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Another question for anyone in the know! I'm trying to apply for a TA position on the CaPS website, but it keeps telling me my username or password are incorrect. I'm able to use both these things to log in other places, but not CaPS for some reason. Anyone else having the same problem?

I feel like a bit of a derp, but am I the only one confused by McGill's Minerva system? I did my undergrad at UBC where the registration process was just really intuitive. The important dates site just leaves me more confused than I was when I started. Am I correct in thinking that graduate registration doesn't open until July 4?

Same here! What department are you in? I'll be doing second language education in the DISE.

Any other second language eduation folks around? We seem to be a rare breed. If you're out there, what made you want to teach English to second language learners?

(sorry, didn't notice what board this was on! I'll show myself out now.)

I'm in the same boat. I've been an English teacher overseas for the past 5 years and am just heading into my last week before the end of my contract. I've been given the green light to go ahead and start telling the kids, and I'm really not sure how to go about it. My employer and schools aren't holding it against me, but having classes of kids tell me that they're looking forward to seeing me in April is breaking my heart.

I'll be 29 going on 30 when I start in the fall!

I've just chosen to accept the offer from McGill because Alberta isn't going to get back to me until April and the pros for attending McGill were numerous. Plus, the apartment I wanted to rent starting in July was going to be given to someone else if I didn't put down a deposit, so it kind of forced my hand. Not mad about it at all, though, since McGill was my first choice! Fingers crossed that I get picked for one of their merit scholarships!

If you don't mind sharing, I've found some nice looking places for affordable prices on easyroommate.com

Nice! I just accepted my offer today.

Yes on the dividing up large bags of snacks! I use this trick too. It takes some willpower, but it works for me. If I just have a big bag of chips or cookies or whatever, I'll eat the whole thing in one go, but if they're divided up, it gives me just enough to satisfy a craving without going overboard.

For me, I: 1. try to get in at least 10,000 steps a day (this sounds like a lot, but it amounts to around an hour of walking a day). This is just my personal goal, doing any additional walking on top of what you normally do is going to reap a benefit. If you usually only get 4000 steps a day, aiming for 6000 is fine! 2. use MyFitnessPal to track my food and drink intake to keep me accountable. I find that I think twice before eating something if I know I have to record it, so it prevents a lot of mindless eating. 3. plan and prep my meals ahead of time. This can take time and energy that you may not always have as a busy student, but it is definitely worth it. Lowers your chance of buying take out when you're too tired to cook, eliminates the temptation to buy unhealthy food when you don't know what to make, etc. 4. keep healthy snacks on hand for when cravings hit. Whole foods are best. 5. find healthier alternatives for comfort foods (for instance, mashed cauliflower tastes a lot like mashed potatoes but with a lot fewer carbs and calories. Not exactly the same, but close enough that I'm not tempted to stray very often) 6. buy cheat food items like chips or cookies in as small a size as possible so they can satiate a craving without the temptation to over indulge. If you buy a big bag of chips, it's easy to just eat them all in one sitting, but if you get the little snack pack sizes, you can enjoy something you want without the ability to eat more (so long as you don't just head for the next mini bag!) 7. drink lots and lots of water. It helps keep you hydrated and feeling full. Obviously, willpower is the most important part and none of these things will work if you're not determined to make them work, but if you're willing to put in the effort, it doesn't have to be that hard to keep your weight under control.

Let's swap battle wound stories! I have a pretty great one in my chin from where a girl accidentally stepped on the back of my shoe while we were playing tag in first or second grade. I went face first into the gravel, broke a few teeth, got stones in my elbows and knees. I was taken to the doctor's office right across the road from my school, and apparently, my mom was at a friend's house having lunch, so the first emergency contact to pick up was my grandfather who drove from the other side of the city to see me. Then, as it turned out, he had such a gentle heart that he couldn't bear to give the doctor permission to stitch up my torn open chin, so they had to wait for my mom to get there so she could sign off on it (they picked the gravel out in the meantime.) That man was so sweet, but I'm not sure if I went through more or less pain having to wait until my mom finally got there. I've also got a pretty nice one in the side of my wrist from where I scraped it taking down a box of stacked cups while working at Tim Hortons. That story's not quite as good as the first, though.

Not sure if OP is still looking for advice, but here's my top 3 tips on what helped me lose 70lbs in just over a year. 1. Keep a food diary. MyFitnessPal is a great app for it. If you track what you eat, you feel more accountable for it. It makes you think twice before eating something if you know you'll have to record it. 2. Figure out roughly how many calories you're burning a day. You can do this with a fancy gadget like a FitBit, or if you don't mind it not being as precise, there are lots of free online calculators that can do it for you based on your height, weight and activity level. So long as you don't eat above this number, you shouldn't gain weight. 3. Try a carb cycling diet! Basically, pick two or three days a week (preferrably days you exercise on) where you eat healthy carbs (whole wheat bread, pasta, etc.) and your consumed calories are about how much you burn, then the rest of the week eat low carb (but high protein and fat instead.) You should keep your protein intake about the same all week, but on high carb days, drop your fat consumption. On low carb days, up your fat consumption! This keeps your body from plateauing if you just eat low carb all the time, and it makes controlling your eating a lot easier if you can occasionally eat your favourite carby foods a few times a week. I stopped eating pasta for about 7 months when I was just eating low carb and it made me so sad, but switching to carb cycling let me bring them back in. It sounds weird, but eating more calories and carbs can actually speed up your weight loss.

