sfugradstudies

In case international students' plans have changed because of the US Travel Ban, three Canadian universities are waiving application fees: * U of Alberta * U of Calgary * Simon Fraser University News story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/sfu-waives-admission-application-fees-for-students-affected-by-u-s-travel-ban-1.3993477

The incoming SFU grad students group has moved to https://www.facebook.com/groups/sfugradstudents/ You may also find the Virtual Orientation useful: https://www.sfu.ca/dean-gradstudies/new_graduate_students/before_you_arrive/orientation.html Once you're admitted, you'll also want to look at the SFU Private Awards: https://www.sfu.ca/dean-gradstudies/awards/privateawards.html There are a number of awards for entering students. https://www.sfu.ca/dean-gradstudies/awards/privateawards/private-entrance.html Awards will open in early March, with an application deadline of May 30.

Adding a few links for SFU incoming students -- hopefully also useful to UBC students! A lot of our incoming students last year recommended Padmapper: http://www.padmapper.com/ (More housing links available in SFU's virtual orientation page: http://www.sfu.ca/dean-gradstudies/new_graduate_students/before_you_arrive/off-campus-housing.html) Google maps now has live transit updates for Vancouver's transit system, so you can click on the "transit" icon and it will tell you how long it takes to get anywhere by transit. Incoming SFU grad students have their own facebook group where we're answering questions and where they're getting to know each other. (There's a roommate finder thread there as well.)

A few incoming students have started a facebook group for incoming students, and it's actually quite lively now. https://www.facebook.com/groups/sfu2013/

If you're open to looking north, we've got a Master's of Digital Media that was developed amongst the major universities in British Columbia: http://mdm.gnwc.ca/program/overview Here's their News page to give you an idea of the creative projects they do: http://mdm.gnwc.ca/news Kinda cool: They helped Art Spiegelman put together his MetaMaus project — http://mdm.gnwc.ca/projects/industry/metamaus

Funding also depends on your faculty member's funding levels. Here's one at SFU who's actively recruiting for fully-funded MSc students to start in 2012 because he has that many projects. (One of his recent PhDs is now working at facebook, another is a junior faculty member in the US.) Tuition at SFU is approx $4,900/year, no differential for US/international students, so that might be another attractive incentive.

It's not uncommon for great students to not find their paths until the last two years. Many programs actually look at the last two years of grades for rankings. The strongest recommendation I would have is to find a faculty member whose research is complementary to your work and desired career direction. That way, both of you can get something out of the relationship. (SFU's Biology program, if that helps at all. There are ecology research groups. We were just ranked top comprehensive university in Canada by Maclean's again this year.)

If you're willing to move to Canada, our CMNS program has a number of faculty members with sociology/anthropology backgrounds, as well as interests in technology. http://www.sfu.ca/dean-gradstudies/future/academicprograms/faculty_of_communication_art_technology/communication.html Tuition is approx $4,900 CDN per year, no differential for international students.

Contact with a faculty member is incredibly important in the sciences. In fact, grad programs in the Faculty of Science at SFU don't even want you to apply unless you've already made contact with a faculty member. There are two parts: 1. Find a faculty member who's doing research in an area of your interest 2. AND is accepting new graduate students For environmental science -- I've just written a profile of a master's student who just started his program this fall, and his faculty member is new so he's her first student, which means that she is still accepting new graduate students who want to do work in her research area: climate modeling research. (Please let me know if this last paragraph is unacceptable -- I want to provide a tip for potential students who are looking for faculty members, but I don't want to be overtly advertising and I hope I haven't crossed the line.)

Replying from Simon Fraser University's perspective. 1. SFU's practice is to admit the best student who matches the faculty's interests, no matter where they come from. In many cases, the decision of who's "best" is based on the applicant's first-contact with a faculty member. (The practice of most of the faculty of science is to discourage applications which weren't sponsored by a faculty member, so that first-contact is incredibly important.) 2. There are loads of Americans teaching in Canada and at SFU. Getting an academic job is as easy here as anywhere else. Which is to say, it's tough here, too, but do-able if you're good. FWIW, there were 30'ish new junior faculty members at the faculty orientation this fall. Americans actually have the easiest time of all our international grad students, in terms of getting across the border, because of all the free trade agreements. SFU's tuition is also low compared to the US: $5k per year (based on 3 semesters), no international differential fee for research-based programs. If you TA, the basic health plan is part of your compensation, and the extended health plan (dental, vision) is $400/year through the grad student society.