Here are some random notes and advice I would like to share with you. Hopefully these will make you better informed and make your application stronger.
General
Professors receive a lot of emails. We look for students who are interested in our own research. If your email looks like it was sent to 100 other professors, it will be less likely for you to receive a response.
Master's degree:
- For master's degrees, there are two types: thesis-based master's (2 years) and course-based (professional) master's (1 to 2 years).
- Thesis-based master's programs are research focused. They are meant to prepare you for research and Ph.D. You take only a few courses, and conduct extensive research with a thesis supervisor, similar to a Ph.D. program but much shorter.
- Course-based master's programs prepare you for the industry. You are not required to do research or thesis writing, but to complete a number of courses and in some programs, an internship.
- Thesis-based master's programs are common in Canada. These programs are fully funded because students are expected to conduct extensive research and publish papers. In the USA, many master's programs are not funded, because they are course-based master's programs. Funding means scholarships, teaching assistantships, or research assistantships.
- Admission-wise, a thesis-based master's program is usually harder to get into than a course-based program. You typically need higher achievements to get into a thesis-based program. You also need a lot of luck - sometimes your application is perfect, but no funding is available at the time, so you won't be admitted. It is not your fault.
To Ph.D. or not to Ph.D.? This question has been asked by many, many people. I have these points to summarize:
- The journey of getting a Ph.D. can be a very rewarding experience. You are making a small, but significant contribution to humanity. This is a great list of reasons for Ph.D.
- A Ph.D. is a full-time commitment. It can take four years. You need to think through where you are in your stages of life. Are you willing to put in such a commitment?
- People go through a Ph.D. for a variety of reasons, but regardless of your motivation, you should be genuinely passionate about your research topic. Many people cannot complete a Ph.D. because they lost interest in their research topic.
- You will be working with your Ph.D. supervisor for a long time, so compatibility is very important. It would be difficult to complete a Ph.D. if you cannot get along with your supervisor (and the reverse is true: it would be difficult for your supervisor to lead their research group if they cannot get along with you). Choose your supervisor carefully and ask questions.
- The field of computer science is one of the "lucky" fields in which there are lots of job opportunities in the industry, so a Ph.D. in computer science does not limit you to just academic jobs.
GRE: Most Canadian universities do not require the GRE (Graduate Record Examinations). Your time would be better spent on improving your technical skills (in specific areas that you are applying to) and research experiences.
CV: In Canada and the USA, your academic CV should be a professional document detailing all your achievements since you became an adult. (Do not include anything from middle school or high school, unless you won an Olympic medal or something similar.)
- Your CV can be longer than a résumé. A résumé is maximum 2 pages; A CV can be as many pages as necessary.
- Your CV should start with your name, contact information, and links to your personal website/portfolio, LinkedIn, or GitHub (if they are professionally maintained).
- Your CV should include your education (with grades/GPA), skills (programming languages and other skills), projects, and awards.
- Having publications is a big plus, and will set you apart from all other applicants.
- Describe your research, work, and other experiences, even if they are not related to the research group you are applying to.
- Your CV should not include your marital status, children, religion, or passport/id number. We do not judge your application based on these information.
- However, do state if you are a Canadian citizen/Canadian permanent resident, because if you are, you will be given priority consideration. Only Canadian citizens/Canadian permanent residents are eligible for Canadian government scholarships for master's ($27,000).
- Starting 2025, all Ph.D. students are eligible for Ph.D. scholarships ($40,000 per year).
Preparing applications:
- Graduate school application is a very personal process. As long as you meet the minimum requirements, higher grades on your transcript does not give you better chances.
- ChatGPT can only help you a little. At the end of the day, ChatGPT cannot make you impressive if you are not already impressive.
- Pay attention to who you ask to write reference letters for you. Your chance of success will be drastically reduced if your reference letters are not at the highest standard.
- Do not submit an application to a Ph.D. program without first talking with a potential supervisor. Your supervisor will be personally funding your education for four years. There is no way they would agree to do this without having talked to you first. Using an analogy: This is like a marriage. Would you marry someone without talking to them first?
- The previous statement doesn't apply if a Ph.D. program is unfunded. However, if a Ph.D. program doesn't have guaranteed funding, that means the university is not investing in your education. You could drop out the next day and they wouldn't care. Do you really want to go there?
My research group (this applies to thesis-based programs only)
We are the Serious Games Research Group.
I am a hands-on supervisor and I will meet with you every week throughout your research journey here. I will support every one of my students to the best of my abilities.
When reading your application, I will be looking at your CV to see if you have done something related to what I am looking for. This point is much more important than a high grade on your transcript.
For Ph.D. applicants, you need to show that you are capable of publishing research papers, which is usually what happens in a thesis-based master's degree. There are always exceptions, but it is up to you to show why you are capable: submitted papers? paper drafts? arXiv preprints? undergraduate project reports? If you have nothing to show, you will not be successful in a Ph.D. application.
Can you transfer from our thesis-based master's program to our Ph.D. program? Yes, that is possible. Some students completed one year in the master's program, and transfered to Ph.D. because they really enjoyed their research project and made good progress.
In fact, if you are not able to get admission to our Ph.D. program, an alternative path is to get admission to thesis-based master's, and then apply for transfer in your first year. Direct admission to Ph.D. from a bachelor's degree is almost impossible.
I have read a lot of computer science applications where the applicants say they know AI. Knowing scikit-learn, Tensorflow, Keras, or PyTorch does not make you impressive for computer science, unfortunately, because everybody is using them, including people in geology, business, medicine, arts, politics, etc. If you really want to impress someone as a computer scientist, show that you can write machine learning algorithms from scratch, or that you can do machine learning calculations by hand, on a piece of paper (you need to know the math).
Staring from 2023, I have also read more and more applications that mention LLMs, etc. Let's be clear: a computer scientist doesn't just use LLMs. A computer scientist should know how to build one.
Our degrees
Our computer science master's and Ph.D. degrees are all fully funded thesis-based research degrees.
Our Computational Media Design (CMD) master's and Ph.D. degrees are very different from computer science. CMD is a transdisciplinary program that requires students to be at the intersection of computer science and arts/design. One such area is designing and creating innovative interactive digital experiences. CMD is a fully funded thesis-based degree.
Our 1-year course-based master's degree in Data Science and Analytics is great for anyone who had a career in another area, and wants to pivot their career to data analysis and applied machine learning. Since this is a career-transition degree, applicants come from many different backgrounds, and are not expected to have an undergraduate degree in computer science or data science.
- More to be added...
- Good luck!