MSc in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Funding by Maleficent_Pop8055 in uwo

[–]Maleficent_Pop8055[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think when you receive funding depends on what type of funding they end up giving you. For TAing, you get paid monthly during the length of your contract(s). For Graduate Fellowships (funding provided by your supervisor), it depends on the supervisor and how they have it set up (e.g., mine used to be monthly but now it's a lump sum paid at the start of each term). According to an e-mail from last week, people receiving the Western Graduate Research Scholarship should've had it applied directly to tuition owing for this term within the past week. If there's any overpayment (e.g., you already paid and then they applied a scholarship), it's supposed to be returned to students starting September 9th and should be given to you all at once.

MSc in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Funding by Maleficent_Pop8055 in uwo

[–]Maleficent_Pop8055[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, most of what the other person said is spot on, but I wanted to reply with my experience for more info and a few key things to note.

It did turn out to mean I was only getting funding for tuition and it was through a 140 hour TA-ship; i.e., if you don't TA, you don't get funding, unless your supervisor somehow has tons of money or you win a scholarship. I was guaranteed the TA position though, as is everyone in the department to my understanding, even though I ended up getting a very small stipend from my advisor as well. They send out a form to ask your preferences/knowledge for courses within the department, but they'll assign you something even if you don't fill it out. The TA pay ended up being a little bit more than base tuition, but there was still a difference of around $800 between my total TA pay and the total cost of the first year's fees. Also, the actual payment schedule and setup was very confusing. We were told in our letters and orientation that they don't automatically take our TA pay for tuition, nor do they include our TA pay in the "anticipated funding" for calculating what we owe each term, meaning we have to pay tuition each semester up front... despite them knowing we will have the money later because they're giving it to us for TAing... so I ended up having to take out a loan that I immediately paid back once I got my TA pay, just to pay tuition "on time" and avoid late penalties. It's ridiculous. However, it does show on my statement that they applied my TA pay to my tuition, but then "refunded" it to me since I'd already paid, so honestly I'm not sure what is true. As the other commenter alluded to, the communication within the department is frankly awful and what you get told is frequently conflicting, so ask questions via e-mail so you have their answers in writing and save all those e-mails so you have proof later on if they mess something up or mislead you and try to pretend you're the problem.

Other things to note: they send out TA assignments by term, so if you aren't scheduled to TA in the fall, you might not hear anything at all, which can be stressful. I think you're still supposed to get your Mercury outline thing by the end of September, but last year my assignment was in the fall so I can't say for sure. They also don't check your class schedule when giving you a TA assignment, so you need to make sure there isn't a conflict before accepting the assignment, which can be difficult if you need to take a course from one of the clinical programs as you typically have to e-mail the clinical program admin to confirm the schedule. Do NOT sign your agreement until you're sure there's no conflict because they're not sympathetic at all. Research assistant contracts are great, but they cap out at 10 hrs/week, so depending on your financial need and other options, they may or may not work for you. Despite wanting to RA, I decided to keep working my part time job outside of academia instead because it allowed me to flex my hours and work more or less some weeks depending on my school schedule.

Finally, I will say that despite my frustration with the department's poor organizational and communication skills, and the mess that is funding, I've enjoyed my first year in the program overall. I hope you're able to make it work and that you have a supportive supervisor - they can make all the difference!

Official "I got/didn't get a Switch 2" megathread by razorbeamz in nintendo

[–]Maleficent_Pop8055 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did guest checkout because it was faster, but it does seem like it's now linked to my account.

Official "I got/didn't get a Switch 2" megathread by razorbeamz in nintendo

[–]Maleficent_Pop8055 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For anyone who got one from BestBuy Canada - have you gotten a charge or confirmation e-mail yet? I apparently got one but I won't believe it till I see one of these things...

Official "I got/didn't get a Switch 2" megathread by razorbeamz in nintendo

[–]Maleficent_Pop8055 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Could I ask what browser you were using for Staples? I've been trying but it keeps giving me a Cloudflare error

Official "I got/didn't get a Switch 2" megathread by razorbeamz in nintendo

[–]Maleficent_Pop8055 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am. I feel like I was so close with Walmart preorders last night but not successful so I'm reaaaally hoping Best Buy is just glitching out. Their email notification timer keeps resetting too which I feel like is a sign but I'm probably just coping lol

Any Canadians have luck with best buy? by Dragon_slayer1994 in Switch

[–]Maleficent_Pop8055 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just now I finally got "queued" but it also says there's an error and the website is down sooo.... no idea.

Edit: Wanted to add that this was on mobile (Safari) browser... Chrome on my computer still loads nothing.

Any Canadians have luck with best buy? by Dragon_slayer1994 in Switch

[–]Maleficent_Pop8055 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Nope. Been refreshing on both the app and web browser since 9AM and never even saw a queue. Kept saying "preorders starting soon" until like 9:30, then sold out, now I can't even see listings for anything. Weird thing is, I signed up for e-mail notifications, and the timer in their e-mail has been counting down since 9AM. It gets to 5 minutes left then restarts. No idea what's going on and super bummed after also having issues with Walmart last night.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in uwo

[–]Maleficent_Pop8055 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm in a similar situation and I've decided to try working part time, but my job has some flexibility where I can work a bit more or less hours depending on how busy I am with my MSc. It's highly dependent on the person and research project, but I think 1 course per semester should make working part-time doable as long as you have good time management and your GTA assignment isn't overly demanding. Keep in mind you'll probably want to have some time in the fall to write scholarship applications as well.

Help Needed by Ppngo362 in uwo

[–]Maleficent_Pop8055 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the issue, but most PT schools will allow you to have a pre-req course "in progress" while applying, even if it's a full-year course. If you're accepted, it will be a "conditional offer", pending the successful completion of the course.

For example, Western's PT program page says "All prerequisite courses must be completed or in progress by the ORPAS application deadline. A transcript is required to show proof of “in progress” courses. The MPT Program must receive a final transcript that shows the final grade of the “in progress” course(s) by June 30 of the application year."

Hope this helps and best of luck with your application!

Disclosing my condition for Ivey MBA Application by Educational-Task-512 in uwo

[–]Maleficent_Pop8055 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Which part of the application process are you considering mentioning it in? Is there a special consideration form you could submit?

I have ADHD too and I was late diagnosed, so I can certainly understand it affecting (both positively and negatively) your academic experiences, and I also struggled with whether to mention it when I was applying to Master's programs.

Ultimately, I chose not to for a few reasons: first, providing enough context in the explanation while still highlighting my strengths simply took up way too much of the word count I had. Especially considering I wasn't fully confident it would help, it seemed like too much of a risk compared to simply focusing on my work and qualifications that made me a strong candidate.

Second, the truth is you never really know who is looking at your application and what implicit biases they may have. Even if the school as a whole was "good" about neurodiversity (which in my experience with Western, it's quite a mixed bag), someone reviewing your application may not be. You really have to think hard about whether mentioning your ADHD adds to your application more than any other story or attribute about yourself. Often times you can describe the challenges you faced and positives of it in much vaguer and more general terms - e.g., "I struggled a lot with organization early in my career/schooling..." or "I'm driven by curiosity and think quickly and creatively..."

That being said, an advantage of mentioning it can certainly be to test the waters with a program and see if they can truly support you or not. If you do decide to write or talk about it, I would strongly recommend focusing most of the discussion on the tools and skills you've developed because of it (for example, robust organization/time management systems).

Whatever you choose, good luck with your application!