Shubham
Dalhousie University, Master of Science [M.S] Applied Computer Science and Society on-campus [id: 5097]
Reviewed on Jan 27, 2025(Enrolled 2023)What Students Say
Likes
- A lot of courses were project based and not just theory based.
Dislikes
- College hostels are super costly, Halifax itself is costly
Course Curriculum
8
- Courses were not too difficult; it also depends on the courses that you pick. Most students in my course were Indian. My batch was of 120 students. Classes can be from morning to evening, again depending on your courses.
- The positive is that you have the option to do a coop in the last semester; they offer different types of courses to choose from.
- The negative is that some of them have limited seats.
Admission Experience
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These are the universities I had applied for:
- > Western - Rejected (seats were filled)
- > Manitoba - The courses I applied was closed, they returned the application fee
- > Memorial University of Newfoundland - Accepted for Fall 2023
- > Dalhousie University - Accepted for Jan 2023
- > Lakehead - Rejected, I am not sure why I was rejected, maybe seats were filled as I applied very close to the application deadline,
- > McGill - Missed the deadline
- I selected Dal because its better than Memorial University; courses were better. The admissions process was mainly creating an application by filling out/submitting required forms, including references. After that, there was a 1-on-1 technical interview that was mainly focused around Java. They have an IELTS requirement of 6.5-7. Overall, the admissions process was pretty straight forward.
- I wanted to apply for Fall 2022 but missed the deadline and had to apply for Winter 2023. Overall, the admission process was around 1.5–2 months long.
- The process started with an initial application, followed by access to the admission portal within a week. After around 2-3 weeks, I got an invite to schedule an interview. After the interview, it took another 8–9 days for the final decision.
Faculty
8
- Dependent on the course, some classes have 120 seats with 1 professor, and some have 30 seats with 1 professor. It depends on the professor and the class you are taking. Most faculty focus on the practical knowledge, with some being theory + practical. Faculty don't help in finding jobs but you can ask them for a TA position.
- Dr. Srinivas (Srini) Sampalli is the best professor; he puts in lots of effort in teaching.
Campus Life
8
- DAL have 3 campuses in Halifax and 1 in Truro and I think 2 more outside halifax (https://www.dal.ca/about/campus-locations.html)
- Halifax Campus has Gym, swimming pool, multiple fields for different sports, basketball hall, etc.
- There multiple small - medium event always going on in DAL, including international events. Indian students celebrate all major Indian festivals.
Part Time Jobs
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On Campus:
> TA (pays really good, around 30CAD per hour but have fixed hurs per semester)
> Marker - aroudn 22 CAD/hr, again have fixed hours
> there are a lot of other options like, exam proctor, library assistant, gym, etc mostly pay basic pay - On campus, there are no working hours limit.
- Off campus, you will mainly find basis-pay jobs with a 24-hour limit, Its a bit hard to find off campus, but depending on your luck, you can find one on the 1st day or might take you a month or so.
- Most of the the part-time jobs pay basic pay which is 15CAD/hr, Students work everywhere, from stores to dining places. Atlantic superstore, Sobeys, Gas stations, Fastfood joints they all pay basic pay. Some accept printed resumes and some take online applications depensds on where you are applying. There are just basic interviews where they ask, can you lift stuff, can you work during these days, etc.
Placement
6
- Out of 120, around 100 found some coop. I think around 70% had a full-time job within 6 months of graduating. Average salary was around 70000-75000 for my batch. Everyone normally searches on LinkedIn or directly on the company website; referals help a lot in this search.
- Banks hire a lot of students, like Scotiabank, TD, CIBC, RBC, etc. CRA used to hire a lot but now they are not hiring anymore.
Accommodation
Off Campus
6
- I found my in a whatsapp group, FB is also a gret place to loop for accomondations.
- My rent was 475CAD +Wifi, it included the utilities like water, electricity, laundry. Finding house was not easy took me a lot of searching, rents are really high end even if the house is in the worst condition.
- I will recommed to start finding a place to stay early. It was around 2.5 km away from the campus.
Exams
- Exams are required for admission (IELTS); requirements depend on courses but mostly its around 6.5-7
- Documents are necessary to complete the admission process. Statement of Purpose, 2 LOR, CV, and if its for masters, they will also ask you to fill out a course sheet, which is basically to show that you have studied the required courses during your undergrad.
- The interview was mainly around Java, coding basics, OOPS, and a coding question.
Fees
- Link for more details: https://www.dal.ca/admissions/money_matters/tuition_payments/Tuition_Fees.html
- Tuition is paid semester-wise; they also allow credit. it was around 10000-11000 for the first 3 semesters, which include around 6000 international fees. For the last, 4th semester, the fees were around 8000. I think they increased the fees recently. Fees include health insurance, buss pass, gym membership. These can be removed if not required. To remove health insurance, you will need another health insurance.
- I am not sure about hostels, but its really costly. Better find a place to live in the city. In Halifax, a shared room can cost around 500 CAD and can go up depending on utlities. A private room can be found for around 800-1200 CAD.
- Food is costly; depending on your phone plan and how much do you like to spend for entertainment, monthly expenses can be around 350-550 CAD.
- For transportation, I would suggest keeping the bus pass that you get with the tuition, as it's way cheaper than getting a normal bus pass.
- Overall, you will need at least 900 CAD monthly.
Scholarship
- There are few, depending on your course. For the MACS course, if you get A+ in all 3 courses in your 1st semester, get some money. Also, you can apply for a bursary (https://www.dal.ca/campus_life/ile/financial-support.html).
- I heard its not that hard to get. If you are in a research course, then you can get funding for your research. They spend a lot on research.
