TakeruK

I think this would be okay, because it's unlikely anything changed in the few months between these two deadlines! I don't remember perfectly since this was about 4-5 years ago now, but I don't recall any specifically different things in the prompts for the OGS and CGS-M applications. I also did not apply for OGS and CGS-M in the same year (I only applied to CGS-M during undergrad because I was outside of Ontario and did not even know about the OGS---in British Columbia in 2009, the equivalent award is automatically evaluated based on your application materials, not additional applications!) However, it would be a good idea to read through the CGS-M instructions and doing a final check to see if there is anything you can tweak.

Interesting! In the sciences, there is certainly no expectation that a journal article "stands the test of time", but instead, just that the article is correct based on knowledge at the time of publication. Because of this, there are some cases where one may be rushed to publish something, for example, when the New Horizons mission to Pluto finally reached Pluto this July, it was going to get a lot of very conclusive and interesting data. Hence, a lot of people who had theories on what Pluto's atmosphere may be like was rushing to publish prior to July before the data showed one way or another. That way, if they were wrong, their theory was still published (it could be useful for other planets) and if they were right, then that's great. But I think this is not the norm and we don't really publish "work in progress". It has to be a complete idea before it can be published! And not all science fields publish super frequently. Some of my work require years of data collection. Other friends in other fields take 4-5 years to create the protocol through trial and error before they can get results. I didn't realise there was an active pressure to not publish though. I agree that sometimes in the first few years, you're not going to be able to get the work to the publishable state. But even so, in the sciences, the only reason to do any work is that eventually, although it may take many more years to refine, that it will become a publication. Outside of class projects and some Master theses, there is no reason to do any other research other than publication (why do research just for the learning experience when you can do a project that leads to a paper and also learn along the way).

Maybe it depends on your department, but there is definitely official prioritizing of Canadian students at some places in Canada. As maxhgns said, international tuition is higher, so Canadian schools pay more money to international students so that your take-home pay is the same. This is because in Canada, you are paid a stipend amount first, and then from that stipend amount, you pay your tuition. To use example numbers, a Canadian student might get paid $25,000 per year by their school and then pay $7,000 per year for tuition, leaving them with $18,000 to take home. An American student would be paid $33,000 per year by the school and then pay $15,000 per year for tuition, leaving them with $18,000 to take home. The difference in this example is $8000 and it is often covered by an award with a name like "International Tuition Supplement Award" etc. However, the prioritizing is not "affirmative action" (affirmative action is a legal term in Canada that might mean something different than in the US). Instead this is what happens: The University will grant each department a set amount of money for the "International Tuition Supplement Award", let's say it's $80,000. This means the department can afford to have 10 international students on the roster at any one time without incurring extra costs. In my MSc department, we had about 10 international student awards allocated and there were something like 80 students in total. One potential issue is that if an international student does not graduate and takes an extra year, then they won't "free up" a spot for a new international student. Or, if the University decreases the quota, then the department may lose an international student spot. Or, if there are 2 openings one year but 3 really good indistinguishable candidates, then the department might have to "give up" one of those students (i.e. only accept 2 out of 3). To combat this, my department voted to increase each faculty member's overhead in order to create a new pool of money so that the department can also offer its own International Tuition awards (I was there at the meeting). The faculty decided that they preferred this solution so that if the department decides to take on an extra international student, no one professor will have to pay an extra $8000 that year (instead, each faculty member ends up paying an extra $500 or so every year, regardless of whether they take an international student or not). This means though, that professors wanting to take international students beyond the University quota and dip into this department fund would have to justify their choice to all of the department. Also, any professor who wants an international student beyond the quotas can also do so as long as they willing to pay the entire extra cost out of their own grants. So, in this sense, the department does prioritize admitting Canadian students over international students because these tuition awards create a financial quota. They are not, however, prioritizing Canadian admissions due to concerns such as "we want to spend Canadian money on Canadians". This is primarily because the amount of money spent on international students is still pretty small.

