museCS

Yup, it's a rejection for me. I'm in Calgary too Congrats to all the successful applicants! Great news!

I'm in Alberta and I haven't gotten anything yet. Fingers crossed!

Hi MK1, You WILL get used to to the cold, although be prepared - it often gets down to -30 degrees celsius in the winter. I'm not trying to scare you, it's just the truth! Also, since Calgary is in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, we get warm winds called chinooks that will warm up the temperature considerably, although many people suffer symptoms such as achy joints and migraines during the chinooks. It means that it might get to -30 in the winter, but it doesn't stay that cold for very long! There are plenty of great things to do in Calgary. There's the Glenbow Museum, the Nickel Arts Museum, which is on campus, lots of shopping, great parks with events like live music, food tastings from local restaurants (these last two are always in the summer and are at Prince's Island Park just outside downtown), you can go to Canada Olympic Park and take a skiing or snowboarding lesson, or go on the luge there, ummmm, what else? Dinosaur National Park is nearby in Drumheller, there are live music and plays at the Jubilee auditorium. There are lots of great cafes - they range from the usual Starbucks to some neat places in the Kensington area of town, such as the Roasterie. Speaking of Kensington, there are a lot of cool pubs and restaurants there too (and it's fairly close to the Sunnyside C-train station, which is only 4 stops from the University). For pubs I really like Molly Malone's, the Kensington Pub, and Original Joes, all of which are in Kensington. The Marda Loop area also has some cool pubs, although I'm not as familiar with that area. The drinking age in Alberta is 18, so you should be set! Oh, there's also a Farmer's Market at Currie Barracks (the former location of Canadian Forces Base Calgary) and there's also the Wild Rose Brewery, which makes excellent micro-brew beer (try the Wild Rose Wraspberry!) and also acts as a pub. There's a really fun wine tasting event every October at the Roundup Center in Stampede Park. It's called the Rocky Mountain Food & Wine Festival. I highly recommend checking it out. You get to sample all sorts of wine and food from local restaurants. There's also the Stampede, but that's in early July every year. It's world-famous and a lot of fun. There's chuck wagon races, horse racing, a carnival, and the whole city celebrates for 10 days. As for the campus, it's pretty big but I have to say that you'll probably stick to just one part of campus. There are whole parts of it that I only go to if I'm going for a walk or because I want to explore. There's lots of construction on campus right now, although some of it will be done before you get there. The Taylor Family Digital Library and the EEEE building will still be under construction when you get there. A lot of campus is kind of shabby and run-down looking, and the classrooms are sometimes not the best. What program will you be in? I can probably tell you what part of campus you'll likely be in. I definitely enjoyed studying at U of C. I got my BSc in Computer Science there, and will be finishing my MSc in the same soon. I have to say that the faculty are pretty great, at least in CS and in Math, which is where most of my classes were. I also took some great classes in the Military and Strategic Studies field. I'm going to miss it, but it's time to move on! The campus is very busy and lively during the Fall and WInter semesters - there are around 30,000 students registered at U of C. I'd be happy to answer more questions if you have them

OK, I'll do my best here. I have lived in Calgary for 17 years and have spent the last 7 of them as a student at U of C. Calgary is a pretty expensive place to live, rent-wise. Expect anywhere from $1000-$1200 or more per month for rent in the NW area (where the university is located). I agree with the previous poster that you could live anywhere along the C-Train tracks and have very easy access to the university, and probably with lower rent. Keep in mind that if you live near the C-Train line in the SE, it will be about 45 minutes on the train to get to the university. Not fun, especially in the winter. On a bright note, all students get a U-pass (a universal transit pass for all City of Calgary transit - busses, C-train) that is included in your tuition and cannot be waived. This allows free (already paid-for?) transit. For grad students, you get a U-pass for Fall, Winter, and Spring/Summer, where undergrads only get Fall and Winter. I think this year it was about $250 as part of my tuition and I got transit passes for the whole year. Not a bad deal since a transit pass is $75 or $80 per month normally. Groceries are not too badly priced. Consider shopping at Superstore rather than Co-op or Safeway to save some $$$. Utilities - they're pretty expensive, but many apartment buildings will include most of them in your rent, so keep that in mind when you're considering rental properties and pricing. You'll have to pay for your own phone and probably internet though. Most people I know just used a cell phone, and there's internet connectivity at school if you need it. Hmm, what else? Calgary is a truly beautiful city, although it's getting big and crowded, IMO. Banff is a short (one hour and 20 min or so) drive away, edmonton is 2.5 hours away, and the States aren't too far either. I've loved living here, although I'm more of a small city kind of person. Calgary gets about 7 months of snow per year (October or November until April) which can be depressing, but good if you like to ski or snowboard! I read somewhere that Calgary gets 300 days of sun per year - it's not always warm but it's sunny! Summers are usually hot and dry - ranging from +10 on a cloudy day to +40 on a sunny day. The weather changes in an instant, and I have personally experienced snowstorms in every month of the year (although not all in the same year!). I hope this helps. Please feel free to ask any questions you might have. I'll do my best to answer!

Yup, I have a B.Sc. and (nearly!) an M.Sc. from a Canadian university, so all's well there. On another note, I've been reading the SSHERC (sp?) thread and they have all sorts of stats regarding success rates if you're forwarded to the national competition - are there similar things for NSERC? I checked the web page, but haven't found anything. I'm seriously useless until I know about the outcome of this! Come ON tomorrow!

Good luck, everyone! I'm waiting to hear about mine too, but I'm studying overseas beginning in Fall 2009. Anyone else studying overseas? Did you get your NSERC?