Fellowships, scholarships and paying for grad school

TalentEgg Incubator. 7 September 2010.

The good thing about grad school: you take fewer courses and fewer years to complete your degree.

The bad (bad, bad) thing about grad school: your tuition per course is more than for undergrad classes, so grad school can still be just as expensive or even more so than a bachelor’s degree.

The good thing about it being more expensive (if anyone in their right mind would consider it a good thing!) is there are more ways for graduate students to pay for their education.

Scholarships, fellowships, research assistantships, teaching assistantships, as well as provincial and national awards can all help pay the bills.

Scholarships, fellowships, research assistantships, teaching assistantships, as well as provincial and national awards can all help pay the bills.

Scholarships

Graduate scholarships are similar to undergrad scholarships in that they are based primarily on academic merit and often awarded based on need. There is no one way to obtain scholarships: some require applications while others are awarded by the university or specific departments.

Research assistantships

Research assistantships are awarded to students based on academic merit and begin as soon as the student starts their studies at a school. A research assistant (RA) helps a supervising professor to complete their professional research. As a result, the money granted through an RA-ship is actually from their supervisor’s funding partner (body), and not the school itself.

Students completing an RA-ship work a certain number of hours per week, for which they are paid an hourly wage.

Teaching assistantships

All undergraduate students have encountered at least one TA during the course of their studies, and as a result have a fairly good idea of what a teaching assistantship may require. The majority of TAs lead labs or tutorials, mark student assignments, labs, tests and papers, maintain office hours and help get materials ready for classes.

There are also marking TAs who have no interaction with students and only mark the papers, assignments and tests of students. TAs are allotted a certain number of hours and get paid an hourly wage for the hours they work.

Fellowships

There are two kinds of fellowships, portable fellowships and institutional fellowships:

Portable fellowships can be used by students at any institution they choose, and are often called external fellowships, since funding normally comes from outside organizations.

Institutional fellowships, on the other hand, are granted by an academic institution for study at that school, and are sometimes restrictive to the program being studied, as well as the subject manner.

Provincial and national awards

Students thinking about applying to graduate school often don’t apply for provincial or national awards since they typically require in-depth applications that are incredibly competitive. Nevertheless, they can provide excellent sources of funding during the course of your graduate degree.

Some provinces that offer graduate programs at their university offer awards to students studying in that province, such as the Ontario Graduate Scholarship, or the Pacific Centry Graduate Scholarship.

National programs include NSERC, SSHRC, and CIHR. Awards from these organizations can also granted to post-doctoral fellows and tenured faculty.

The bottom line

All of the funding options listed above are competitive in nature. Your grades, extra curricular activities, research statement, and prior work in academia may be considered when you apply for these positions and awards.

There is a good possibility that you won’t get any funding help, so if that happens, how do you plan on paying for grad school?

Commuting conundrum: School

TalentEgg Incubator. 1 September 2010.

It’s almost back to school time and many students are considering their housing options for next year: Should I live on-campus, should I live off-campus, or should I commute?

Like commuting for work, commuting to school can have a number of advantages over living close to (or on) campus. The closer you are to campus, the more expensive your housing will be, so if you would like to save some money, living further away from campus can be beneficial.

Much of this depends on exactly what your accommodations will be, and what your living arrangement will be. For example, if you are living at home, do you have to pay for rent, groceries, and utilities, or will your parents waive those fees for you?

If you are living in shared accommodations (student house or an apartment), are your expenses going to be cheaper than if you lived closer to campus? And how does the money you save factor when you add the extended amount of time it takes for you to get to campus?

Paul Aoanan, a second-year mechatronics engineering and management student at McMaster University, takes two buses and travels up to 50 minutes to get to school everyday from the other side of Hamilton, Ont.

Aoanan’s family recently immigrated to Canada, so being able to save money while going to school was very important to him. “School is expensive as it is. I can use the money that I have saved [through commuting] to pay for books and other school requirements.”

If you are thinking about commuting being the right option for you, the most important thing you need to consider is the amount of time it will take out of your day. “You need to plan ahead and to leave early to avoid being late or caught up in something. During the winter months, commuting can be really difficult: you must tread icy sidewalks and wait for the bus during a cold afternoon. You must also endure extreme weather,” says Aoanan.

