto in the evenings. GO Buses run all day, or Greyhound buses. 2. No idea., sorry.

I'm an older student. 42. Married. No children. I'm finishing up a second undergraduate degree (I didn't enjoy working in the field that my first degree was in, so, after working for several years and discussing things with my husband, I decided to go back to school). My husband has been incredibly supportive throughout my second degree, and I'm fortunate that he's been able to support us! He even does most of the household chores so I can focus on my studies. He's a gem. I was told by one faculty advisor that I would be lucky to get any interviews for graduate programs or dietetic internships, because I was such a non-traditional student. Well, I proved her wrong and ended up with interviews everywhere I applied, and with offers to my two top choices of combined Masters-dietetic internship programs. I made sure that I emphasized all the skills I had from my years in the work force, as well as the unique problem solving abilities I had from my first degree. I have two undergraduate degrees (or I will, once this semester is over). I put both of them on my CV and resume. In part, because I completed a thesis/research project as part of my first degree that is tangentially related to my current career and also because I won an award for graduating at the top of my class, so it is definitely something I want to highlight. I also feel that my first degree gives me a unique perspective on some issues in my field. Also, if I didn't include my first degree, it would leave a significant gap in my resume, which I know employers definitely don't like seeing. Does your current university have a career centre or similar type of service? You could ask them about how to best go about showcasing your multiple degrees on your resume.

Personally, I would do the thesis. You can always learn another language on your own, either by continuing to take university courses as a graduate or non-degree student, or through other means.

Congratulations to everyone who has received offers this week! I hope a bunch of you get good news from UofT soon and that I'll see some of you there. I did find out that two other students from my undergraduate program were accepted to UofT's MPH in Community Nutrition, so I'll know some of my classmates. Hope to have some of you as classmates in the general public health courses as well.

You can add me to that list as well. I've never smoked or tried recreational/illegal drugs (I've unfortunately taken many prescription drugs throughout my life for a variety of health issues). Other things to add to my previous list: never had a one night stand (well, never had sex with anyone except my husband), never had sushi, never read or watched any of the popular vampire books or movies, never lived with a room mate (lived with my parents, then on my own, then with my husband, and was lucky enough to have a single room when I lived in residence first year at university).

Ties to your home country include things like having a bank account in the country, a permanent address in that country, close family members in that country, etc.

I'm surprised that in the US you don't need a Masters degree to get into a PhD program! Most PhDs in my area, in Canada, require a thesis-based Masters degree in order to be able to apply. Now, there are some students who start a Masters and, if they do well, apply for promotion to the PhD, so they never actually complete the Masters. I'm just so surprised that the normal thing in the US seems to be undergrad to PhD! It just seems so strange to me.

Anyone else attending the University of Toronto starting Fall 2014? I'll be studying in the MPH program, Community Nutrition concentration. It combines the MPH degree with the dietetic internship required to practice as a registered dietitian in Canada. I'll be commuting from a smaller city about an hour from Toronto, so the commute is my biggest worry right now. I've had long commutes before (when I worked in Ottawa, I lived in the suburbs, and had about an hour on the bus each way as I worked downtown) so at least I know I can deal with them (although Ottawa traffic is nothing like Toronto traffic). Anyone else who will be attending UofT?

You may hear from UofT before the end up April via email, but may have to wait until the end of April for the official offer via post. At least, that's the case for the MPH in Community Nutrition. I was told, via email, that I was being recommended for admission to that program, and to email them back with my intentions. I emailed back that I would accept their offer, and they replied that I would receive the official offer, in the mail, by the end of April. I don't know how the other specializations or programs at UofT work, but that's how they've done things in the MPH Community Nutrition program.

We buy all our meat (chicken, beef) from local famers and butchers, where we know the animals are well-treated (we've seen the farms) and aren't bed hormones or antibiotics. The chicken is flash-frozen, so isn't injected with saline solution. We also buy fruits and vegetables from the local farmer's market whenever possible (so when things are in season) but do end up purchasing from the grocery store for fruits and vegetables when they are out of season here (pretty much all winter). Frozen vegetables and fruits are perfectly fine, and retain many of the nutrients that are lost when canned. As a dietetic intern, the foods I would encourage people to enjoy include fruits and vegetables, of as many different colours are you can incorporate into a day; lean meats from animals that weren't fed hormones or antibiotics; some source of omega-3 fatty acids in your weekly diet, so wild salmon, ground flax seed, hemp seed. Avoid any grain products that are "white" - so avoid white bread, white pasta, white flour. Enjoy whole grains (not multigrain, which is often white flour with a few grains added in so they can call it multigrain) - so 100% whole grain or whole wheat bread (if you can buy it from a local bakery that doesn't use preservatives, that will be better for you than grocery store bread), whole wheat pasta, quinoa, oatmeal (plain oats, not the processed Quaker junk with added sugar and salt). Avoid foods with too much added sugar - strive for <5g of sugar per serving. Natural sugars, found in fruits and vegetables are fine. Avoid foods with too much sodium. You should only be consuming about 1500mg of sodium a day. Most Canadians (I don't know about Americans) consume twice that amount. The safe upper limit for sodium is 2300mg a day, and health problems can start to occur when you regularly exceed that level. Enjoy legumes (beans, lentils). Even canned beans are fine (just rinse them well), but cooking them from dry will be cheaper. Avoid energy drinks. For keeping up energy levels and maintaing stable blood glucose levels and blood insulin levels, combine a carbohydrate-containing food with a protein-containing for at each meal and snack. So a whole grain cereal (with less than 5g sugar per serving) with skim milk or milk alternative. An apple or banana with natural peanut butter (with no added sugar). A sandwich made with 100% whole wheat bread and lean meat and/or cheese. 100% whole wheat pita with hummus. A smoothie made with fruit, plain yogourt (no added sugar), skim milk, or whey protein (again, check the label for no added sugar). Natural nut butter and celery. Drink plenty of water. Enjoy diet soda in moderation (one a day won't harm your health). If you like fruit juice, cut it with water - so make a mix of half fruit juice, half water. If you don't like water, you can flavour it with just a bit of fruit juice, or even better, infuse it by sticking a couple of pieces of peeled fruit in the water, and let the water absorb some of the flavours. Use olive oil for cooking when you need oil. When baking, canola oil can be used, but try using alternatives to oils in baking (such as applesauce, ground flaxseed, mashed beans, etc.) Enjoy coffee and caffeinated tea in moderation. Enjoy alcohol in moderation. Red wine may have some additional heart health benefits due to the resveratrol present in red wines, but there is a small heart protective effect just from alcohol. The trade off is an increased risk of some forms of cancer in those with a family history of cancer. But with no family history of cancer, one glass (6 oz) of red wine a day may be healthy, and have heart protective effects. Research is still being done on this topic. Avoid deep fried foods. Avoid processed deli meats. Use roasted meats or leftovers in making sandwiches. Use a meat thermometer to ensure foods are cooked to a safe temperature.

