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TakeruK

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Everything posted by TakeruK

  1. I don't think this is an outright rejection. I think this means that the department wants you there but the Grad School has to make sure you meet University-wide requirements to enroll. So, I think your interpretation is right -- the Grad School is asking the Department to justify why you should be allowed to enroll despite not meeting GPA requirements. In your shoes, I would contact the Department and let them know the email you got from the Graduate School. Obviously, they would have been contacted too, but you might be able to get more information from them on your chances / what will they do next. You can also say something like "If there are any additional information that might help, please let me know" etc. I think if your GPA isn't way too low and if the Department really really wanted to you to be there, the rules can probably be bent. I'm not saying you have a good chance at getting in -- it really depends on how much your department will fight for you.
  2. My school's credit union apparently offers a choice between the campus, a galaxy, the Earth, or the Mars Curiosity Rover! My favourite card ever was my first one from my hometown's credit union -- it was a green transparent plastic!
  3. I also want to add that even if someone official at US Immigration tells you one thing, ultimately, it's up to the discretion of the border agent to decide whether or not you can enter. Also, it might have been fuzzy too, but someone here posted an email they got from their International Student office stating that students on F-1 or J-1 statuses may encounter extra security procedures for the next little while. I got an email from my school too, and I'll see if going back to the US next month will be harder than arriving here in the first place! So, I agree with fuzzy -- unless that one single day difference is a huge deal, why risk it?
  4. In California, if you are under 18, then there are extra restrictions on your provisional drivers' permit (i.e. driving with someone older while practicing). But, for most grad students, this won't be an issue
  5. It depends on how this course transfer is going to work. In some cases, you get permission from your own school first, so that you will either received a "Credit" or "Fail" for this external course. This usually happens in the case where it is an "exchange" course -- that is, you pay fees for that course to your home school, not the external school. However, I think it might be more common for people to take the external course separately, and then apply for permission to transfer it to your home school for credit towards your BSW. If this is the case, then I guess if you fail, then you would not complete this step, and basically, it will be like as if you never took the course (other than the fact that you had to pay!) In Canada at least, graduate schools cannot find out that you took this other course at the online university unless you tell them. So if the course doesn't appear on your BSW transcript and you don't tell the grad school, they will never find out that you even took this course. However, this might be lying on your application, and that is something that is extremely not recommended. That said, you should read the application instructions for your schools very carefully. Some schools ask for transcripts only when courses taken were used in credit for a degree. Some schools want transcripts from every single school in which you have ever been enrolled. I would highly recommend understanding the instructions fully, including asking questions to the Graduate School if necessary to find out if you will be required to submit this transcript, since specific rules vary. I would ask these questions to the Graduate School, not your department though, since these people are not really the ones who will make the important decisions. In your shoes though, I would probably still try to do the best I can. I wouldn't submit the transcript unless it was required. However, I don't think it's worth lying about. The potential penalty of getting caught lying on the application is far worse than getting a F in one random online course, at another university, not in your field, and not credited towards your degree.
  6. It might depend on the school -- here, we have the option of taking classes outside of our degree requirements on a pass/fail basis. There are also non-academic, once-a-week evening classes you could register for, such as silkscreening, guitar, or theatre courses. I plan to take some language courses after my core course requirements are completed. At our school, the tuition is the same no matter how many / which classes you take, so there is no extra financial cost to taking these classes. It seems like our supervisors don't really care if we choose to take additional fun courses or not, as long as we get our work done! As for "sabbath" days, I am not religious at all but I agree that taking one day off a week keeps me sane. After my coursework is over (i.e. in a few weeks), I would probably go to taking almost the entire weekend off! I'm aiming to do a good 40-50 hours per week (8-10 hours per day, plus a few hours on the weekend if I didn't work a full weekday). Personally, classes really suck out a lot of my "down time". In my MSc, after I finished classes, I was able to join the fencing club at my school, which practices 8 hours a week and also take weekends off. The main reason I feel overworked right now is courses and I plan to be able to reclaim a lot of my time after this quarter is over!