As anyone who takes public transit often is well aware, when you are waiting for your bus in the rain (or a blizzard or a hailstorm), it is going to be late or it won’t show up at all. Similarly, as soon as you get on to your bus, the sun will come out. Murphy’s Law happens all the time when you commute.

Depending on the length of your trip and the amount of transfers you have sometimes you can do some reading or other homework while you travel. If you’re prone to motion sickness however, that’s probably not a good idea!

Like many students, Aoanan primarily uses his commute as a way to veg out: “Most of the time, I just listen to the music on my mp3 player and stare out the window. This is how I meditate and mentally prepare for school.”

Aoanan has four excellent tips to pass on to students who commute:

1. Don’t rush

Keep in mind that school is a long way and that there is no turning back in case you forget something. During winter, people who commute are prone to slips and falls while on their way to their respective destination. Walk slowly.

2. Dress properly

Watch your local weather forecast and decide if you will need to bring your heavy winter coat. We do no want to freeze outside, do we?

3. Plan the trip

Knowing when and where to go is a must.

4. Leave early

Take into account unforeseeable events such as missing the bus or the need to satisfy your hunger pangs by quickly grabbing a tea biscuit from a store.

These four things will help make commuting a breeze!

For more on commuting, check out Danielle’s other Commuting Conundrum article about commuting to and from work.

Top Talent: UBC’s Sauder School of Business graduate Marina Tran-Vu

TalentEgg Incubator. 26 August 2010

Marina Tran-Vu graduated from the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business in 2010 with a Bachelors of Commerce with a focus in marketing. She is currently working as a media planning assistant forCossette Communications.

Tran-Vu recently placed first in the first annual Endeavor Non-profit Consulting Case Competition for young professionals.

Jenkin Au, a fellow Sauder alumni says that “Marina has profound insight to whatever situation she is faced with.”

This experienced world traveller took some time to answer our questions.

What career paths are you currently interested in?

I am currently interested in anything to do with brand management and advertisement. More specifically, I am interested in consumer packaged goods (especially food products, beauty products, entertainment products and apparel). In the future, I would like to be a brand manager for companies like Nestle, Lindt, Holt Renfrew, Revlon, L’Oreal, LVMH, Gucci, Unilever or EA Games.

I would like to represent these kinds of companies for two reasons. First, these are all brands and product categories I love – if I don’t love the brand, how could I expect to do a great job marketing it?

Second, a brand manager’s role is to see the big picture – my career experiences have been in doing everything at the customer level and working my way up to understand the “big picture.” I believe because I have this understanding of how things work from the ground up, it will give me a big advantage in working in the brand management field.

Tell us about something you’ve done that is completely unrelated to your current career path that shows you’re going to be a superstar in the workforce.

I co-founded the first student-run Investment Banking Competition in Canada in 2009 at the University of British Columbia. I did this because I saw a need for students to get exposure to the incredibly lucrative industry of Investment Banking. The competition exposed them to investment banking professionals in the field and tested their skills solving an investment banking case in an intensive 12 hour competition. This shows my ability to be an innovative entrepreneur who is able to see their ideas through to fruition.

What have your Top 3 life experiences been, and how can you relate those experiences to your career?

My first experience was working internationally at a religious Hong Kong Financial Firm. While I was there I learned how to adapt to a different culture where I didn’t speak the language, learned different cultural etiquette, and I learned about a different religion through my work experience.

Living in a country where I couldn’t speak the language made me learn to not only adopt basic language for the country, but also taught me to use body language in order to communicate with the locals. A big smile when asking a question always helps! In terms of a religious firm, the company I worked for was a Christian-based financial firm. This means that while the company role was to provide financial services to its clients, these services were offered on the basis that they aligned with the religious and moral beliefs of the Christian religion. It was a great work experience because I learned more about a religion that I wasn’t familiar with, and I also go to exchange my own beliefs to a very open-minded organization.

Bungee Jumping in Hong Kong

My second experience was travelling to Toronto for a week to speak with brand managers and marketing executives in the field. While I was there, I learned how valuable it is to build a network, what opportunities are available outside of Vancouver, and the value of looking to others to gain knowledge.

As a student coming from Vancouver looking to build a career in a large city like Toronto, it was important for me to gain knowledge about the marketing industry in the city to ensure it would be an area where I could expect to be able to fully develop my career. The fact that I reached out to individuals who were seasoned in the marketing field and in career roles that I aspired to attain in the future not only gave me insight in to what a brand manager role expected from any potential candidate, and also helped me to build a network of people who I could trust for career and professional advice.

