Bradley Rey

Bradley Rey

Assistant Professor - University of Winnipeg

Applying for Graudate Studies at the University of Winnipeg

13 minute read

Published:

This has been adapted from the article by Jim Whitehead written for students planning to apply to UCSC, with information relevant for applying to the University of Winnipeg. Please note, the information shared on this page are my personal views and observations, and should not be viewed as policy from either the University of Winnipeg or the Applied Computer Science department.

My goal in writing this is to help you, the potential graduate student, better understand what is necessary to be a successful applicant at the University of Winnipeg (UW). If you are still on the fence about applying to the UW, my dedicated blog post, A Graduate Student’s Guide to Winnipeg, sheds some light on why Winnipeg is a great place to live and pursue graduate studies.

University of Winnipeg

General Graduate Studies

Some Facts of Life

Finances

It is helpful to talk about finances upfront, as this can often be a deciding factor from the get-go. Please note, all numbers below are in Canadian dollars and are educated estimates. While costs associated with the University of Winnipeg (UW) are unlikely to change, living styles and habits (e.g., vehicle ownership or public transport, living alone or with roomates, etc.) can of course increase/decrease these numbers.

Foreign students can expect to pay roughly \$17,000 per year for tutition in the Applied Computer Science’s MSc program (roughly double that of a domestic student). An MSc program typically takes two years, resulting in a minimum of \$34,000 for tuition. The cost of living on top of this equates to roughly another \$34,000 per year, resulting in \$68,000 for the two years.

In total, this means, as a foreign student you can expect that pursuing an MSc here at the UW to cost just over \$100,000. Note, while our tuition at the UW is higher than some schools, the cost of living in Winnipeg is much lower than many of the cities throughout Canada with bigger name universities.

If pursuing a thesis-based MSc, an advisor will typically aim to offset this cost to help make pursuing graduate school more attainable. These discussions should happen with a potential advisor prior to submmitting your application. Through these discussions, you will often receive in writing (i.e., through email) an informal promised amount that the advisor is willing to provide throughout your degree. Note, the funding that is offered is highly dependent on what funding the advisor has available at the time of application. This amount can vary, and the University of Winnipeg does not have a mandated funding amount required for advisors to provide students.

There are some ways in which you can work to offset the cost which include teaching an introductory level programming course in the department (if qualified) or by being a teaching assistant for an undergraduate course. We will also encourage and help you to apply for internal and external funding which can range from a few thousand dollars to a more substantial amount. Of course, none of these are guaranteed.

English Expression and Non-Native English Speakers

A commonality among many foreign applicants is that English is not their native language. This is okay; in fact, the majority of students I have worked with are not native English speakers. However, this does require some consideration as it can be a barrier to success throughout a graduate degree here in Canada (and many other countries).

For thesis-based applicants, it is important to recognize that research involves investigation into complex technical and/or social issues and then writing up a cohesive and high quality argument, literature review, methodology, results, and discussion in the form of workshop, conference, and journal papers. Aside from a paper, writing an MSc thesis (typically 15,000 - 30,000 words) is a requirement for receiving the degree. Furthermore, research is typically disseminated through oral presentation at conferences, which helps to build reputation among the research community. Expressing both objective and subjective ideas with high quality, in both written and oral form, is difficult even for native English speakers; it is doubly so for people whose native language is not English, and can require more time and effort.

As English is used throughout a course- or thesis-based degree, and at such a high level, your English should be strong throughout your application to showcase your current ability. Your English must be good at a minimum, ideally, however, it is great. Improper English will be something that immediately stands out to us as reviewers and put you on the backfoot. Please note, it is common to see high TOEFL scores accompanied by a poorly written statements. What this tells us is that you may test well, however, there are still clear limitations to your ability to write/use English.

If you are concerned with your English, have a native (or higher-level) speaker review your application, use Grammarly for free, or even pay money to get such a review done. While tools like ChatGPT also work well, please keep in mind that it is often very clear to us when AI is being used; this is a negative in the grand scheme of things.

Some Application Advice

Who Makes Admission Decisions?

In the Applied Computer Science Department, all admissions materials are made accessible to all research faculty to review. Typically, we will divide the number of applications received by the number of faculty. This can result in an individual faculty member reviewing up to 30 applications. We will each review our subset of applications and offer a recommendation for each to the graduate program committee, led by the graduate program chair.

Generally, students are admitted when they are either visibly outstanding and exceptional students (course-based MSc), or when an individual faculty member makes a personal commitment to accepting the student and providing financial support (thesis-based MSc). While some students apply for the thesis-based program without advisor support established, I have not seen these students be accepted to this program to date. The commitment of an advisor should be made prior to you submitting your application, through meetings and emails between the two of you.