  7. In most fields, a Canadian masters program is "free" in the sense that you will be paid a stipend that is enough to cover tuition plus living expenses. In the sciences, they usually pay you enough to not have to take out any loans or have a side job, but I know that's not always true in other fields. In Canada, students who want a PhD are expected to get a Masters first, then reapply for the PhD program. It's not unusual for a student to do a Masters at one school and a PhD somewhere else. It's also not unusual for a student to stay at the same school but work with different supervisors, or on a different project. In most fields in countries like the US, a Masters degree is not usually a terminal degree -- you either get it on your way to a PhD at the same program, or you get it because you had to leave your PhD program early. Thus, it is generally hard to find a funded Masters program in the US. However, in Canada, I would say a very large (compared to the US) fraction of students go to grad school, get a Masters, and then they would decide whether or not they want to pursue a PhD. I would say something like half of MSc graduates I know do not end up going for the PhD -- there are lots of jobs that require a MSc degree in Canada! As for cost, again it depends on field. In my field, the typical domestic tuition rate in Canada is $5000 to $7000 per year (12 months). International tuition is usually 2 to 3 times that cost but international students in my field usually get extra funded to cover all of the difference. Typical stipends for domestic students range from $22,000 to $35,000 per year. The stipends are higher in cities with higher cost of living, usually. International students can get an extra $5000 to $10000 per year because of the extra tuition costs, but their take-home pay is about the same, maybe a bit less, than a domestic student.
  8. If you have a legitimate complaint / reason for requesting the grade to be reconsidered, then go ahead and ask about it. Just make sure you phrase the request properly and respectfully! However, if you just want to ask for a regrade because you don't like your grade, then sure, you can try but I wouldn't expect much. If one of my students asked for a better grade because they needed a better average then I probably would not be very sympathetic. It's also sometimes pretty obvious when the reason/excuse given is not a legitimate one and the student is just grasping for excuses. So if you do that, it might reflect poorly on you in the future.
  9. I know that some of my international classmates have visas that are only valid once, so every single time they leave the country, they have to apply for another visa. This makes conference travel extremely difficult, because they have to factor in a few extra days to apply for another visa during their travels. Fortunately, even if you are from country X and are traveling to country Y, you can apply for a visa to enter the US from a US Embassy/Consulate at Country Y, without having to return to your home country. For some of my other classmates, visas are only valid for 1-2 years, so once in a while, they have to go to e.g. Mexico (we're close to the border) in order to apply for a visa to re-enter the US, in advance.
  10. I don't think it is a waste. The thesis is not really a good way to share your work with others, the thesis is a way to prove to your school that you've completed the requirements for them to grant you a PhD. A thesis is not really a peer-reviewed document, in the way a journal article is, and thus they are not usually cited in other peer reviewed works. Instead, I see the thesis as a useful exercise for yourself, and perhaps your research group. It's a good way for the school and prof to read your thesis and determine how well you really know your stuff. Also, the details of your work can help guide future students in your group learn what you have done and what they can do next. Finally, the tone of your thesis is not necessarily something for experts in your field to read. In my field, what almost always happens is that the work done on the thesis is rewritten and reworked into journal article(s) after the fact and then published. Actually, for PhD theses, what usually happens is that you write 3 papers during your degree that are published in peer-reviewed articles. Then, when you're ready to graduate, your thesis is just copying and pasting the 3 papers together, with extra chapters before and after to frame your work in the grander scheme of things. I haven't written a PhD thesis yet, but I feel like the thesis is mostly a hoop we have to jump through for our school (like courses). It's an important part of our education but ultimately, it's something that betters ourselves, not a way to contribute to the field.
