When applying to a science masters program you are required find a prof to be your supervisor before applying for most schools. How is this done? Do you just e-mail them directly and ask? Does every prof take graduate students? Do them ever say no? If your applications are due at the end of January normally when is a good time to do this? Any help would be great!

Originally Posted by Clematis

When applying to a science masters program you are required find a prof to be your supervisor before applying for most schools. How is this done? Do you just e-mail them directly and ask? Does every prof take graduate students? Do them ever say no? If your applications are due at the end of January normally when is a good time to do this? Any help would be great!

I would personally go to them personally. You'll want to get a prof that knows you well so make sure you visit them during office hours and talk to them.

Originally Posted by Clematis

When applying to a science masters program you are required find a prof to be your supervisor before applying for most schools. How is this done? Do you just e-mail them directly and ask? Does every prof take graduate students? Do them ever say no? If your applications are due at the end of January normally when is a good time to do this? Any help would be great!

Many programs encourage you to find your own supervisor, because the supervisor often provides a portion of your funding towards your stipend and its best that you find someone with research you're interested in and who you generally feel comfortable talking to.

While there are some sites which aggregate profs for certain fields, its most common that people just check out university websites where the professors may post letters/statements seeking graduate students. One of the best examples of such letters are in the Physics Department here at McMaster, all of the professors actually write up quite a good overview of what they're doing and what they have as potential projects for graduate students, e.g.:
http://physwww.physics.mcmas ter.ca...e&m2=Facu lty

Note that the absence of such letters doesn't mean the professor isn't seeking graduate students. Many profs don't update their website profile frequently so it may be 2-10 years out of date (no joke). If you have a particular field of interest, you may also want to check out recent publications in the field to find who is working on what.

Your Questions:

Does every prof take graduate students? '
Nope, some may not have funding at the moment, some may already have enough graduate students or they may be preoccupied in other ventures.

Do them ever say no?
Yes, expect to get some no's, most professors will be gentle about it, but some will be very upfront, or just be very passive aggressive and never respond to an email you send ever again. You can get a no right off the start of communication, a no partway through the process or a no after you've visited the professor and talked to them in person.

If your applications are due at the end of January normally when is a good time to do this?
Well its probably best to avoid the first couple weeks of the school year, as profs will generally be quite busy with their new graduate students and preparing courses. But once that period has passed, its essentially never too early to start asking polite questions.

Misc advice, based on my experience in Engineering Physics / Physics:
When you write your emails, be sure to be polite and also be sure to give a little bit of info (a sentence or two) about why you're interested in the professors research. Expect some to respond instantaneously and others may take weeks or even a month to respond.

Once you've found a professor you're interested in, the professor will often arrange for a day for you to visit the school / lab and also meet some of the other professors in the department who are looking for graduate students or are in related fields. They'll also often have you go for lunch with the students in their group so you get a chance to ask honest questions about the program you wouldn't necessarily ask a professor. If you have a major scholarship (NSERC, CIHR, etc) you may find the schools also offer to reimburse you for your travel for the visit.

Good luck with your graduate school search! I'm in the midst of searching for a program for my Ph.D. (after completing a Master's this summer) so feel free to ask other questions you have.

I have my heart set on Biomedical Engineering. I plan on getting a Masters. I am mainly intersted in biomedical imaging and medical robotics over biomaterials and tissue engineering and biophotonics

I have heard from several people that it is best to go to another university for your Masters.

If you do go to another university, how do you have time to make connections to professors at other schools?

.

Originally Posted by Clematis

When applying to a science masters program you are required find a prof to be your supervisor before applying for most schools. How is this done? Do you just e-mail them directly and ask? Does every prof take graduate students? Do them ever say no? If your applications are due at the end of January normally when is a good time to do this? Any help would be great!

Well, if you're doing a Master's in science you may want to apply for CIHR/NSERC/OGS scholarships. Typically these are due by Early October to whatever department you're in. You'll need 2 references for this so be prepared. Getting one of these scholarships will improve your chances of finding a position.

It's best to find a professor who is doing something you're interested in. E-mail them and ask if it would be possible to schedule a meeting time. Not every prof takes graduate students. Some are full or don't have sufficient funding for another position. Some only take PhD students and Post-Docs.

It's best to contact them earlier on in the school year (send a CV and Degree Audit version of your transcript if possible).

If you do go to another university, how do you have time to make connections to professors at other schools?

E-mail would be the easy way. If you can get out of your courses for a day, perhaps a friend can take notes for you, you may want to visit the university where your professor of interest is located. You should probably visit the lab before deciding on a supervisor.

Originally Posted by MacPack

I have my heart set on Biomedical Engineering. I plan on getting a Masters. I am mainly intersted in biomedical imaging and medical robotics over biomaterials and tissue engineering and biophotonics I have heard from several people that it is best to go to another university for your Masters.
If you do go to another university, how do you have time to make connections to professors at other schools?

.

The question on whether to change schools is I think is really dependent on your career goals and personal situation. If you're thinking of going into academia, its often recommended that you do spread your degrees over different universities. Of course if you're looking to become a prof you have at least 4 chances to do that (Undergrad, Master's, Ph.D and postdoc) so its not critical that you do your master's somewhere else. If you're just doing a Master's to get more specialized in a field and are thinking of industry afterwards, I don't think it matters at all if you switch Universities. Even if you're strongly considering staying at the same university as your undergrad, you should take the time to look around at other options.

Time to connect to other professors:
You start with email because its quick and easy and see where things go. If you're seriously considering somewhere and you have classes everyday, you'll just have to miss class for a day to go visit the other school at some point. If you explain the situation to the professors of the classes you'll miss, they'll probably be understanding and make some accommodation for you. You can also use reading week as most professors will stay on campus for reading week. When I was searching for my Master's location, I was in BC and so I flew here on a Tuesday, saw McMaster on Wednesday, took the bus to Toronto and then took the VIA to get around to other Universities. Its a lot of time, but its something that you just have to figure a way to fit in.

As a side note, if you're interested in Biomedical Imaging, make sure to add UWO to your list of places to look into, I'm pretty sure they have the largest assembly of imaging equipment (and experts) in Canada.

Originally Posted by MacPack

I have heard from several people that it is best to go to another university for your Masters.

.

I've heard the same thing while deciding what masters program I wanted to go into. The main reason why people say this is b/c by going to different universities, you are able to pick up different styles and techniques.