Grad School FAQs

Disclaimer: This document does not reflect all experiences, and for many of these questions there may be more than one right answer. Sometimes, the answer is “it depends.” Put another way, the opinions expressed by individuals in this document do not reflect the opinions of the entire McGill Physics Department. This is a living document based on a few advisors' experiences, and various conditions can change over time and depend on the graduate school, the program, etc.

CC = Cynthia Chiang
DC = David Cooke
HG = Hong Guo
KD = Keshav Dasgupta
KM = Kim Metera
KS = Katelin Schutz

0. Grad School Application slides (PDF)
1. What are the factors to consider when choosing a grad school? A supervisor?

   The fit between you and potential supervisors and projects is important. You may want to choose a school where there are a few people you would be interested in working with to increase your options of finding a good fit.

   What do you want to do? Benchtop, wet-lab, or nuts-and-bolts experiments or pure theory? A combination of these? Do you like to work in small, 1-2 person groups on small projects, or on big collaborative projects with big groups, or somewhere in between? How set are you on a specific subfield, or are you open to various options?

   Professional considerations:

   • Advisors/projects: are there several potential advisors that you’d be interested in working with?
   • Funding: What is the amount? Are there internal scholarship opportunities? Are there teaching/TA requirements or opportunities for extra income?
   • Department culture: EDI, outreach, social events? The social scene may be hard to find out about before applying, but active EDI or outreach committees probably have websites.
   • Degree structure: course requirements, MSc and PhD eligibility, qualifier exams, etc.
   • Collaborations with/ties to other research groups or institutes (networking).

   Personal considerations:

   • City climate and culture: Would you enjoy living there? Do you need a car to get around? Do you like the weather? (What else is important to you in terms of the livability of a city?) Do you like the city’s vibe?
   • Proximity to loved ones: How often do you want to visit family/friends, and how easy/affordable is travel from there?
   • Cost of living vs stipend: Can you afford to live there?
   Access to extracurricular activities: Can you access things outside of school that you like (city or school sports leagues, hobbies, clubs, etc.)
   • Application costs.

   In some cases, you will get a chance to interview with specific professors, in other cases you may not. If you do get a chance to interview with professors, and, if possible, their students, you may be able to get a better idea of these things.

   CC: You can also pay attention to universities with ties to research centers or national labs because these institutions will have expanded research and networking opportunities.

2. Is it better, or necessary, to go to a well-known school, or is it OK to go to a smaller/less well-known school if the prof and project seem good at the smaller school?

   KM: Prioritize a good fit of the project and the prof and the other factors above, but with some caveats depending on the field or your eventual career goals. If you are interested in a certain field, you can ask McGill professors in that field for their knowledge about good departments or for recommendations/opinions on certain profs/schools.

   HG: If your goal is to be a professor, this path may be easier if you do grad work in a more well-known school or department. But also, you must do good work, with someone with whom you have a productive relationship.

   KS: Hong's point has been studied and indeed the data do show that in the US, about 80% of US professors come from just 20% of institutionsi. Here is a corresponding visual of how physics PhDs move to faculty jobs (again this is UScentric). However, it is extremely difficult to get a faculty job, and a lot can happen between entering graduate school and applying to faculty jobs: faculty hiring trends can shift from one subfield to another, you can develop different priorities, etc. Anecdotally, out of a cohort of ~50 students starting PhDs at UC Berkeley in physics at the same time as me (in 2014), only around 3-4 of us have faculty jobs (and there are 1-2 others still in postdocs who may eventually get faculty jobs). Therefore, I would highly recommend that you focus on the slightly shorter-term goal of finding a PhD institution and advisor where you can be productive and enjoy your life. If this happens to be a slightly less “fancy” institution, so be it. In my opinion, this shorterterm goal is very aligned with the longer-term one, in that if you are doing good work that you enjoy that will translate to being more hirable down the line.

   CC: Some schools may not be “big” schools, but may have really good departments for certain things.

