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emsmith

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Everything posted by emsmith

  1. emsmith
    I'm in the same boat! I'm taking it as a good sign that out of however many applications they reviewed ours were competitive enough to be in the running. I'm not convinced it will help me get into the program even if I do get an offer later, as I wasn't interviewed by that school, but after a loooong and depressing process it's nice to have something positive to hold on to haha!
  2. emsmith
    Update: I've been officially rejected (via email - portal is the same) - maybe they're doing it alphabetically or something haha
  3. emsmith
    Congratulations on your acceptance to the SACP program!! That's great news! I checked my email and the Calgary admissions portal, and haven't received a rejection email/there's no admission decision ... I'm definitely expecting a rejection since I haven't been invited to interview, but it makes me a bit nervous that maybe they didn't get my application or something? I know its silly to worry about (the status circle thing is green and it says they received my CV/references/proposal), but I find it weird that I wouldn't be notified at all... Did everyone else get notified?
  4. emsmith
    This is a good question... I'm not sure, but I would guess it depends on the extent of your correspondence with the POI... If it was a simple "looking forward to seeing your application" and that's it, I would say probably no. But if you've discussed the opportunities in more depth it might be better since they're more likely to remember you and your application. I guess the worst they can say is they can't provide feedback for unsuccessful applicants, but I worry that to some people it might look bad/might seem that you don't value their time? I'm very curious to hear what others think though.
  5. emsmith
    I agree you should be careful if you/your PI expect you to begin working on your project before you start the program. However - if you're just looking for a bit of income/to get settled into your (possibly new) city before you start the program, I would email asking if there are any summer RA opportunities with them or other colleagues so you can move, get settled, and save a little money before you start your phd. I think that's pretty reasonable, but I would be open to working on other projects and be upfront that you're looking to work as an RA and not specifically get a head start on your project. I also agree that you should wait until you've officially been offered and accepted the PhD position before bringing this up.
  6. emsmith
    Congratulations!! Is it common for invites to go out at such short notice? Two days isn't a lot of time to prepare, get time off work, etc!
  7. emsmith
    I'm not a current student, but I applied once straight after I graduated a few years ago, and I'm applying again this year, and I have to say I feel genuinely prepared to do a PhD now and am really confident in my decision to apply and what I want out of it, 1000x more than I did the first time I applied. That's not to say I currently have a flawless application or anything, there is a lot I'm worried about in terms of getting in. And I know that however much experience you have, doing a PhD is going to be really hard. But I do understand more about the research process after working in research, and getting much more "real world" research experience than as a student. I think this will all be very individual though and depend on your own experience. That said, I definitely believe getting experience even for your own personal benefit is a really good way to go to help you learn more about research and your field of interest as a whole, and will help improve your CV.
  8. emsmith
    This is a good question, I would appreciate any advice on this as well! I have a late withdrawal on my transcript that I always forget about - it was an elective completely unrelated to my degree, but the average grade (which is shown on the transcript) was a C-, so I definitely dodged a bullet, but I guess it could still raise some eyebrows.
  9. emsmith
    Mine is still there even though they were sent way before the deadline - I emailed the admin team about it earlier this week to ask if they've been received or if I should re-send them, but I haven't received a response yet!
  10. emsmith
    I think the notices section has always been there, just with nothing in it haha. When you click on "my application" and "status" there's a section for admission decision, but I'm not sure if there would be info anywhere else as well. I haven't applied to Calgary before, but when I applied to other programs I didn't get a rejection notification until March or April, even when I hadn't received an interview etc. But maybe some programs send rejection notices earlier (it would probably save us some stress if they did!)
  11. emsmith
    Just wondering if anyone here has been contacted for an interview/accepted into a program with a supervisor that they ranked 2nd or 3rd on an application? Some programs asked us to rank possible supervisors in order of preference, and I suppose it makes sense in terms of finding a match, but I guess I'm wondering if your 3rd choice supervisors would even look at your application when there will likely be plenty of applicants that ranked them first? Has anyone had any luck with someone they didn't rank as their first?
