UofT's Professor invited me to a meeting- prospective graduate applicant

[ramseriv]

Hello everyone,

I'm excited by receiving such wonderful news. I'm an Engineering prospective international graduate student, and after the email I just sent to several professors from this and many more universities, I received a feedback from the one who I did not expect was going to answer (he is actually the former research director).

He gave a positive comment about my letter, but I'm a little concern about this, because he made clear that even though it's not certain that he would be admitting students for the next year, he said that ''he would like to get to know me a bit''.
1. Was it a polite advanced approach of him in case everything goes in an unexpecting manner? what's the real meaning when a professor tells you the aforementioned phrase, what's behind this approach?
2. How can I prepare? Which are the common questions UofT's Engineering professors ask in a video meeting? (This is my first meeting with a researcher, can you give me some clues/ tips/ advises / questions they ask / questions to ask, so I could get the most satisfying results from this meeting?).

Every word regarding these 2 questions would be valuable!

Thank you.

 

[zekkeh]

honestly, you’d only know the real answer to your first question through your interview with the prof. but don’t have high hopes if you’re not already funded by your govt, because it’s difficult as heck to receive funding from NSERC as an international student, and unless you really click with the prof or have outstanding research experience, they’ll struggle to find funding for you too, especially given that research funding has been hard to come by recently and a lot of profs are withholding recruiting more students.

and as for your second question, i foresee that he’ll be asking for your research interests and research experience, as well as why you decided to approach him for support. so prepare a list of topics that you might be interested in.

 

[powereng1982]

honestly, you’d only know the real answer to your first question through your interview with the prof. but don’t have high hopes if you’re not already funded by your govt, because it’s difficult as heck to receive funding from NSERC as an international student, and unless you really click with the prof or have outstanding research experience, they’ll struggle to find funding for you too, especially given that research funding has been hard to come by recently and a lot of profs are withholding recruiting more students.

and as for your second question, i foresee that he’ll be asking for your research interests and research experience, as well as why you decided to approach him for support. so prepare a list of topics that you might be interested in.

I agree with what you have said.

Most probably your discussion will end up in writing a proposal to apply for fundings.

If you have any questions, feel free to write here.

 

[winlife]

1) The professor will only admit students if he gets money i.e. research money from somewhere. You have no control over this (unless you yourself want to pay then inform the professor you will self-fund)
2) Just prepare about whatever topics you wrote in the email to prof + your resume + professor himself. This is your chance to showcase your skills/expertise/interest and impress him. Its like a job interview except your goal here is to become his student (not earning money).

 

[ramseriv]

honestly, you’d only know the real answer to your first question through your interview with the prof. but don’t have high hopes if you’re not already funded by your govt, because it’s difficult as heck to receive funding from NSERC as an international student, and unless you really click with the prof or have outstanding research experience, they’ll struggle to find funding for you too, especially given that research funding has been hard to come by recently and a lot of profs are withholding recruiting more students.

and as for your second question, i foresee that he’ll be asking for your research interests and research experience, as well as why you decided to approach him for support. so prepare a list of topics that you might be interested in.

Difficult or impossible? I don't have many information about NSERC, but by observing the eligibility requirements on its official website I noticed I don't satisfy those requirements. Definitely, I'm neither Canadian nor PR holder, not even a protected or indigenous person, and based on this information I am not able to apply as an international student. Why you said difficult? like if there is a minimum chance, Is there an information that I do not know about these requisites?

 

[ayesha_llk2]

Which graduate program are you applying to

 

[zekkeh]

Difficult or impossible? I don't have many information about NSERC, but by observing the eligibility requirements on its official website I noticed I don't satisfy those requirements. Definitely, I'm neither Canadian nor PR holder, not even a protected or indigenous person, and based on this information I am not able to apply as an international student. Why you said difficult? like if there is a minimum chance, Is there an information that I do not know about these requisites?

i didnt say that it’s impossible. it’s possible if you’re at the top of your field, like first class honours, prior research experience. to most people, that’s impossible, but for some it’s just difficult but possible.