  11. A good credit history comes from taking out debt and paying it back on time. There is some balance though of course, taking out debt too many times is a bad sign, but if you never take out any debt, then they won't know whether or not you're reliable! A credit card is not the only way to accumulate good credit though -- utility companies and cell phone companies are common examples of people who might run a credit check on you and thus appear on your credit history report. I think it would also be a good idea to request your free credit history report regularly. The two credit reporting agencies that I know of are Equifax and Transunion. They each let you request one free credit history report once a year, so really careful people try to stagger their requests so that they get them every 6 months. A credit history report is not the same as a credit rating (you can request these too but you would have to pay) but it basically lists all of your creditors (e.g. Bank, Electric Company, etc.) and how long you've had credit with them, and how good you are at paying on time. It's a good way to also make sure no one has stolen your identity! Anyways, things that help your credit history are: 1. Always pay debt on time -- don't be late on your bills! 2. Don't close credit cards -- the longer you have had credit the better. 3. Every "credit check" done by a company appears on your history and hurts you -- so don't go opening up like 5 or 6 credit card accounts. Figure out how many cards you need and stop there. 4. Credit cards from banks are better than credit cards from department stores 5. Diversity is helpful -- if you have credit from your bank, and your cell phone company, and your utility company, etc. and you pay them all on time then that looks really good. So, if you are not already the primary owner on your phone bill, etc. (maybe your parent(s) opened the account for you), you should try to get everything to be under your name! Personally, I put everything on my credit card, even $2 coffee purchases. It gets me points! However, I do my bills/finances weekly and during this time, I check my credit card statement online, before I'm issued a bill. I usually pay off my credit card at this point too. Each month, you get a statement and as long as you pay by the due date (which is usually 3 weeks after the statement date), then there is no interest charged. However, a warning is that if you do go past the due date, interest is retroactively charged back to the day you made the purchase, not starting on the due date!! In addition, some credit cards have a "benefit" of allowing you to withdraw cash directly from your credit card (basically taking out a small loan). This is a bad bad idea unless you really need the cash, because you are charged the high interest rate as soon as you withdraw the money. If you really need it to pay for something, then you would be much better off just charging it to the card. That said, I don't treat my credit card as a line of credit! That is, although my credit limit might be higher than how much I have in the bank, I would never charge anything to the card that I know I can't pay off immediately if I wanted to. I basically treat it like a debit card but I try to never use debit or cash since I get benefits (points, credit history buildup etc.) from using the credit card! For your first credit card, you should see if your bank has a student credit card. These usually always come with no annual fees! The down side is that the benefits are usually lower. Try to find a card that will give you some benefits though. Also, you should apply for the credit in person at the bank -- it's much easier because they do all the paperwork for you. I've also experienced that it's easier to get approved for credit this way too, especially if it's your first credit card. The bank gets a commission for your application so it's in their best interest to help you get a card! I also have multiple credit cards -- one from my first bank (a credit union) that didn't give me any points. My second credit card was one that gave me points and now I just use my first card as a backup (in the rare case where they don't accept MasterCard). But now that I am in the US, my single US credit card is my main card, but I still use the Canadian credit card for charges that are in Canadian dollars, of course. Finally, there are sometimes additional benefits of buying things on your credit card. For example, my Visa card covers the LDW part of all car rentals, which saves a good chunk of money! Some cards also give you an additional 1 year warranty on all electronics purchased with the card too.
  12. There is a difference between whether you mean "visa" or "status". A "visa" is a right to enter the US and it is issued by a US Embassy. It goes into your passport and looks like a passport page (with your photo ID) etc. You only need this to enter the US -- once you are in, the visa can expire and it's no problem (if it does expire, it just means you need to apply for another visa before you can re-enter the US). Visas are limited by both length and/or number of entries. For example, you might have a visa that lets you enter as many times as you want in 2 years. Or, you might have a visa that lets you enter the US 5 times in 5 years. These restrictions are based on what kind of treaties the US has with your home country's government. The length of your visa does not necessarily have to be correlated with the length of your school program. On the other hand, "status" (i.e. F-1 or J-1) is your right to remain in the US for a specific reasons (i.e. graduate school). The I-20 or DS-2019 is proof of your status and it is issued by your school's International Office. My school's international office told us that they usually put the maximum allowable time (without asking for an extension) on the I-20 or DS-2019 so that we don't have to worry about getting it renewed during our studies. This could vary between schools of course. In my program, you have to petition the Graduate Office before starting your 7th year of PhD, so my DS-2019 is good for 6 years. So, for you, the limitations of your visa really depend on what country you're from. The length of your F-1 or J-1 status is probably going to be the maximum length of your program, so probably between 2 and 3 years? By the way, while on either F-1 or J-1 status, there are opportunities to extend your status after graduation for 2-3 more years in order to work in your field in the US. You will probably learn more about this after you arrive!
