NonparametricBananas

Yes it takes effort to find things to do and certainly, you should keep an open mind no matter where you go in the hopes of cultivating meaningful experiences and whatnot, but oh boy, Windsor is like .. a black hole of bleh. I am glad of the experiences I had there, but there are times when I wish I had not been sucked in by promises of money and research freedom. Then again, it was only a 2 year program so I got out of there pretty quickly (I frankly can't believe how quickly it went by).

When you have to live there for at least 2 years for a master's degree, you have to teach yourself to like the place. The river was beautiful, exploring Michigan was loads of fun, but Windsor itself was such a sullen bedroom community lacking few if any redeeming qualities that not much could help. For the first year or so, I went home to Toronto a lot -- it was $40 one way on the VIA and coincidentally, by the end of my degree, I racked up just enough to take a free trip home. It got a lot better once I made some great friends and got into a relationship, but without meaningful supports and friendships, it would have been a nightmare. You must have spoken to a few of my friends over at GLIER lol. Some of them are from Windsor, so they likely haven't seen the wonders beyond Windsor-Essex hehe.

Be it Heath or MacIsaac or whomever you want, none of them are worth the suffering.

Having finished a master's degree at the University of Windsor this past August, I agree with every single thing you're saying about both the school and the city. I hope that people who are considering going to UWindsor for grad school see your post and understand how awful it actually is.

Send me a PM. Just finished my master's there. We have lots to talk about!

I really like oxalis plants. They open during the day and close at night! And they come in purple!

Okay perfect! Thanks for the info -- didn't know about the hold tab before and just found out that I have an extension to Aug 24 since I'm coming in as a new international student. On that note, the Canadian dollar could not be weaker right now. Stuff is going to be extra expensive until I start getting paid for my TAship!

Heya, my program coordinator sent out an email re: this just a few days ago. Your department should be sending a notice to cashiers letting them know about whatever support package and status you'll be maintaining and that should be reflected fairly soon. On a side note, if we are receiving a support plan that doesn't cover student fees, when will those have to be paid by?

Hello! Just a brief question: do you print your I-94 after you've flown in and arrived?

That's the general thing I've while I've been in my MSc program. Here's hoping it holds true and that I don't get my wrecked by courses! I think one of the harder things will be falling back into the undergrad course style -- I've become accustomed to going to lab, doing what I need to do for the day, and going home and not doing any school-related stuff after I've left the lab/office. I suppose it'll take a little bit of time to wedge back into throwing studying back into the mix. Excited nonetheless!

TakeruK, you are always a godsend! I had the exact same question -- was afraid I'd fly out of Pearson and end up trapped in the next airport.

I live right on Hillsborough a few steps away from my department (well now I just remembered one of the core lessons I taught myself during my master's about separating work and home life lol oh well!). How about shopping and food in Raleigh?

Oh boo. I'll be car-less while I'm there. Thankfully there is the wolfline (I hope it's a decent service)!

Is anyone starting in the fall session? I'll be at the international student orientation Aug 12 and grad and zoology orientations as well

Hello! I have been wondering about the grading scale in the US when compared to the typical Canadian scale. I've asked some of my American friends and they've offered some potential explanations, but I wanted to get some more thoughts on the topic. I'll be attending an American university in August to start my PhD. I'm currently at a Canadian university completing my MSc (also completed my HBSc at a different Canadian university from my current one). In my Canadian education, I am accustomed to a B being around a mid-70 and professors tend to aim for a class average of approximately 65% (this is in a variety classes that I've both taken and TA'd myself). Now, the rationale for me asking re: the grading scale has to do with cutoffs and probation and whatnot. My upcoming American school requires a 3.0/B minimum in order to graduate and if you score below a 3.0/B in more than x credit hours, you get put on probation and then a few more than that results in you being kicked out of the program. Since I'm taking some difficult courses, this GPA requirement did scare me a bit. At this new school, a 3.0 or a B is a mid to high 80. When I asked around, the general responses that I got seemed plausible: courses have evaluations spread out more evenly as opposed to what I'm accustomed to i.e. in Canadian courses, an exam could be worth 40-50%. The other thing is the 65% average that profs aim for -- one of my friends told me that his profs aimed for a mid-80 in his courses in Vermont. I have been told numerous times that grading in grad school is more lenient such that the range is typically in the A+ to B- range, but I assume this is typically expected from a seminar grad course as opposed to courses that have coursework that is either right or wrong. Nonetheless, I look forward to reading your responses and hopefully, with your insight, I can have a little peace of mind Thanks!

