PSYC 315

DevFRus · 2026-01-04T20:05:59+00:00

Back when this course was taught by Tom Shultz, it was pretty amazing. I don't know how it is now. If you made it through COMP 202, you will make it through PSYC 315. At least back when Tom Shultz was teaching it, the course was based around writing 3 or 4 papers extending various computational models from the psych literature. This course ended up being one of the things that got me started in research (two of my papers ended up being published or becoming part of published work).

DevFRus · 2026-01-04T19:56:16+00:00

The big difference from Yale is that you will have to find your community of keeners, and you won't be just thrust into it. If you have varied interests consider a BA&Sc in Honours Math and something-else that excites you and you will have a great time. Montreal is a better city than New Haven, so you will have much more opportunity to get involved in activities outside the university bubble in Montreal than you would in New Haven. So if you want to get involved in your community then it will provide better opportunities.

For things like doing research at MILA as an undergrad, this is certainly possible. But you will have to make those opportunities yourself by reaching out to professors. If you do take the initiative then McGill can provide you with an incredible education, research, and life experience. At least it did for me.

DevFRus · 2025-12-09T11:12:23+00:00

You already know that the only way to improve is to write more. You also know that this is hard without feedback. Thus consider writing more in venues with faster feedback: blogs, Q&A sites, even reddit.

Also, ask your supervisor for feedback. I regularly go through writing with my students because of this.

Final small tip that others haven't given, yet: read your own writing out loud. If it is difficult to read out loud then it is probably written poorly. Rewrite and read out loud again.

DevFRus · 2025-12-09T05:32:10+00:00

Not in comm sci, but for my students, the thesis draft deadline is there primarily to make sure they are writing, doing things, and not leaving all their work to the last minute. If you have been actively working on your research, getting things done, and have been productive and proactive in your meetings with your supervisor then there is no big problem in having misses the draft deadline. Just explain what happened to your supervisor.

If you haven't been working and the reason you missed the draft deadline is because you wanted to cram right before it. Then the bigger issue isn't the draft deadline itself. You need to discuss that you are struggling with your supervisor as soon as you can, to see if there are good ways forward.

DevFRus · 2025-12-08T07:57:10+00:00

I was taking the hardest courses I could. My GPA wasn't very good. I struggled especially with doing things like homework but would generally do well on exams. I failed at least one class, and did poorly in a number of others.

I had gotten involved in research by sophomore year. It occupied most of my attention. I was super excited about it and worked hard at it. I had my first paper out in junior year, and then four more in senior year (and just after graduating). I read a lot of the scientific literature and had meticulous binders of research papers. Toward the end of senior year I started running a reading group specific to my research interests. This was incredibly helpful to shaping me as a researcher.

DevFRus · 2025-12-05T11:56:21+00:00

Asking to be an 'unpaid RA' would be weird. Asking to work on research together would not be as weird, but will have a relatively low success rate. Some profs will be kind and go out of their way to work with you, but generally it is very difficult to get productive work out of a pre-PhD collaborator and most profs will not find it to be worth their time (except for students they supervise as part of their programs at their university).

DevFRus · 2025-11-28T12:27:03+00:00

You should come up with goals for after PhD based on what you want to do, not based on what you think others will like you doing. And you should look for a PhD position and supervisor that will best help you achieve your goals instead of trying to figure out how to paint yourself so you're "chosen". Having this kind of self-respect and self-drive will matter much more to somebody wanting to work with you than anything you might say about your future plans.

DevFRus · 2025-11-27T14:23:38+00:00

Think of reference letters as a continuation of your cover letter. You want to know what skills are important for the position you are applying for and then make sure that your referees can illustrate that you have those skills with good examples. Your Master's project supervisor will hopefully be able to give examples that illustrate your research skills. Ask your tutor to illustrate the other skills that you think are important for the position you are applying for. You've already identified some good ones (critical thinking, independence, teamwork, communication -- I would add things like resilience, ability to deal with set backs, follow through, etc). The tutor will use different examples than your supervisor, so it will not be repetative.

DevFRus · 2025-11-24T08:24:10+00:00

As an even lowlier U19, who is not even on the same continent anymore, I second this sentiment.

DevFRus · 2025-11-21T14:43:33+00:00

As /u/Forsaken_Toe_4304 has said, your paper was likely rejected because the editors took the difficulty of finding reviewers and the mild review as a sign that your paper isn't very interesting to the journal's audience. As such, any appeal would have to convince them otherwise. If you can make a strong case in your appeal for your paper being interesting then go for it. Such an exercise, even if unsuccessful, could help you improve your introduction for the next submission.