Some Advice When Connecting With A Faculty Member (Thesis-Based MSc)

Faculty have specialized research interests and are looking for students who demonstrate a capacity, and at the very least a genuine interest, to conduct research in their speciality. A genuine interest is often determined very quickly from one of the first few emails/meetings that you may have with a faculty member.

For reference, here are some initial contact emails that I have received which do not do a fantastic job of showing genuine interest.

Email 1

Dear Professor Rey,
Looking at your website, I can see that your research area caters to my research interests.
[Redacted academic achievements]
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing from you.

This email showcases a minimum level of effort.

Email 2

Dear Mr. Rey,
My name is [redacted], and I’m a fourth-year undergraduate student in Computer Science at [redacted]. I have a strong interest in software engineering and I’m eager to continue my schooling and to gain more experience in research.
[redacted GPA and other academic achievements]
I would appreciate the chance to briefly connect and share more about my background and interests in case any opportunities align with your lab’s future needs.

Professors are busy, and we rely on you to share your background and interests within the email so we can make a decision about whether to dedicate time to meeting.

Email 3

Hello Dr. Rey,
I hope this email finds you well.
I admire your research, especially in HCI and Wearables. I have research experience in Natural Language Processing, where I utilized contrastive learning to enhance text classification accuracy. I have also worked in the fields of Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and computer vision. I’m excited about the opportunity to contribute to your research at the intersection of Machine Learning and HCI while learning under your supervision as a Masters student.
…

Buzzwords will only go so far. While this is better than emails 1 and 2, it still does not demonstrate genuine interest and reads more like a template.

Here are some general tips when reaching out to a faculty member:

  • Simply listing a few buzzwords still doesn’t impress much, even if they are my area of research. While email 3 does showcase that they have at least looked at the field in which I do research, it remains very broad (and very quickly moves past my research area).

  • If you want to stand out, take the time to find faculty whose work truly interests you. Then, read one or two of their recent papers. This will help you understand their research focus (and whether it actually appeals to you!) and allow you to write a personalized message that thoughtfully engages with their current work. For more details, see my Prospective Students page.

  • Do not use a generic template. These are easy to spot and do not reflect genuine interest, and will be quickly filtered out. As such, do your best to avoid sending the same email to multiple faculty and tailor the message as much as possible.

  • Make sure that you highlight what it is that you are looking for (i.e., make a clear ask). Email 3 is the only one which actually states what they are looking for. It is unclear what type of position or support emails 1 and 2 are seeking, as their intent could relate to a range of opportunities.

  • Hoping that any advisor will cater to your research interests is not a good stragy (i.e., dont waste time reaching out if you are looking at doing research in a different sub-field of computer science). That said, if you genuinely believe there is meaningful overlap between our research areas, or that your skills could contribute to a project in my field, please feel free to reach out and clearly explain how.

  • Reaching out is one of the most important first steps, so take your time and make it count. Thoughtful, well-crafted messages can significantly increase your chances of getting a response. Invest the effort to write something that stands out and genuinely reflects who you are and your connection with their research. It can go a long way in making a strong impression.

Personal and Research Statement

In a preliminary review of course-based applications, yours would likely receive around 5-10 minutes of time. Upon removing an initial subset of weaker applications, the following round of reviewing is typically more detailed, since there are fewer applications at that point. Applications are typically scanned for the objective information first (i.e., GPA, previous degrees, English scores, etc.), followed by the personal statement, letters of recommendation, and then the research statement.

As the personal statement is often the first point of subjective evaluation, it needs to be great. Many prospective students write into their personal statements how they have wanted to study Computer Science for a long time and that they have a deep passion for the subject. While this is great, keep in mind it is reasonable to assume that nearly all applicants to our program will ber similar. As such, using valuable space to describe this aspect may not differentiate you from other applicants. I personally would like to hear about the difficult aspects of some project you worked on. Tell me how you displayed excellent problem solving skills, were a leader, or showed initiative. Especially if you have done research before, tell me about that research experience, and what you learned from it. Finally, tell me why UW is the best place for you to study. Addmittedly, there are bigger and more recognized universities within Canada; why is UW a good match for you?

Recommendation Letters

It is very clear to us when a reference uses a template. The more personal the connection you have with a reference, with specific examples of that connection throughout, the better. Letters from academic sources are preferable to those from industry, and a letter from an advisor on a research project is the best, so long as it directly addresses your performance on the research project, and your skills as a researcher. Finally, make sure reference letters arrive on time. This may require that you bug your reference a few times to ensure they have sent it to us.

Conclusion

I hope that you have found this information useful. Pursuing graduate studies is a valeant decision, and I wish you the best in your pursuit!

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