ktel

I'm already reading enough papers for my summer research project, I don't think I could stand reading papers relating to my Master's. Maybe if I get really bored at work one day I'll pull up a paper or two, but for now I am just going to enjoy my summer. I've never prepared in the summer. Except when I found out a week before grade 6 starting that I had to switch schools and reacted by panicking because I didn't know how to long divide....

I would suggest asking about funding after you get a reply. I think the e-mail is good up until that paragraph. This is an exact copy of the e-mails I sent: My name is _____ and I am in my final year of Mechanical Engineering at the University of ____. I am planning to pursuing a M.A.Sc. degree at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies starting in September 2011. I am interested in the field of computational aerodynamics. I am currently completing a project that involves the use of CFD and wind tunnel testing to design the wing root fillet to reduce drag on an aerobatic aircraft (the Edge 540 V3). This is a full year experimental design project. For my Masters thesis I would be interested in researching similar topics. I am contacting you regarding potential thesis topics. I have attached my transcript and curriculum vitae. If you would like any additional information please contact me. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, ______ I then attached my CV and transcript

Is there Greyhound in the states? That's the cheapest option I've found

I'm just super lucky my boyfriend is working full time and is therefore covering all the initial expenses (first and last months rent, furniture, utility deposits, etc.). I have some savings but would have definitely had to borrow money from my parents if I had to do all of this on my own. However I also wouldn't have spent $1000 on flights to visit my boyfriend this summer...haha.

You'll want to check any restrictions for all the funding you apply to. In Canada, for example, you're only eligible for 1 year of NSERC funding for your Master's. Several scholarships I've seen specify you can't hold it and NSERC at the same time, but don't mention anything about being ineligible if you previously held NSERC. One scholarship I saw does specify the maximum number of years you can hold certain types of awards to be eligible. I'm now looking into scholarships to apply to for my 2nd year of my Master's and have to read the fine print to make sure I can get as much money as possible.

I love the functionality of Microsoft Word 2007. After you get used to the menu changes it is so much easier to format documents and do everything you need to do. That being said, I have a feeling I'll be using LaTeX for my thesis, but we'll see.

On the flip side, I think there is such a thing as living too close to campus. Several people I know lived right across the street from the engineering buildings, and they said they never wasted so much time in their life. All of a sudden you can go home even if you have a 1 hour break, but the likelihood of you being productive during that time is low. It's also nice to have some sort of separation between your home life and your school/work life.

That was some entertainment for my boring morning

My research was not CS related, it was a renewable energy course and I did research with biogas afterwards. Just an example though! I know DAAD would fund CS research as well as engineering research.

I would certainly read into the graduation rate, especially when you are choosing a school. An extremely low graduation rate could reflect some sort of systemic problem within the institution that is causing students to switch schools or drop out entirely. A 10% graduation rate seems abysmally low to me, however I don't know what I should expect from PhD programs.

If you go the new car route, according to my boyfriend, there is somewhere where you can print off what the dealer paid for the car. This can be extremely useful in the haggling process.

The way many programs are structured it seems to be a choice of one or the other (humanities vs STEM) for the student, unless they personally choose to add time and expense to their degree. I think engineering is particularly difficult to integrate humanities courses into, simply because the degree is already crammed full of courses. The only way to implement this would be to make it a 5 year degree, which might cause a bit of an uproar among students.

My boyfriend is currently going through the process of finding a used car at auction. His friends referred him to a guy who has access to the dealer auctions (but is not a dealer) and will charge a small fee to purchase the car for him. He should save 1-2 thousand dollars going this route. I bought my used car through a friend of a friend 4 years ago for $2000. I would guess another $3000 of work has been put into it since then (my dad pays for my car repairs). It's a 1997 Eagle Vision with about 250,000km at the moment. It's been a perfect first car and I'm going to sell it to my neighbor when I leave for about $500.

