TakeruK

I am not sure about the Trudeau. But the Vanier application is specific to each school and you must be nominated by that school. Schools may have a process in which you compete for a nomination. I think you can certainly try to compete for a nomination at more than one school. However, you can only be nominated by one single school. If you make it through the process for more than one place, you have to decide which nomination to take forward. See: http://www.vanier.gc.ca/en/nomination_process-processus_de_mise_en_candidature.html

Assorted tips: - Choose a computer and location that you have used to conduct Skype calls in the past. Do a trial run if you have not yet used that particular computer or location. - Choose a private place with a good wifi or ethernet connection. I usually book a classroom or a meeting room. If you're at home, try to do it at your desk or a place with a plain background (i.e. not with your kitchen or bedroom in the background if possible). - Dress as if you were going in for a in-person interview. Try to avoid colours or patterns that don't show up well on video though (e.g. stripes) - Look into your webcam, not at your screen. - Ensure there's enough distance and that the angle between you and the webcam is good. You don't want their screen to just be your head but you don't want to be so far away either. Probably a good idea to test your arrangement with a friend first.

Given that the other three interviews have professor named with them, I'd say that it's likely interviews with students. But you can always ask if you are not sure. Or better yet, just prepare for both cases. It's very common for current students to meet with prospective/interviewing students during these visits. It's more meant for you to ask students about living conditions, and other aspects of grad student life. The format can vary a lot, it could be one on one meetings, a panel discussion, etc.

During my entire time in grad school, there was only one off-campus conference where my advisor and I both attended. Our school hosted a bunch of conferences though, at least once per year and my advisor would see my talk there. All 3rd year and above students also have to present annually during our department seminars so my advisor sees those talks too. These talks are often scheduled around our advisors schedules. It's helpful to have my advisor there, even though they would already know everything I'm going to say because we debrief on my presentation in our meeting following the talk. Good way to learn and improve.

I would also recommend that you take the summer off, if you can. You can even move to your new place early (1 month or so) if you want more time to settle in to your new home before school begins. However, some people either want to be doing work or need to be doing work (for income). In that case, many programs in our field do allow an earlier start! At my old planetary science program, about 1 in 4 or 5 new students will start early. You can also split the difference...take a few months off then start a few weeks or 1 month early or something. Finally, although most REUs will only hire continuing students, your undergrad thesis advisor may be willing to hire you to finish up any loose ends after you graduate. Or, you might be able to find some other research arrangement outside of these formal REU or REU-like programs. Between my BSc and MSc, this was what I did (well 2 months of part time research + 2months off). Between my MSc and PhD, I only had 1 month off to move because I finished my MSc thesis, defended it, submitted corrections etc. just a few weeks before my PhD program started.

I would say that for Science PhD programs, these update letters aren't very common and not as necessary, unless there is a major change to your application. Some examples of major changes that I would say is worth submitting an update: - One of your papers got accepted (whether it's first author or co-authored) - A major change to your GPA (like more than 0.3 points; typically very unlikely with just one additional semester, so this would be for cases where you were able to successful appeal previous grades or got previous grades removed/adjusted etc.) - You have been awarded a major external fellowship that you may take to their school (or other forms of external funding) In your case, I don't think progress on a manuscript that is not yet submitted would be worth writing an update letter about. As for the new project, this might be something worth writing about despite it not being on the list above. I didn't put things like this on the list above because most applicants will put all completed and future research experience in their initial application (for example, a senior undergrad would put their senior thesis work in their application even though it won't be completed for another few months). But since you may not have known about your project at the time of application, this might not have been possible. One other thing to consider: when are/were the application deadlines and have your letters been submitted yet? If your letter from your current job is not yet submitted, you can just ask your letter writer to include it instead. If it's already submitted, then you could think about writing an update letter. I would say that this is a borderline case. I'm not sure there is much to gain from writing such a letter but there really isn't much to lose either. In the worst (reasonable) case scenario, they would have already finalized their application packages and be unable to include your update letter, or the committee will just ignore it. So if you have time to write a short update letter, then I don't think you have much to lose by sending one (perhaps not much to gain either, though). Finally, just a heads-up to you and other readers: late developments like this are one reason why it's a good idea to wait until as close to the deadline as possible to submit applications. The exception is if a program has rolling admissions. Apologies if your program deadlines were two months ago (I'm used to deadlines in mid-December to mid-January).

