mt1

I went to an information session in the fall about SSHRC and one of the presenters was a professor who actually sat on an Ottawa panel once. One of the points he kept stressing was that, overall, what the judges looked for most was the ability to articulate a clear vision for the thesis/research proposal. He sort of admitted that the scoring system was just an attempt to make the whole thing look objective or to somehow quantify how they determined the best ones. I even asked about the importance of publishing and he said that they really don't expect much in most disciplines unless you're in a second or third year of a PhD. All in all, he said, the clarity, insightfulness and originality of the two-page proposal is what they really focus on (assuming you have decent marks and references of course.)

Dear SSHRC Bureaucrats, A panel of doctoral students has reviewed your performance. We regret to inform you that you have been deemed incompetent. We encourage you to get your f*cking act together and communicate with the people who are waiting to make major descisions. We award you no points and may God have mercy on your souls. Sincerely, The GradCafe SSHRC Forum Panel

Nothing in my mailbox either. Great - another weekend trying not to think about SSHRC. I better make a trip to the LCBO - oh wait, I don't have any SSHRC money yet. You would think that SSHRC would post an announcement on their webpage explaining what is happening, and thanking us for our patience. At least lie to us or something.

Just got the mail (April 22) and nothing from SSHRC. I just stood there in the rain, holding a PizzaPizza coupon, and cried out: "Why God? Whyyyy?" I thought academia was supposed to be a dignified pursuit.

I think there might be something to this theory. I know a few past SSHRC-winners in my program who got a rejection letter from OGS only to get SSHRC a couple of weeks later. By the way, these students also told me that they got their SSHRC letter last year on April 24th so we're not necessarily "late" yet - though certainly past "mid-April." But if this rumour about late-April/early-May is true, my suspicion is that Harper's "addition" to the system has created some complications requiring more scrutiny of the process (e.g., determining what is "business-related"). I've heard that there is somewhat of a revolt amongst some of the panelists who are stretching the definition of 'business-related' as wide as possible to undermine Harper's intention. Nonetheless, I'm about to blow my head off. (It is 1:30am and my wife just poked her head in my office trying to figure out why I was still up. "Oh, you know, just reading through SSHRC chatrooms...do you mind?")