Overall, I think the reduced length and flowery writing makes this stronger! I still feel that some of the middle paragraphs continue to read like a long list of things you've done and would not provide much more information than what is already in your CV. I think there are a few things you can do next to improve your SOP: 1. "Sell" your EE background more. In your last sentence, you say that your EE knowledge will give you a unique skillset and perspective and I think this is a really good point. Instead of treating your EE background as an "oops" or a regret, emphasize it more. Write more about how your EE background connects to your specific research interests in physics. I think this is really important and your chance to make yourself stand out. Not that many applicants will be coming from an EE background--it's what makes you special and you should emphasize why this will make you both interesting and useful! 2. There are a few phrases that are "red flags" that would concern me if I read your SOP. I would consider removing or rewording these phrases: "under parental pressure"---In North America, reading this would make you sound like you are not an independent adult (even if this was years ago). I would not mention this. "Determined to pursue physics despite my major"---Again, the North American reader will wonder why you didn't just major in Physics. I would reword this without the "despite" and instead of putting a negative emphasis on your major, write it as you have two simultaneous interests---in EE and in Physics so you worked hard to continue learning Physics while in EE. "I neglected my major courses...."---This sounds bad! You don't want to give the impression that you won't work on things that you are not interested in. Again, like I said above, you don't have to make your EE major a negative in order to emphasize how much you like Physics. It's not a competition, you can have passion and like both. Physics isn't going to reject you because you also did EE. "I also became interested in the early universe and the nature of dark matter and dark energy, in which I would want to pursue work, apart from structure formation."---same comment: don't say negative things about any field! No need to say what you aren't interested in, just keep it focussed on what you do want to do. 3. Although you did good work condensing your past summary, you still don't have that much in the "what do you want to do" and "why do you want to be in physics grad school". It's more than before, so that's good. But I would recommend further reduction/condensing of your history in order to fit this and the point #1 above in. Paragraphs 3-5 still read like a long form of your CV. I'd follow fuzzy's advice in condensing/removing details from these.

Yay! I am also enjoying grad school very much (4th year now) and I think I have had a great experience so far. My advisor and I have a great working relationship and I feel that the faculty in my department, in general, treat all of the students like colleagues and we have mutual respect for each other. I've been to places where the environment is very different and I know that even at my own school, other programs have very different situations. I work with our graduate student government to identify these problem issues so I see and hear about a lot of instances on campus that aren't great. I am always honest about how I feel about grad school to new students (either here or when they visit my program). I tell them the good and the bad. And even though I do love my program and I think it's generally great, that doesn't mean there aren't problems with it either. But like any other career path, there are drawbacks and issues. All it really matters is whether these drawbacks are worth it to each potential graduate student. The most common and usual drawback about grad school is that we, as graduate students, are essentially paying a cost in order to have a better life later. An investment if you will. For each person, the costs are a little different. For some, grad school pays a lot less than other careers they could be pursuing (and come with less benefits). For others, the cost is being away from family or other important people in their lives. Or, it means delaying other life goals such as relationships, family, buying a home, etc. Ultimately, if grad students could know exactly what the cost are and exactly what the rewards are, then the "costs" of grad school would be a lot more bearable, or at least it would be a lot easier to say "Yes, I made the right decision, this is worth it!". But life is not that way. Other career paths are also not this way, but I feel like for the type of person that would want to go to grad school, grad school is actually the "high risk, high reward" path. There's so much uncertainty in our academic futures, but the friends I speak to who are interested in academic careers make it clear that this is their absolute dream job. But the reality is that very few of us will end up on these career paths. And maybe your program is better, but in a lot of grad programs, there isn't really much training or preparation for the other 85% or so that won't end up on the tenure track. So, I can understand why some people are less happy with their programs, because if your perception of the rewards do not make the current risks/costs worth it, then I can't see myself being happy either. In addition, I think it's important to remember that even though we might enjoy our programs and think that for us, the costs are worth the rewards, this does not mean that everything is "okay". I am really happy with my program but I still push back against the administration and fight for better conditions for students here. As I said above, for some people, the costs of grad school is easier to handle for others. But, I don't want this to be a barrier/gatekeeper to academia. I don't want academia to be a place where only people willing to sacrifice income or people who are willing to move across the country are able to participate in. I want a diversity of ideas with a diversity of backgrounds and experiences. So I work for things like better parental leave policies, for better stipends (most schools pay enough to support yourself, but not dependents), and for better health benefits (sometimes schools have very basic plans that only really work for healthy people but run high costs for those with chronic problems). For me, I'm only going to be in grad school as long as I love it and feel that it's worth it for me. So despite all of the things I say and do (here or in real life) that sound negative towards grad school and academia, ultimately I still think it's more good than bad. But even if I think it's good, that does not mean I should not try to make it even better.

