Masters in Canada - FAQ

I've been receiving a spate of requests through orkut and otherwise for assistance regarding applying to Canada for masters. I myself have received generous help from people here when I was in India and hence I feel obligated to help anyone with their application. But there is no point in repeating the same answers to everyone. Hence this post which lists answers to some questions that have been thrown at me quite frequently. Also many of the questions that have been asked to me are pretty stupid. I am listing those questions too (for fun and for the benefit of those who want them).

Q: Can you help with my application process?
A: Absolutely, but please go through this list completely. If you are applying for under graduation, I might not be of much help. I tried to answer questions from a guy who contacted me through orkut but realized that I couldnt give too many answers. If you are an undergrad, then goto this community called Indians@UoCalgary in orkut. Please check if there are any undergrads in that community and request them for their assistance.

Q: I am in a hurry and I have to apply immediately. Can you please give me names of universities to apply, sample recos, sops etc...?
A: No. I am not a consulting agency.

Q: What universities in Canada should I apply?
A: Bad question. How the hell am I supposed to know? Please do your homework on this. I can answer if you ask me for names of some good universities in Canada but I cannot suggest universities to you. Go through the list of good universities and see what research is happening there. If they do good work in a field that you like, then go ahead and apply.

Q: What are the good universities in Canada?
A: Good question. I am not aware of a definitive list of any sort. I am just listing down a few here which in my opinion are good. There could me and most probably will be universities out of this list that are outstandingly good in some fields and some of these universities could also be outstandingly bad in some fields. Notwithstanding this, these are generally considered to be good places to park yourselves for a couple of years.
1) Univesity of Toronto
2) Univesity of British Columbia
3) Univesity of Waterloo
4) Univesity of Mcgill
5) Univesity of Mcmaster
6) Univesity of Western Ontario
7) Univesity of Alberta
8) Univesity of Calgary

Q: How about professor ABC in University of Calgary? (or) How about the research group ABC in University of Calgary?
A: Ill try and put you in touch with someone in that research group. Ill not be giving my personal opinions on any prof. At best, I can give info on how popular they are and how much funds they are in possesion.

Q: What is the fees for this course XYZ in your university?
A: Bad question. What the hell is the Internet there for? If you cant find this info from the universities web page, then either you are bad at searching or that university is not worth applying to.

Q: What is the cost of living in city ABC?
A: Good question. You need to contact people living in city ABC to get an exact picture of the cost of licing for ABC. I live in Calgary and hence I can give info for Calgary. Calgary is in the middle of what people call 'Chinaish' economic growth. So, cost of living has spiralled and has shot through the roof. For a pretty average one room basement where utilities are shared with others in the house, you will have to pay something around $450. This is as of Nov 14, 2006. If you are reading this much after this date, you might have to talk to someone to get the latest info. The university does provide residence services and rooms are available there for rates between $400 and $600. Again this is as of Nov 14, 2006. For exact rates, check the website. Food and other expenses can be managed within $200. The university fees includes a free pass in all modes of public transport and hence there will be no special transportation cost. So you can manage to live frugally with about $650 - $700 per month.

Q: I have friends in US who do masters there and the numbers they said were much lower. These numbers seem to be unbelievable.
A: Yes. These numbers are unbelievable. As I said, Alberta (State in which Calgary is located) is in the middle of 'Chinaish' economic growth and hence cost of living has increased tremendously in the last one year.

Q: What are the requirements for University XYZ (or) Do I need GRE to apply to University XYZ (or) My scores are so much in these exams and I have this GPA in my UG. Will I get admission in University XYZ?
A: Bad question. You should definitely find details about requirements on the universities website. Also, I am not in the admissions committee. If your grades are above the requirements mentioned, then it simply boils down to the competition.

Q: Is it worthwhile doing a masters in Canada (or) Are the degrees given there recognized all over the world (or) How does masters in Canada compare with masters in US?
A: My personal opinion is that the standard of education in the universities that I listed above are really high and easily compare with the standard of education in the top 30 ranked universities in the US. So, as regards your knowledge, you will learn a lot. Finally, as a post graduate, any industry will look primarily only at your knowledge. Also, these univesities are in no known 'black lists'. So, you can apply without any fear. The biggest advantage of applying here is the fact that you wont be spending too much (details below). If you intend to do a phd or go back to India after your masters, then studying here makes much more sense than spending a huge amount and studying in a not so highly ranked university in the US. But, if you want to settle in the US, then this is probably not a great route.