  13. I think the best credit cards are the ones from a major bank. Most banks will have a card that they offer to students, which are easier to get approved for (but since you already had one for 6 years, this shouldn't be a problem), and it will also usually have no fees! I've heard that credit cards from e.g. a department store or something like Capital One isn't very good for your credit score. I personally have a card from Citi bank, which gives me points that I can use on Amazon or trade in for other gift cards. I'd prefer a card that directly offers cash back but that option wasn't available for student credit cards. I wasn't able to get anything better than a student card since I just moved to the US so I had no US credit history!
  14. Usually, a rejection would just be a plain rejection "Unfortunately we are unable to offer you a position....etc." But in many cases, if you follow up and ask for feedback, you might be able to get a little more information. Now (or the summer) is a good time to do it, because the main workload of the admission season is over and people might be more willing to give you feedback. I think some people are afraid of being challenged if they provide more info (I can imagine someone trying to defend themselves if they receive this feedback) so it's possible that they won't be completely forthcoming or be reluctant to share the reasons you weren't accepted. But I think if you ask it properly and make sure it's clear that you just want to improve yourself for future applications then some people might be willing to help you out.
  15. I don't know about U of T's program, but UBC and Queen's physics departments did make TA- and RA-ships real work. Every August, we are issued a letter stating that this year, our stipend is $A, and we get $B dollars from C hours of TA work, $D for E hours of RA work, and $F in form of fellowships etc. Everyone gets paid the same hourly rate for TA and RA work, so it's actually pretty fair. The students with fellowships get less money for TAing because their TA obligations are lower. I think this can still be pretty deceptive and unfair depending on the way the funding is structured. I think this is fine if you are actually getting paid money and then use it to pay for your tuition (that is, you get a pay stub, you count as an employee and thus have all the rights granted to employees as per labour laws, including the right to unionize and all that). If the school is saying, "here, we will grant you a tuition waiver", but in return, as part of your grad student training, you must TA for us, then I think that's pretty deceptive and unfair. In this scheme, there is no clear direct compensation for our services and thus no real obligation to increase compensation if our services have to be increased. In the end, it's probably the same though -- that is, the amount of work and take home pay a grad student receives in either of the above schemes might be the same. However, I believe the first scheme is more fair and transparent. That scheme also shows that the school respects our rights/status as workers (in both our research and teaching duties) as well as our time as valuable. In the latter scheme, I would feel like the school is basically buying out all of my time with a meager stipend and tuition waiver. Again, I'm not talking about the actual money paid, because I've been in both schemes, done the same amount of work, and taken home the same amount of money. In the first scheme, I felt like a valued employee and a part of what makes the University successful. I feel like the University understands that grad students have valuable skills and that we have chosen to invest our time and money into furthering these skills in a PhD program. They recognize that we could be doing something else, but we've chosen this. In the second scheme, I feel like the school has expected me to devote the entirety of my energy into working for them, and in return, they have provided me with education and a stipend to barely cover cost of living. I feel like the University is saying that, if you want to join the ranks of academia, you must pay your penance and be thankful that you even get the chance to do it!! They treat us as if academia is the only thing anyone would ever want to do and that we have no other choices. Although both schemes will have the same result -- both universities will still pay their students for tuition and just a bit more than enough to live on. Admittedly, the two examples I've given might be more extreme ends of a spectrum of school attitudes, but my point is that it won't cost the schools much more to treat us like valued members/employees and personally, I'd be much happier!