A bonus is when I build such a great relationship that they become a mentor for the start of and throughout the rest of my career. Also when I was looking to get recruited by a firm, speaking to the senior professionals at these organizations gave me an advantage when I was looking to hear quickly about positions that were open.

My third experience was travelling to Korea by myself for two weeks. The experience allowed me to learn how to be open to meeting new people, how to embrace living in new environments, and how to integrate myself in a new culture.

Why do you want to work in the United Nations?

Coming from a family that was originally from Vietnam, my parents taught me about the poverty they experienced growing up. As an individual born in Canada, I could not possibly understand the extent of poverty that is experienced in a country so far away. Therefore, the reason why I want to work for the United Nations is to really gain an understanding of the struggles that the majority of populations in third-world countries experience.

As well, I would love be able to give back to the country that my parents were from. Vietnam is a beautiful country that is bogged down by the after-effects of the Vietnam War and poverty. I know that under all the grief that has stricken the country there is a potential to show the world how extraordinary the people and the land truly are.

What makes you a “Type A” personality, and how does that fit in with your career goals?

My Type A personality is expressed in the fact that I am consistently involved in everything that interests me. I love to be busy, having my time taken up by work, case competitions, volunteering, taking French lessons, playing sports, etc. I have always been heavily involved in volunteer work, athletics, academics and extracurricular activities since high school and hope to continue to do so.

I am also very forward-thinking, always looking for the next thing that interests me, something I want to pursue or that next opportunity. Even though I have a full-time job, I don’t want to revert to a state where I will settle just for working and being content with having that as the activity that occupies most of my brain power for the rest of my life. I like to be constantly stimulated, and I keep that up by being involved in various things, and making sure everything I am involved in, I am on top of and execute well.

You’ve got the write stuff, baby: Your grad school research statement

TalentEgg Incubator. 24 August 2010

Aside from having the grades to get into the program,writing your research statement is the most difficult part of the whole graduate school application processes.

There is no hard and fast rule of what to include in your application, since every school and every program requires different things.

Generally, you want to talk about your experience, education and research, relate these to the school you’re applying to, and explain how the school will benefit your future research. And, of course, all of this has to be crammed into a few hundred of words! (Eek!)

Emily George, a MA in Kinesiology (Physical Education) in the University of Victoria’s School of Exercise Science, Physical and Health Education says, “…[Y]our statement of intent/statement of research is based on what you are interested in studying, why you got there, and how it will help you reach your career goals, no matter what discipline you are in.”

This past fall I applied to four programs. I had two very different areas of research I wanted to examine, so it ended up that applications for two schools were on Topic A, while the other two on Topic B. Even when the areas of research I was talking about were the same, what I wrote within the proposal varied because the schools had dissimilar word requirements and wanted information on different things.

The University of Alberta’s English department created a great document (and one of the only ones I’ve seen) for prospective graduate students, that I used to help write my research proposals for all four schools. There was one point that I believe summarizes exactly what masters applicants needs to know in order to apply:

“Pay close attention to the statement of program: although every element of the application is important, it is in this part that you really show yourself to the committee. Be sure to explain what you want to do (what you’re interested in) and why (or how you got there); explain why this university is an appropriate place for you to undertake your studies (do some research related to faculty, departmental strengths, course offerings, cross- and inter-disciplinary factors, library holdings).”

Although the document from the University of Alberta can serve as a jumping off point to writing your proposal, you should research what the program(s) you are applying to say about their research statement, also called the statement of purpose, research purpose, or statement of interest.

If you are thinking applying for a MSc or MEng, the process is similar, but not identical.

George has provided some additional tips for to consider:

“You want to discuss how your research will benefit the state of the current knowledge of the field, from your experience as an undergraduate student, working professionals or reading other literature articles. If you want to research in an area/problem based on your current employment experience, you might want to talk about the practical applications of the information you will discover.

“It would be important to include terminology that is common in your area, but do not fill it with the jargon of the field; the committee members who review applications may not be familiar with it. Tie in your statement of interest to what is currently being done by a research group/lab, the procedures or equipment they have that will help address the field you want to study in.

