Inquiry about NSERC

[Valcrimo]

I'm a first year student at University of Toronto and I'm very intersted in getting some research experience. My understanding is that NSERC and the many other research scholarships are heavily based on your GPA.

 

I made the horrible decision to let my work ethic slip for the first bit of first semester and ended up with a 3.15 in two of my half credit courses. With that being said, I've smartened up and I'm getting 4.0 (90+) in all my second semester courses and am slowly making my way to a 3.7-3.9 in the two full year courses that I am taking. I anticipate a GPA of around 3.8 for my first year consisting of 6 half year courses and two full year courses.

 

I'm wondering if NSERC takes into account summer course marks (since I know medicine at UofT does not). I'd really like a way to boost my average to make me competitive for research scholarships.

 

Thanks in advance!!

[Valcrimo]

I'm also wondering... If I volunteer first, is there a chance I might gain a paying research position with my lower GPA?

[Leon]

Valcrimo, you need to get yourself together. The reason why you received few replies in your other thread is simple: You were simply posting question after question without waiting for replies. At least half the posts in that 4 page long thread are yours!

 

Don't post the same question in multiple forums of the same board.

 

And to answer your question (which was already answered in your other thread), 3.8 is enough to enter Summer research in most places and you will probably submit your transcript so your summer courses would be mentioned on that.

 

Also, priority is given to second and third year students.

And prior volunteer experience in a lab does help.

[Starling]

When I read the title of this thread I was wondering what NSERC had done to be the subject of an inquiry.

[astrogirl]

Doing research without getting paid is often necessary before you get a paying research job. Potential supervisors like to see that you are capable of being a good researcher before they pay you to do it.

 

You can certainly do research without getting an NSERC. There are other sources of funding besides NSERC.

 

Professors sometimes have extra funding to pay undergrads with, and some departments have money to hire undergrads. To get that type of funding you don't need the world's best grades - you just need to be doing well enough to convince people that you won't end up destroying your GPA if you take time away from studying to do research.

 

I know people with 2.5 GPAs who got paying research jobs (from their supervisor's own funding, not external agencies) because they were really good researchers who had spent a lot of time doing unpaid research (and no, these people were not premeds, in case you were wondering).

 

But if you're finding it really time-consuming to get the GPA you want, I would recommend sticking with unpaid research at least for the time being, because when you're a volunteer you're more free to scale back the amount of work you're doing if you need more time to study.

[Valcrimo]

Thanks for the info !

[mig174]

Like the poster above said, it's (usually) solely based on GPA. How competitive it is depends on the department, the number of awards it issues, and whether it cares if you had a previous NSERC award.

 

I applied for a physiology NSERC after 1st year with 3.88 and got it (as did my friend with 3.81 GPA). Next year, reapplying for the same award with 3.84 (my friend at 3.89) - neither of us got it. So it's variable.

 

Of course, you need to line up a supervisor with an NSERC grant prior to applying, so spend your summer doing that. Volunteering could be an option. Applying for less competitive awards from departments (such as IMS or others) can help, as well.

[Valcrimo]

Thank you so much for the advice (:! You guys are really helpful.

 

I'm thinking of working as a summer camp counselor to help pay for tuition. Would it be possible to volunteer at the same time? (how many hours do you usually have to commit?)