  16. I feel that California's road test is very easy and lenient compared to the driving test in British Columbia, Canada. I have had no experience in the UK though. But, you might want to know that California does not accept any foreign driver licenses. They also explicitly state that they do not recognize the International Driving Permit. My wife and I are Canadian and have had our full privilege Canadian license for years but we still have to go through the standard process with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), and we even drive on the same side of the road as the Americans Here's how the process worked for us: 1. You pay $35, show up at the DMV with all of your paperwork (if you have a Social Security Number for your TA/RA work, it's much easier). They process it and you take a 36 question written multiple choice test. You must get 30 out of 36 correct to pass. There are 3 choices for each question, and the majority of them are straight forward. However, there are a few trick questions and for us, it was hard to remember a new set of non-metric numbers for stopping distances, speed limits etc. You have 3 chances to take the test, but you can't take the test more than once per day. You can speed up the first visit by making an appointment online and filling out the forms beforehand. 2. Once you pass the written test, you get a provisional license and you can start practicing for the road test. You must drive with a driver that is licensed in California. When you are ready, you can make a road test appointment. There is no minimum time limit between the written test and road test, but you can't make the road test appointment until you've passed your written test, and I don't think same day appointments are allowed. 3. The book that they give you after passing the written test explains the road test very clearly. Basically, it's a 20 minute drive around the block and you will be asked to make right/left turns, make lane changes, and they will take you to areas with varying speed limits and other signage to follow to test you. You can make up to 14 mistakes and still pass. (It's possible to make multiple mistakes in the same maneuver though). Again, you have 3 chances to pass and you must do it within a year of your original application date. If you fail 3 times or take longer than a year, then you have to start at Step 1 again. So, in your case, you might want to learn how to drive in the UK, where you might be more comfortable. You could try to get a license in the UK / international license but just keep in mind that it won't be recognized in the US and you cannot use it to drive in the US after some number of days*. It still might be a good idea though, because you say you are planning to come back after all. Also, having a license will help you rent cars in the US -- you're allowed to use a rental car on your road test if you get full insurance on it. If you are unable to rent a car, then you are forced to take a test through the driving schools, which cost a ton more money (but if you plan on taking lessons anyways, then this might make sense). My wife and I rented a car for our road test using our Canadian licenses as proof that we're experienced drivers, and our provisional California licenses as proof that we're allowed to drive in California. We also brought along a California-licensed friend just in case! (* Caveat: the official rule is that since we count as "residents for the purposes of the DMV", our international driver licenses are only good for 10 days after the arrival date stamped in your passport. This is an insanely short period of time, and many people will drive with their foreign licenses past this 10 day limit. Generally, as long as you don't get pulled over or get into an accident, no one will find out and you'll be okay. You can even rent cars with your license past the 10 day limit because car rental companies would just assume you have just arrived for a visit. You'll only get in trouble if something happens where they need to see your immigration papers and/or your passport. Still, it's risky and it's best to get the provisional license as soon as you have time!) Good luck!
  17. Agree with ANDS!, I hadn't heard about the "3 times the rent rule" until I started looking for apartments down in the states! My monthly income is not even "twice the rent", but the building still rented to me. Even without any US credit history too (I did provide them with a copy of my Canadian credit history -- the building manager said it would help but I'm not sure if it was actually necessary to get us our place!). I think having a strict "3 times the rent rule" is actually illegal in some places, but obviously the building manager/landlord can easily make up some other excuse to not rent to you. Like ANDS! said, they only care that you would actually be able to make your rent commitment and that you are reliable enough to not suddenly disappear before your lease is up (and thus cause them the trouble of hunting you down to get their money). Being a grad student, especially in an academic town, will probably help! If you can get a letter that says your total amount of financial support though, including the value of your tuition waiver, then it might be even better!
  18. In Canada, we don't pay income tax on fellowships or scholarships! Since the OP was asking about their situation, at a Canadian school, I didn't think to qualify my statement above, but I guess I should have made it clearer in case there were non-Canadian readers trying to apply that list to their situation. As lewin00 pointed out, it's a recent thing too! Previously, I think only the first $X of fellowship income was tax-free. We still pay tax on "employment" income (i.e. RA-, TA-, or TF- ships) but the combination of the basic personal amount (Canadian equivalent of the Personal Deduction + Standard Deduction), which is about $11k for the 2013 tax year and tuition tax credits ($1 for every dollar of tuition, plus $465/month for living expenses and textbooks) means that unless you make a huge amount of money on the side, you probably won't have to pay any taxes. Of course, if you have the majority of your income from fellowships, then you won't have to dip into your education tax credits in these years and carry them over to a later year (i.e. after graduation!) I think this sums it up the best! They were just promising that they will get you to a funding level of $23k, not promising that they will be responsible for all of the $23k.