Q: Howz the job scenario?
A: After seeing the job boom in India (in IT) and hearing stories about US, you would probably expect tremendous job oppurtunities. But thats not the case. Thats the flip side. You dont have the big IT companies like Intel, Microsoft, Oracle etc... But this does not mean people go jobless or there are no jobs. There are lots and lots of jobs. Most IT jobs are as in house software developers in companies like Shell (oil and gas) and Rogers (Communications) etc... There are a few startups that offer exciting job profiles, there is an IBM research lab etc.. But no companies that thrive on headcount like Infosys, Wipro etc... For non IT people, I can see that there are lots of jobs for people related to petroleum industry. Otherwise, I really dont have much idea. Please contact someone in your field.

Q: How about settling down there?
A: You can get a PR within say an year or an year and a half of completing your masters. You will have to stay here for another 2 years to apply for citizenship. So, it takes about 6 years from your date of landing to become a citizen.

Q: What about funding?
A: Thats the best part. Unlike the US, almost everyone has some kind of funding. Its either a Teaching Assitanship or a Research Assistanship or a combination of the two. The assitanship is calculated so that you can pay your fees out of that and still manage to live frugally without spending out of your pocket.

Q: How can the tuition fees be paid?
A: Since almost everyone gets some sort of funding, most universities allow people to deduct the fees from your funding on a monthly basis. So, if your fees is say 12K for the first year, then 1K will be deducted from your funding every month. So typically the funding you recieve is around 1.7K per month. I know for sure this feature exists at University of Calgary and have heard that this is the same in all universities. Please check with someone in the university of your interest to understand if this is possible there. This, according to me, is a tremendous advantage when compared with US universities where you have to cough up a huge amount upfront. Also the second year fees is only 4K, which again is quite unlike US universities where the second year fees is pretty much same as the first year fees.

Q: Can you look for a place for me to stay at Calgary?
A: Ideally this question does not belong here in the application FAQ but am including it due to the difficulties involved in finding a place. The answer is applicable to Calgary and I have no idea about other cities. I really wouldnt want to look for a place for you but if you are really desperate, yes I can try and help. The reason is that the renting scenario in Calgary is really really, I cant stress enough, really bad. There are hardly any houses that are vacant. So, I'd suggest that you apply immediately to the University Residence. This way you can avoid a looooottttt of pain. Also students who stay outside, themselves stay in pretty shanty one room basements sharing lots of stuff with other students. To accomodate another person will be a pain. One needs to talk to fellow room mates and the pain in the ass landlords. So, dont even imagine staying at someones place and searching for a house. Its nearly impossible. Please apply to residence services at the earliest. Also residence services maintains a database through which you can look for houses in the city. Try using that. Dont relax if that shows lots of available places. The database is sometimes not upto date, the houses might be bad and/or pretty far from the university. I am not painting a bad picture to discourage people from asking me for help. Finding houses in Calgary is seriously a pain. Please apply to residence services at the earliest.

Q: I am from a tropical place. Will I be able to mange to cold?
A: I myself am from Chennai. Summer temperatures sometimes touch 45 and winter temperatures rarely go below 25. I've managed to stay alive here :). So, dont worry too much about the cold. Temperatures rarely go below -35 in Calgary. You dont have to be paranoid about that. With proper protective gear and a few precautions, you wont even notice the cold. Normal life goes on even in -35. So, dont consider the cold as one of the factors for your university selection.

Q: Can I get a contact from University of Calgary in XYZ department or from ABC city?
A: I can try.

Q: Are there Indian Restaurants?
A: There are a plethora of indian restaurants in Calgary. I've been here only for 2 months and I myself know atleast 25.

Q: Can I cook my own food?
A: Of course, you will go broke if you eat outside. Almost any item you need to cook your own style of food can be cooked here. You get all the raw materials.
Special note for vegetarians: If you are vegetarian, then please come prepared to cook every meal of every single day. There are hardly one or two items that you get outside that are vegetarian. I myself am a vegetarian and have managed to stay alive :). Just be prepared to improve your culinary skills.