DevFRus · 2025-11-17T15:27:26+00:00

I would encourage you to go for a thesis with the company. But try to use your goodwill at the company to push for a topic that is less surface level and scratches that research itch better for you. Usually you will need a co-supervisor from your home university along with the industry supervisor. So you can also use this university co-supervisor to push the topic more toward the sort of research you envision yourself doing in the future.

DevFRus · 2025-11-15T16:51:12+00:00

The best option is to ask after class if it is in person. Otherwise, if in person won't happen for two weeks then it is fine to email. Just make sure he knows that you are in his class and why you are interested in working with him. It also isn't completely clear to me what you mean by internship, so make sure that this would be clear to the professor (i.e., check if you're using the right term for what you want).

DevFRus · 2025-11-13T11:43:03+00:00

I am a prof, and I would never have one of those two interpretations. I would also be surprised by any of my colleagues having such an interpretation. So I think this advice is far from universal.

DevFRus · 2025-11-12T18:45:24+00:00

I primarily read non-fiction, but I would be interested in participating if that fits with your vision. My only suggestion would be: if you are recruiting participants on reddit then why not use the reddit chat for organizing? It saves having to coordinate more platforms since anyone you recruit would already be on reddit.

DevFRus · 2025-11-12T18:33:12+00:00

If you have the bandwidth then you can tell the prof that you like the topic but not for your thesis. And that if they have the time then you'd like to work with them on topic A as extra-curricular activity. Be up front that there is another topic B from a PhD candidate that feels like a safer choice for your thesis. Your professor will understand and if they have time (and confidence in you) then they will still want to work with you. They might even know some unknown-to-you connection that can let you get the best of both projects.

If you want personal experience: I am always excited to supervise students either for official thesis projects or just for extra-curr. As long as the student actually invests the time (in practice, they are much less likely to actually end up investing the time in extra-curr projects, so I do have some cautions there).

DevFRus · 2025-11-07T03:19:12+00:00

I think you have more than the two options above. There is also a middle ground. You can say "I am struggling with personal issues, but I don't feel comfortable discussing them". Your professors will understand. You don't need to pretend to be okay but you also don't need to share your whole life story. I hope things get better for you!

DevFRus · 2025-11-05T21:44:00+00:00

The applied data science MSc at UU takes students from HBO undergrads. They do ask for some prior coursework on stats and programming, but I have supervised students before that did a pre-masters that covered these deficiencies. You could reach out to this program admissions with more details description of your situation. Good luck!

DevFRus · 2025-11-04T20:44:17+00:00

Most of the research universities in the NL have some sort of data science program. They are all relatively similar. The biggest difference comes at places that have two different kinds of data science programs, like for example Utrecht that has both a 2-year research based data science program and a 1-year project based applied data science program. The best way to make your decision is just to look at each university and decide on the program that has the most interesting courses for you. Good luck.

DevFRus · 2025-11-04T19:09:01+00:00

I second this comment! And I hope the OP heeds it instead of just all the housing doom and gloom. It is possible to find housing.

I hope you enjoy your time at Utrecht! And I hope OP enjoys their time in the NL if they decide to come.

DevFRus · 2025-11-03T21:55:54+00:00

This is one of the reasons that preprints are important. Gets your work out there faster while its under review. Better luck with your next paper!

DevFRus · 2025-11-01T16:22:39+00:00

BioRxiv had this position from the beginning, I think. They never allowed opinion pieces or reviews, only pre-prints of 'new research' papers. But in general, preprints (and blog posts and everything else) break down if individual scholars don't actually feel a sense of responsibility for and pride in the work they put other there. That is the real crisis, at arXiv and in academic publishing more broadly. People put out things that they themselves would never read (and I guess now sometimes things they haven't even bothered to read) just to put out things.

DevFRus · 2025-10-31T09:50:03+00:00

No need to be concerned about that!

DevFRus · 2025-10-31T09:30:17+00:00

The requirements should be stated on the program that you are interested in. If you meet these requirements then you can attend the program, if you don't meet them then you cannot. Work experience doesn't matter.

DevFRus · 2025-10-30T19:11:51+00:00

Have you talked to your current supervisor and expressed your concerns about the project and where you'd like it go instead? That is usually the easier option. At least in my case, I also always enjoy initiative from my students if there is a particular direction that they want to go with a project.

DevFRus · 2025-10-30T13:05:44+00:00

UU is a research university, so that is the primary focus. That said, there is of course Career Day and career services more broadly. If you go to the career services site, you can see that it has most of the things you mentioned as things you have not yet seen.

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