“Your statement of interest/statement of research should include a specific question/area you want to examine, within the confines of your current ability and knowledge, looking at or describing specific eco-systems interactions, application of certain enzymes chemicals, or even how related past experiences influence current behaviours. Use headings to help keep your statement clear and concise.”

The best way to determine exactly what a department is looking for is to contact that program’s graduate advisor if it is not mentioned explicitly on the program website. Once you know more of what the committee will be looking for when they read your application, you can edit and cater your application further.

This process can be a long one, so make sure you give yourself plenty of time to write your research proposal. Give yourself a few days before editing each draft and completing revisions, as this will make it easier to catch errors in your own work.

When you feel you are confident with your proposal, give it to a few other people to read over and edit.

The last and perhaps the most important step to the research proposal process, according to the University of Alberta, is to “Double and triple-check your application for errors, things missing, etc. A big factor for the statement is simply how well written it is – make sure it makes sense but also make sure you’ve got not grammatical errors, poor phrasing, [and] typos.”

How to figure out which grad school location is right for you

TalentEgg Incubator. 18 August 2010

You’ve been doing your research to apply to grad schools: looking at the school, the program, the faculty, its facilities and services, its reputation and its academic requirements. However, one thing you must also do your research on is the location of your program.

A lot of students tend to not consider how much living in a certain city will cost, and that should be almost as important as the school itself, since those costs are very much linked together. Since you will be spending anywhere between twelve and twenty-four months as a full-time student at these schools, you need to consider the city the school is located in as well.

Climate

Let’s say you abhor all things snowy and cold. Even though the University of Alberta and the University of Manitobahave programs that suit your research interests, how well are you going to be able to cope with temperatures that can be as low as (and sometimes even colder than) -40C? Similarly, if you detest rain UBC and McMaster Universitywon’t be good choices for you.

Cost of living

Although the climate and temperature can have a lot to do with how you will enjoy the city, you need to also examine the cost of living within the city as well.

Because some provinces are more isolated or have shorter growing seasons, groceries can be much more expensive in some areas over others. However, in smaller urban centers, there is often less variety and it can be more difficult for you to purchase specialty foods.

In other cities, the climate is great, or it is close to major financial or cultural centers, so the cost of living there is much greater than other places within Canada. Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary are among the cities with the highest costs for rentals as well as purchasing houses and apartments.

Zac Spicer, a PhD student in Political Science at the University of Western Ontario says, “Going to school in Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver will obviously cost you more money in rent and your funding is rarely made with that consideration in mind. But, that is hardly a reason to turn down an offer from U of T, UBC or McGill. Some students do not want to travel too far from friends and family, but I would encourage any prospective students to worry about other factors, such as faculty and funding, rather than social or living factors.”

Transportation

Something else to consider is the cost of transportation within different cities: do you have a U-Pass included in your tuition, or do you need to pay for a monthly transit pass? Or, do you have a car, and do you need to pay for gas, parking and maintenance? Similarly, if you live in a large city, car insurance has a tendency to cost more than if you were in a smaller community.

Moving costs

One of the last things you should consider is how much it will cost you to move to this new city. If you are moving cross-country, the cost of renting a vehicle to bring all of your stuff can be upwards of $10,000 or more. This can includes the rental of a truck/trailer, insurance, a fee per kilometre you drive, the cost of gas, the fees issued by the rental company to drive their vehicle back, as well as buying food and renting a hotel room.

If you opt to bring only the essentials with you when you move, furnishing an apartment or house can be expensive as well. If you only plan on living in that city for the length of your program, perhaps it’s more worthwhile for you to live in residence for some of the time.

However, Spicer makes a great point when it comes to accessing what the location of your prospective school may be: “Location should be the last consideration of anyone applying to grad school, but it does obviously play a role in deciding where to go. […] I would caution anyone from letting this factor be the deciding one. Look at what the school offers, then consider the location.”

Commuting conundrum: Work

TalentEgg Incubator. 12 August 2010

I live in a bustling metropolis of approximately 2,700 people, with about 58,000 in my township. Needless to say, work opportunities are few and far between.

I have been working at TalentEgg this summer as an egg-tern and, to do so, I commute. And I don’t mean a quick jaunt on the subway. I mean two transit systems and a considerable amount of time in a car.