I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs waiting to hear back from the University of Alberta (Educational Psychology) since their deadline isn't until March 31. I have acceptances from McGill and Carleton, but I want all my options in front of me before I make a final decision, but I don't know what to do with myself until then.

I haven't accepted yet, but it's looking more and more likely that I'll be heading to McGill in the fall! Anyone else here planning to go?

Ahh, I see. I thought you were worried what they might say to you if you withdrew your acceptance. I don't know how this program does their funding, but if they always do this early deadline thing, I'm sure you are not the first person to be in this predicament. They must obviously make it work somehow.

I don't know how they could condemn you for having poor ethics while they're the ones forcing you into a huge choice before you know all your options. I wouldn't worry about it, they get what they get for doing this to their applicants.

From what I know, asking students to accept or deny offers before April 15 is considered unethical in and of itself in the grad school field, so X program is already being kind of unreasonable asking you to make a decision when you don't have all your cards on the table yet. You shouldn't be pressured into going to a school you're not completely sold on because they've decided that they want to kind of force students into picking their school by closing them out of their other options. If this program is going to insist on doing this, then they can't exactly be surprised if students accept and then withdraw their acceptance. If I were you, I'd accept it but be ready to withdraw if a better program accepts you. I really don't like the idea of schools pretty much forcing the hands of their students, so I figure they get what they get.

Can I join the club even if I'm not quite 30 (I'll be 30 in December, so I'm almost there)? I'm going to be starting my MA in September after graduating in 2011 with my BA. I took two years off between high school and university to travel and work, then started working in Japan immediately after graduation where I've been for about 5 years now. It took me those 5 years to figure out that I'm interested in working with immigrants and refugees in Canada, particularly in regards to ESL education. I'm quitting my 9-5 job, hauling my butt back across the Pacific to Canada to do it and leaving my boyfriend behind to do it, so this is a big change for me. My BA was in Asian Area Studies and International Relations, so shifting to a Masters in Second Language Education is a bit of a change, and I was a bit worried about adcomms not accepting me due to my unconventional study and work history, but so far so good (two acceptances, one pending)! I'm a bit worried about feeling lost in a new discipline and feeling a bit old, though I suppose I shouldn't complain. I'm hoping that there'll be some other students in my area with similar backgrounds.

Not nearly as bad as some of them here, but I realized a few days after the deadline that I had uploaded the SOP for my thesis application to the non-thesis application, so they had two copies of the same statement instead of different ones for the different programs. I got lucky and the application portal had a built in chat box and the person on the other end simply deleted my SOP from the non-thesis application and I uploaded the right one. I owe whoever let me do that a beer.

I understand your feeling, I'm in a similar boat myself waiting on the results from one more school, but if one of them is your top choice, then I'd say wait it out. In my case, my top choice accepted me and I'm getting antsy waiting for the other which I'm still considering because it has good research (and possibly more funding), but if you've been wait listed by your top choice, there's still a chance you might get it. Wait lists don't mean they don't want you, they mean they do want you but admittance is competitive. If they didn't see value in you, they'd have rejected you.

I know how you feel. I finished my undergrad in 2011, and have been working for the last 5 years. Now that I'm preparing to go into a Master's program, I can't help but feel like I'm not going to belong. I'm 29 and have to wonder how much I'm going to be behind the others in my program. Looking forward to the challenge, though!

I definitely want McGill more than Alberta just in my gut, but like you said, my hesitation is coming from trying to weigh personal preferences vs career fit. I know that the money at McGill exists, it's the money at Alberta that I'm not sure about, as the program is course-based and course-based don't tend to be funded. I've been thinking that I could potentially make up for the lack of course work by volunteering in Montreal with refugee and immigrant groups, as there are many moving into that area. Also, this is off topic, but I noticed from your signature that you and I must have been at UBC (Vancouver) at the same time! I graduated in 2011 (Asian Area Studies and International Relations.) Small world.

I received an offer of admission from McGill University, which was my top choice due to several POIs with matching research interests, the location, etc., but I'm still waiting on a result from the University of Alberta. UofA's courses more closely match the field I'd like to go into eventually (working with immigrants and refugees in an ESL context), but I'm not super keen on the location and it doesn't have a thesis option while McGill does, and I'm quite interested in completing a thesis. After talking with a contact at McGill, I learned that the top 10 applicants receive a $5000 entrance scholarship, though the results won't be out until the end of the month or maybe early March. I'm just wondering if I'm potentially hurting my chances by not accepting McGill's offer immediately, like concerned that I may not be demonstrating my drive to study at McGill. I don't know what criteria they use to decide who their "top 10" are, and if Alberta offers me better funding (though I'm doubtful that they have any, as the program is course based), I may accept their offer instead as both schools have really strong programs. To be honest, I'm already 95% decided on McGill, as I'm in love with the idea of living in Montreal and closer to home (I've been in Japan for the last 5 years, so really, anywhere is closer, but Montreal is only about 2 hours train ride from where my parents live), but I'm worried about kicking myself if I'm passed over for funding because I didn't accept quickly enough. Do admission committees take the time to acceptance into account for these sorts of things?