[D] Joined UdeM MSCS without MILA affiliation – anyone successfully found a core MILA supervisor in their first semester?

Hey everyone,

I’ve been accepted into the MSCS program at UdeM for this coming fall. I applied to the MILA supervisor matching process, but didn’t get any responses.

I wanted to know if anyone here has been in a similar situation, joined UdeM without MILA affiliation, and managed to get taken on by a core MILA professor during or after their first semester.

I understand this isn’t the standard path, and the matching window has already passed for this cycle. But I’m trying to figure out whether this is genuinely feasible or whether I should be recalibrating my expectations entirely, or if there is any other path I am overlooking.

If you’ve done it or know someone who has … what actually made the difference? Was it coming in with existing work, excelling in classes, TAing for the right professor, something else entirely?

Not looking for reassurance. Just want to know if there’s a real precedent here and what the realistic picture looks like.

Thanks