An average workday goes something like the following:

• Wake up at 6 a.m. and get ready
• Leave the house at 6:45 a.m. and drive to theGO station
• Arrive at the GO station and depart on the 7:40 a.m. train
• Get to Union Station around 8:20 a.m. and hop on the subway
• Arrive at the office around 8:40 a.m.
• Work until 5 p.m., and then do everything in reverse
• I usually get home around 7:10 p.m.

And of course, that doesn’t include things like accidents, really bad weather, GO train or TTC delays. All of which I have experienced more than once this summer.

I’ve commuted to Toronto for two different positions now (the other my high school co-op position at The Hospital for Sick Children), and I certainly wouldn’t recommend it to anyone coming from a long distance, simply because of the amount of time it takes. And it’s not the GO train or subway rides that are the issue: I can do other things while riding, like read, catch up on phone calls or emails (provided I get a seat, of course).

It’s the 30 to 40 minute drive that gets me. Nearly every day, I have some kind of encounter with a dangerous driver or someone who doesn’t know the rules of the road. And usually a rather large string of obscenities and some wild gesticulation from me follows. I seem to get people going 40 km/h in a 60 km/h zone, and I’m not able to pass them. Do you honk, or will that make the situation worse? I never know what to do.

But enough about me and my hatred of commuting (and bad drivers).

Your daily commute to and from work should always be considered when you are looking for and applying to jobs. In addition, you should also consider how much your commute will cost in comparison to your living expenses.

Some things to ponder when you are looking for a job:

• How much is rent in that city?
• How much does transit cost in that city?
• How long will your commute be inside the city?
• What are your expenses for a car (insurance, gas, maintenance, etc.)?
• How much is rent outside of the city?
• How much would transportation be to get into that city?
• How long will your commute take outside of the city?
• If you live with family or friends how much will your rent and expenses cost compared to living on your own?
• Are you planning to buy a place in a certain amount of years, or do you want to keep renting?

The longer your commute takes, the more likely you are to buy convenience foods for meals (and get fat) and be tired from not getting enough sleep.

But if you’re living with family, commuting can be a great way for you to save money to put towards a larger purchase, like a car or a house.

For me, gas costs about $35 a week , my TTC pass is $121 a month and my GO pass is $159 a month, for a grand monthly total of around $420. Because I don’t have to pay for rent or most living expenses living at my parents’ house, commuting is a much more economic option for me while I complete this internship. Trying to find a place that was closer didn’t seem to be worthwhile for only four months.

If I got a full-time job in Toronto, would I do it again? I’m not sure.

It may be something I’d consider in a shorter time frame in order to help me save up some money. But in the end I would probably look for a place that was closer, since it would allow me to do more in my evenings than have dinner and watch a little bit of TV.

TalentEgg asks:

• How far have you commuted for a summer job?
• What was your experience like?
• What advice do you have for other people who commute for work?

Playing the part of a grad student at my first academic conference

TalentEgg Incubator. 9 August 2010

I recently attended my first academic conference as a presenter, but in the weeks and months leading up to it, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

I knew this was a great way for me to add more experience to my CV. But as a humanities/social sciences student (or “arts,” if you prefer), there typically aren’t a lot of opportunities for undergrad students to go to conferences, let alone present at one.

I tried looking online and asking on Twitter and Facebook for advice on how to present at a conference, but to no avail. I was sure I’d make an ass out of myself.

The conference organizers told me I’d be presenting for about 15 minutes. I cut down the paper I submitted to the conference to what I thought was an appropriate length, and decided to work on the paper while I was there, since I was presenting on the last day.

I packed up my clothes, laptop and camera, and boarded my connecting flight from Vancouver to Victoria. About six hours after I set out that morning, I was at the University of Victoria, eager for the Engaging and Conceptualizing ‘Race’ conference to start. I was also as nervous as hell about what I was to expect, and wondered if the graduate students at the conference would be nice to me, a lowly little undergrad.

PhD student T.J. Tallie talking with another presenter (and being watched by a rabbit)

The ironic thing in all of this is that of the four schools I applied to for a Masters this year, UVic was the only one that didn’t accept me.

Within a short time of getting my residence room keys, I had made friends with some of the other presenters. I had also taken about 150 pictures of the feral domestic rabbits that were on campus.

I did some meeting and greeting, and retired a bit early to work on my paper while everyone else went out.

