Hi everyone,
Below are the results of our Jan. 2013 survey. Thank you very much for submitting answers, and for helping us understand what’s on your mind.
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Have you heard of us?
A question to find out how just how popular we are right now. With a score between “never” and “a few times”, we’re definitely aiming to improve this. One of the ways we’re reaching out to you is through the Graduate Seminars organized by Annie Ying. Every Wednesday a student student presents their work while CSGS provides free pizzas. Also by organizing social events like the CSGS’s spring apéro.
Scholarship criteria
Hmmm, this was a highly-debated question for us too. What criteria do you use to give out scholarships? We’ve taken in your feedback and are working together with SOCS to make this happen. Expect news shortly, and please email us with any suggestions you have.
Selected comments:
There are a lot of students who are struggling financially to meet their monthly expenditure. It would be great if we could consider their situation.
Special considerations for students who do not already have another source of funding.
I think it should be based on financial need + academic performance, more than research contributions. Most grad students in CS receive some sort of financial support that covers the basics, but some others e.g. international students, or parents, might have a more difficult time making ends meet. This scholarship could be useful to them more than to the main CS demographic.
anything but course grades achieved (i had fantastic grades and didn’t deserve any scholarships
)
research presentation followed by vote from other grad students who see the presentation.
Priorities
As a society for you, we want to know what you want us to focus on. Average ranking CS related events – 3.98 Scholarships – 3.58 Non-CS events – 2.95 Relationship with SOCS – 2.39 PGSS representation – 2.11 So events that bring all of us together and scholarships are at the top of our list of things to work on. As a reminder, we are always looking to people to help propose and organize events and activities. Please contact us if you have a good idea!
Explanation of categories
CS-related events – Events to bring together Computer Science students such as a Hackerspace, job fairs, or guest speakers
Scholarships – Awards given to deserving graduate students
Non-CS-related events – Planning activities such as skiing, visiting a sugar-shack, or Cirque du Soleil. CSGS may be able to provide a discount on these activities for SOCS graduate students and post-docs.
Relationship with SOCS – Maintaining regular contact with SOCS administration to ensure that CSGS members are fairly represented on issues.
PGSS Representation – Student representation such as voting at Post-Graduate Student Society (PGSS) meetings. The PGSS is the representative body for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows at McGill University.
Lounge use
This was an interesting issue. For those that don’t know, there is a lounge at the north end of the McConnell Building hallway on the first floor. This is the area directly in front of numerous offices of professors, and was designed to be a common area for both professors as well as graduate students. Over time, due to noise issues, the space has changed to become a (mostly) professor-only area. Based on your survey response, the CSGS is working together with the SOCS to come to an agreement. It is a delicate balance between the space needs of graduate students and the noise requirements of professors. As we work on this issue we will keep you informed.
Importance
While the first question told us how popular we are, this question tells us how important we are. Over time, I hope that the CSGS becomes even more valuable to and intertwined with the studies of our members. So thank you very much for participating in our survey! This gives us a chance to see what you are thinking about us, and gives us data to plan for the future.
Other comments we received
Instead of classifying the events as CS and Non- CS related, It would be good if we conduct a special event that has both the flavor For example, TEDxMcGill, (especially related to CS) would be good to attract other graduate students in CS to interact with the members of the society for speaker suggestions, volunteering and so and so.
If there isn’t any, perhaps an online monthly news letter would be nice for upcoming activities.
It will be nice if CSGS could hold some workshops about course selection, supervisor choosing, research and publication and so on. could show up to graduates more often by any means and inform us what the society would do related to students.
I want to see more events from the society like organizing in-house coding competitions, tutorials on new technologies. We all know that studies are pretty outdated these days and the stuff we are learning is all designed developed 20 years back. So more on that front if the society can do to engage people of similar interest.
CSGS Facebook group