Nocturnae

I honestly never thought I would feel like this. I have never been particularly happy here in my country. And now I got accepted to a program I am really excited about, under the supervision of a professor that I really admire, in a country that I really like. However, with the moving date approaching, I am getting more and more nervous, and almost homesick already. It feels weird to leave my family behind as well as all things that are familiar to me. Does anyone else feel like this? I guess I am just looking to see if there are other people going through this. I feel like people tend to hide this side of the process while solely projecting the good stuff.

Is it possible to commute by bike in Kitchener/Waterloo?

Plug for our Facebook group for University of Waterloo admits: https://www.facebook.com/groups/577625335931259 Let me know if the link doesn't work

I am trying to narrow down my research interests for my Master's research, and while I have a good idea about the subfield I would like to work on (natural language understanding and/or machine translation), I find it extremely challenging to identify a specific topic. As a recent computer science graduate with relatively little research experience (especially in terms of breadth), it seems impossible for me to come up with a decent idea. I don't know how anyone else does it, to be honest. I'm now trying to go through the major and recent papers in the said fields to develop a better sense. It definitely helps to get up-to-date with the field, but most certainly not enough to produce an interesting idea of my own. How did/would you go about doing this? Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks in advance!

Shall we resurrect this thread already? Hi, UWaterloo people (or whatever the official term is)!

Has anyone heard about funding from McGill? Do you still have a chance if your letter of admission has no info on funding?

Fair enough. I posted with more details earlier, and received no replies whatsoever, so I thought maybe I was doing it wrong I applied exclusively to Master's in Computer Science programs. My research interests lie in natural language processing and deep learning. I intend to pursue a PhD afterward, and probably try and become a research scientist at a company. I am trying to choose between EPFL (brand name and high academic output) and UWaterloo (great PI / lab and full funding). Would you still choose funding over brand name when there is a relatively large gap between the reputations of programs?

I am trying to choose between two offers, but I feel like the brand of one of the schools affects me too much. Ultimately, how much does the brand name / ranking really matter in making a decision? Would you choose funding over brand name, or vice versa? Those of you who chose one over the other, do you have any regrets? What would you consider given what you know now? Thanks in advance!

Two unexpected admits later, I find myself utterly confused. To give you an idea about my profile: My research interests lie in natural language processing, information retrieval and deep learning. I intend to pursue a PhD right after my Master's degree. Ultimately, I would like to be working as a researcher at a R&D division of a larger company (such as Google), but that aspiration might well change in the upcoming years. I feel like UWaterloo is an excellent culture fit, but I frankly can't ignore EPFL's academic reputation. So, I decided to write down all the criteria that go into my decision-making. I appreciate any input regarding the following, or anything else that you think might be important: The professor who accepted me as his student at UWaterloo is truly inspiring, and I am genuinely excited to work with him. Our research interests align well, he is very friendly and easy to talk to, and his academic productivity is just off the charts. On the other hand, I feel like Master's programs in Europe are like a natural extension to undergrad, and too detached from research, and I might not get a chance to join a lab. (I could be wrong.) Since I wish to pursue further research, getting some actual research experience and publishing would be immensely helpful later in my life. That said, EPFL has an excellent NLP lab. Switzerland is much closer to my original country, which would make any emergency trips (or any usual family visits, for that matter) much easier. I am really happy about UWaterloo's great funding. EPFL is pretty affordable in terms of tuition, as well, but they offer no assistantship and only a few scholarships. Sure, money isn't the primary objective in attending grad school, but I know for a fact that struggling financially would take a toll on my mental health. I would much rather focus on my research than freak out about money. By the same token, Lausanne is a damn expensive city. I am also curious about academic prospects after graduation, first-hand (or second-hand?) stories about student life in either, etc. Thank you so much in advance!

Monday: probably going to be super busy during the week, and get over the reject more quickly. I do hope I am not jinxing myself by replying to this thread, haha.

I love those ideas! I feel like I am not close enough with my profs to get personal gifts, but I am not sure... How weird would it be for me to do it anyway?

My U of A application has been under review for more than two months now. I can't even care anymore at this point. By the way, I would love to chat with anyone that got admitted to UWaterloo