When you get an interview invite, you should let the school know about your surgery and recovery period. If they get back to you before your surgery, they should find a way to interview you before your surgery. I don't know what will happen if they get back to you right while you are having your surgery. If you are not able to respond to their interview request or cannot interview for an entire month, then it might affect their ability to make you an offer. This really depends on how each school runs things. If you are the only one with an interview conflict, they could conduct all the other interviews in February, make offers by March 1 and then interview you after you recover and make you an offer if you qualify since adding one more person might not really affect their budget. Or, if you are a strong candidate that they would really want to have, they might "save" a spot for you, interview you and if they want you then accept you and if not, take someone off the waitlist. On the other hand, if you were not one of their top choices and they rather have someone who they can interview and secure the spot sooner, then not being available for a month could negatively impact your chances of admission. In any case, if you hear back from any school between now and your surgery, you should let them know about your scheduling conflicts. You might consider even reaching out to some of your schools (especially your top choice ones) in the days leading up to your surgery to let them know. Or, you might want to consider giving email access to someone you trust and instructions on how to respond to any grad school inquiries that happen while you are recovering, especially during and right after surgery, if you are going to be very limited in screen time. If you have someone you trust at this level, that might be better but it's your choice!

My methodology for taking notes depends on my goals with the course. If this is a course that doesn't really matter for my future career (i.e. just a requirement) then I take notes in the way that best prepares me for the homework and exams. So, in this case, I actually don't start taking notes at all until several weeks into the course and I know more about what we are expected to learn. For me, I learn much more from lectures and discussions than I do from the book (I just treat the book as a reference material if I need deeper insight). If I want to get more out of the course than just completing it, then I summarize important points for each chapter. I don't generally create a glossary because I don't find these things helpful. Instead, when I come across important terms/words, I just note down the definition along with my other notes. I colour-code my notes or use symbols so that I can find things like math proofs, or definitions, or arguments, or examples much easier. In my own written notes, I often just very briefly summarize the point I want to remember and then write down the page number. Again though, sometimes I wait until the course begins and I have more context about the book before I start taking serious notes. In the first week, the prof might say that there isn't really a good up to date book and the syllabus just lists one decent resource but the best resource is XYZ instead.

Indeed, but if no separate letter due date is given then I think one should assume it's the same as the applicant's due date. In all of my grad school and postdoc applications, only two (out of about 30 applications submitted) gave letter writers extra time (and one of them was an application 8 years ago where we had to snail-mail all supporting materials, so the extra time was for mailing more than anything else). However, to be clear, that doesn't mean that the schools won't be more lenient on late letters than late applicant materials. They will likely accept letters some time beyond the applicant due date. I am just advising students to use the applicant's due date as the final due date unless other dates are given.

No, this was way back in 2011, when it was the old format (i.e. not the "Revised General GRE" which started Aug 1, 2011). I actually would have preferred an extra verbal section over an extra Quant section. For me, the Verbal questions were "simple" in the sense that I either knew the answer or I didn't know the answer. There was not much extra anxiety over whether I was approaching it the right way or not. I prepared for this section via brute force just memorizing as many words as I could. For the Quant section, I didn't really prepare very much since I already had a lot of training in math. But that's where I start to second guess myself. Did I make a simple mistake? Am I overthinking the problem? Is this actually the right approach? etc. A lot more stressful. But as you say, it's all subjective and depends on each person!