3. What is the best way to find schools/profs/groups to apply to?

   KM: Again, this may depend a bit on your eventual goal. It may be a helpful start to ask your McGill professors for their recommendations about other profs in their field. They hopefully know their area and who is currently doing good work. Students can also look up papers related to what is interesting to them and see who the researchers are, or look at departments at specific schools and see if anyone is doing something that interests you. Students can also look up schools they may want (based on the school or the city) and see if they are interested in the research there.

   KS: Do your research/webstalking, and look for a good fit for topics you are interested in, even if it's at a smaller school. Some departments that are smaller try to set themselves apart by doing concentrated hiring of multiple faculty in one research area, so these can be real gems if you can find out which schools these are for your specific interests. A main consideration is whether there are multiple profs you could possibly work with at that school, because sometimes things don't work out with your “dream supervisor” (for instance, it's difficult to know in advance if you vibe well). I will always tell people to apply to a less “fancy” school with several potential supervisors over applying to a super “fancy” school with only one possible supervisor.

   CC: Pay attention to the departments that the school has. Depending on the school, there may be combined or separate departments for physics, astronomy, and/or applied physics. These departments might not be connected when it comes to applications to the school. For experimentalists, some schools might have applied physics departments where interesting stuff is happening.

4. Is the GRE required?

   KM: It depends on the school. At McGill it is an option but not required.

   KS: For me, I don't really care too much if a students has the GRE or not. If people happen to have it, I do take a look at the writing section. But the GRE isn't correlated to research productivity as measured by the amount of papers written, which is one of the metrics of success in grad school (not the only one). So for me as a scientist, that's a reason to downweight the importance of the GRE. Others may have different opinions.

5. When I apply for grad school, do I apply to the school/department or to a professor? Do I need to reach out to the profs that I'm interested in working with before I apply? Or after I'm accepted? Or during the application process?

   KM, KS: The application process and requirements vary from school to school, so check the details for the schools, departments, and even the websites of the profs you are interested in working with.

   Most departments/schools have a committee who evaluates applicants, and students get admitted to the department without committing to one supervisor. It's still a good idea to indicate supervisors that you are interested in working with in your research statement in order to give the committee an idea of where you could fit into the department.

   At McGill, things are a little different. You apply to Graduate Studies through an online portal and check some boxes about which supervisors you would want to work with, and then individual profs select students to join their groups (not a committee). Therefore, it's recommended to reach out to the professors you are interested in working with in order to figure out if they are accepting students and to tell them a bit about your background. You can also let them know you're interested so that they look out for your application when it arrives. Professors receive a lot of enquiries, so even if they don't reply, they will still likely have seen your message and can look out for your application when it arrives. Note that even at McGill, some profs do NOT want to be contacted before students apply, others definitely do. Check their websites (some will say if they are not accepting students so you know not to spend too much time invested in those groups).

   CC: If admission is by committee and not individual professors, reaching out in advance of applying may be less useful since the prof may not have influence in the admission decisions. However, if there are specific groups that you are interested in, reaching out can help you find out if they are taking students and to pre-advertise yourself. If you contact a potential supervisor and they don’t respond, following up is not advised. Emails to profs should be brief. Be careful about using ChatGPT to write letters unless you plan to heavily edit them because the product might sound canned and generic.

6. Is it better to do more projects to have more reference letters, or to do one longer project but then only have one research reference letter that can maybe say more about me?

   KS, KD: Quality over quantity (but if both, great!). One really solid reference letter that can say a lot of good things combined with a couple of “course profs” could be OK. Some profs might care about the depth of previous experiences/development of skills.

   HG: more projects = more experience.

   DC: Incoming MSc students are basically all treated as coming from the same starting point (~zero). If you don’t have lots of research experience, this isn’t necessarily a problem because what’s important are certain traits that demonstrate research potential, like curiosity, tenacity, focus, organization, adaptability, and ability to work with others.

   TB: If you don’t have strong reference letters, you should have a good Interest Statement. This can include hobbies that may be related to the prof’s research, like interests in building or fixing things, for example.

   KM: No “one right answer”. If you try something and like it, keep going in that area. If you want to try something else, try something else, and learn something from each experience.

   1. If it's better to have more letters, would it be advisable to delay graduation/take an extra semester or year to take more research projects?

