Why McMaster?

Hi everyone and welcome to this webinar. We are happy to have you join us today. I see that we have people tuning in from Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, India and many more countries.

Just so you know, my colleague Amanda is going to be at the back and she will be answering all of your questions in real time, so feel free to shoot any questions that you may have throughout the webinar. No need to wait for the end.

So let's get started.

My name is Jessica Ramirez and I'm one of the international recruitment officers at McMaster. I look after students coming in from Africa, the Middle East and part of Latin America. So myself and Amanda and of course the Wrestle team are here to help you throughout the application process and to answer any questions you may have regarding your application and your programs to McMaster or at McMaster rather.

As we all know, McMaster is of course very well known around the world due to war rankings. We are among the top 70s universities in the world, so when you come to McMaster you can be sure to be getting quality education in Canada.

And one of the things that we stand out for, and that McMaster is very known for, is teaching excellence. We have developed what is called the McMaster method, and what this is is a McMaster. We focus on having you work in small groups and having you resolve real base real problem based learning that exposes you to real world problems and for you to of course be able to solve them.

In the classroom, as well as when you are done and become alumni of master.

As you may know, McMaster is located in the beautiful city of Hamilton. Hamilton is actually a great city. It is the 9th largest city in Canada and what is so great about it and one of his main features is the fact that it is located right in between Niagara Falls and Toronto. So you're only 45 minutes away from both cities, which are both great cities. Niagara Falls of course, being one of them.

Borders to the United States and Toronto begin being the bigger city, where you will find lots of entertainment as well.

Now, McMaster is a medium sized University, and I know for some of us 30,000 students sounds like a lot, but actually in Canadian standards, 30,000 students were in University. Is a medium sized University. So out of those 30,000 students, we do have 10% international students that are joining us from all over the world, just as you will be. So of course we do have.

Grade level of pride in having such a diverse campus and diverse student population and as you will see throughout the presentation, it showcases our beautiful campus which of course has a bit of a rustic feel to it.

Here is a better picture of our campus. As you can see, there is a very very big land of water. And of course we do have a lot of greenery surrounding our campus, so this is one of the one of the things that stands out for. McMaster is how green we are.

In order for you to not give up any of your passions. We are sure to allow you to customize your degree as you so desire so you're welcome to do either. Just your major or you're welcome to period with another major making it a double major, if you choose to. You can also do a minor or specialization. So it is completely up to you, or you can simply just stick to 18.

Here we have the list of direct entry first year programs. As you can see, we do offer quite a big variety of programs at McMaster. Of course, one of our main.

You know, range of programs tends to be in the stamps, so the science, the technology, the engineering and mathematics.

After this woman are, we will, or actually in the chat a man that if you could input the.

The link to our 2021 blue book that would be great so that the students can take a look at it. After so I'm just going to briefly explain how are people work. Viewbook works is very simple, is very straightforward, and it has very useful information for you to know. So on the 1st Column we will see the program that you will be applying to. You'll see that this faculty is highlighted in a color, so for example.

Blue we can see arts and science that is the name of the faculty.

And the business faculty would be highlighted under the color green. So the faculties are the ones that are highlighted in color. So we can see here. Let's take business for example. If we move one column over.

We'll see that those are the upper year majors that are available for business, such as accounting, finance, HRM, which stands for human resource management, and so on. Now, at this point you do not have to worry about your upper year majors. You're only taking into account the level one programs. It is later on that you get to decide what you up are. Your major is going to be.

If we moved over, one more column will see and I think this is probably one of the most important two columns. Is the required courses and yet dissipated admissions range. So the required courses for business in our example are going to be English and math, and the anticipated admissions range is essentially how much of a GPA is McMaster faculty of Business looking for you to have in order to be considered.

Admissible to this program so very important and Mac master the the GPA that we're looking for, does the fur depending on the program that you're looking to apply into, so be sure to check out the book to learn exactly what is the required courses and the anticipated admissions range that we're looking for.

