Recent content by vincebs

For many Canadian universities, you apply to a professor rather than to the entire department, as is most common in U.S. universities. With this in mind, you should look for professors that are very well-known internationally and cited often. Sorry I don't know much about Canadian research on...

You should read up on U.S. immigration law. If legal immigration was easy, there would not be illegal immigration. After your Ph.D., you have up to a year you can spend working in the U.S. ("Optional Practical Training") before they kick you out. In that time you had better find a company who...

You are right, the U.S. makes it very hard for highly-educated immigrants to live permanently in the U.S. Temporary work visas are somewhat easier to get. It's much easier to immigrate illegally into the U.S. (like the Mexicans) than to do it legally where your prospective employer has to fork...

Yes, I know someone in my class at U of T who had a 3.8 GPA but no research experience and he was accepted back into the Master's program. But it might have helped that he did his undergrad there. So you better have a good GPA and good recommendations. If you had engineering projects/research...

Based on your English usage (the abbreviation "uni" isn't used in the U.S./Canada), you are not a U.S. citizen. So this might limit the funding you can get for a Master's. I would advise that you apply for a Ph.D. directly. Brush up on your physics and take the physics GRE and see how you do...

If you like having a class average GPA of 2.5-2.6, then sure, go to U of T. You can then boast about having the highest GPA in your class, and it will only be 3.8. Then you get rejected from all the top schools (except for U of T) but the guys in the Engineering Science Physics program who have...

Have you tried applying for Applied Physics programs? I think they're more engineering-oriented than regular physics programs.

The undergraduate school doesn't matter. The most important thing is that you maintain a high GPA and get REUs with well-known profs who can write you good recommendations to get into top 5 grad schools.

I like being in a culture similar to my own so that I don't have to cope with the stresses of learning a new language, way of life, and cultural practices and values. The only advantage Canadians have compared to other internationals is that: 1.) they do not have to interview for a visa, they...

Hey everyone, Does anyone know what limitations non-U.S. citizens face when applying for non-academic jobs in physics, astrophysics, and astronomy? Can we still work in government positions, NASA, the Department of Defense and the defense industry, or national labs? Is funding limited for...

There was once a guy who went to Western for undergrad. Now almost every graduate student in the U.S. and Canada learns electrodynamics through his textbook (Jackson). Don't pick U of T because of its "prestige", your undergrad school's prestige doesn't matter, it's your research experience...

Search my old posts. The worst posssible program to take in the world is the "Math and Physics Specialist" program at the University of Toronto. If you want to commit suicide, then go ahead and take Math&

Don' t go to U of T except for grad school. Its research is really nice, but if you want to do well in undergrad, go to Waterloo or Queen's, frankly, as a U of T graduate, U of T couldn't care less about its undergrads. Don't be fooled by Maclean's magazine's rankings. Grad schools look for good...

The two smartest people in my school's engineering department got into MIT this year. One of them was a girl. She took physics classes with us and put us all to shame. I agree that women in physics are forced to prove themselves, whereas men who are in physics are already assumed to be smart...

do you have an idea of what you want to do? would you be okay doing something science related, or do you want to get out of this kind of stuff completely? The advantage physics degreeholders have is that we're generally good at problem solving and math, and a lot of us have hands-on lab and...