  19. Awesome -- actually I didn't know the NEXUS was only $50, I thought it was several hundred! I also thought that NEXUS was only valid for crossing from Canada to the US or vice-versa. Thanks for pointing this out -- I will definitely reconsider having one now!
  20. I know an American grad student attending a PhD program in Canada (both on border towns) who has a NEXUS card because she crosses the border at least 2-3 times a week, by car. I think it's totally worth it if you had to constantly cross a busy land crossing. I'm mostly going to be flying home, and probably only 1 or 2 times a year, so it's not really worth it. So far, I have not had to wait an excessive amount of time that would have been prevented if I had a NEXUS card (most of the time, both regular and NEXUS lines are close to empty). Optimistically, I would probably get to wait about 30 minutes less per year if I had a NEXUS card, or let's say 3 hours in the 5 year validity of the card. Even if my time was "worth" $20/hour, the 3 hours would cost me $60 while I think the NEXUS card costs a bit more (plus the time it takes to get approved for one). Crossing the border as a Canadian citizen under a F-1 or J-1 visa is super easy too, so there's no extra speed there with a NEXUS card. Just have all your documents ready and it's done in 5 minutes or less! So that's why I don't have one, but if you were someone who were crossing multiple times a month by land, then it might be a good idea!
  21. Unfortunately, that's the reality of graduate tuition stipends. It sucks that it feels like there is a "penalty" for winning and bringing in prestigious awards (congrats on the CGS!! by the way). However, I think there are two good ways to view the situation that might make you feel better (or it might not!): 1. Unlike undergrad awards, graduate awards aren't really "free". You are basically being paid X dollars to do Y hours of work. If you take the "funding guarantee" (which is also money paid for you to do work), the tuition waiver, AND the CGS, then it's likely that you are being paid more than once by different organizations, unless you are working an insane amount of hours. That's not exactly how things work, but let's say the funding guarantee and tuition waiver comes with an expectation of doing Y hours of work (or Z amount of productivity, whatever). Now that you have a CGS, it's not like you are going to be working more -- the expectations on you is the same no matter your funding source. So, since SSHRC is paying for the majority of your work/productivity, why should the department/school continue to pay for work that's already paid for? 2. Also, the guaranteed funding / tuition waiver might come in form of an award too. Most awards come with "conflict of commitment" clauses -- for example SSHRC and NSERC restricts you to working less than 10 hours per week (maybe this restriction is lifted now though). Many awards say "you can only accept this award if you are not accepting any other award worth more than X dollars [X is usually $10k]". So, the guaranteed funding is really more like a "backup award" -- i.e. if you don't manage to secure your own funding, then as a last resort, the school/department will grant you an award for $23k [in return for TA/RA work probably]. I think these are good reasons for schools/departments reducing their funding when students win other awards. It would be unfair for a student to be paid more than once for their work. It is also better, in my opinion, to think of the guaranteed funding as "needs-based" (the merit part is getting into the school). There is also another reason -- there are a lot of hidden costs of maintaining grad students (i.e. overhead). In addition, there used to be a rule for NSERC that profs cannot pay RAships to students who are also funded by NSERC. So, the balance of the funding for NSERC students had to be paid by the department. Since profs generally pay a large chunk of the student's stipend out of their own grants, this means a scholarship student actually costs more to the department than a non-scholarship student. This rule is no longer in effect, I think, but you can imagine there are other costs/considerations like this. As for your other questions, yes, I have had this experience with the NSERC award at both the Masters and Doctoral levels. However, most Canadian schools will provide a (one-time?) top-up between $1000 and $5000 "signing bonus" for NSERC award holders. I'm not sure if this policy exists in the social sciences though! At Queen's, I also applied for and won and internal award ($10k) for minority students and they basically reduced the department funding by exactly that amount -- it just changes the source of money, not the total amount (again, makes sense since I would do the same amount of work either way). It is good practice for most schools to do things like offer signing bonuses or let you keep some of your extra external money in order to attract the strongest students. $10k ahead of the funding guarantee is not bad. At my current American school (and most other American schools), you get to keep none of the extra money -- they will just make sure you at least get more money than you would have had without the award. You can try to negotiate with U of T but I'm not sure if you will be