ktel

There are plenty of PhD students and PostDocs in my lab who are older, married and have kids. Besides, I wouldn't worry about the age difference too much. I've played rugby for a long time, and the women in our club range in ages from 16 to 50. I really have no problem getting along with any of them, regardless of age. I don't think anyone my age actually thinks "Oh, that person is 33, that's awkward"

You now know what it's like to be the TA and not just the student. Hence another perspective.

^ Seems like you have another perspective now that you've actually done some TAing!

Zoegrrl hit the nail on the head. It's income but it's not taxable provided you're a full time student. If you're part time I think the rules are a bit different. I find the word "fellowship" is tossed around a lot, and sometimes it's taxable, sometimes it's not depending on how it's defined. I know my scholarships are not taxable and my fellowship that I'm paid to do MY OWN research is also not taxable. A separate RAship or TAing is taxable. I do think you still need to report it though.

Greyhound shipping is pretty reasonable. They don't ship to your door though so depending on how much stuff you have you might have to rent a van or hire a cab or something on either end.

I think you need to contact the school and talk to them about this, not us.

My CGS-M letter from last year was dated March 18.

Keep in mind it is often possible to leave a PhD program with a Master's if you end up deciding that's not the route you want to take. Now I wouldn't ethically suggest going in with that plan, but it doesn't sound like you are 100% against a PhD. I think in the engineering field you would be silly to take an unfunded offer.

I'm curious why you even applied to this school knowing all your obligations? Is the program even structured to allow you to work full time?

I think in engineering the amount of research they want to see before admitting you is a little less than some of the really competitive programs, but they still want to see something. At least in Canada it would be pretty hard to get through your degree without doing some sort of major design project that would be somewhat research-y. I also get the impressions that less is expected as far as publications go, because it can often take a really long time to get something published (case in point I'm still waiting on a publication for a project I was working on over a year and a half ago)

Shorter is probably better. They don't need all the details, they just need to know your decision

I'm going to agree with lewin00. You're interpreting that she doesn't like you, but yet she her broader actions (the high mark on the paper, the research position) say otherwise. She is hard on you, but she obviously still respects you or she wouldn't be trying to help you at all.

That just seems ridiculous. You should try to press this a little further, see if you can perhaps make up the required coursework during your PhD or before completing your PhD

I lived in Edmonton my whole life so lived at home and commuted during my undergrad. A car was absolutely necessary for that. My boyfriend moved to Edmonton to do his undergrad and got by quite well for 5 years without a car. He lived both on and off campus, as far away as 109 St and Whyte ave. I will note that his roommates did have cars. There are a number of grocery stores within walking distance of campus, and anything you might need is in the Whyte area or on the LRT line. East Campus Village is super close to both campus, Whyte ave and a grocery store. Definitely a walkable area. You also have a UPass so could take the bus to get groceries if you needed to carry a lot.

I don't think credit is specifically a country-to-country thing. Same with driving records. I know somebody who couldn't rent a car in the States because of a bad driving record in England. I don't have any proof or evidence, just my gut feeling that what you've heard doesn't sound quite right.

Looks like things are pretty well covered. You guys forgot Scotiabank though. Although I will say that TD pretty much beats all other banks from what I've seen (and I'm not even with them, I'm with Scotiabank)

I use the last name unless it's a professor that I know or that the person I'm talking to knows.

Definitely ask your PI and lab mates to send papers your way. Best way to prepare

^ Why would you assume that means you are waitlisted? If you were waitlisted, I'm sure they would just tell you so.

You'd think they would know how long this would take? It's not uncommon to accept offers before you know about external funding. I believe I didn't know about NSERC until after I had received acceptances, although I don't think I had chosen anything yet.

Yikes, definitely sounds like something you want to avoid in the future. Perhaps this professor doesn't understand how to write a strong letter.

My current boyfriend did a 1 year M.Eng. pretty much solely so that we would stay together and live in the same city while I finished my undergrad. He made that decision after only about 2-3 months of dating. Only you know if your new relationship is worthwhile enough to factor it into your decision making process.

I am expected to work on my thesis over the summer. While undergrads are usually charged separate tuition for the summer session, it is included in our graduate tuition (whether you want to stay for the summer or not). You should ask McGill about this.

I would recommend that you look at budgeting for the entire 5 years, and not on a year-by-year basis. My funding also comes in weird chunks, and I get significantly more money in my first year, so I made a budget for my entire degree (a 2 year MASc) based on the minimum amount of funding I am guaranteed. For you, you are guaranteed at least $146,000 over 5 years. According to the letter you received you should be paying $64,000 of tuition out of your funding. That leaves you with $82,000 left, or $16,400 per year. Should be more than doable to pay for housing, food, books, etc. I'm currently living in Toronto and live very comfortably off of just less than $1500 a month.

Are you by any chance talking about the University of Toronto? I believe in some programs funding is mandatory, meaning you don't get accepted unless there is funding available for you. Hence why she may be calling your offer conditional for now. That's why they require you find a supervisor, because they require you to have funding.