In undergrad, my commute was 1.5 hours each way, by public transit. It sucked but worth the money I saved by being able to live at home. It meant that my summer and part time work all went towards paying tuition and I graduated with no debt and a decent amount of savings. The weather there was temperate, but a lot of rain, so as long as I had good raingear, it wasn't so bad. For a PhD program, I think it's possible to live much further away. I had a friend that commuted about 1.5 hours by car to get to work, including a border crossing from the US into Canada. They worked four 10-hour days instead of five 8-hour days, picking days so that they are around the department for important things like seminars. Depending on how flexible your program is, you may or may not be able to arrange your meetings and TA commitments to be only 4 days a week (or maybe even 3). I think near the end of my friend's program, they were able to come in only 3 days a week on some days. I would think the first year would be very difficult to operate under a reduced schedule though, because of classes and because you want to be physically present to create good relationships and collegiality. But after that, you can reduce your presence. Some people may just telecommute every day, depending on the nature of their work. Edit: Oops, I just realised that this is for a SLP program, which may be a lot less flexible than research PhD programs. Sorry if that was not helpful after all

ETS reports that it will take 10-15 days to get the scores, but as most people have said here, it often comes within 7-10 days. Dec 15 is a good time for Jan 15 deadlines, in my opinion.

Indeed, I think the application will want to know if you can have CA residency right away, or if you will have it starting year 2. They need to know this. What I meant was that I don't think having CA residency in year 1 is going to make a difference in terms of admissions chances. I don't think an out-of-state student is going to be disadvantaged in the same way as an international student at the UC schools. The extra tuition cost that the department has to cover for just one year is small compared to the overall cost of the student during length of degree.

You'll have to send links via the reminder option through the application website. Advance warning of two "chunks" is a good idea---it's the strategy I used. If you know when your letter writer are most likely to be reading email, send the reminder at that time in the day so it appears at the top of their inbox. For example, if you know the letter writer does not check their work email on the weekend, sending it Friday afternoon may be a bad idea since by Monday, it might be buried in their inbox. For one prof, I know that he always does his email work from 9pm-11pm, after his kids go to bed, so I sent reminders at 8pm or so.

I'll answer this from the point of view of my field, assuming that these etiquette issues are common across fields. 1. How much time would it take for you to write this invited chapter? If it will use your current University's resources and take time away from work with your current project, you should definitely consult your current advisor. I am working on turning my MSc work into a paper and I have consulted with my advisor to ensure that this was okay. If this is a minimal amount of work that you can do on your own time, then you don't need to consult with your current advisor. However, I think it would still be a good idea to talk about this to your current advisor (see next question too). After all, in a good advisor-advisee relationship, they are interested in what's best for you and this is a good time to get their academic advice. 2. I think the only disadvantage to publishing outside of your present project is the time it takes away from making progress on your present project. So, if there is something else you could be working on that would benefit you more than this chapter, then I would say it is not a good idea to write this chapter. However, if writing this chapter will be more fruitful than other work you could be doing right now, then yes, go and write it! In my field, it's very common for PhD students to have side projects and publish things outside of their main project. Usually this doesn't happen until later on, unless they are publishing previous work (as in your case here). I think talking with your current advisor about this could result in very good advice about the value of this invited chapter and the "opportunity cost" of working on this chapter.