If you feel your questions have not been answered, please contact me on orkut
http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=7325350134106176386

The adventures continue

Me: Hey ***, I think we should do something about this...
***: About what?
Me: This program.. I dont think I can do it all by myself.. I am sure you are trying your best.. but unfortunately.. that isnt enough.. So far, this double work has not been affecting me too much.. but I need to start working on my term projects.. I simply cannot afford to spend so much time on this..
***: OK, Ill learn programming in 2 weeks
Me: Well.. It is not possible for you to learn programming in 2 weeks... Its an art.. like dance or music.. you can learn C syntax.. but programming? you cannot do it...

** is silent for some time.. Goes out for a walk and comes back...

***: You are so rude
***: You are condescending
***: You boss around so much and do not know proper etiquette
***: Take it from me that if you talk like this in company meetings you will be thrown out.
***: blah blah blah


Well my adventures in Canda are continuing. After being comically accused earlier I was accused pretty seriously by someone of being rude and having a condescending attitude. This happened in pretty dramatic fashion, with blood shot eyes and a loud voice. All this, for pointing out to the person that he/she cannot learn programming in two weeks. I just cant understand how on earth can someone learn programming in two weeks. You can learn C syntax in two weeks but not programming. Its an art like dance or music. It takes time to learn it. I guess the ego couldnt take it and resulted in me listening to a mindless rant for a few hours.

This event actually provides evidence for a hypothesis that I had for many years. Many people often say that westerners are very polite and thats not the case with people in India. Westerners say sorry and thank you for everything. They keep the door open when you go behind them and stuff like that. I had actually had serious reservations about this. When you say sorry and thank you for every damn thing, the word looses its meaning. Its like the air hostesses saying thank you. They dont mean it. When you dont mean it, why say it? Behind this facade of politeness lies a gargantuan ego which hisses its head like a rattle snake at the slightest hint. I am not trying to say that all Indians are buddhas or anything of that sort. I just want to say that the proportion of people who are actually polite and who are not is pretty much same all over the world. Putting up a facade of politeness for the sake of it is very artifical and does not make one gentle and is not necessary. If someone doesnt keep the door open for me, I can do it myself. I am happy as long as the other person does not prevent me from opening the door :)

Update from Calgary

Caveat: After writing this whole thing down, I've realized that this is huge (brilliant discovery) and that it is rather boring. Dont waste too much time if time is at a premium!!!

Its been two months since I landed here. Lots of interesting events happened - everything from a shared feeling with Madhavan in Nala Damayanti (Madhavan in Ramji Londonwale) to coming close to being reported for sexual abuse. I am describing all these events and updates in a specific order here - the order in which they come to my mind :). This is mostly an incoherent rant, nevertheless...

Updates first
----------------
The big thing first, the University:
Its AWESOME!! Really good university with excellent standard of education. Have taken two courses - one is introduction to cryptography (Didnt even dream that an introduction to a subject can be so rigorous) and the other one is about computer viruses and malware where we have to creat UNIX viruses and anti-viruses that run on Free BSD. I simply love this course. But this is a course for which the university has been ridiciuled, derided, abused and what not by the anti-virus companies and researchers all over the world. ( http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/9496 http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,110938-page,1/article.html) Also I am a Teaching assistant to an under-graduate Operating Systems course. Oh Boy!! Its a really rigorous course. Contrasting it with the OS I learnt at VIT, makes me look back in shame and makes me want to remove that from my transcripts. There is an OS developed at Harvard for training purposes. Its a stripped down version of UNIX. The same is used here. Students have to write code and make it a fully functional OS. They will have to implement process management, scheduling etc... Its really wonderful.

As a result of taking these two courses and my TA work, am getting royally jacked everyday. Hardly find time to even sleep. Yesterday was the first time I had dinner in three weeks!! Its so rigorous and adapting to this after years of mediocracy has been tough, but I am catching up fast.

The City:
Calgary is a really beautiful place with scenic beauty all around. You can see deers and rabbits hopping around the university campus many times. There is so much greenery around that it makes you fall in love with it. Also, it is a very clean city. Some locals claim that it is amongst the cleanest cities in the world. Its also so huge that not even people who have been here for about two years know every part well. But, unlike many US cities, this city is well connected by public transportation. So, I get to go around easily myself.