The next morning, I sat through everyone’s presentations and realized that presenting at a conference is actually very easy. You know when you give presentations during your undergrad and you’re told that you can’t read off your paper? At a conference all you do is stand at a podium and read off your paper. Yup, it’s that simple. You can be angry at your professors now.

That afternoon, I finished up my edits and printed my paper at the library (which was an adventure and a half in itself). With a few of the other presenters I explored the city of Victoria that evening. I went to bed that night feeling good.

I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling not so good. I’m not sure if it was some possible secret ninja dairy I ate by accident, or my nerves. But I was sick, and only slept about two or three hours the whole night.

Since I was awake long before everyone else, I walked around campus and took more photos of the campus (and another couple hundred of the rabbits), and prepped myself for what I thought was going to be an awful presentation. I was the third presenter in my group of four and, after hearing what the other presenters said, I was anxious.

When I got up there, though, all of that washed away: my paper went well, and other presenters and faculty commented and asked questions after I presented. All of the doubt I had about my abilities as a grad student were now gone.

Meleisa Ono-George, a masters student in history at UVic and one of the conference organizers says attending and presenting at a conference is so important because:

“Conferences are not just about sharing your work, networking, or gaining experience, although these are all important things. For me, participating in a conference is about the conversation that is the ongoing dialogue between scholars working on a similar subject or field. It’s amazing how much you learn from just engaging with people grappling with the same or similar questions. This engagement with others and participation in the conversation has helped me develop my ideas and work. As far as I’m concerned, conference participation is fundamental for any serious graduate student and historian.”

Looking back, I’m really glad I had the opportunity to go to this conference, and to learn so much. Of course I learned about race, racialization and racism, but I also gained insight into what the next two years as a grad student will be like for me.

Should you go to grad school

TalentEgg Incubator. 26 July 2010

You’ve put in somewhere between four and six years into your undergrad and you’re now considering other options for the following year.

The educational journey for some students ends once they finish their undergrad. Others may consider completing a second degree or doing a post-graduate certificate. Others, though, decide that they haven’t had enough of the trials and tribulations of university life, and apply to graduate school.

The best way to determine if grad school is right for youis to talk to people—your family, your friends and your professors—to find out what their experiences have been.

Unfortunately for me, as a first generation student, there wasn’t anyone in my immediate family I could seek counsel from, and it was the same for my extended family as well. I did my research, talked to my profs, and asked people I knew who went to grad school. I applied last fall, and despite good grades and references, my referees and I were shocked by the fact I wasn’t accepted.

There are plenty of reasons why pursuing a graduate degree may not be a good idea for you, based on what you want to do afterward, and this includes job prospects, finances and your mental health.

Lars Hedlund, a masters student in English at the University of Calgary, says that grad school “…is by far the worst stress/life/work balance I have ever had to work through. At many points it is unbearable, at other points it feels manageable.

“I suppose it all adds to a greater sense of accomplishment in the end, but really, my advice would be, if you’re not sure if you want to do grad school DO NOT force yourself into it. It definitely requires the motivation and a little bit of time off before tackling. That isn’t to say you can’t be successful at it going straight in, I just wouldn’t recommend it.”

Similarly, Cam Mitchell, a McMaster University kinesiology PhD student, believes that “most graduate students…get some sort of basic funding support however, in most cases the level of support students receive is much less then they would receive in most entry-level potions. For a two-year masters, this may be a relatively minor consideration, but for a combination Masters, PhD, postdoc (seven-plus years) the effects of a prolonged period of “student living” must be carefully considered.

“Another disadvantage is the possibility of becoming over-qualified. Some employers may be looking for candidates with more hands-on experience and additional academic qualification my actually be a hindrance to employment.”

However, there are many reasons why grad school can also be a good idea: it can allow you to learn more about a specific area of interest, teach you better research and writing skills, and a sense of community with other students.

The University of Western Ontario student Marcus Callaghan, who is completing his masters at the Centre for the Study of Theory and Criticism, says, “One of the major pros of grad school (that is often overlooked) is that you have the opportunity to share in the knowledge and ideas of many other students in your field. If there’s an idea that you’re working out, or a source that you haven’t read, there is a great chance that one of your peers will be able to contribute some sort of helpful information to your problem. There is a lot of discussion and idea sharing going on in graduate programs.

“Along this same line of thought, having so many experienced students gathered together makes it easy to get help with editing, CVs, and scholarship applications.”

