Masters in Canada after long study gap - Tips & suggestion

[SimplyDee]

Hi All,

Thought of starting this thread with few questions on how to go about masters in canada having large study gap.

Can anyone please help on how to go about doing masters in Canada after large gap in education? Following is my background:
1. B.Tech in 2008, Major in EEE
2. 11+ years of work ex in IT/Software industry with MNC
3. Masters interest: MSc / MEng in C.Sc or closely related courses providing degree

I am looking for courses which are not too expensive at the same time holds good repo from employability perspective and has prospects to get into research opportunities in future.

Which province(s) would be good? I have just done a bit of research which is leading me to chose Ontario due the reason of being closer to Toronto, rather than choosing some remote campuses like MUN in St. John's?

Few quick ques:
1. Does pte academic work in place of ielts to apply at universities?
2. Would student visa require English test result as a document or is this just needed for application at uni?
3. Which intake I should consider if I start now from scratch?
4. What are some good uni's to apply based on what I discussed above?
5. Roughly how much total funds need to be readied to include costs of studies, visa, maintenance & living considering a low/med range lifestyle? How much funds to show while applying for visa (beyond cost of education itself)?
6. Would recommendation from employer be sufficient or would I need to take references / recommendation from my previous university (asking due to huge gap in education)?
7. How early a master course can be completed, does it really need two years as a whole or can that be completed earlier than that? Asking since, I might ask for long leave of absence from my employer.
8. How to go about SOP & Resume to make an impact for successful convert? Any references, good samples, which would help.

9. and may be more to ask... But probably good for now as a conversation starter

 

[Simmidas]

Hello,
I have also posted a similar kind of thread earlier and waiting for people to share their exp.
Since you have also put up a similar kind of post so let me share what I have discovered from my research. You can relate the points with your query.

1. Usually good University acceptance is very low for student with such a large gap until and unless there is an exceptional profile which they can't ignore. The reason why universities reject is not because of the profile butt assume that anyways Visa officer will reject the file. Yes, until and unless you don't put up a strong SOP, visa rejections rate is high for this category of students. But we need to keep trying and you never know. Every case is different.

2. Depending on what course you choose, masters master can be of 1 yr, 14 months, 16 months, 20 months and 2 years. Post graduate diploma is in a range of 1 to 3 years. Getting admissions in a University is very difficult compare to getting in a college. It is difficult to get admission in masters hence many settled with post grad diploma. If you have an excellent academics then you try for masters

3. PGWP (Post Graduate Work Permit) - one needs to choose course and duration very carefully as it is directly proportional to your course duration. If one is opting for 1 year course then that student will be eligible only for 1 year of PGWP permit. However if a course duration is 16 months and above then one is eligible for up to 3 years of PGWP permit.

4. IELTS - You need to give Academic IELTS and should a decent score above 6.5 for application to be considered by universities. Some universities also accept PTE. You can Google which university accept what. The important point here is still you need IELTS coz Visa officer would like to see it as a qualifying parameter. Hence please give it as it is very important.

5. Reference - Most of the University as for Three reference for Master degree enrollments. Experience folks can provide 2 Academic Reference and 1 Professional Reference. Academic Reference is must. Infact few universities only ask for academic reference and do not entertain professional reference.

Hope this helps.