Thesis based MSc

[sticky1]

Hi. I am starting my MSc in January and I was wondering can someone give me a timeline on how you spend your time in MSc? What do you spend most of your time when you start your MSc? What do you spend most of your time when you are 1 year in your MSc?

[Slashsev01]

learn the techniques -> do experiments -> graduate

[janny_jan]

Varies completely from program to program, advisor to advisor.

My masters went like this:

1st year: course work, learning techniques in the lab, being a guinea pig for others experiments, applying for external funding, thinking of experiment, writing up ethics for experiment, submitting and revising ethics, and reading....reading A LOT

2nd year: planning out experiment, doing the experiment (recruiting, scheduling, etc), writing the damn thing, and reading......reading A LOT

 

I went to a couple conferences in my 2nd year, worked on a publication..stuff like that.

[globy321]

Hey janny_jan. Did you live at home when you were doing your Masters or did you live on your own?

[NewfieMike]

The general outline of an M.Sc student at my lab works like this:

 

year 1:

 

-courses

-being around for help/learning

-reading, reading, reading

 

year 2:

 

-starting experiment

-working all the time (weekends/holidays)

-reading some more

-writing

-hating life

-graduate, yay! (or roll into PhD and rinse/repeat)

[sticky1]

In the first year of your Masters did you guys show up whenever you liked to the lab or did you have a fixed schedule?

[janny_jan]

Hey janny_jan. Did you live at home when you were doing your Masters or did you live on your own?

 

I havent lived at home since grade 12 I'm originally from Vancouver, did undergrad in Nova Scotia and now in London doing my Masters

[janny_jan]

In the first year of your Masters did you guys show up whenever you liked to the lab or did you have a fixed schedule?

 

This depends on your advisor/lab. I can show up whenever I want but I know some people have to be in their labs from, say 9-12 and have to do lab clean up, etc.

[NewfieMike]

yeah our supervisor is pretty fair w.r.t grad students. He has a "so long as you get all your work done and don't slack off, he's happy" policy. So we have some people who like to get up early and are at the lab from 8-4, and we have others who like sleeping in and are in from 10-6

[orange123]

Varies completely from program to program, advisor to advisor.

My masters went like this:

1st year: course work, learning techniques in the lab, being a guinea pig for others experiments, applying for external funding, thinking of experiment, writing up ethics for experiment, submitting and revising ethics, and reading....reading A LOT

2nd year: planning out experiment, doing the experiment (recruiting, scheduling, etc), writing the damn thing, and reading......reading A LOT

 

I went to a couple conferences in my 2nd year, worked on a publication..stuff like that.

 

Hey Jannyjan! Is this a psychology-based thesis? Just wondering, since you mentioned "recruiting" (participants?) Sounds like fun though!! I'm doing my hon thesis right now, and am pretty much following what you've outlined as well! Gotta get back to my proposal...

[janny_jan]

Hey Jannyjan! Is this a psychology-based thesis? Just wondering, since you mentioned "recruiting" (participants?) Sounds like fun though!! I'm doing my hon thesis right now, and am pretty much following what you've outlined as well! Gotta get back to my proposal...

 

Nopers! Its exercise physiology with human subjects (hence the recuritment). It is fun I'm done the experiment part and on to the writing which I'm not liking as much but it has to be done! GL with your honours thesis! I loved every part of my honours thesis in undergrad...it kick started my interest in research

[orange123]

Nopers! Its exercise physiology with human subjects (hence the recuritment). It is fun I'm done the experiment part and on to the writing which I'm not liking as much but it has to be done! GL with your honours thesis! I loved every part of my honours thesis in undergrad...it kick started my interest in research

 

Ah, okay. Thanks for the luck! I'll need it hehe. But I really AM enjoying it. I see what you mean about kick-starting interest in research. It's fun! Good luck with your write-up!!

[amberphana]

Hey,

 

im planning on doing a 2-yr research thesis based masters next year and Im kinda undecided about where to go.

 

I really want to go to U of T for masters in Immunology department, but knowing so many people that obtained ****ty undergrad grades from there... i dont want the same fate in my graduate courses. I was wondering if anyone knew if U of T is more lenient towards their masters students than they are with undergrad. I have a pretty decent gpa in my undergrad coming from mcmaster. I just dont wanna screw it up.. if i did want to pursue medicine or dentistry at a later time.

[astrogirl]

amberphana - I would say don't even worry about grades in grad school. It's a whole different ballgame, and for the most part they aren't trying to weed people out anymore. The average grade in a grad school class tends to be higher than in an undergrad class. In a lot of grad programs the minimum passing grade is a B, so all the grades just tend to scale upwards. Usually that means that the lowest grade in a class is a B (or even a B+). There are always classes that are exceptions to that, but people in your program will warn you away from taking them!

 

One of the other grad students in my department likes to say that grad school grades are like the points that don't matter on "Who's Line is it Anyway" - we do a bunch of assignments, we get grades for them, and in the end everyone just gets an A anyway. Maybe not quite, but my point is that if a school has a reputation for being hard to get good undergrad grades, that doesn't necessarily say anything about their grad programs.

 

I think the most useful thing to do when picking a grad program is to identify potential supervisors, talk to them, and talk to their students about what it is like to work for them. Talking to students is the key, because they aren't trying to recruit you and will tell you the truth! And if a supervisor doesn't have any students, that's probably a bad sign. Classes are a really small part of a research-based MSc, and your supervisor will pretty much determine what your life will be like, so do all you can to find a decent one.

[amberphana]

Hey,

 

thanks astrogirl.. ill try to talk to grad students in the program. I know i can do well at mac if i stayed, but ... u of t is just closer to home and it will save me money!!.. plus i love the city.