Check this out for an example: http://www.daad.org/page/46363/index.v3page;jsessionid=7nann5lkc0cdv This is for academic exchanges to Germany. Some of them are so you can get your whole PhD in Germany, some are just for short term research exposure. I did a course and research in Germany last summer through a partnership my university had with a university in Germany. My province (Alberta) also has close ties with this region of Germany (Saxony) so there are a variety of programs available for students to study or work abroad. When I was there I heard talk of the professors wanting to encourage more study abroad opportunities at the graduate level. So to answer your questions: 1) Yes it is possible 2) I posted an example above, you would have to search yourself to find more 3) See my story 4) Not necessarily if your university already has a relationship with the remote institution, but if that's not the case, then you should make contact yourself 5) Possibly, depending on the program

You imply that I am not genuinely interested in my field, which couldn't be farther from the truth. It just happens to be more lucrative than many humanities fields.

I'm coming from an engineering education, but we had next to no humanities requirements. We were required to take one semester of English, which was waived for me due to obtaining IB credit in high school. We also took an Information, Technology and Society (ITS) elective that was usually sociology or philosophy. The English class, if you wished, could be a special "English for engineers" class that supposedly focused more on technical writing. The ITS electives also had specific sections reserved only for engineers. I honestly felt like they were trying to keep us away from the rest of the undergrad population. My boyfriend took a variety of non-engineering courses (mostly business related), however did so at the expense of another year of university and a few extra thousand dollars. As much as I enjoyed my high school English and History courses, I just can't justify taking the time and spending the money to study those fields at this time, especially when the field I am pursuing is likely much more lucrative. Reading books will have to suffice.

I applied to Canadian universities, where Master's programs are usually funded (especially in the sciences and engineering). I absolutely would NOT have gone to grad school unless I got a decent funding package. It's simply not worth it to me to go into debt for my degree and I wouldn't want to attend an institution that did not think I was worth their money (I think it would have a psychological effect on my self worth)

I spent some time at a German university last summer doing a class and then a bunch of them did internships. Since I had some German language ability, I was placed in a local research company where I was expected to speak some German, but all the other students knew English only, and that seemed to be the language in which most of the research was conducted at the university. Any other internship program I have looked into has specified that the placements are mostly in English as well. Germany is very dominated by the English language in general.

None of what you are asking sounds normal or professional. Listen to what you described and I think it should be quite clear to yourself that this is unprofessional behavior.

Agreed. I see nothing wrong with paying a professional, if you so choose, to read and edit your SOP. I don't think the OP was inquiring about services that will write it for you.

This completely depends on the type of credit card. I bank with Scotiabank (Canadian bank), and I have their student Visa, which has no fee and some small amount of cash back (I got $50 back this year). My boyfriend has a travel Visa from TD that he pays a $100 annual fee for and gets 1% of all purchases in the form of cash back to spend on travel related purchases. Since he puts a lot of work expenses on his credit card (and then gets reimbursed), this is awesome for him because he basically gets free money back. He always gets more back than the yearly fee. We've used $300 worth of hotel rooms in the last two months alone.

I never had a job (other than tutoring) during school, but I played varsity rugby, so I can relate to the time commitment. In my undergrad I probably spend 15-20 hours a week on rugby-related activities, and obviously much more if we went away for a weekend to play. I will continue playing at the school where I'm doing my Master's degree, and because they practice less and have more home games, I'm looking at about 10 hours a week. I'm also planning on getting a TA position, about 3-5 hours a week. I am certain this will be manageable. I also know that I am much more efficient and organized when I am busier. If you work that way too, then a part-time job should be fine, but 32 hours a week would obviously be too much.

I didn't have any publications when I applied, and got accepted to a fully funded M.A.Sc. program in Aerospace Engineering (Master's are commonly funded here in Canada, and I have heard as a result they are as competitive PhDs? I could be wrong though)

I hope to never find myself in this sort of position. It is obviously completely inappropriate for anyone to pass your work as their own, regardless of whether they are your supervisor or not. This highlights the importance of documenting your work very thoroughly. I keep a personal notebook where I document all work done, meetings, what was discussed, etc. It was something recommended to me in one of my "How to be an engineer" courses in case I am ever held liable for work done or face a similar plagiarism situation.

I find my supervisor, who has had his PhD for 5 years or so, refers to some of the professors we collaborate with as Dr. _____ in the conversations I have with him. I'm still an undergrad, so obviously call all of my professors Dr. ____ or Professor _____, we'll see what it's like when I start grad school.