      KM: No. If you have a clear intention of what you want to do, you can articulate this in your grad school application. If you are less sure what you want to do or are not accepted to grad school, you can spend some time, even after graduation, working in an academic lab or in industry. This time can help focus your interests, which can hopefully result in a more thoughtful and intentioned grad school application.

   2. What if I only have one research project?

      KM: In your application/interest statement, highlight the skills learned and practiced in that project, and how the project (and other academic or nonacademic experiences, if applicable) influenced your decision to apply for the research you are applying for. Even if it's not in the same field, what did you learn that prompted you to want to study this new thing?

      CC: You can also try to find faculty members who can comment on your experiences that demonstrate your leadership and communication skills, or who taught classes in which you stood out by doing an amazing final project or asking great questions.

7. How many reference letters are needed? Are letters from course profs OK? What about post-docs in the lab I worked in?

   KM: Check the school requirements. Letters from research supervisors carry more weight than those from course profs, since they can speak to your potential to succeed at a sustained research project (which is what will matter in grad school). If a post-doc or grad student was your day-to-day project supervisor, perhaps they could help the prof craft the reference letter (or KS suggests the prof and post-doc could both sign it!)

8. When I ask my supervisors for reference letters, do I just ask for a PDF that I can keep using for all my applications?

   No. Profs will not just give you a PDF of their letter for you.

   KM: When you are asking for reference letters, get organized early so that people have lots of time to write them or dig up previous ones. Send a list to the prof of places you are applying that includes due dates and submission method (email address for reference letter, link to online form, etc).

   If you are not currently working in the lab of the prof you are asking, make it easy for them. Include with your request a short list of when you worked for them, your project, what you accomplished - research wise and towards the lab in general, etc. Attach your CV and transcript.

   HG: Don't be afraid to follow up with your letter writers. People get busy and forget Make it easy for profs.

   KS, HG, KD, CC, DC, TB: DO NOT request access to read the reference letters in the system. When we see a letter that we know a student saw (i.e. a letter that did not remain confidential), we no longer trust that the contents of that letter are accurate. When writing a letter, people tend to give their true opinions under the assumption of confidentiality.

9. How important are grades? What grades do I need?

   Higher grades are better. Most schools will have a standard bar that may vary. Assuming this basic standard is met, different profs and admission committees may put different weight on a combination of 1) grades/transcript, 2) CV/relevant

   skills, 3) letters of reference, and 4) interest statement. The fit between you and the proposed research supervisor/project and your research potential can also be important, and these should be clearly noted in your application package/interest statement.

   KD: If your grades aren't great, do a MSc first (maybe at McGill) then your chances of getting into a PhD program improve.

   HG, KD, KS: GPA is important (but all of us are theorists, so there is a bias here! It's possible that experimentalists would put more priority on laboratory skills and techniques.)

   TB: In my experience, grades are not clearly related to someone being a good researcher. You could have good or less good grades and be a good researcher, or have good or less good grades and not be a good fit for my lab.

   KM, KD, KS, HG: If your grades are not stellar, you can still get into grad school at good schools if you have good reference letters and research experience.

10. How important is the Letter of Intent/Interest statement?>

    KM: This is where you get to say why you are interested in the department or prof and why you think you are a good fit. This statement is not a repeat of your CV, but you can link to it to highlight how your experiences have brought you to where you are now and have informed your interest in the group or department. Tailor it to each institution to which you are applying (don’t use one generic letter for multiple applications). Also, don’t use ChatGTP unless you plan to heavily edit it – otherwise it may sound canned and insincere.

    KS: For me, the interest statement is of marginal importance. Experience and GPA and letters of reference are more important to me, and the interest statement is more helpful for putting the whole application into some context, explaining anything unusual about the application, etc.. My advice to students is not to spend tons of time on the personal statement because the more important factors for grad admissions are already “baked in” (GPA, research experience, etc). One trap students fall into is really polishing the personal statement, but I think this is a coping mechanism more than anything else because it feels like you have control over this document whereas other things are more out of an individual's control.