I think you have good content here. You have some useful experience working in physics-related labs and I think it is good that you highlight those experiences in this SOP. My first question to you is: Is your spoken English the same as your written English here? I ask because the choice of vocabulary is a little unconventional and I know that when some people are not strong writers, they tend to overcompensate by using more complicated words than necessary. I don't want to judge you because I don't know you at all. But I just want to point out that if you do not use words like "dalliance" or phrases like "my dreams lay in tatters" when you do speak English orally, then I would not suggest you write it this way at all. To me, it sounds like you are forcing these words and it sounds really awkward. However, if this is how you do regularly speak, then I think you should keep it because you should stay true to yourself! Second, I think despite the above, even if you normally speak that way, you should remove the "dreams lay in tatters" phrase and other similar phrases. I think phrases like this are good at evoking imagery (although a little cliche) but you don't want to draw extra attention to the negative things! Usually metaphors and other literary devices are good at directing a reader's attention to a particular detail. And, maybe in other forms of writing, drawing attention to this detail is a good thing because it makes you more relatable and helps the reader be more sympathetic to you. However, in a SOP, this is not what you want to happen! You don't want the reader to feel "sorry" for you. The point of the SOP is to demonstrate your strengths and impress the reader with your capabilities, not to generate sympathy through your failures or mistakes. These two items are kind of related even though I wrote them as separate paragraphs. Overall, the general message is that when you write, you need to write with the right audience and purpose in mind. I think the style of writing you are using would be very good for narrative or a biography, but it is not the right way to write a SOP in physics, in my opinion. Next, in a SOP, you want to balance two things: your life story/experiences and why you are applying (to grad school in general as well as specific school X). Here, you have a lot of your life story and your note says that you plan to only add one paragraph about the school you're applying to. I think this is a bad balance! You want to write a lot more about why you want to be in grad school (most of this will be the same of each school). When I read your SOP, I still do not know why you want to study Physics. Sure, you wrote a bit about how elegant and romantic the field of study is and how you want to contribute to human knowledge etc. But this alone isn't going to get you through grad school. There are also lots of other elegant fields and lots of other ways you can contribute to human knowledge. So, tell me: Why Physics? What did you do in the past that you liked? What about each of these past projects really excited you? What parts of grad school excites you? What do you want to do in grad school? What do you want to do after grad school? Why do you need to go to grad school for this? So far, your life story part just reads like a paragraph-form version of your CV. You're just saying what you did, when you did it, who you worked for. This is a statement of purpose so each example you bring up should help answer the question: What is the purpose of your goal of graduate school? Right now, it just sounds like "I did well in my physics courses and I had some good physics experiences so I want to go to a PhD in Physics". I don't think that's a good reason to go to grad school. Tell me more! Then, beyond that (the above is something you should add for every school), you should write 1-2 paragraphs about this particular program and what parts of it excites you. What you need from this particular program? What resources do they have? Facilities? Professors? Collaborations? Why did you pick this school? Not everything here has to be unique to the school only of course since more than one school might have similar resources. Finally, just an overall view: Your SOP draft is already at 1000 words. This is quite long. What I'm suggesting you write above would take another 300-400 words. Therefore, I think you should really consider cutting a lot of what you have already written (this is okay! and normal for a first draft). The easiest thing to do would be to just cut out the first and last paragraphs. They don't really add anything. Then, it seems you have listed every single thing you did. You don't have to do this, because you will often submit a CV as well. Pick out the 2 or 3 most meaningful items and write more about those. Maybe aim to reduce what you currently have to about 300-400 words. I think a good overall SOP length would be around 750 words, plus or minus 100 words.

If I saw a 4.0 one semester then a 3.8 another semester, I would just conclude that your typical GPA is about 3.8-4.0. Especially if your third semester is also 3.8-4.0. I don't think I would ever distinguish between a 3.8 GPA and a 4.0 GPA because I don't personally see a big difference between A and A-. This is from my experience awarding grades and from my experience receiving grades.