Food:
It was tough initially being a veggie here. I took me about a week to settle down in a house and start cooking. Till such time I ate outside and I hated that fact like hell. There is a huge food court in the university and I get only two things to eat there. A veggie sandwich at Subway or fried rice at a taiwanese place (NOTE: Its fried rice and NOT veg fried rice. Typically they put ham or beef in that and you need to tell the person in the counter a million times not to add meat to it, much to his amusement). Things have become much better, and I cant stress enough, once I've started cooking.

Cold:
When I came here it was hot (according to the locals) i.e. 20 deg C. Many people roamed around in lingerie :D. Off late, things have started to feel more like Canada. Its -14 today. Actually the temperature does not matter since one is well covered most of the time but when the wind blows it kills you. As murphy would have it, Calgary is a windy place. Its so bad that, no one is really bothered about the temperature; everyone cares about the wind chill. Todays temperature is -14 but the wind chill was -20. Soon, it will be -40. No no, I am not at the North pole. I am only at Calgary which is pretty close to US border. It started snowing heavily here couple of days back. The whole place was clothed in 3-4 inches of snow.

Stay:
My room mates are all international. Most people typically staty with desis and my experience is a rare exception but its a good one. Two are from Switzerland, one from Canada and one from US. They are all undergrads and hence they do all the stuff a 20 year old teen in the west will do :) while I am forced to go into my room and shut myself up. For starters, they drink more alcohol than I drink water. But, they are nice chaps and really respect privacy.

Company:
Got a few friends here with whom I spend most of my so called spare time of 10 minutes a week. As everyone is busy, to meet both parties have to be free and this is pretty rare. It is likely to get even rarer next month. Apart from that my computer at the school is my company. I have a few books at home which I read when I get really bored. I've ordered a laptop which I will get in another couple of weeks. A beautiful IBM Lenovo laptop. It should be great once I have it.


Events
---------
My first few hours in Canada itself was bizaare. There were so many crazy things happening around me that I really didnt know what to do. My Air India flight from Delhi was late and I missed my connecting Air Canada flight to Calgary. An officer told me to go and report to Air Calgary and that they will put me for free on the next available flight to Calgary. He then gave me the route. I needed to walk down a long corridor, take two elevators, walk across a bridge, take a train, take two more elevators (this time to go down) and walk down a tortuous path. I had hardly had any sleep in the last 24 hours and to figure this out was a big pain. After a lot of struggle and asking atleast 10 people on the way I managed to go to Air Canadas office. Phew, Toronto airport is a city in itself. They run a train service at the 8th floor level to connect buildings :0. In murphy I trust and he never fails me. Be at a printer that refuses to work right when I need it most or a request to Air Canada, murphy always stands by me. Air Canada didnt have a vacant sear in any flight to Calgary till next day morning and they refused to me give me accomodation for the night as it wasnt their flight that was late. They asked me to go back to Air Indias office by taking that small route that I had just described. It had taken me 30 mts to come here and every ounce of my reserve energy. After resting there for some time, when I was stared at repeatedly by the Janitors, I took the long route back to find that Air India had closed office for the day. I was distraught and didnt know what to do. Finally I asked a police officer who called up a lot of people to somehow get an accomodation for me. I thought, finally my adventures for the day had ended. It was not to be.

I had to call people waiting to pick me up at Calgary and inform them I am not coming today. I tried to call from a public phone but to my surprise there was no slot to insert any coins there. After staring at it for sometime, I figured out that i has a slot to take in a credit card. Desperate to talk to someone, I swiped my India credit card but much to my chagrin it wouldnt accept it. I had to get someones help to make the call. To admit that I, an educated person from India coming for masters, didnt know to make a call hurt the ego really REALLY badly. But ego had to take a back seat and I had to ask someone. He simply told me to get a calling card. I went to a shop and got that but didnt know how to use it. It had something that looked like a magnetic strip so I was vigorously swiping it but it wouldnt work. Seeing my travails, a nice gentleman asked me if I knew how to use it. I sheepisly acknowledged that I didnt no. He then demonstrated its use and before he went he asked me why I am here in Canada. I wanted to bury my head in a pile of shit. After a pause, I said, as a student.