successful. I wish that schools would make the whole funding process more clear though. For example, my undergrad department's graduate funding page is very clear: http://www.phas.ubc.ca/graduate-program-financial-support -- this clearly shows where your money is coming from depending on each case! Finally, I think there is WAY more benefit to winning a CGS and only getting to keep $10k above the guarantee vs. winning $9.9K above the guarantee. Here are some benefits: 1. Prestige! I am not completely familiar with SSHRC, but in NSERC, winning previous NSERCs is a good way to win future NSERCs. There are NSERC awards at the post-doctoral level and NSERC funds projects when you're a prof etc. too! Winning major graduate level awards like the CGS also looks great on your CV when you later look for jobs -- you've demonstrated a strong track record in your ability to bring money into your school and project. 2. Less work! At Queen's, NSERC holders only work half as many TA hours as non award holders. At UBC, you don't TA at all during your NSERC years. I think the "half TAship" is better since it's good to have a bit of TA experience, but not being required to TA a full load can really help you get more stuff done! 3. Less taxes -- we only pay tax on employment income, such as TA and RA money. Fellowship income is tax-free 4. More freedom! You're bringing in extra money, which means somebody is saving money. Hopefully it is your supervisor. You can use this to leverage for the things fuzzy mentioned. In my case, I cost my supervisor almost $0 in my NSERC CGS-M year so he had plenty of funding to spend on new equipment and/or travel for me. I didn't outright negotiate for it at the start of the year, it's just that whenever I asked for things, he would mention how he was glad I had external funding, and that there was plenty of room in his grants for it. The extra freedom also helps if you have to switch supervisors for some reason. Having your own funding means it is less cost for a new person to unexpectedly take you on. Anyways, congrats on your award! I think it comes with many more benefits than just money. Hope this helps you understand that this is standard practice though!
  22. Yeah, I'm in my PhD program now for 8 months and my CV still says I'm still working on my MSc! I'll update it when I finally find time to set up a research website!
  23. What I did was tell the new supervisor approximately what date I expected to arrive at the new school (something general like "early/mid/late August/September", depending on your case) and said that when I do arrive and get settled, I'll send them a further message to set up a meeting. I think it's a little premature to set up a specific meeting date so far in advance, especially since the actual meeting time isn't that urgent. It is useful to have a meeting soon after you arrive though -- maybe you can even get some stuff started before classes begin! However, this meeting can be scheduled after you actually arrive! If you're arriving significantly early (weeks or months) then you should ask if you can start getting paid as an RA earlier too.
  24. Asbestos is present in tons of old buildings and I think by law, the owners have to disclose to all leasers/renters that there is asbestos in the walls etc. so that we don't go around disturbing it. If you are super paranoid, then you should only live in the newer (and expensive!) buildings. But in reality, you will probably be in tons of buildings with asbestos in them (at work or at school) anyways. My current building in California also gave us a "lead paint" warning disclosure because at one point, the walls were painted with lead paint, but they have repainted the place several times over. But since there was lead paint at one point, they have to disclose it to all future tenants now. I feel like California (and/or the whole US?) has a lot of laws like this (e.g. Prop 65) where even the smallest potential risk needs full disclosure. I guess people sue each other a lot or something. The problem with all these disclosures is that like the OP said, it's hard to tell when something is a real risk and when something is just a "don't sue us" disclaimer (e.g. "Caution Coffee is Hot!"). You see Prop 65 disclaimers in pretty much every single business!!
  25. My wife and I went home 3 times during the first year of my 2-year MSc degree (all 3 trips were related to our wedding, which we had in our hometown), totaling about a month off. But then we didn't go back again until I finished my MSc (we had planned/budgeted for 3 trips in 2 years). During the PhD, we will aim to go home about once a year. Maybe more for special circumstances. My next trip home is actually free, since there is a conference in a nearby town and I'm going to stay an extra while to visit family. Despite living in a different country, we are actually currently closer to home now than when I was at my MSc school! We would hopefully be able to travel more than once a year, though we would probably want to visit other places than just going home. After my coursework is finished this year, I think the biggest constraint on our ability to travel/visit home is not getting time off from school, but it's because travel is expensive!
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