Funding/Applying for Masters for Sept 2011

[medhopeful64]

Hey everyone,

 

I have a friend who applied to do a master's degree for the upcoming year, but she's having trouble finding a supervisor. It seems like all the labs she was interested in are full already (though she applied in Jan/Feb) or can't take her in without funding (she doesn't have a source of money, since apparently the deadline to apply was in October or something and she didn't know and so she missed it). She did have a few interviews with potential supervisors but in the follow-up they said no. She's really worried that if she can't find a prof/funding for next year soon, she'll have to take the year off (which isn't something she wants to do). She's continuing to email more profs, etc, but its not looking too good at the moment.

 

In particular, she's worried that her grades are getting in the way of her application. She has lab experience (at least one year, I'm not sure how much more), and believes her references are good, but she says the scholarships for funding are grades-based, and this is not helping her case. Any recommendations on where else to look? Is there any way she can still apply for funding somewhere? (I'm assuming these are scholarships? I don't know the details of the app process, I've never looked into it myself (yet)).

 

How would you recommend to approach a potential professor? What should one say in the email? (besides things like enthusiasm, lab experience, etc) Tips on nailing the interview? Follow-up? Any other advice for her?

 

Thanks!

[osteon]

Unfortunately, when a supervisor says they require their students to have funding, they USUALLY mean big time funding, I.e. $15,000 per year or higher. This is not necessarily to ensure the student is a good one, but to ensure the student has money during school. They don't want their students to be broke, and they don't usually want to pay out of their own pocket for them. The big time awards (ex. NSERC, CIHR, OGS etc) have application deadlines in October usually, and are awarded to begin in September of the following year (meaning if this is what your friend's prospective supervisors want, shes out of luck this year). Honestly, for someone applying to grad school, this is a must know thing and it probably doesn't reflect well if you don't apply. Schools may offer in house awards, some for a lot of money that can satisfy the supervisors requirement. Similarly, many of these deadlines have already passed. Some schools are willing to pay for a recruitment scholarship for students, but this is mostly based on grades. I'd suggest applying for a research grant, but this is almost impossible to get if one doesn't already have a research program in place.

 

My best suggestion: either find a school that guarantees funding for their students, or find a supervisor that doesn't care about funding (and there are a lot of them).

 

Good luck

[medhopeful64]

Unfortunately, when a supervisor says they require their students to have funding, they USUALLY mean big time funding, I.e. $15,000 per year or higher. This is not necessarily to ensure the student is a good one, but to ensure the student has money during school. They don't want their students to be broke, and they don't usually want to pay out of their own pocket for them. The big time awards (ex. NSERC, CIHR, OGS etc) have application deadlines in October usually, and are awarded to begin in September of the following year (meaning if this is what your friend's prospective supervisors want, shes out of luck this year). Honestly, for someone applying to grad school, this is a must know thing and it probably doesn't reflect well if you don't apply. Schools may offer in house awards, some for a lot of money that can satisfy the supervisors requirement. Similarly, many of these deadlines have already passed. Some schools are willing to pay for a recruitment scholarship for students, but this is mostly based on grades. I'd suggest applying for a research grant, but this is almost impossible to get if one doesn't already have a research program in place.

 

My best suggestion: either find a school that guarantees funding for their students, or find a supervisor that doesn't care about funding (and there are a lot of them).

 

Good luck

 

Thanks osteon for the reply. Yeah, it does look like my friend's outta luck this year...I'll let her know about the in house awards though.

 

Thanks!

[EoE]

To maybe give a glimmer of hope... Grad school is usually not based on yearly admissions cycles like meds. Many schools will take students throughout the year, so if your friend wants to go to grad school and hasn't got a spot for Sept, there is still hope. Many schools post deadlines to try to encourage students to apply together, but those deadlines are often soft. Your friend could even try for a Jan start date, which is fairly common.

 

Funding is not required to start in a fair portion of the labs out there. At my school (in ontario) I would say only about a third of students have funding when they start and only about two thirds have funding at any time throughout their grad school! The labs that require funding are either really good (can be choosey and only take students that have $) or really bad (have so little funding they actually can't afford a grad student salary). As Osteon said, there are many labs in the middle that could be good!

[medhopeful64]

To maybe give a glimmer of hope... Grad school is usually not based on yearly admissions cycles like meds. Many schools will take students throughout the year, so if your friend wants to go to grad school and hasn't got a spot for Sept, there is still hope. Many schools post deadlines to try to encourage students to apply together, but those deadlines are often soft. Your friend could even try for a Jan start date, which is fairly common.

 

Funding is not required to start in a fair portion of the labs out there. At my school (in ontario) I would say only about a third of students have funding when they start and only about two thirds have funding at any time throughout their grad school! The labs that require funding are either really good (can be choosey and only take students that have $) or really bad (have so little funding they actually can't afford a grad student salary). As Osteon said, there are many labs in the middle that could be good!

 

Really? my friend's been having a tough time mainly because of the funding issue...but marks are also problematic, so I guess its not a good combo!

 

thanks for your reply!

[EoE]

I just did a quick calc for this...