For what it's worth, I also put my intended major to be a STEM one and my experimental section was a quantitative one. Maybe they just put more of those in, or maybe the really small sample size we have here isn't enough to draw any conclusions! I also got an extra AW section that was identified as an experimental section and I was given the choice on whether or not I wanted to complete it. It was at the very end. I chose to do it since I had arrived early for the test and they let me start early and I had to travel for the test so I was staying with a friend who would not be back home yet.

In addition to what everyone said, sometimes the "budgets" or "cost of attendance" estimates presented by the school are well, just literally made-up numbers that might not be helpful. Numbers like tuition, fees, etc. are obviously real and reliable. But my old PhD school also listed estimated costs for rent/room, food, travel, and books. These numbers are sometimes required for things like loan application or for international students to prove that they have enough funds to support themselves. However, they are often just plain made-up based on not realistic data (e.g. taking a number from some database instead of surveying students on actual cost) or they may have been indexed to some prior year values and then either never updated for inflation or only indexed to inflation instead of actual market trends. So, when it comes to determining how much your expenses will actually be, for costs not directly levied by the school, I would ask the current grad students and/or do my own research instead of making a decision based on these numbers. (Finally, although I am not in this field, typically I would expect my advisor to pay for all conference related costs since it is a work trip and I am presenting work I did on behalf of the research group/department/school. But this could be a difference in norms between fields thing).

Typically, the nominal due date for all application materials is the application due date, unless otherwise stated. But in reality, the real due date is basically whenever they start evaluating applicants. If you have not already told this 3rd prof the due dates, then you should probably do so. Many people will wait until something needs to be done before doing it. If you don't tell them the deadline, they won't prioritize it and it might keep getting pushed back. So, if the due date has already passed, definitely let them know ASAP and apologize for not informing them of the due date earlier. If they are still coming up, then let them know about the due date and remind them again a few days before.

You are describing something that affects most applicants, so you're not the only one! In general, after the decisions are made, they don't really care about the specifics of your coursework. Instead, what really matters is whether or not you actually obtain the degree you said you were going to obtain in your application. So, in general, as long as you are not changing majors or specialization with these course changes, it should not matter. If you are worried about your specific case, you can talk to the school you want to attend.

Every department I talked to about this during my application year advised me against converting GPA and putting in my own conversion. I was told to either: 1) enter whatever appears on my transcript (they are often open-text entry so you can enter a band if you want) or 2) leave it blank. If you really want to enter your own conversion, don't do it in the application form unless told otherwise. Instead, here are some places you can choose to enter your own conversion: i) Usually along with the box for GPA, there is a box for "Notes". Enter it there ii) Add it to your CV iii) Usually there is a page/box at the end where you can add whatever other notes you want. Try it there. The reason for not "converting" GPAs is that grades often mean different things in different countries. For example, my undergrad grades are from Canada, where we generally award grades based on competency. An "A+" grade means that the overall percentage was 90% or higher, which indicates the student mastered all or almost all of the material and learning goals. However, after studying in the USA, I learned that grades there means something quite different. An "A+" grade often means you are the best student in the class or one of the top few percent. Not all US schools work the same way, but most of my US friends were surprised to hear that you "only" need a 90% to get an A+ in Canada (it's often 97% or higher in the USA, but again, points are awarded differently).

Unless it is a very important note (e.g. correcting an error or doing some math to add to the explanation), I generally do not write in my textbooks. Like @Eigen, I rewrite/summarize key points in a notebook and/or an electronic file. Sometimes, I might add a sticky note to a page with some writing, especially if I want to use the sticky note as a bookmark as well.

Sorry to hear about your family member. I don't really have much experience in this situation so I don't really know what the best advice for you would be. I just think that if you mention your health professional, Celia or Alice might ask to see a note or something (they should not ask this but that doesn't mean they will not). Maybe you can say that you will be back but will need more time to recover from the stresses of the past few weeks and to get caught up with work that you missed while you were away (since mid-Jan would only be a few days after you return, it seems?). What is the purpose of their requested meeting?