Over to the next column we see target enrollment and we see anticipate, sorry, additional requirements and notes. So target enrollment is something that is completely out of your control. I wouldn't spend too much time on it. I wouldn't focus too much on it. It simply lets you know how many seats are available for this program, right? So some programs, you will see that it's a lot more competitive, having only 6070 seats versus others that are much much bigger in size.

And of course, additional requirements are notes you should pay attention to that. It lets you know if, for example, the program has a supplementary application and what the deadlines are for for that supplemental application to be submitted.

Now we do have something called the Mail diploma and this is our one year undergraduate transition program for students that are academically admissible to McMaster but lack their English proficiency language requirements. So either they just fall a little bit short on there to fill or on their ILS, but other than that they are good to go when it comes to their academic requirements.

And we also have something called model which stands for McMaster Office for the Development of the English language learners and what this is, is a free service for all of us to enjoy. They do work with our schedule to make sure that you are utilizing this service so they do have day and evenings appointments and they help you. Of course with your English many of us English is not your first language.

Language and this is a great service to utilize when it comes to you know meeting the academic standard when it comes to writing essays that will be required for you to study at McMaster.

When it comes to scholarships, you can receive up to $7500 Canadian. There are different types of scholarships which we see listed here. The majority of our scholarships are actually automatic and they mainly focus on academic merit.

Go up is definitely one of the topics that we're most excited most excited to talk about.

Is definitely available for engineering and science students, and as we can see here, it is paid, which is absolutely great. The amounts are quite high for students and of course the figures showing on the little circles over here showcase that Coop is a great way for you to meet your future employer as well as our success rate when it comes to our students Co OP students.

Being higher after graduation.

At Mac Master you won't be working just for anyone, so as you can see here we do have a number of world known companies such as Johnson and Johnson, Samsung, Google Forward, IBM that you could be working for. Of course this will look amazing on your resume. It will be a great way for you to network and potentially meet your future employer.

Now at this point you might be wondering what about living on campus? How is that going to work? Is there an option for me to live off campus as well? And the answer is yes. So as an international first year student you will be having guaranteed residence. All you need to do is to let us know that you do want to come and live on res. So living on campus of course ensures that you have a smooth transition.

You are going to be very close to your classes, given that our residents are right on campus. Our campus is.

I contain campus so it's all in one area.

And of course there is safety and support systems to help you in everything that we can. This will ensure that you meet a lot of people as well, not only from your faculty, but from the bigger Mac master community.

We have, um, come up with a strategy where we have kind of, you know, made a matchmaking.

System for you. So we want you to live with people like you. As you can see here we have different groups, so if you're someone that enjoys health and Wellness, we try to pair you up with people with the same mindset that enjoy the same type types of activities where you guys can of course.

Interests change ideas on various topics, but most likely health and Wellness. Being one of them, given that you both showed cases on your application.

For all of us 40 super important and there is no shortage of it at McMaster as well as in Hamilton. If you're fully like me, you will truly enjoy the food, scenery and everything that it has to offer, so not to worry if you have any sort of meal restrictions. We at McMaster will help you with that and you know.

Offer you halal, kosher vegetarian options which are 100% available. We do have quite a high number, so over 20 on campus dining locations and unlimited ones off campus that you can try out.

As I said before, living off campus is an option, so you're welcome to live off campus, no questions asked from our ends. It is 100% optional if you want to live with us, or if you want to live off campus.

My biggest recommendation would be that, at least for your first year, you try to live quite close to the campus itself just for convenience purposes, just so you don't have to endure a long commute or spend money on transportation, you can just simply walk there.

So we do have a database system with our partners at International Student Services where they will help you find the right type of accommodation for you. One of the interesting things that you will see about the City of Hamilton is the cost of living. If you compare it to Toronto or the Greater Toronto Area, you will see that rent prices are much higher in comparison to Hamilton. So as we can see here on average monthly.

Rent for a one bedroom apartment. One bedroom would be 400 to $650 per month.

There's so many ways to get involved on campus. Of course we do have over 300 clubs that are not only focused on academic excellence, they have always. They have also to deal with cultural diversity, religious spirituality or political.