In my opinion, yes, you're reading too much into everything (both this apprehension and the assigned topic). This part may depend on the field, but I don't understand the apprehension about the desire to get something published. Yes, there is the consideration that you may look a little silly/over-eager to suggest that something be submitted for publication when it is definitely not ready, or if the intention of the class' term paper is not to get something at the publication level. But in general, especially outside of classes, there's nothing wrong with being transparent about your aim of a publication. At least in my field, that's the only reason to do anything at all. The first question I usually get asked when I start thinking about a new project is "what will the publication be on?" (i.e. what new answer would this work provide?). If there's no clear question to answer then there's usually not a good reason to do the work (not that the work is worthless, it usually just means I have to do more background reading to be able to see how this new work would fit into the existing literature). Also, the main questions I get each year at my committee meeting is something like "where are your projects at and what are your publications plan for the next year?"

First, scoring below the median does not mean that you do not have what it takes to succeed. Everyone in my current cohort (4th year) right now is on track to succeed and by definition, half of them scored below the median. Also, even the students that I knew in the past that did not succeed were not necessarily scoring below the median. Coursework does not matter nearly as much as you are emphasizing. Regarding undergrad level stat mech, this is definitely over-reacting. 79% in a class with median at 80%-85% is a good score. It is very unlikely that based on this test, you will be asked to be sent back in this way. You should wait and see how the course and semester ends before thinking about what your next steps should be. It is far worse now for you to drop the course than to finish and see what the final mark is. If it's not a passing grade, then you will be able to talk with the professor and advisor to determine the next steps. However, since many classes are scored in a relative way, everything so far sounds like you will be receiving a passing mark (and it will be a strong pass, not a "pity pass"). You are doing well.

I second everything fuzzy said

I know that it is not a good feeling to be on the lower side of the average, especially when you have succeeded much more in the past to get here. But, by definition, you know that about half of the class will be below the average. If everyone who was below 80% dropped the course, the average would then shift. Then, would those below the new average also drop the course? Eventually there would only be one student left. The point of graduate courses is not to be the top of the class. It's not even meaningful to avoid being the bottom of the class. The main goal is to learn important concepts relevant to your research (the amount of such concepts will vary on your research)! Have you talked to therapists or other supporters since your first post? If not, please take the time to take care of yourself and do so. I know that you know that ultimately, what is important is what physics you are able to learn and apply to your research, not just relative standings between you and your classmates. But even if you know this, it's hard to live with that mindset, especially since a lot of schooling is all about grades. A good support system can help.

Can you call the department and talk to the administrative person in charge of managing admissions or the administrative person in charge of graduate students in general. For admissions related issues, I would talk to the administrative staff, not the faculty at first.

This does not mean you are stupid! The physics program at my school actually states quite clearly that all admissions offer are valid for 1 year, even if you already rejected them and even if you attended another school after rejecting them. If you change your mind within 1 year, you will still be admitted. So, not all hope is lost. Of course, it could depend on a lot of things like how much funding is available, but you did the right thing by contacting the school and letting them know that you have changed your mind. You can ask what the next step should be, i.e. should you resubmit a new application? would they reconsider you with the new batch? is your admission offer still valid? etc. Good luck!