  12. emsmith
    I get a bit nervous sharing details of my application because my existing research area is quite specific and I feel like I would be pretty identifiable if I share too much. I don't necessarily mind sharing schools or POIs though (although admittedly I find DM more comfortable), and I agree that when you hear which schools/POIs have sent out invites for interviews, it can be such a relief to either know it's not your POI, or if it is you can stop stressing about it so much and focus on other things. When people do share POIs I find it's also helpful to see how many people have interests that are different to yours - it's nice knowing that there is diversity in our research topics and not everyone is in a kind of direct competition for 'your' POI. Even when someone does have similar interests/applied to the same people, it can actually be quite nice to talk and commiserate together a little about it all. This whole processes is competitive because there are so few positions but once we're all in programs (which will take most of us multiple application cycles) we'll be on the same 'side' even if we have the similar interests or we're in different years or different schools, etc. I find it really cool to learn about other people's interests and research, and when you take a step back and think if you met the people around here at a conference you would probably think most people were really cool and interesting. As an applicant, I would LOVE to hear more from people in current programs about their experiences and what it's like! It doesn't need to be super specific, of course each program is a bit different and how things work will depend on your supervisor and research area etc, but there are so few resources online for Canadian programs, it's really hard to find information other than really generic "students learn about assessment and do x hours of practical training, and their research" etc.
  13. emsmith
    Welcome to the return of the working week... the season where every email notification makes me jump out of my skin and fills me with existential dread ? Anyone else exceedingly jumpy today?
  14. emsmith
    Ugh. Ouch ?
  15. emsmith
    Do you think it's still reasonable to ask for this if the application deadline has already closed? I didn't even consider that asking for them to be removed would be an option, but I would prefer they not look at my scores if they're not required!
  16. emsmith
    I agree, thank you everyone for your kind posts! I think it's safe to say all of us are an ambitious and hard working group - We should absolutely all be proud of our accomplishments and all of the work we put in to our applications! It's definitely a stressful process but it's good to keep in mind that the whole point of graduate programs is that we're still learning and don't need to be perfect in everything to make valuable contributions. It's also nice to know that there are some really supportive current and future students around, hopefully some of us will meet in future programs ?
  17. emsmith
    Thank you! I'm pretty sure I meet the requirements but it's sometimes hard to tell when not every school website has a gpa calculator or conversion for other grading schemes/countries. It's good to know they take it seriously though! Haha! The answer is always "it depends" isn't it! This is really good advice, thank you! I did this with my other experiences in my statement, but not specifically with my grades. If I have to re-apply next year I will definitely keep this in mind.
  18. emsmith
    How stringent have you found the schools are with the minimum requirements? Obv if your GPA is significantly below the cutoff or you're missing something major you won't meet the criteria, but if your GPA is something like 3.68 instead of 3.7 for example, and the rest of the application is strong, is there a chance they might consider it? I think my application is generally pretty strong, but I'm worried that with the number of applications this year they might take any excuse to whittle down the pile. I have transcripts from a few different universities (some with 4.0 some with 4.3 GPA scales), and one exchange program with a completely different grading scheme, so I'm worried that even if something gets lost in the translation of grades, my application just won't be looked at.
  19. emsmith
    Only a couple from certain schools! UBCO sent an email to tell me my application had been opened/will be reviewed, and I got a separate email saying my cgsm application will be forwarded to UBCO to review. I got an email from U of C saying they received my cgsm application and will review it. All boring, but still makes me anxious! I feel like once theyve opened it the rejection is imminent ? No emails at all from the other schools I applied to though.
  20. emsmith
    It's so hard to stay calm while waiting! I'm trying not to think about it until after the new year, but it's hard when you know some schools are already emailing about interviews. Even just getting some of the automated emails saying they've received your CGSM application, or have accessed your application and it will be reviewed etc, is already giving me the jitters!
  21. emsmith
    You really shouldn't beat yourself up over it! I made the same mistake the first year I applied (I wasn't a very strong candidate then, so the funding is definitely not the reason I didn't get in), but I think the CGS instructions are suuuuuuper unclear. Half the instructions are for people who are already in a program and have to be nominated by the school, and half are for people applying without a program, and I think it's really hard to make sense of. I also think securing external funding isn't a total make-or-break for most most supervisors particularly at the master's level since most people will not have had experience applying for this kind of funding. CGS-M is also only 17,500 for one year, which is of course helpful but isn't enough to hold you over for (what is for most people) a two year program.
  22. emsmith
    Thank you, both! You're right! Luckily the funding one takes most of the info from the generic one ? it would be real pain filling in all the categories from scratch!
  23. emsmith
    For the CCCV, I've only just realized there are two options - Funding and Generic - does it matter which one we upload? I've made a generic one but now I'm worried I have to re-do it ?
  24. emsmith
    I'm using my CGS-M proposal, maybe revising just slightly. I don't think I have it in me to write another one, haha! But I did gear my proposal to be in line with the supervisor I want to work with at UCalgary.
  25. emsmith
    Is anyone else's references having trouble with the CGS application portal? My reference setup her profile according to the instructions in the email but she can't access any place to add a reference for me... anyone else having similar issues?
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