    KD, DC: Reads the Interest statement, prefers to set an interview with the potential student

    HG: Looks at the package as a whole, including the Interest Statement

    CC: You don’t have a lot of time or space to catch the reader’s attention. Don’t say generic things like “I love experimental work”, but instead, describe an awesome project that you did (for school, for research, or for fun). Each sentence should be “uniquely you”. If you are lucky enough to have a beautiful shot of some hardware you built or a particularly impressive plot of an analysis or simulation result, it could be worth making the space for it in your statement.

11. What skills should I focus on in my CV? Do I also highlight non-physics skills and non-physics jobs/experience on my CV?

    KM: You should highlight research-related skills like coding or data analysis methods or instrumentation use or design, etc. The ability to finish something you started, leadership, problem solving, communication, tenacity, independence, collaboration, etc. are all important research skills. If you can clearly link non-physics experience to developing and practicing these skills, do it. Also, some profs have explicitly told me that they want to see that the candidate has interests outside of the lab - things to show they are well-rounded and have outlets for stress.

    KS, DC: Don't write buzzwords like “hard-working, goal-oriented”. These are selfproclaimed, vague, unverifiable, and not calibrated against kind of standard. In general, “show, don't tell” - link skills/traits to concrete things in your CV. For example, you can note that you held a part-time job while being a full-time student, which shows work ethic and organizational/time-management skills.

    HG: Mention conferences, posters, etc.

    TB: Things that show the ability to work as part of a team and things that set you apart, even if they’re not directly physics- or research-related, should be included.

12. What if I graduate in December? Can I start grad school in January? What do I do if I can't start until September?

    KM: This may depend on the school, so check the ones you want to apply to. McGill allows a January start, many schools don't.

    If you have a few months between graduating and starting grad school, and you have your new school and lab already sorted out, you can continue to work on a research project in a lab at McGill or possibly an industry position, you can work in a non-physics job, or, finances depending, can take some time to travel and enjoy the break before buckling down for more school.

    Not many professors may take on a temporary research assistant, so working in a lab may be more likely if you’ve recently been working in one and an extra bit of time could wrap up a project.

13. What if I graduate at the end of the summer term?

    Check the requirements of the schools you are interested in. For grad school at McGill, if you complete all your program requirements before September you can start in the fall. Your degree won't be issued until mid-fall, but you could be approved for graduation before the beginning of the fall term.

14. Does it look bad if I take a year off after undergrad before starting grad school?

    KM: No. Sometimes if people take time between undergrad and grad school (because they chose a gap year or because they didn't get accepted right away into grad school), their application can be stronger if they can more clearly articulate in their letter WHY they are interested in graduate school. If you've been working in a research environment, you will have hopefully gained more relevant skills to add to your CV. One thing to keep in mind though is that if you take many years between undergrad and grad school, going back to school and taking courses after working a 9-5 industry job may be a bit of a shock, but it is absolutely possible.

    TB: If you use the time between undergrad and grad school to do something interesting, that’s OK. If you cannot show anything for your time away from school, that is less helpful. For example, travelling or working is good, sitting around doing nothing for a year is not.

15. Does it look bad if I take more than 4 years (or 3 for CEGEP students) to do my undergrad?

    KM: No. Students take more time for lots of legit reasons (family care, managing a job, keeping up with other interests, etc). I can't promise that the occasional prof won't dismiss an applicant based on that, but maybe that's someone you wouldn't want to work for anyway. If you take longer than an extra year or take a break during your studies, you should be prepared to address that in an interview if anyone asks.

16. Is a Majors degree good enough for grad school?

    KM: It may depend on the project specifically, but generally yes. If you want to do a theory-heavy project with a majors physics background, you should check in with the potential supervisor to make sure your background is appropriate. Some theoryheavy research groups may prefer the honours background. Some profs have told me that depending on the grad research project, the majors program may be better prep than the honours program, but this may be more related to the lab experience. Profs that do experimental/instrumental/technical work may prefer certain lab and technical skills, but really, lots of lab experience could fill that requirement.

    TB: The degree itself is not super important. What's more important is the ability or the potential to work in a lab.

17. Can I do grad school in physics if I do a joint degree (that maybe has less physics than a Physics Major program, for example the Majors Phys-CS degree)?