I want to second rising_star's suggestions. Please take some time for self-care! I find it's really important to do this to get through all parts of grad school. I also want to say that what you are feeling is actually "normal" in the sense that it's a common experience for many new graduate students to feel, especially in the first semester/year. I don't mean it's "normal" as in "this crappy way you're feeling is your life now and you just have to get used to it". Definitely not that at all. I am just saying that these struggles are common and it does not mean that you're not meant for grad school or that you're not meant for academia! In Canada, we do 2 separate grad programs for Masters and PhD and with both grad programs, the start was a little tough, very similar to what you're describing. What helped me a lot was hearing that established academics and professors who I respect tell me that they had similar struggles too! Little things that people I know (and I have done) to fight "burn out" and self-care: 1. See a therapist. I hope your school has a lot of options that are free or covered by insurance. 1 in 5 students will see a therapist during their time in school. They are a resource that are meant to help us and seeing one doesn't mean you're broken! Also, if making an appointment is too scary, see if your school's health center has drop in therapy times. My school offers them one or two nights per week in the evenings. 2. Schedule and prioritize time to call/Skype home. We often wait until we have "free time" to do things like this, but I think we should just schedule it. Make it one of our day's priorities, same level as homework or grading. Taking time to take care of yourself is part of grad student work. 3. Do things you enjoy! Join a sports club or take classes at the school gym, if that's what you enjoy. If you have a hobby, join the club for that at your school. Or, find something offered in the city and do this outside of school / off campus (usually school/on campus things may be cheaper though). Again, make sure you schedule this as a priority. 4. Monitor your work hours and optimize them. At one point, I found myself "working" 12 hours a day and feeling very burnt out but then I realised that I was not really effectively working at all. I would spend a lot of time doing other stuff during my work hours, which meant my productivity decreased, so then I worked longer hours, then I got more burnt out and needed more breaks, which meant my productivity decreased etc. It's a cycle. Now, I work fewer hours but try to get more done in that time. I limit myself to about 40 hours per week of work (not including lunch breaks and breaks for things like typing this post!) 5. Travel home! I have not been able to just take an impromptu trip home because it's more expensive and further away than a lot of my friends. But for those who are just a 2-3 hour flight away (or less), I know that many of my friends go home about one weekend every 1-2 months in their first year. Others who live further away will take longer, but less frequent trips. Thanksgiving and Christmas is coming up, so if those are big events for your family (or friends back home), perhaps that would be a great time to "recharge". For me, Canadian Thanksgiving happens a month earlier and my family doesn't celebrate Christmas, but I was able to get the same happiness from my new US friends. 6. If traveling is too expensive, then take time to do touristy things in your new home! Pretend that you're here as a tourist for a long weekend. Take an extra Friday or Monday off and see the sights. Or do one of the other things that you enjoy instead (reading, hiking, etc.) i.e. a "staycation". 7. Know that it gets better! Speaking to the passion/inspiration part of things, I find that the minutiae of academic life very boring. I get what you mean by not enjoying historiography. There are aspects of my field that are absolutely important but I find completely boring and have no passion for. That's normal. It's okay! As you say, you know it's important, so it's not like you are dismissing it, it's just not your cup of tea, and that's fine. You don't have to be in love with everything you do and every part of your field. Sometimes I feel putting that pressure on yourself makes you feel even more burnt out. 8. One of the best ways to get me interested in my passion is talking about it with other people. Usually, the week or two after a conference is highly motivating and energetic for me. After several months of just working on something, looking at the fine details, it's really nice to step back and take a look at your work from the big picture point of view, which is what happens when we discuss our work at a conference. It may be hard to go to one during your first year, but if you know that these types of actions benefit you, you may be able to "simulate" it on campus. Maybe you want to take one half-day each month to write up a big picture summary of your work. Or, spend some time reading the big picture review articles. Or, start a discussion group with other students/postdocs and talk about big picture things in your field. In a lot of my peer groups, we try to avoid talking about work when we are socializing, but once a week, we purposely get together to talk about science over lunch! Anyways, I hope some of these ideas are helpful in one way or another. I just want to say that what you are feeling is shared by a lot of other current and new graduate students too!

