Research or GPA focus for application in masters?

[JOy]

Hi!

 

I'm in a pickle... so I plan to graduate this June. I didn't get accepted to the master's program that really wanted. I'm not discouraged I feel I will try again next year with a better application. As of right now I have a variety of opportunities and I am not sure what exactly to choose. I have 3 volunteer research opportunities to choose from, and another potentially paid student summer research and a work study position.

 

Should I focus on research this summer or a mixture of research and courses to upgrade my GPA? My GPA isn't the greatest but it isn't bad..it basically meets the cut-off for the graduate programs I am interested in.

 

(and yes i am going the master's route)

[astrogirl]

Definitely research. Grad programs care a lot more about research, and taking a few classes isn't likely to change your GPA enough that it will make much difference.

[leap87]

If you don't mind me asking, why did you get rejected? Due to your marks or lack of research experience?

[JOy]

@leap87

 

Hi, the letter said the program is highly competitive with about 400 applicants to 35 seats. Most of the people I talked to that got in had very high GPAs and way more research experience than I had.

[leap87]

Then you'd probably need to improve both. Did you have a guaranteed supervisor when you applied?

[justbelieve]

To add on to that... it's much easier to get into grad programs if you have a supervisor in mind who is willing to take you. Also, you might want to consider preemptively applying for Grad funding through the Tri-Council programs if you haven't already. If you have funding for a MSc than it's a lot easier to find labs who will take you.

 

That being said... 400 apps for 35 seats sounds pretty freakin' intense. What grad program is this?

 

@leap87

 

Hi, the letter said the program is highly competitive with about 400 applicants to 35 seats. Most of the people I talked to that got in had very high GPAs and way more research experience than I had.

[leap87]

JOy: Funding will especially help you for next year. To put things into perspective: I know a girl who got NSERC for Masters, plus a whole bunch of other scholarships, everything totaling more than $40,000. She had 42 potential supervisors; ALL accepted her. Of course, she also had a high GPA with that and tons of research experience.

 

Now, people in my lab for example, the guy who is starting his Masters in September doesn't have any funding. The university is giving him a ****ty $13,000 plus another couple thousand from his supervisor (which he made sure to have guaranteed before he applied). Compare this to a Masters student in my lab who applied before September 2010: they ended up getting 18,000 or more from university (depending on their GPA); some of them got 20,000$.

 

My point is that funding has been tremendously slashed. The guy who is going to do his Masters in September had a solid GPA (high B+), didn't think he was going to do a Masters so didn't apply for funding and I can tell you that my supervisor had a hell of a time trying to convince the grad committee that he is a suitable applicant. Thankfully, my supervisor is one of the profs sitting on the admissions committee so he was able to persuade them to admit him.

 

So that being said, if you have an average GPA (let's say a low B+) and you get funded by CIHR, have a guaranteed supervisor + project at the time of the application, they won't care about the GPA as much because you have the funding and most likely you'll end up gaining an admission.

 

To put all of this in perspective: no students in my lab got OGS this year; no students got NSERC; a couple of them got CIHR last year but none this year. Students who did get OGS last year were rejected this year. There is only one student in my lab who is getting the funding over the summer because his supervisor is great at finding external sources of funding.

[janny_jan]

+1 on the funding being slashed. CIHR had a grand total of 2...TWO (with some exceptions)!!! awards for each section this year for the entire country. OGS is now almost as competitive as Tri Council and they may be getting rid of OGSST. Last year they said there wouldnt be OGSST for 2010 but its still on the website so keep your fingers crossed that the government hasn't totally forgotten about us grad students!