Involvement we do have faculty clubs and societies also available. Once again, this is 100% optional. We do encourage it 100%. We find that students that tend to be more involved than to do better, not only academically, but have more of an exciting social life and enjoy their time with us even more.

Another way for you to get involved is of course make use aura of our state of the art gymnasium. It is included within your tuition fees and you're welcome to use it at anytime. We do have instructional classes available and we would like you to, of course keep healthy throughout the academic year.

Add McMaster, one of the things that we pride ourselves on is of course having an immigration consultant on board. So throughout the time that you have been accepted to McMaster all the way to the end of your undergraduate studies, you're welcome to consult with our immigration consultant, and these are some of the support system that we have in place. So as we know immigration.

Paperwork can be quite complex and the language can be complex as well, and This is why we want to make sure that you were well taken care of in that sense. So if for example, you were already here in Canada, standing on McMaster and you're looking to have your family visit, you're more than welcome to check with our immigration consultant for them to walk you through this process and ensure that all of your paperwork.

Is in fact in order an you know, increase the chances of your peace that being renewed or the visa for your parents getting approved.

At this point you may be wondering, well, how much is this investment going to cost, so I McMaster. It depends on the bachelor's that you will be attaining. Say for example you were looking to complete a Bachelor of Engineering. You will see the tuition prices listed. We have also taken into account housing, you know of course, assuming that you would be staying on residents in a single room and the meal plan that you would be.

Um, also adding on.

For an estimated total, this is an estimated total per academic year.

And here is how we apply. So it's very simple. Is 4 easy steps you do apply to McMaster by going to all UAC, which stands for Ontario University Application Center. You're going to go on there. You're going to select McMaster and the programs that you wish to apply to within our institution. Then McMaster will communicate with you via email.

Giving you instructions on how to set up and log on into your Mosaic account.

******* we will also communicate with you via email um on letting you know whether the required documentations that we're going to be needing from you and my master is very straightforward. We don't tend to ask for letters of reference or any extra paperwork. The majority of us won't even need to submit essay Tees, but of course that is subject to the curriculum that you're following and where you have done your high school studies.

So you know we're going to be sharing with you our admissions tool, which is very helpful actually. Amanda, if you why now include the link so they can also check it out. That would be absolutely great. And last but not least is the very exciting last Step 4.

Is when you receive your offer, letter of admissions and this is what you will use in order to apply for your study permit with immigration.

So very straightforward, very simple. Myself and my team are there to help you every step of the way.

I'm here is how you can reach us, so this concludes our presentation. As you can see here, at the end we do have a QR code which I invited you to scan on your cell phone by opening your camera. You can sign up for updates so we can send you updates on what's happening at McMaster as well as any deadlines that are coming up that you might be 1. One thing to be aware of. So at this point I would like to.

Open up the floor for any remaining questions that we might have.

OK.

I'm going to give you a couple of minutes to see if any questions.

Will pop up.

Ann, if we don't have any more questions, of course you're always welcome to reach us via email. As you can see here.

We have our international email address which is internationalandmcmaster.ca. If you have already applied is very useful to us then you include your Mac ID so we can look you up on the system and have full access to your file to better help you.

Not sure that we have anymore questions popping up.

Oh OK, I just see one question coming in. It says has McMaster adjusted admissions because of cobett? If so, how? Yes, McMaster has in fact adjusted its admissions process because of the pandemic that we're currently encountering around the world.

Um, it has been more in terms of the of the English language proficiency I need it does. It has impacted certain countries more than others. Given the severity of the virus in certain countries and the testing centers not being open for students to go in and take this test the regular way, the usual way.

Any other than that is being very straightforward.

So no major changes on that front as I, as Amanda, previously chair or Blue Book is, stare the required courses for the programs of choice that you're looking to apply into, as well as the anticipated admissions range have remained the same despite carpet.

Any other questions?

OK, well thank you very much for your time and thank you for joining us today has been a pleasure once again. If you do think of any other questions feel free to email us and if you have a chance please do is scan the QR code and sign up for our updates. Thank you so much and I wish you guys a great day ahead. Bye now.