 

Of the people I can think of off the top of my head (by mentally visiting each lab on the floor - yuh!) there are 6 students with CIHR funding (3 PhD/3MSc), 4 with NSERC (all in the same NSERC funded lab... suspicious!) and 4 with others funding (OGS/Cancer foundations/etc). That is out of 27 students. I know that isn't a really large sample and I didn't count myself (because I am done and they won't pay me anymore!). So 14/27 is about half I guess

 

No one I know started with CIHR money, but 2 of the NSERC students started with funding (carrying forward from undergrad awards) and 2 others started with OGS. So it is definitely less than a third I guess.

 

Sometimes getting funding is highly department and institution dependent. CIHR definitely puts a lot of weight on 'Training Environment' and especially your supervisors experience. OGS puts a lot of emphasis on the ranking given by your dept, which at my school is totally based on politics/looks!

[medhopeful64]

I just did a quick calc for this...

 

Of the people I can think of off the top of my head (by mentally visiting each lab on the floor - yuh!) there are 6 students with CIHR funding (3 PhD/3MSc), 4 with NSERC (all in the same NSERC funded lab... suspicious!) and 4 with others funding (OGS/Cancer foundations/etc). That is out of 27 students. I know that isn't a really large sample and I didn't count myself (because I am done and they won't pay me anymore!). So 14/27 is about half I guess

 

No one I know started with CIHR money, but 2 of the NSERC students started with funding (carrying forward from undergrad awards) and 2 others started with OGS. So it is definitely less than a third I guess.

 

Sometimes getting funding is highly department and institution dependent. CIHR definitely puts a lot of weight on 'Training Environment' and especially your supervisors experience. OGS puts a lot of emphasis on the ranking given by your dept, which at my school is totally based on politics/looks!

 

Ok thanks EoE!

[phy241]

Hey, I can totally understand your friend's frustration. I was also accepted into a masters program with funding (OGS) luckily so I had no trouble finding potential supervisors, but those who didn't had a hard time especially this year. Apparently, the funding is VERY VERY bad, the government made huge cuts in research and as a result, many labs are closing and many old supervisors are actually retiring because their grants didn't get approved. So normally, you don't NEED external funding, but this year since the grants are virtually non-existent, funding will be a HUGE help. Here's a few tips that I can offer:

 

First thing you should know is that just because you get accepted into masters, doesn't mean you are a registered student. Most departments don't tell you this, but, they accept more students then the number of available positions, so start emailing profs ASAP. If you don't find a supervisor by September 2011, you generally have until September 2012 to find one. One thing you can do is ask a supervisor (who is NICE and whose research you are interested in) to let you volunteer in their lab during the next few months (September-December). If they like your work, chances are they will take you on as a student in January 2012, even if it means they have to pay out of their pocket. You can perhaps maybe volunteer in more than one lab to ensure you get a spot by January 2012. Like someone mentioned previously, there are also departmental awards, but they are based on your marks, typically your last year of undergraduate studies or at most your last two. Like EoE said, not many people enter into graduate studies with funding, it's quite rare. However, once you are a graduate student, it's MUCH easier to get funding. Hope this helps your friend in one way or another, goodluck!

[medhopeful64]

Hey, I can totally understand your friend's frustration. I was also accepted into a masters program with funding (OGS) luckily so I had no trouble finding potential supervisors, but those who didn't had a hard time especially this year. Apparently, the funding is VERY VERY bad, the government made huge cuts in research and as a result, many labs are closing and many old supervisors are actually retiring because their grants didn't get approved. So normally, you don't NEED external funding, but this year since the grants are virtually non-existent, funding will be a HUGE help. Here's a few tips that I can offer:

 

First thing you should know is that just because you get accepted into masters, doesn't mean you are a registered student. Most departments don't tell you this, but, they accept more students then the number of available positions, so start emailing profs ASAP. If you don't find a supervisor by September 2011, you generally have until September 2012 to find one. One thing you can do is ask a supervisor (who is NICE and whose research you are interested in) to let you volunteer in their lab during the next few months (September-December). If they like your work, chances are they will take you on as a student in January 2012, even if it means they have to pay out of their pocket. You can perhaps maybe volunteer in more than one lab to ensure you get a spot by January 2012. Like someone mentioned previously, there are also departmental awards, but they are based on your marks, typically your last year of undergraduate studies or at most your last two. Like EoE said, not many people enter into graduate studies with funding, it's quite rare. However, once you are a graduate student, it's MUCH easier to get funding. Hope this helps your friend in one way or another, goodluck!

 

Thanks phy241 for your reply! Yeah, I've sort of noticed that too, that governments are cutting money for research.. those are good suggestions, I'll let my friend know. Thanks

[lovestruck]

Also, you mentioned that your friend has issues with grades (I assume they aren't top notch?) and funding issues. Since all the funding is 50% based on grades, this will put her out of the running even for next year if her grades aren't great. For NSERC/CIHR, you're looking at 3.90+ GPA's these days, since the amount of money is limited and competition is fierce. OGS is a little lower, but it's still higher then it used be (around 3.80+). It's very competitive and grades based, so if she hasn't got the grades even if she applies by the deadlines next year she may not get funding. I suggest she find a prof that won't care and will still take her. I did a LOT of interviews in Canada for my MSc and many profs didn't seem to care about funding, so it is possible.