Your friend is right. I received a lot of the same advice from professors who worked at American (and Californian) universities when I was applying from Canada too. However, I don't think this means that you should just go and cross them all off your list! It just means the UC schools will be extra competitive, so it would not be a good idea to solely apply to these UC schools. Also, yes, this applies to other states too. In almost every state, the public schools will be affected in the same way. It's especially bad in the University of California system (and probably others too but I am less familiar with them) because of the nice location and the brand name, making it very popular with international students. Private universities do not have the same constraint though, as all students cost the same, whether they are in-state, American, or international. The advice I got was to apply to more private schools than public schools because I would be more likely to get into a higher ranked private school than a lower ranked public school. And the advice was right--I didn't get into any UC schools but I did get into some private schools! If you want some numbers, for most public schools (including the UCs), the fraction of international grad students is 10%. U Wisconsin boasts one of the highest fraction in the country and it's at just below 12%. For private schools, the fraction can be much higher. I think Harvard is around 30%. My school is at 45% on average. The fraction at UC schools isn't any lower than the average, but as I said above, they attract a lot more international applicants! In general, as an international student (whether you're not American applying to the US, or an American applying outside of the US), you are going to face extra hurdles! Don't give up on your dream schools simply because of this. Instead, factor in these extra difficulties when you decide on where you will be applying.

I think you can write it as style #1 or style #2. I don't think there is only one right way to write a SOP---as long as you communicate the reasons why you want to study X and University Y and also highlight your experiences that will let you succeed, then you will be fine. That is, I think both #1 and #2 are valid styles to write a SOP and with the limited detail here, it's not certain which way would work better for you. It certainly depends on how you interpret and implement #1 and #2 too. And, also would depend a lot on what you have to say (for example, one case where #1 might work better is if you have some complicated history or a large amount of experience and it would be confusing to be jumping around because it's not clear what you did in early undergrad, late undergrad, Masters, or after graduation etc.) In physical science fields, #1 is a common style but certainly not the only style. But you can still achieve what fuzzy is saying to do in this framework. My suggestion would be to write two SOPs in both #1 and #2 styles. Then, take a look at it again and see what communicates your message better? You can also show it again to those who originally reviewed your SOP. Also, through writing the "other" style, you might pick up on some things that you were missing from the "first" style and be able to improve whichever way you choose in the end.

It's your judgement call to make. If I were in your shoes, since a minor in International Studies will have little effect on admission to a graduate program in biomedical sciences (assuming you are applying to grad school in your major field), I would not worry about it too much. For schools which the application deadline has not yet passed, I would contact the school and provide an update. However, I would wait until the week before the deadline so that if you have any other updates, it can all come under one single request. It sounds like you just need to send a new CV, so I would just send the new document---no need to draw attention to the differences (also, the person that is managing your portfolio/file probably would not care). (**Note: This is one of the reasons why I would always recommend a student apply as close to the deadline as possible for most programs, as the date of application does not matter). For schools which the application deadline already passed, then I would not say anything. Once you hear a decision from these schools, I would update them with the new information. After all, at the time of application, your file was correct. However, if the school specifically instructed you to keep them updated of certain things, then I would do the same as above.

I want to second the advice to practice! I notice a huge difference in my presentation when I have enough time to practice the entire talk over and over again. One helpful piece of advice/insight my advisor provided me when I was just starting was that almost every good presentation you've seen at a conference or seminar has been well rehearsed. With lots of practice, it just looks like the speaker is able to just naturally speak on their topic, impromptu. But, the well polished talk you see really has a lot of practice behind it. Of course, with more experience, I think less practice is needed to get comfortable and also some experienced speakers give the same talk 10-15 times per year (so maybe they don't practice it as much later on and still sound very polished). I don't know about your field, but the first talks that students get in my field are usually 5-7 minutes long. It's very short, which is actually more difficult (in my opinion) than a 10-12 minute slot, however, the advantage of a 5-7 minute talk is that you can practice it 8-10 times in an hour! For my first big conference talk, I think I spent a total of 2 hours just going over the same 5-7 minutes over and over again until as rising_star said, I could do it without looking at any notes or slides or anything!

I think these types of websites rely on users adding their info, rather than automatically populating the tree. So, it would only list Canadians if Canadians started to use it So far, the physics tree on that website has a grand total of 2 people and that's not really making me want to add it to lol