Future Graduate Students

A term of work experience is a great addition to your master's or doctoral studies. Students benefit by gaining valuable industry experience with leading engineering employers. Employers benefit by having access to a highly qualified talent pool of graduate students eager to put theory into practice.

Our Career Development and Relationship Manager establishes strong relationships with top engineering employers, facilitates connections between students and employers, provides career-planning tools and resources, and provides opportunities for graduate students to gain industry experience while pursuing their degrees.

Our Services Include:

• Networking with employers to generate work experience opportunities
• Facilitating career workshops and panels
• Hosting employer information sessions
• Career advising appointments

Benefits of Participating in a Work Experience Opportunity

As a graduate student you will gain paid, relevant work experience, establish a network of industry contacts, earn income, and develop valuable skills as well as learn how to market those skills to future employers.

Requirements to Participate

• Students must obtain their supervisor's approval to participate in a work term opportunity. Students are encouraged to discuss their interest in participating in the work experience option with their supervisor as early as possible.
• Students must be enrolled full-time in a Master's or PhD program in the Faculty of Engineering.
• Successful completion of required courses and comprehensive exam.
• Participation in a work term preparation meeting with the Career Development and Relationship Manager, Adam Pepler, is mandatory prior to starting the work term.

International Students

Students can develop professional skills in areas such as interview preparation, cracking the market, career planning (industry and academia) and communication.

Build your professional skills.  

McMaster Engineering PhD students now have the option of earning a doctoral degree while staying on the job. The flexible Industrial PhD option enables students to remain in their own company or research institute and use labs at work to complete their research and eventual thesis.

The new option will cut down on the time it takes to complete a PhD for those trying to balance a career and studies. Currently, doctoral students who remain on the job take about seven to 10 years to complete their degrees or about twice the time it takes their full-time peers.

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McMaster Engineering will readily equip students with the support to commercialize their research. 

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McMaster ensures that full-time graduate students in Ph.D. programs and in many Master’s programs receive scholarships (awarded annually). A Ph.D. student is normally funded for four years. Students in Master’s programs are usually funded for their first three to six terms depending on the department.

The Faculty of Engineering has adopted a policy that ensures all full-time Ph.D. students, both domestic and international, receive a funding package in the amount of their tuition fee plus $16,000 per year. Many programs have support levels in excess of this amount. Please contact the graduate recruitment office to find out more.

TA positions are provided to many graduate students who are offered admission to regular full-time programs. Depending on the program, duties can consist of conducting tutorials, lab demonstrations, or marking. A full teaching assistantship consists of 260 hours over two terms.

A list of these awards is found in the School of Graduate Studies Calendar. These awards have various amounts and conditions associated with them.

Many scholarships awarded by granting councils can be held at McMaster University. These include the following:

• Ontario Graduate Scholarships (OGS)
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC) doctoral fellowships
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) postgraduate scholarships

No, you do not need to have a supervisor to apply for admission to McMaster Engineering's research-based graduate programs. In fact, we encourage you to apply prior to having a supervisor.

No. McMaster Engineering does not require a GRE score.

The application fee is $110 CAD.

Applicants who have completed a university degree where the official language of instruction is English, do not need to submit a language proficiency test.

For all other applicants, McMaster Engineering requires a language proficiency test be completed, detailed here.

Applicants are required to submit evidence of their English language proficiency as part of their application. The most common evidence is a score on one of the following exams:

• TOEFL: minimum score of 92 (internet based), 237 (computer based) or 580 (paper based), minimum of 20 per band; for the Faculty of Engineering a minimum score of 88 (internet based) or 213 on the (computer based) or 550 (paper based)
• IELTS (Academic): minimum overall score of 6.5, with at least 5.5 in each section
• CAEL: minimum overall score of 70, with at least 60 per band
• MELAB: minimum score of 85
• PTE Academic: minimum score of 63
• York University course: YUELI Level 6 with a minimum final grade of B
• University of Toronto course: Academic Level 60 with a minimum final grade of B

Each program may set additional/higher requirements. Please review the program website for details.

Students are required to submit two references in their application. We suggest that all students provide references from the academic setting. However, if you have been out of school for 5 or more years and cannot find an appropriate academic reference, you may provide one from an employer/supervisor/manager.  Please remember that we are looking for a reference who can attest to your ability to be successful within the academic setting. 

Generally No.  For research studies, a letter of admissions may mention a financial package to be distributed over the duration of the 2-years (Masters) or 4-years (Doctoral) degree program. The majority of the funding will be given as a scholarship while the student remains enrolled and in good standing with the program. The only employment salary that may be mentioned in the package is a teach assistantship(TA). A minimum level of remuneration is guaranteed for doctoral candidates (except for those under the Industrial PhD option or if the student refuses or loses the TA). The funding package may not be sufficient to cover all living expenses while studying.  

All research-based graduate degrees are based on a mentor-style learning model and so each enrolled student must work under a specific professor to remain in the program.  The mentioned prospective supervisor has offered you a position in the university under their guidance and your research will be determined by that supervisor.  By accepting the offer of admission you are agreeing to study under this person for the duration of the degree program.  In general, a student can not change their supervisor during their studies.  

As a graduate student in a research degree program, no you don't.  McMaster’s policies require the equal sharing of intellectual property rights between the students and supervisors involved on a project.  In addition, many research projects in the Faculty of Engineering are covered by research agreements and/or non-disclosure agreements with participating companies sponsoring the studies and those agreements automatically apply to all members of the university, including any student currently participating or joining the project. Ask your prospective supervisor if you have concerns about how a research agreement will affect your research progress.