I used to use Dropbox primarily. The "Great Space Race" for student accounts gave me tons of space (22 GB). Sadly, all of this bonus space is about to expire (in a few weeks) since I graduated last summer. In addition, my new workplace does not allow Dropbox or other cloud storage for all data (very inconvenient!). But I loved how Dropbox syncs with my desktop very easily and I can even access files on my phone via their app (great for saving PDFs of boarding passes, hotel confirm etc. and then set those files viewable offline---i.e. download to phone---so that I can always have access to important info). I also like how Dropbox can selectively sync certain folders only (e.g. I don't need my personal stuff on my work computer and vice versa). Google Drive now has the option to integrate with your computer just like Dropbox. You get way more space for free (15GB) without strings attached, but this storage space includes everything google. My emails take up 11GB alone (although I can probably delete some things). I am now in the Google Drive camp now because I really like Google Photos (recently put all my photos on the cloud there, at no cost) and I can scan files with my phone directly into Google Drive. I find it easier to just have everything in one infrastructure and I basically use Google for everything. I also like that I can buy more storage space from Google in more reasonable chunks. For example, I can buy just 100 GB of storage from Google for 1.99USD or 2.79 CAD per month. With Dropbox, the only options are the amount of free space you get/earn or buying 1TB at 12.99CAD per month. However, Google Drive direct sync-ing is still not allowed with my workplace. During grad school, my advisor bought me a 3TB hard drive to back up my stuff, plus I stored things on my department servers (all of this in addition to having some things on Dropbox as well). At my postdoc now, I primarily back up with an external drive that my work has purchased for me. I also use github and bitbucket repositories to store a version-controlled copy of my computer code (some stuff is private but much of my work is already publicly accessible) and other important files (presentations, CV, website content). My data itself (which takes up a ton of space) are stored on institutional servers that have their own backup systems---I only access the data remotely from my own machines and run analysis on them.

Oh right, I might have misunderstood all of the details when writing the first response. In my field, the school pays for all expenses related to the interview. To @ClinCoffee: I think if you are paying your own expenses to interview, I'd do what @jk616 suggests here once the deadline for responding to School X approaches. You will cost them almost nothing if you cancel, so no need to feel bad about it. You can still ask them for an extension on the deadline though but if they say no, it's not going to be that big of a deal if you cancel on them. If the school is paying your expenses (often schools will also book the flight which is why they sometimes ask for you to RSVP early so that they can make the booking well in advance, or that they can invite someone else), then I'd stick with what I said above. Sorry for any confusion!

With a Mac, you can always update your operating system. Until I upgraded my mac earlier this month, I was running the latest OS on my 2012 Macbook Pro. The only major downside is that an old computer is slow and if you got one with not a lot of computing power 4 years ago, then it may not be relevant today. So you don't have to worry about it being compatible with software (since you can update your Mac's software). And unless you got something really really old, I can't see why your 4-years-old hardware won't be able to run something for work today. It might just be really slow. In any case, whether you want to upgrade your Mac or keep using the old one, just wait until you start doing the really heavy data driven stuff for work. You'll find out very soon if your computer is compatible. You can get a new Mac in a week (and Mac Migration software makes changing computers very easy!) or maybe even the same day if you live near a Mac store. I think the biggest limitation for my old computer was RAM so I made sure to get one with 16GB of memory this time so that it can hopefully still run smoothly in 5 years. My old one only had 4GB and it could still run everywhere I needed (again, just really slowly).

Finding the right graduate program is about finding the right fit. It sounds like this prof isn't the right person to be writing a letter for you and it also doesn't sound like the graduate programs you've been looking into will give you what you want either. You'll probably want to find programs that match your approach better, or consider changing how you approach your work to match the programs (depending on what is more important to you).

