mariokrat

I got a PM asking about my score, so here it is. I got 20/30. From what other people have posted, this might have been enough to get me a CGS, but since I'm in my second year, I'll take the SSHRC. I didn't make it to the national competition last year, and that was a huge disappointment, so I'm really thankful to get anything.

I did indeed. I'm in downtown Toronto. Good luck to you.

Hi all, Haven't posted very much, but have been reading the thread nervously. Just wanted to let you know that I just received my letter today in Toronto so they should be arriving for a lot of you. By the way.. Got it! The non-CGS SSHRC. (I'm in second year Ph.D.)

Hmm. I checked the OGS site but it says mine hasn't been announced. I wonder if this means I didn't get it.

I'm in a similar position as well. There are a few reasons why I want the award. The first is definitely the prestige. It's nice to have that kind of validation, especially during a part of the Ph.D. program when courses are over and I'm just working on the proposal, mostly on my own. It would be nice and significant bit of feedback that I'm going in the right direction. During the SSHRC grant-writing courses at my school, the instructor also drilled into us how much getting a SSHRC or CGS will shape our future opportunities. Speaking from his own experience, as someone who only got an OGS and didn't really try for the SSHRC (in an era when the OGS was worth a lot more), he seemed to really regret not having tried harder for a SSHRC. I've browsed a lot of CVs on the web, and I definitely get the sense that receiving something like the SSHRC is the norm for people who end up in tenure-track jobs. Not only that, I think getting a SSHRC will help me look like a better candidate for other awards in the future. It's all about the Matthew Effect. The second is the financial freedom. At my university, we're guaranteed a decent level of minimum funding, and getting the SSHRC isn't actually an increase over the standard package. But since our standard funding includes a certain amount of TAing, getting a SSHRC means either not having to spend time grading or running tutorials, or that I can choose to TA for extra money. I'm not struggling at the moment (my partner works a 9-5 job, though we share expenses evenly), but it would be nice to have a bit more of a cushion. The third is just that my department basically requires us to apply for SSHRC and other external awards as a condition of continuing to receive the standard internal package, so we actually have little choice about whether we want to or not. It's another hoop to jump through.

Good to know! Thanks a lot. Good luck to everyone!

I'm very nervous. I got rejected at the university level last year, but was forwarded to the national competition this year. From the NSERC thread, it looks like notifications have just started arriving. Is SSHRC usually later than NSERC?

At my university (U of T) or at least in my department, it's treated the same way. After tuition and fees, SSHRC winners end up with less money than they would have had under the internal funding package, and are given a top-up to balance things out, with a bit extra, although the extra is not guaranteed from what I understand. It might only apply for one year. The only financial benefit to a SSHRC is that you don't need to TA to get that level. Without a SSHRC, part of your funding comes from an TAship, which means you end up working for a large portion of what you get.

I finally got my official letter. Arrived at the end of last week. The letters inside were dated the 7th of March or something (I don't have them in front of me at the moment.)

Just checked SGS and it's still showing as "Under Review". The e-mail was from a faculty member (future supervisor), who said that a formal acceptance letter with funding details would be on its way to me soon.

I just got an unofficial acceptance from Toronto this morning! Huge relief. I guess March 1st wasn't right. Such a relief..

I don't know about Rutgers, but I haven't heard from Toronto. I check my status on SGS a few days ago and it was still showing as "Under Review". I've been too nervous to check again since then, but don't they say somewhere that they start notifying around March 1?

Reading all of these posts is making me nervous.. I'd tried to put all this stress out of my mind after I sent in my applications, but it's now come back with a vengeance. I also applied to NYU, but I'm Canadian, so I'm curious about whether international applicants should also have been contacted by now. (I'm guessing the posters so far have been US students.) Can I hold on to the faint hope that my acceptance is in the mail, or is the fact I haven't heard anything yet a sign that I should shift my anxieties to the other schools?