    KM: This depends on the project. Some graduate research projects benefit greatly from knowledge in a field other than physics (just like there are projects outside of physics that could benefit from some physics background). Reach out to professors you are interested in working with (at McGill or elsewhere) to find out what background they need for the projects they have. At McGill, generally they look for a background that is equivalent to our Major program, but students with other backgrounds can apply (especially if they have talked with a professor who could use someone with your skillset). For McGill grad studies, you need to be prepared to take 500- and 600-level physics courses.

    KS: Needs a strong physics core, so a degree that might be missing some material like stat mech or quantum is less useful. The title of the degree or what else may be included in it is less important than having the core concepts covered.

    KD: It depends on the courses that you have and your background. If you are missing key courses, you may have trouble in a few spots.

    HG: Has taken on grad students with strong background in another field because he needed that knowledge for a project.

    TB: Same as the previous question: the degree itself is not as important as the ability or the potential to work in a lab.

18. Can I do an undergrad in physics, and then grad school in something else?

    KM: Yes, and our physics students do this sometimes. What's important are the skills and experience you gained during your undergrad. Sometimes students do an undergrad project in a different department (like Engineering or Geophysics, for example), and discover something that interests them, so they follow up with grad studies. Even if you didn't do a specific project in another field, you might have relevant skills for projects outside of physics. You can talk to profs in areas that interest you, even if outside of physics, and find out what skills are needed. Maybe field-specific skills or knowledge can be gained through elective courses or a research project before graduation from Physics.

19. How do I prepare for an interview?

    Sometimes interviews will be with specific professors, sometimes they will be with committees. You may be asked technical questions, or maybe you won’t.

    HG, DC, TB: Be yourself. Don’t pretend you know everything if you don’t. Most people aren’t looking for someone who’s already an expert. They are looking for someone who is curious and has the potential to be a successful grad student. Don’t be afraid to admit you don’t know something. Ask questions.

    DC, TB: Be ready to talk about prior research experience. You may be asked in advance to prepare a presentation about it. During interviews, ask questions. They don’t have to be expert-level questions, but should show that you are listening to what the profs are saying and that you’re curious to learn more. If lucky enough to go on a visit and a lab tour, don’t walk around saying, “Cool” about everything you are shown, since this doesn’t show that you are actually engaging. Interviews are more important than the Interest Statement in gauging how well a fit you may be with the lab.

    KS: Don’t show up uninvited for an interview!

20. How is grad school funded? How do I find this funding? Do I need to have funding lined up before applying?

    Funding can come from: 1) supervisor’s research grants; 2) teaching/TAing; 3) fellowships. It may come from combinations of these things. Having a fellowship can make you a more attractive candidate to some professors.

    The department and school’s grad program websites will probably list various common fellowships or funding sources. They should also outline the amount students receive and tuition costs and various fees, etc. For example, McGill’s general Grad Studies website about grad school funding (https://www.mcgill.ca/gps/funding) has all kinds of info about how funding works for grad students, and the physics grad student section has information too.

    Sometimes there are awards or supplements specific to the department or school, which is why checking the grad student section of the department you are interested in is a good idea.

    NSERC’s main programs for MSc and PhD funding (and other awards) is here. FRQNT (Québec government) is also a possible source of funding.

    When applying for fellowships, check the application deadlines carefully since there may be lots of variation. For example, the “NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarships — Doctoral program” lists one deadline if you are applying directly to NSERC (which may be the case if you’ve been out of school for a certain length of time) but says to check your institution deadline (which will be earlier) if you are applying through your existing school. NSERC doctoral applications are due on October 1st: https://www.mcgill.ca/gps/doctoral-harmonized-tri-council-awards-cihr-nserc-sshrc, and Masters applications are due on Dec 1st: https://www.mcgill.ca/gps/tri-masters.

    At least for NSERC and FRQNT, application deadlines are in the fall, and results are not released until the spring. You probably won’t know if you will have these fellowships before applying to places, but you should know before the deadlines to accept an offer to a grad school. It is also possible to apply for various awards when you are already a student. This means you could start as being paid through the research grants of your supervisor, but then in a subsequent year be paid from a fellowship