Computer Science Canada

Grad School Questions
Author:  Dan [ Fri Mar 06, 2009 3:23 pm ]
Post subject:  Grad School Questions
I have a few questions about graduate studies that maybe some one can help out with.

How does funding work at the masters level? And is there something like OSAP for grad students?

If you have done graduate studies before how did you go about finding a supervisor and how did you pick what topic you did for your thesis?

For 2 year masters programs how is the course/thesis work normally divided? Are most of the graduate courses done in the first year and the thesis work the 2nd or are they both done simultaneously over the 2 years?

If you have done graduate studies before do you have any tips for some one how as just been accepted into such a program?
Author:  DemonWasp [ Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:45 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Grad School Questions
I'm not a grad, but I can answer one of your questions: I'm pretty sure OSAP is actually offered to graduate students as well. See here; the main list is here.
Author:  jernst [ Fri Mar 06, 2009 11:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Grad School Questions
Funding for masters doesnt seem to be guarenteed at most places. You can probably find all of the funding information via the schools webpages, it varies from school to school and even from year to year. For example when I started at Guelph, I was lucky and offered full funding (11000/yr) which is enough for tuition and transportation there but not much else. But now they have adjusted the funding and it is dependent on how much your advisor will offer (the school matches whatever the advisor offers you). Also at Guelph, there is a scholarship available to anyone with average over 75% of around 1500 for MSc and about 3000 for PhD

Toronto offers full funding + 15000 for all phd students (not sure about masters) and waterloo offers something like 21000 for phd.. I'm not entirely sure about schools outside of Ontario but I think Waterloo and Toronto are about the best (that I've been looking at)

For the masters I am finishing at Guelph, it was two-ish semesters of courses and 2-3 semesters for thesis. The graduate courses all seem to be taken at the start of the degree while you concentrate on research, papers and thesis for the last bit. The thesis for masters depends on your advsior. You could get an advisor that gives you alot of direction and mostly tells you what you will be doing. Alternatively, you could end up with an advisor who lets you go mostly on your own and just provides guidance.

In terms of finding an advisor, some schools pair you up with the advisor once you are accepted, but most seem to leave it up to you to connect with an advisor and it is required before you are admitted. When I first applied, I tried to contact advisors via email to arrange meetings or discuss with them what I was interested in etc. however many were either too busy or uninterested in me. The way I ended up finding my advisor was via a direct recommendation from on my undergrad profs who is now my co-advisor.

Getting accepted seems to be mostly about getting an advisor to agree to fund your work and supervise you. Many schools will not even admit you unless this is the case.
Author:  Dan [ Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:38 am ]
Post subject:  RE:Grad School Questions
Thanks for your reply jernst, in my case i have been offered admsion in a graduate program and do not yet have funding or a supervisor, i plan on talking to the graduate conridater soon to get a better understading of how things work here and some advice on finding a supervsior.

Also for me all of the profs i had for undergrad are the profs avaiable to be supervisors as it is the same university, so lucky i allready know them all.

Tuttion for graduate stuties here is only just over $2000 a term (just over $4000 a year) with school fees include. I am still a bit confused about funding at the graduate level, is it just about paying tuttion or do you have to have funding avaiblale for your work?
Author:  jernst [ Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Grad School Questions
Your luck then! most of the hard work is done since your already in Razz
Yeah its probably best to talk to the coordinator to see exactly how its done where you are because its likely a bit different everywhere. They will also be able to tell you about how funding works as well. If you had really good marks during undergrad (80+ avg) you might be able to apply to some good funding in sept such as NSERC and OGS. I think the point of the funding is ideally so you dont have to work at all during grad studies but often I think this is not the case. Some of the funding might be attached to doing TA work as well, so its work, but its fairly light and its good to have some teaching type of experience if you plan to be a prof someday.

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