[SSHRC]

Hey all,

To add to the gathering data - I received the fellowship with a score of 17.8.

I am entering the second year of a doctoral program.

Thanks to all you posters! If not for this board, I would have gone nuts with the waiting.

i scored 17.7 and got waiting list... does anyone know if waiting list people have a chance? is the cutoff officially 17.8?

[SSHRC]

re: departmental help with SSHRC applications

My department makes a lot of noise about being helpful--they even have info sessions set up. But, to be perfectly honest, I think they're not doing that great a job. I received conflicting advice from different people who have a fair bit of influence on the application as a whole (namely, the grad chair and my referees)--to be perfectly honest, I had to be quite diplomatic and smooth things over because the two groups were getting increasingly pissed at each other as I was going through different drafts. Actually, I even received contradictory advice from the very same person on different occasions. To make it worse, the grad chair who was around when we were writing and submitting the applications to the department, who insisted that I take out some parts of the statement that both my referees and I thought belonged there, decided to leave half way through the process, so a completely different person was ranking the applications this year. I don't even know what to think anymore. The whole process seems to me to be such a crap shoot--even the people I know who already have SSHRC fellowships or CGSs tend to think so...

[SSHRC]

For what it's worth, I think many of us will be rejected by SSHRC, and it won't be because our proposals were crappy -- it'll be because some SSHRC reviewer decided they liked another equally intelligent and deserving student's proposal better. It is possible to write a great proposal, have great letters, have great grades, and still be rejected.

I think you're quite right...

...there is actually a PhD student in my department who won a SSHRC CGS scholarship and, in the same year, was turned down for the OGS (which is decided earlier)...this makes no sense whatsoever!

I think it has to do with departmental ranking procedures, Neatgirl. I posted more detailed comments on this kind of thing about a week or two ago--but then again, probably not all departments handle external awards applications in the same manner...

[SSHRC]

re: application deadlines--at my department, both SSHRC and OGS are due mid-September, which is, I think, ridiculously early...

[SSHRC]

re: game

option 2: would we find out that we won't hear for another two months (and thus calm down a bit) and would we get the assurance that the new number of CGS's is equal to the old number of CGS's _PLUS_ the old number of fellowships? and if so, wouldn't a third and better option be to convert the new number of CGS's into fellowships (the new number of CGS's would yield more fellowships) so that everyone who has been A-listed will get an award? wouldn't you rather take less money but be sure you were getting it?

[SSHRC]

does SGS usually tell people when their applications are forwarded to SSHRC as "alternates"? when SGS contacted me, they just told me that my application was passed on to ottawa (both this year and last year).

i don't know what the success rate is this year, but i remember doing an overall calculation last year. of all applicants, about 1/5 get awards. and of the applicants who make it to ottawa (assuming that all of them are A-listed), only about 50% get awards...

[SSHRC]

i was notified by SGS on Feb 11th, but only started going crazy by the end of march. i was also stupid enough to re-read my SSHRC statement recently, which resulted in me telling myself over and over again that i am unworthy... if anyone else is debating re-reading the statement, please take my advice and refrain from doing so. a faulty memory will make things you wrote almost 8 months ago seem sooo much better...

[SSHRC]

It's at least good to know that we're all going crazy together!

Indeed!--I wish I had found this website earlier...

[SSHRC]

I am assuming that OGS notified schools today. I am close friends with my graduate coordinator, so I think I found out a bit before most people, I anticipate the 'official' notification tomorrow. I find it very bizarre that I did not receive the OGS but I (apparently) have a very good chance of getting the SSHRC. Does anyone know if SSHRC knows about the results of OGS and if this can effect the results of SSHRC?

this response is a few days late, but here it is anyway: many departments have a policy of dividing applications between SSHRC and OGS as a way of ensuring that _THE DEPARTMENT_ benefits financially. in other words, if you get a great ranking for the SSHRC application, you will get the opposite for OGS. i think the reverse is true as well, which is bad news for me. but then again, since OGS does notify applicants of their rank, one can never now if one was at the top or bottom of the list. in theory, it is possible to be given a mediocre ranking (just above the cut-off) for both awards and be offered both. but perhaps this is just wishful thinking on my part--somehow i have a feeling that my department is far more "efficient" in sorting out applications.

by the way, the above applies only for PhD funding applications; departments tend to be more lax about MA applications, so many MA's will receive both awards but will also have to give up one.