[SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship/CGS Doctoral Scholarship 2013]

Hi all,

 

I heard this week that I was awarded a CGS for the first three years of my four year PhD program which starts in September.  My score was 24.9/30.

 

I am going back to grad school after a 10-year professional career in my field.  

 

Here is some info on my application:

 

• 4.0 GPA
• 2 peer-reviewed papers.  One was my undergraduate thesis which was published in a small university journal ages ago.  The other was a sole-author publication that is in press.
• Some other trade publications
• A couple of conferences (nothing significant)
• Other scholarships (but this was several years ago due to the gap in my academic career)
• TA experience, but little RA experience
• Several years of teaching experience.  I'm currently teaching a large undergrad course with over 100 students.  
• I assume my letters of recommendation were strong.  
• Professional experience related to my field and my research proposal.  I should note that I'm not a social scientist per se, but a humanities scholar.  Maybe this will be encouraging?

I also applied last year with almost the same application and was wait-listed.  My score increased by about 8 points this time around.  What made the difference?

• My second peer-reviewed paper was accepted and in press
• I was teaching the big undergrad class.  Maybe some credibility points?
• My referees might have stepped up the tone of their letters.  I don't know.
• I was formally accepted into my program and had deferred my start date.  

Everything else was pretty much exactly the same as the previous year, so I do believe that there is an element of luck involved in these things.

 

I hope this information helps someone!