I'm teaching throughout (I really enjoy teaching! Loved it during my MSc). I haven't started my program yet, so I'm not sure about the ratio of lab-classwork time. I spoke to my current supervisor who got his PhD in the US and he said one of the shocks that some new students experience when they first start is the initial investment into coursework, rather than jumping straight into lab work. Thanks for the kind comment too! I hope I do make it through. I never thought I'd go back to a formal course style since I finished my undergrad aside from seminar courses ...and yet here we are!

Based off of information I got from the grad secretary, I'm now enrolled in 3 courses for the fall semester -- endocrinology, biotech, and a stats course. My program doesn't have required core courses, so I may be able to ask for some reprieve in the form of alternative courses within the department if I can make the pitch that they will be more applicable and useful to me. I hope I survive!

Thanks for your response! I agree -- the documentation available isn't helpful at all and entering a very different system from the one that I'm used to in the absence of sufficient info via the handbook and calendar and whatnot has been a bit stressful.

How do courses typically work? Do you take a full course load the first year with 5 courses or something?

Hello! I wanted to get some opinions from people who are doing their PhDs in the US. I'm going to an American university in August to start my PhD in Zoology. Currently, I'm doing my MSc at a Canadian university -- the general focus of my research is behavioural endocrinology. The lab that I will be joining for my PhD is largely an endocrinology lab. Recently, I got an email from the grad school and department reminding me to enroll in courses for the fall semester. In my current program, graduation requirements only entail two courses and your thesis. The information that I have available thus far is pretty vague -- the grad handbook only gives degree requirements and nothing else on what you need to take throughout the program. Nonetheless, I contacted my supervisor and asked him to recommend some courses and he suggested endocrinology, some biochem, and some biotech. While he didn't mandate that I take any of these courses (save for endocrinology and intro to biotech), I am just concerned over my ability to succeed in these courses. My training is predominantly in ecology/evolution/behaviour and while I can certainly make the effort to try to succeed in these courses, I am just worried about the potential outcomes (probation, being removed from the program for not meeting GPA requirements with the grad courses). Are these grad courses difficult? I've had friends tell me that grad students are typically graded more leniently as opposed to undergrads. I hope I haven't painted myself as having jumped into the lion's den. I knew I was joining an endocrinology lab from the get-go, but I never expected the prospect of having to take advanced biochem courses (I do not have a foundation in this whatsoever). Endocrinology (the course) I can totally do, but otherwise....ehh. Please give me your thoughts and advice.

I heard back from Prof B just now. He said I will be sponsored by him but we'll work with Prof A, so it appears that Prof B has become my primary advisor with Prof B serving as a collaborator + committee member. We'll know for sure when we get there in Aug/Sept. Either way, both A and B do great research, so it will be a great opportunity to grow as a scientist nonetheless. I just wish they were more clear with this from the beginning.

Not at all, at least from what he told me of on-going projects when he visited my current university on my invitation.

Thank you for your great response. Considering the in-person, email, and phone conversations, it does make a lot of sense given what has been said on funding that Prof B would be listed on the departmental letter. I am completely fine with being primarily supervised by Prof B. There hasn't been anything mentioned about me being pawned off to Prof B so I assume that the cosupervision arrangement is still on. I suppose I just feel a bit jilted since Prof A has pretty much disappeared from all correspondences and mentions in official documents. Either way, their offices are located right next to each other and the grad office space is shared between both labs' grads. I sent an email to Prof B after the first post with a vague kind of statement asking how cosupervision works. Hopefully he gets back to me soon.

Heya, so I wanted to ask the gradcafe community their thoughts on this. I applied and got into a zoology PhD program this year -- the prof (henceforth Prof A) that I had applied to work with (invited him to my current school to deliver a seminar, to meet with me, fan of his research, etc.) asked if I'd be okay with being cosupervised with another prof (henceforth Prof because they had a shared project they wanted me to jump on for my PhD. As time has passed on, Prof A has disappeared from emails -- typically, it was both him and Prof B. Even today, when I received a letter from the department outlining my support and TAship, it said "under the supervision of Prof B". All correspondence has since been from Prof B, as well. I am a bit bothered by this, particularly because my primary reason for accepting the offer to this school was because of the prospect of working with Prof A. I considered contacting Prof B to ask vaguely "oh how does the cosupervision process work" or something to the like, but I don't want to risk offending just in case that does come off as "hey what's the deal I wanted to work with the other guy", because that's not the case at all. I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps it's just a minor detail. Ultimately, cosupervision -- from what I've seen of it from a few friends who are currently cosupervised in their master's -- doesn't appear to mean much beyond a bigger committee and broader scope, etc. What do you guys think?