I said to myself, "Dont worry Partha. Such crazy things happen ocaasionally. Cool it and it will all be fine". I then had a tingling feeling inside my tummy. I hadnt eaten anything for like 6 hours then. Went to a shop and asked the really good looking teenage girl at the counter for some cookies. She gave me a couple of delicious looking Macadamia white cholocate cookie on a couple of tissue papers. I wanted to take it to the hotel where I was given accomodation and eat it. This is what transpired then...
Me: "Can you give a cover"
Girl: "What? What did you ask for?"
Me: "A cover"
Girl: "You are not talking to me like that sir"
Me: "What? I just need a cover. Whats wrong in that. Please give me a cover. Dont you use covers?"
Girl: "Am gonna report you to the manager"
and she left. I was thinking, "Oh boy! What have I gotten myself into"
The Manager, a really hefty man, came and asked me, "Did you really misbehave with her?"
I was really angered then. I started to shout.
"What the hell!! You guys claim to be polite but you dont know how to behave with a person from another country. I just asked for a plastic cover to put these cookies in them and take it to my hotel and she says I've misbehaved with her. What the hell"

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.... All folks around were laughing like hell. I didnt understand a shit!!
After sometime, the manager took a cover, gave it to me and said,
"Son, we are indeed polite and welcome visitors. This is called a plastic bag and NOT a cover. A cover is the slang for a condom!!! Welcome to Canada!"

After a pretty exhausting stay in Toronto, I reached Calgary next day morning. I had asked a friend of mine at Calgary to pay the advance for a house that I picked by looking at its description on the net. I went to see the place. That was another shock. I went to see the house in person and boy, the place was not even fit to be rented out in India. It was stinking like hell. The washroom was so bad that when we opened it, it reminded me of Coovum!! The standard practice here in the west is to give the house in pristine condition to new tenants and this place was stinking like hell. I then had to fight with him and forced him to cancel the agreement. What a start!!! But it was not over. I had already paid him like 1000 dollars as part of my advance and first month rent. He said he had spent and had no money with him now. This sounded so eerily similar to my experience with my landlord when I was in Bangalore. Then, I had to give a police complaint to get back my money. I got the money back after 1 month and after atleast 10 visitis to the police station. Those thoughts made matters worse for me. I was really upset about this and really gave this guy a piece of my mind. I dont remember the last time when I had behaved so rudely with someone.
Finally, after threats of legal action from the Universities legal council, he agreed to pay half the amount now and the rest after a month. After this, I went on a big house hunt and finally found a house. For all my troubles, I got a really good place to stay. Probably, the best deal one can ever hope for here. Looking at all this, a friend commented "Aandavan nallavangala sothipaan, kai uda maatan." :)

I know you are thoroughly bored at this hhhhugggggeeee post. Dont worry, am about to end with just one more event.

I was very irritated that day. It was Diwali and I sorely missed the festive atmosphere back home. So, I decided to walk into the church, a baptist church, nearby. There were very few people in there. A couple of guys dressed in formals, replete with blazers, kept staring at me for a long time. It was quite disconcerting as I didnt know what to expect. After sometime, I left the church and went back home. I was quite happy to escape those two guys. In the evening, a good friend had invited me to his Diwali party. I was enjoying the pleasant evening and was walking briskly towards his house and suddenly...

"Good evening dear sir!! Do you remember us? We saw each other today morning in the church"
Me: "Oh yes, i remember. How is it going for you guys?"
"Great sir! Hope you are doing good too!! Which country are you from? We are missionaries and we would like to talk to you for sometime. Would you condescend sir?"
Me: "Sure. Tell me, what would you like to know. I am from India"
"Oh! good. So are you a hindu?
Me: "Yes"
"Do you believe in christ"
Me: "Yes"
"But you said you are a hindu"
Me: "Did christ every say that hindus shouldnt belive in him"
"Well, No. But do you believe in evolution? Dont you think god created us all?"
Me: "Well, I believe in evolution!! Hindu mythology talks about that"
"Dont you feel it is rather impossible for those useless monkeys to become such intelligent humans like us"
Me: "Haha. No. Dont say monkeys are useless!! In India, we worship monkeys. Almost everyhouse has a photo of a monkey and everyone worships then"
"Huh!! What?? Huh!! Talk to you later sir"

and they left.. probably thinking that I am some kind of adivasi :)

(Kumar and sriram, if at all you get to this point of the post.. do you guys recollect?)