Anyone in UBC?

The way I see it :
- Cheaper postgrad fee ($13k CAD vs $25k AUD /year vs 13kGBP/year vs $25k USD) - but OZ PR can study for free
- A comp science PhD is virtually free (very few students since industry pay a lot better but lots of grants, scholarships etc) - but again, OZ PR can study for free too
- Easier to get PR compared to UK/US
- Spouse can work on student visa (compared to US)
- Closer to US/Europe - can travel to a lot of interesting places
- Less Malaysians
- Can import food

This post has been edited by Syd G: Oct 19 2009, 04:11 PM

I can only talk about my field (Comp Sc) tho. OZ PR can study free, well almost free (not Masters by Cousework tho - MPhil, PhD) due to Research Training Scheme offered by the government.

I checked the list of postgrad CompSc students in Waterloo, UBC, UoT - they're often non-Canadians. Programmers are paid (median) approx $60kCAD/year by the industry so students dont really want to go back to school and study postgrad. For those who did, government schemes and grants usually only cover tuition fee and $12-15kCAD in stipends - that has to be earned by research assistantship and teaching assistantship. If you calculate correctly, that's a tad higher than minimum wage in Ontario Prolly lower than their unemployment insurance pay Undergrad CS graduation rate is around 60% in the US (http://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/macvittie/archive/2009/03/19/computer-science-cool-versus-cash.aspx). It's VERY HARD to get a PhD under Canadian/American system compared to UK - the latter tend to be more structured and streamlined (e.g 3 year PhD course, or 4 year iPhD [new route] course). I dont have any knowledge about getting a PhD in Australia tho.

My first choice is CA, followed by AU and UK. But scholarships/opportunities to be RA/TA will prolly be my main deciding factor.

Ah my bad then. I meant to say assistantship in addition to scholarship. For International Students, some unis offer at least $1k-$2k a year per successful entrant as overseas students bursaries, the rest have to be earned

Well, if you look for UK uni websites, they'll always mention "3 years PhD" whereas North American institutes dont really put any range in their online prospectus. Focused is probably the right word for it

Btw, BCS in Waterloo is still under 'Bachelors of Math - Comp Science' and Masters - 'Masters of Math - Comp Science' instead of BSc and MSc.

I wonder how the job market is like for people like me.

If job market condition is so bad I wonder if I can migrate to Australia after doing my master degree in Canada

Waterloo -> $16k per year tuition (-International Master's Student Awards on all admissions $5k) + $15k living expenses per year = approx CAD $25k/year. RM81k/year. Opportunities to TA and RA as well if I can tahan sleeping in the lab often . IF I can get in that is

Queen, Mac - almost the same.

UofQueensland -> $25k per year + $12k living expenses = approx AUD $37k/year. RM112k/year

Melb, Monash even more $ for living expenses. Groceries are more expensive in Australia too.

There are a lot of jobs that fits me in career builder & monster CA now. But you're right - they're all over the place hence I forsee moving around after graduation if I'd want to settle there.

Decisions decisions.