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policies.md

@@ -92,11 +92,38 @@ When we receive a regrade request we may re-grade the entire submission; thus, y
 If you perceive a problem with a grade, you have **one week** to raise a concern from the time that your grade was released. After that, your grade is final.
 
 #### Reasonable grading concerns
+
+If a grade is challenged in a way that is deemed unreasonable, the student will receive a warning. This decision will be made by the instructor (not TA). If a student receives three warnings, the student will lose the privilege to challenge grades for the remainder of the program. This policy applies to both labs and quizzes.
+
+To submit an effective regrade request, you only need to follow two steps:
+
+1. Read the solution and the feedback from the grader. Often, this will be sufficient to understand why you lost points.
+2. Include a rationale explaining why you think the marking of your submission is unreasonable and should be regraded.
+    - This needs to be specific, either include references to the correct solution and explain how your answer is equivalent, or explain why your submission is correct although it is not equivalent to what is in the solution.
+
+Examples of **reasonable** regrading requests:
+
+- "The solution wrote that the number of bins in a histogram impacts its appearance. I wrote 'binwidth' instead of 'number of bins', but these are effectively the same since the wider each bin, the fewer bins there are along the axis."
+- "I think my code generates the same output as the correct answer. The only difference in code is `specify(response = y explanatory = x)` and `specify(y ~ x)`."
+
+Examples of **unreasonable** regrading requests:
+
+- Demands, such as "I want 80%", "Please give full credit", or "This question should have partial marks".
+- Submitting regrading requests without any specifics, particularly multiple ones on the same assignment.
+    - "I think my solution might deserve more marks" (no rationale as to why additional marks should be given)
+    - "I wrote 'X' which is the same as 'Y' in the solution" (no explanation for how 'X' is the same as 'Y'; although this might seem obvious to you, the grader will not know what you were thinking when you wrote it.)
+- Suggesting that a vague term you wrote meant the same as the solution. We can only give points for what you write, so you need to be explicit in your writing.
+    - "When I wrote 'a smooth line' in my answer, I really meant 'kernel density estimate' as in the solution"
+- Minor complaints (e.g. half a mark on an assignment).
+- Repeatedly contesting the same issue once a decision has been reached.
+
+**Rationale for regrading policy**
+
 Grades are not perfect; some randomness in grading is normal, meaning that you'll generally get more than you deserve in some cases and less than you deserve in other cases. Thus, it is possible to cheat the system by consistently complaining when your grade is too low but not when it is too high. Unfortunately, this takes time away from the course staff which could have been spent on making the course better for everyone. Thus, in our view, students who overzealously contest grades are penalizing their classmates for personal gain.
 
 Sometimes serious grading errors are made, for example when a grader did not see your answer to a question or completely deviated from standard grading practices for some unknown reason. Such situations can be quite frustrating for students, and we want you to feel that the courses are fair. In these cases, it makes sense for the student to bring the error to our attention.
 
-Balancing these two sides is difficult. In MDS the policy is as follows: if a grade is challenged in a way that is deemed unreasonable, the student will receive a warning. This decision will be made by the instructor (not TA). If a student receives three warnings, the student will lose the privilege to challenge grades for the remainder of the program. Examples of unreasonable requests include extremely minor complaints (e.g. half a mark on an assignment) or repeatedly contesting the same issue once a decision has been reached. This policy applies to both labs and quizzes.
+Balancing these two sides is difficult and we have tried to make our regrading policy as explicit as possible to distinguish reasonable and unreasonable grading concerns.
 
 ## Quiz Policies
 

resources_pages/applicationAdvice.md

@@ -16,19 +16,17 @@ If your ultimate goal is to pursue a PhD in statistics or computer science, MDS
 
 #### 2. Personal Statement
 
-Starting the applications for September 2024, we have provided three guiding questions in place of the personal statement. This means that you will answer the three specific questions in the application form and do **not** need to submit a separate personal statement.
-
-Your answers should be...
-
-- **specific to you.** Your answers should be as specific to you as possible, and should explain how the MDS program fits into you career trajectory. Try to avoid sentences that could work for any MDS applicant. For example, avoid talking about how data science is changing the world, or about how UBC is a fantastic institution - both are true, but they don't tell us about _you_.  
-- **specific to UBC MDS.** Your answers should be specific to the UBC MDS program, and should demonstrate that you understand what data science is and what the MDS program is. Reusing (part of) a letter you wrote to apply for Master's programs in Statistics or Computer Science, for example, is unlikely to yield good results. 
-- **polished.** Your answers should be well-written, not contain typos or grammatical errors, and adhere to the maximum length guidelines.
-
-Other advice for your answers:
-
-- While it is useful to explain why MDS is a good fit for you, praising UBC in general is not particularly helpful. Including the names of various MDS faculty members, unless you have something specific to say, is also generally not helpful.
-- If you have been out of school for a long time, and/or studied something very different from data science, it is a good opportunity to discuss your technical readiness for MDS. Often from your resume and reference letters we cannot tell what aspects of your work experience were technical in nature. Since your work experience is generally an important part of your application, we suggest taking a few sentences to describe in detail what your job(s) entailed. For example, were you mainly in management? Were you programming on a daily/weekly/monthly basis? Etc.
-- It is generally not helpful to enumerate long lists of statistical and/or machine learning methods you have used, e.g. random forests, support vectors machines, convolutional neural networks, multiple linear regression, etc. Instead, focus on the big picture.
+A strong personal statement should be...
+  - Specific to you. The personal statement should be as specific to you as possible, and should explain how the MDS program fits into your career trajectory. Try to avoid sentences that could work for any MDS applicant. For example, avoid talking about how data science is changing the world, or about how UBC is a fantastic institution - both are true, but they don't tell us about you.
+  - Do not use generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT) for the same reasons as above. Being genuine and using your own voice makes for a much better personal statement and avoids generalities.
+  - Specific to UBC MDS. The personal statement should be specific to the UBC MDS program, and should demonstrate that you understand what data science is and what the MDS program is. Reusing a letter you wrote to apply for Master's programs in Statistics or Computer Science, for example, is unlikely to yield good results.
+  - Polished. The personal statement should be well-written, not contain typos or grammatical errors.
+
+Other advice for your personal statement:
+  - While it is useful to explain why MDS is a good fit for you, praising UBC in general is not particularly helpful. Including the names of various MDS faculty members, unless you have something specific to say, is also generally not helpful.
+  - If you have been out of school for a long time, and/or studied something very different from data science, the personal statement is a good opportunity to discuss your technical readiness for MDS. Often from your resume and reference letters we cannot tell what aspects of your work experience were technical in nature. Since your work experience is generally an important part of your application, we suggest taking a few sentences to describe in detail what your job(s) entailed. For example, were you mainly in management? Were you programming on a daily/weekly/monthly basis? Etc.
+  - It is generally not helpful to enumerate long lists of statistical and/or machine learning methods you have used, e.g. random forests, support vectors machines, convolutional neural networks, multiple linear regression, etc. Instead, focus on the big picture.
+  - Part of the personal statement can also be used to explain any exceptional or unusual circumstances that pertain to your application; see below for more information.
 
 #### 3. References