PhD in cancer biology at McGill

Wonderful phase of my life being at McGill. Plethora of opportunities, networking, funding, research ideas and resources availability are all amazing.

Perfectly updated and relevant. Industrial exposure is not provided yet because my field is more basic science. But McGill has career oriented coaching programs which i plan to use during my final year of PhD.

I found that the faculty and staff are very supportive and approachable. We can email them or just have a small talk amongst conferences/symposia and they are always welcome to give their suggestions and inputs.

Campus life is so cool at McGill. There are so many clubs, communities and events always happening. The environment is very diverse and inclusive. My fav spot on campus is the Redpath library. I love to sit there for infinite hours and read during my free time, having my sip of coffee. Plenty of sports opportunities, coaching programs and gym are available at the sports centre.

I am in the middle of my PhD now so I am not yet sure about the Biotech market in Canada right now. But as per my observation and analysis, a minimum of $80,000 per annum of salary could be obtained after a PhD degree. There is no such thing as placements. So its all about the networking, applications, skill development and being clear about the job roles which may land anyone in their dream jobs.

No on-campus accommodation at McGill. Everything is off-campus. My studio rent is about $725 per month and I live individually. There can be plenty of sharing options as well with minimum of $500 rent.

IELTS 7.5/9 and minimum score at McGill was 6/9. No GRE was required. Just IELTS is enough. I had to submit an SOP, three LORs, an academic CV and a cover letter. Even though CV is important, the most considered documents by the potential supervisor are LORs. Because they will give an insight into how we work and how passionate we are about research. SOP is more considered by the department but not supervisor. What i am saying is about the PhD application procedure and may also apply to masters (thesis) but not masters (course based). So i first emailed several potential supervisors across Canada who work on Cancer Biology and I received two-three responses since it was covid time. But i had interviews with all of them and got admits from all. So ultimately I chose McGill. And once i got approval from my potential supervisor, I applied officially on the portal. It became easy since i already have approval from the supervisor. Interview was more about what research i did during my masters, what technical skills i gained and how excited we are about that field of research. I presented my masters thesis work during the interview as well. I had just one round of interview with my supervisor and she gave an approval after that. IELTS was required from university level. My suggestion to ace interviews are to be aware of what you are speaking about and say "i do not know and i will check for more info and let you know" when you dont know. I did the same.

International fees: $20,000 per year (in CAD). But thesis-grad students receive about $16,000 as an international fee waiver every year.

I did not receive any international scholarship. I received funding from my supervisor at McGill.