I've never: gotten sick or passed out from drinking too much alcohol read the Harry Potter books seen the Harry Potter movies eaten ramen or other instant noodles used textspeak (even when I text I use proper English, and I don't text often) crammed for an exam pulled an all-nighter

Most of the professors at my current institution are referred to by their first names, by both Masters and PhD students. Also by senior undergraduates, if they get to know them well (i.e. the prof that I did summer research with, and the prof who supervised my honours thesis, both told me to refer to them by their first name).

There's one huge difference between alcoholism and obesity. Nobody needs to drink alcohol to live. Everyone needs to eat in order to live. It may be through enteral or parenteral nutrition, but if you don't get food into your body, you are going to die. If it were simply a matter of consuming fewer calories then we wouldn't have climbing rates of obesity in the developed world, and we wouldn't have the dual burden in the developing world (where on the one hand you have climbing rates of obesity in some segements of society, while still having undernutrition in other segments). I don't have the references handy, but in multiple clinical nutrition courses I have learned the following. Realistic amounts of weight loss are: 3-5% through diet and exercise 5-15% through medications 20-30% through bariatric surgery If it were simply a matter of consuming fewer calories and exercising more, than the percentage weight loss for diet and exercise would be a lot higher than 3-5%. Sure, there are some people who manage to lose more and keep it off, but they are the exception, rather than the rule. For those interested, here are some other papers that address obesity: Obesity is a sign – over-eating is a symptom: an aetiological framework for the assessment and management of obesity A POPULATION HEALTH APPROACH TO OBESITY IN CANADA Early-life determinants of overweight and obesity: a review of systematic reviews

Agreed! Join a club or organization that interests you. Take non-academic classes that interest you (i.e. dance, fitness, martial arts, painting, photography, etc. - whatever you enjoy). If your university has a grad student lounge, you can hang out there to meet people as well.

Since I'm in nutrition, I actually have studied obesity. It isn't as simple as calories in = calories out, as some of you think. It also isn't always about personal choice. If any of you actually care to educate yourselves, here are some good studies and other articles on the topic: The epidemiology of overweight and obesity: public health crisis or moral panic? 2006 Canadian clinical practice guidelines on the management and prevention of obesity in adults and children ECONOMIC CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF OBESITY Here are some great graphics that illustrate the many causes of obesity: http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h232/nutritionrunner/determinants_zps32a90d05.jpg http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h232/nutritionrunner/obesityfactors_zps9041a94e.png Oh gee, look at all the factors that aren't under an individual's control! Imagine that! The following is the best illustration of all the many factors that affect obesity. It is an incredibly complex problem: http://www.shiftn.com/obesity/Full-Map.html So please, educate yourself about the causes and treatment of obesity before you go assuming it is the individual's fault. The research being done in this area indicates that there are many complex, interacting factors that affect obesity and obesity rates. It isn't always a matter of eating too much and moving too little. It is much, much more complex. Energy balance is only part of the equation.

My husband and I have lived through several periods where our relationship was conducted at a distance. Why did we do it? Well, we had no choice. The military doesn't exactly let me come with him when he's away on training for months at a time, nor when he is deployed overseas for months at a time. They don't exactly let non-military spouses deploy on training, combat or peacekeeping missions with the military member. It would be silly to end our relationship just because he has to go away on training or deploy. He was in the military when I met him, and I knew exactly what that meant. Our love is strong enough to deal with the separations when they occur. It helps that we are best friends, that we completely trust one another, and that we are good at communicating with each other. Long distance relationships can work if both parties are committed to it. Both parties need to realize that there will probably be times when it is difficult being apart, and that having a strong relationship with open and honest communication will help them get through those difficult times.

Calorie vs calorie. A Calorie (capital C) is actually a Kilocalorie, and is what most people refer to when talking about a "calorie." So we use "kcal" to be clear what we are talking about. Diet. Technically diet is whatever you eat/consume as food and drink. But in popular culture it means changing your eating habits so as to promote weight loss. But your diet is just what you eat and drink, it doesn't have anything to do with weight loss.