Yes, you do have other options. One is to ask School X to give you more time to confirm the interview invite. However, this isn't really the best thing to do if you don't actually have other invites on the same day yet. I would say it is more professional to give preference (in dates) to schools that invited you first so if the other schools don't invite you by the time of School X's deadline, perhaps you should find alternate dates for the other schools instead of cancelling on School X. The exception is the case where School X is really low in your priority list, but I personally would still try to reschedule another school before changing my mind on School X.

Responding to your questions: A) Yes, you can do that but if you don't it's also not a big deal. Do what feels more natural to you. 2) Since profs don't have unlimited time, if they took the time to call you that means they are interested in hearing more about your work and interests. That's basically all you can glean from the fact that you got this call. Since it sounded like this phone call was over a month before the deadline, I don't think you can conclude anything about your chances of admission because the prof wouldn't even have seen all of the other applications yet. So even if they wanted to accept you, there could have been people that would rank higher than you in between. Not saying this to be pessimistic, but just realistic. However it turns out, these interactions are a good thing. I know from the applicant's point of view, everything is all about admissions, but that's not always the case for academia in general. It is normal and encouraged for academics to have discussions about their field without anything to "gain" from it necessarily. We just like talking about the topics we spend our lives studying and working on! It sounded like you asked for a phone call and they were at least interested enough in you to take the time to have a discussion with you. Finally, if you want some "calibration data", when I have a conversation with another academic about their research, I am always super interested in their work. No matter what they are working on, I listen carefully when they discuss it and try to ask good questions about their work, even if I personally have no interest in their work or even if it's not at all relevant. I find that it's just the respectful thing to do and it's part of the academic culture to be interested in whatever the other person is telling you. It's always way more fun for me when the person I'm talking to is actually listening and cares about what I'm saying so I always try to do the same when I'm the listener. So when I met with visiting profs speaking at my department, or when I meet someone at a conference, for the brief time I am talking to them, I am fully immersed in the conversation and their work. Also, this is the best / most fun way for me to learn about work happening outside of my area of interest and it's how I can potentially get input/feedback from someone a little more distant from my specific field if they listen to me too.

I thought this was the norm, and it was only reading posts on TheGradCafe that I realised that some places/disciplines(?) have profs with general office hours. My experience at all of my schools (in Canada and US) was that each course had a specific prof office hour (singular) and a specific TA office hour. The prof office hour is usually the hour right after the class on one of the days during the week. No profs ever had general office hours for students not in that specific course to drop in (so I didn't understand the advice to go talk to profs during office hours to get a letter or something). If you needed/wanted to meet with a prof and it wasn't about a class, then you would have to email to set up an appointment. Or, if you couldn't make it to the office hour, you would also email for an appointment.

It definitely won't hurt you. And it may depend on each program, but I can't see any good program accepting a student simply because they have external funding. Note: even if you have full tuition and stipend funding, you may still pose some financial cost to the department due to overheads charged, unless your employer will really cover everything. In that case, your main cost will be the time and energy for someone to supervise/advise you. As fuzzy said, most programs will make decisions entirely on merit. That said, most programs are also able to get more qualified applicants than they have space for (but it could depend on each year). Most programs will have some process where they review applications and decide which ones qualify for admission but they also have to take their ability to fund these students and therefore have to also determine which students actually get an offer (with funding). Depending on the field, there may not be very many self/externally funded students so these two steps may just be one step. So, having external funding can change your admission decision if you are in the category of students that they would be interested/willing to admit but happen to be low enough on the ranking list that you were not competitive enough to be awarded funding. With your own external funds, as long as there are people willing to spend their time on you, you could get an admission whereas you might not be admitted without the external funds. (i.e. if the main reason you would not have been admitted was monetary rather than merit, then it could make a positive difference). Finally, I am not sure where you are and what field you are in, but there are also some specific PhD programs that are designed to build connections between academia and industry and having an employer willing to fund your studies would be pretty great for something like that. I know of some programs in Canada, for example, see Mitacs Accelerate: http://www.mitacs.ca/en/programs/accelerate (you may need to already have an offer to use this but programs that participate in such programs may be interested in a student like you).