The bottom line: if you are considering going to graduate school give it a lot of thought since the programs are demanding and the application process is arduous and expensive.

Top Talent: Schulich international business student Timothy Mark

TalentEgg Incubator. 22 July 2010

Timothy Mark just finished his second year in York University‘s Schulich School of Business, where he is completing his degree in International Bachelors of Business Administration.

Timothy won Schulich’s 2010 The Apprentice competition by creating marketing strategies for General Mills, Maple Leaf and Kraft.

Additionally, he was a finalist in the Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec competition which allowed him and his partner to visit General Motors’ office in Oshawa. While they were there, they learned a lot about GM’s corporate culture and how they use social media, and they also got to test drive some cars, including the Chevrolet Cruze.

Timothy describes himself as someone with “the imagination of an eight-year-old but the maturity of a 28-year-old,” which has created a healthy balance for what he claims to be his recipe for personal success, which he hopes to share with others.

What career paths are you currently interested in?

First and foremost I want a career that I can fall in love with, but with being so young [...] it’s hard to tell what love feels like. I have undoubtedly have had many suitors—sales, human resources, finance, and marketing–but like a series ofThe Bachelor, the contestants are so beautiful that it’s hard to make a final choice.

My entry-level work experience has seen me in sales roles. The first was at an amusement park, Canada’s Wonderland, where I was a supervisor. While there, I developed an affinity with words, a knack for leadership, a disciplined approach to detail, and a tan that refuses to go away from working for so long under the sun.

Currently, I look to grow the sales prospects for a student-run non-profit organization, [AIESEC York]. My closest friends and confidants tell me that I have the brains for finance. My first leadership experience in business school was a vice president role in talent management for the same aforementioned non-profit that is 50 bodies strong.

But, despite all of this, I have developed a propensity to succeed in marketing competitions with my partner in crime, Levon Golendukhin. Shortly after entering our first year of university at the Schulich School of Business, we emerged victorious in an Apprentice case competition that saw us innovate solutions for General Mills, Maple Leaf, and Kraft.

Our greatest successes have come recently with the Canada’s Next Top Ad Exec competition, finishing in the Top10 while winning a social media marketing side-competition for General Motors. I feel that I am ready to enter the world of marketing because of my hands-on experience.

After establishing my career, I hope to find a way to positively impact the Canadian health care system to follow in my father’s footsteps—he is a general practitioner and a prominent activist of improving the system in Canada.

Tell us about something you’ve done that is completely unrelated to your current career path that shows you’re going to be a superstar in the workforce.

In any organization where I have held the responsibility of leadership I have simultaneously looked to move up in the world while paying close attention to the paths I have laid behind me for many to follow. I like to call it a leadership pipeline. I recognize that time spent working in an organization is finite so my legacy must be carried out by my successors.

Can you tell us more about your experiences with AIESEC York?

The organization functions at an international level with young professionals leading it, but at the university level, it is entirely student-run. What is unique about AIESEC is that it is a rare opportunity for students to run a business with each other on campus and the large amount of ownership and responsibility taken by the senior members greatly develops their leadership.

Most recently, I have helped students and recent grads at York to gain career-launching and life-changing experiences in France, the UK, Uganda, and Nigeria. With contacts residing in over 20 countries who I have helped further their careers in some way, I know I will have a diverse international network at my disposal that can only grow stronger upon graduation.

Why are you so interested in the international community?

My interest to be increasingly international stems from my unique lack of international experience prior to high school. Being a fourth generation Chinese-born Canadian, I have little heritage that has been passed onto me. My desire to learn Mandarin drew me into Schulich’s International Business program and my interests internationally grew alongside my peers who are also possess globally-focused minds.

Once I became heavily involved in AIESEC I began having opportunities to communicate with young leaders across the world. It is these long distance communications that give me insight into the working culture of other countries.

If an employer called your best friend for a reference, what would they say to get you the job?

Danson Hui, Schulich School of Business alumnus, says, “Rarely will you encounter someone who takes ownership to the extent of Tim. In pursuit of excellent in any professional and personal endeavour, he is always the one who willingly takes responsibility for very consequential duties that most people avoid. Tim is not only deeply passionate and proactive about his own success, but also those involved with him. As a result of these attributes, you’ll see him constantly leading and making a difference on the world and people around him.”