truthfinder

Wow, it's been 10 years haha I had applied at UVic and UCalgary. They're still funded. I'm not sure the advice about a 2 year MA still holds; some programs have begun to transition to 1 year MAs with a "major research project" rather than a masters' thesis.

Most Canadian universities expect that you will already have a master's degree. A few will take those with a BA, but often limit how many of these students they accept in any given year. So, it's not so much that Canadian universities fast track those with MA, but that those without need extra time.

What TMP said. The 'useful' criteria comes a lot more into play when your supervisor decides to answer your emails within 24 hours or two weeks (or more), putting real effort into a reference letter, or proactively helping you with your fields, grant applications or just generally caring that you haven't gone crazy. They may decide this for entirely personal/selfish reasons - your work interests them, you are a stepping stone in their career, that waging a proxy war through you, they see you as entertainment, possibly free labour for RAs (depending on the institution), etc. You probably won't every figure out their motives and you might not know it unless as a student you are treated different by a supervisor than someone else they're supervising at the same time. But remember that in many ways we want our supervisor's to be 'useful' as well - they help us get the knowledge, network, etc. It's a two way street but sometimes very bumpy. 1. To the OP, definitely send a brief introductory email to your supervisor maybe a week or two before the start of term if they don't do it first. It would be really awkward to not meet or hear from your supervisor until you're well into the program. 2. Credit hours doesn't mean much to me, but 3 half-courses a semester is about right. Depending on the prof it can be a ton of work (or not). Follow your department's guidelines - I'd be surprised if they don't have something. (Mine says you have to take 4 courses in the first year - but you can mix up if you do 2-2 or 3-1). Some supervisors can also be very particular about what courses you take - introducing yourself will help you find that out early.

Definitely ask the departments about this. One school I applied to wanted a copy of a course essay of x amount of pages with the prof's marks/comments on it. The only thing I had was x+5 which is quite a lot. Turns out they were okay with it, but others certainly wouldn't be.

On the associate level, this is very dependent on the university (and I think also the country). In Canadian universities, associate professors can be very well involved in their field and direct lots of students. You can always contact the assistant prof and discuss the concern - they may suggest another POI or co-supervise (they may also be on the verge of tenure).

Some universities will also fund their international students at a higher level than their domestic students, just to level the playing field due to the typically higher international tuition.

Does anyone know if Guelph has sent out acceptance for PhD yet?

In their newsletter, the Master's was adjudicated in mid-April. So, they know, they're just not telling My letter last year was dated May 17, but I did not get it until May 31.

I bought a multi-function HP printer/scanner, with legal size capability. Sunk quite a bit of money into it, but it's cheaper to print from it than from the office. (It will pay for itself). Plus, it means I can print stuff at 3 in the morning if I need to. You're in sciences so I don't know what type of documents you print, but I cannot read stuff off my computer screen, so all the articles I read are printed. Duplex is usually a great feature on a printer too, saves paper and usually doesn't cost too much extra these days.

Come to Canada 2/3 applications I made were funded - and the one was funded incredibly well. Then again, it is not typical to be a direct entry into PhD in Canada, you have to do an MA first (and more often than not, it's 2 years).

Hey, my academic cv was 2 pages. It's probably fine as long as your application doesn't specify one page only. ( I came across a prof once who had a 96 page cv - yikes!) Most universities I came across either had a separate form to list the courses you were currently taking (or would be taking) or wanted them show up on an unofficial transcript. If neither of those options are available to you - I don't see the harm in listing the courses relevant to your application on your resume - just be clear to list that you will be taking them.

In some places, the trend is starting to turn against a thesis in the MA. This is even coming from one of the top universities in my country. While it is a blow to what you expected, there really are advantages to not writing the thesis. You might easily be able to publish your MA paper which looks better on a CV than just getting a thesis done. Having an article published ranks far higher in most PhD admissions committees than having a thesis completed.

Yes, that's all.

I had to submit a 20 page writing sample and they wanted to see instructor comments, so I couldn't edit it. My paper was over 20 pages, but I asked the graduate administrator, and it was fine. Just check with the university to see how lenient they are with 'overages'.

I think the deadline was June 14 for successful candidates to respond, so hopefully it won't be too much longer for the alternates to hear back.

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Ok my stats: GPA 3.8x/4.33 applied through my university, just finished my undergrad 3 conferences 1 paper that was in the process of being published at the time 2 research assistantships Must of had really good references letters because I was clueless about how to write a program of study

Got my successful letter in BC! Might post stats later.

Cool, thanks.

Thanks, but I mean when the letters themselves went through the post-office - should be stamped on the front of the envelope. And if they were from the 17th we've got a problem with Canada post

Congrats to all! I'm in B.C. and I'm hoping that it doesn't take too long for my letter to arrive. When were the letters post-marked?

I sometimes wonder if they watch our frantic postings and decide to put off the mailings just to make us suffer a little longer.

I don't think anyone's posted this, and I don't know how helpful it might be, but this is from SSHRC's Latest News section, dated May 7. The relevant excerpt is: From: http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/news_room-salle_de_presse/latest_news-nouvelles_recentes/sshrc_news_may_2012-nouvelles_crsh_mai_2012-eng.aspx So I guess this means they already know who'll get the awards, we're just waiting for them to mail out the results.

Glad I found this board, I was starting to get a little paranoid. I'll be watching their twitter feed now I know it exists.