CarefreeWritingsontheWall

Thanks so much for this! I emailed on May 8th (after confirming with my department some funding questions). I followed up last night as you suggested and woke up to an email stating the same thing this morning.

I've never accepted one of these awards before. In line with the award holder's guide, I emailed that I was accepting the terms of the award and the start date. I have yet to get a reply, however, and as the deadline to accept approaches I'm getting nervous that I did something wrong. Can anyone confirm how they accepted their award?

Sorry for the delay! My packet was scored a 14.10/ 20. Hope this is helpful.

It's definitely worth it to have it paid to a Canadian account and then move it as you need it. For reference, if I wire money from the US to a Canadian USD account, then convert it, I always get a better exchange rate. But there are tax forms and such involved with moving more than 10k to the US at a time. Also things to consider for direct applicants abroad.

We're paid directly. According to the website "Award holders will have their instalments converted to the currency of the bank account indicated on the Payee and Direct Deposit Enrolment Form." The base denomination will be Canadian dollars. More information here: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Students-Etudiants/Guides-Guides/TriRTA-TriBFR_eng.asp#awardspaid

I didn't receive a notification that my results were up, but out of curiosity I logged in this evening. I got a SSHRC! Direct applicant from a US program. Applied to committee 5. For what it's worth, I'm in my fourth year at a US program, so it's only 20K, but this might be enough for me to haggle 6th year support from my program.

I received the SSHRC set up info for the Extranet portal this afternoon at 1:26PM. Gave me a start. As noted by others, the portal has no results yet and another email will follow when they have been uploaded...feels like reviewing acceptance/rejection letters for grad school all over again. FWIW, I'm a direct applicant (my program is in the US). This is the last year I can apply.

Eligibility criteria to follow. I am not expecting to be eligible as a Canadian studying in the US. But it's a relief, that's for sure.

I'm a Canadian completing my PhD in the US; as such I don't expect to hear back from my institution about any results. I still keep checking my mailbox every day though. ?‍♀️

I don't even see that - just that the current version of my CV has been verified. :S Perhaps I wasn't eligible? Who knows. Will be watching my mail (and having a friend check my mail in the US). Yay for waiting!

Thanks for creating this thread and posting updates about when we should expect results. I'm a SSHRC doctoral award applicant and have been really confused as my application is no longer visible under my portfolio on the website. My last email from them was an acknowledgement that my application was received in December. Is that the case for everyone?

On Rank, I would consider the relative position of people working in your subfield at the institution under consideration, not the department's rank overall. Some departments have incredibly strong faculty in one field (IR, CP, American, Theory etc) but not in others. On Academic Fit, I would consider whether your epistemological outlook is aligned with potential PIs. Substantive topics aside, are people doing the kind of research you want to be doing (natural experiments, ethnography etc). Will advisors allow you to do the work you want to do, the way you want to do it or will they push you to become more like them (this you can get a good sense of from talking to them about your work, but also current graduate students). On Advising, I think you covered the bases. I would also consider whether your potential PI has an advising style that suits you. Some people are very hands off, and that doesn't work for everyone but this fits with engagement. It's worth it to ask current and previous students what their meeting schedule looked like, and whether they felt their advisors read the papers they send and offer useful feedback. You don't need a committee of three people who will read everything with a fine toothed comb, but it helps to have one. Also, ask yourself if your main advisor left, would you still want to go to that school. Faculty move a lot, and most are not in a position to bring students with them or continue chairing committees if they leave and you can't follow them. I know too many people to count who have lost their primary advisor to a move, and then felt stuck committee wise without their main mentor. This is somewhat related to the idea of not choosing a program to work with one specific person. On the Cohort dynamic - ask about office space. Do places have it for graduate students; do you have to compete for it; is it a positive or negative work environment? This seems pedantic, but it can mean a lot for positive social and academic environments. It changed my grad school experience drastically when we got access to a building where all graduate students have dedicated offices (if they aren't working out of specific centres). I have two potential co-authored papers I doubt I would have in the mix if I wasn't working in such an environment. Your immediate cohort will only matter for the one to two years you are doing a lot of coursework, so it's worth it to consider the general climate amongst graduate students, and whether people are hostile or constructive in feedback and collaborative opportunities. On money: I would add a few other points of consideration. What is the cost of living in immediate area? Is rent so expensive it takes up your entire stipend? Will you need to commute to make ends meet if you can't get on campus housing? Is commuting easy (reliable transit, 15 min drive with no traffic) or difficult (no transit, heavy traffic/long drive)? Is your stipend the same as everyone else? I.e. do students compete for better funding packages. This is surprisingly true for a number of programs, and it can generate hostility in cohorts if people are fighting for money. Is there accessible funding for sixth years? Do you have it guaranteed or is it competitive? Is there accessible funding for fieldwork or research protocols? I.e. how easy is it to ask for 5000 to run a survey or spend a month in an archive? Are those internal departmental options, NSF grants, research centres? For RA work, what is the typical wage? Are RA/TA obligations built into your stipend or are they an addition to your stipend (i.e. if you TA for a semester, do you earn additional wages on top of your stipend or not - this varies a ton!) Are you responsible for any annual fees or health insurance, or are these included in your funding package? On location, I would also ask if it's a place you can see yourself living for at least 3 years, if not the entire duration of your program. Can you lead the life you want in the area the school is, with what kinds of housing is available to you etc? This is important for pet owners, as well as people looking to settle down or find a long term relationship in grad school. It's also true for people moving with partners or children. If the immediate location doesn't work, but a neighbouring city does, consider whether the commute is something you can handle (and afford). On partner groups, I would also consider whether centres regularly bring in post-docs or visiting professors. It's a great opportunity to collaborate with early career scholars, and bring in additional expertise. Minor thing, really, but it adds to the climate of collaboration and opportunities. Also consider whether there are research and social groups that can support you as well. I've gotten a lot out of a women and politics group we have in our department as it has fostered connections between female graduate students and female faculty I wouldn't normally interact with. Likewise for first generation scholars, or visible minorities, some departments have a lot of great opportunities to network with peers that can make the PhD process more manageable. A lot of people told me that such questions weren't important. A grad student at a visit laughed when I asked about offices and said that surely I wouldn't pick a place based on whether I would have an office or not. Sure, my decision wouldn't hinge on that one factor but it's a question meant to probe the underlying social dynamics of a department that may not be immediately visible during a visit weekend. There is plenty to consider of course. Hope this helps.

As an aside, it's worth thinking about how isolating a PhD is overall - no matter where you attend. While your first year or two is quite busy with coursework, once you're ABD you are for all intents and purposes a researcher. You dive into your work, and it's all on you to be productive. Most advisors won't impose deadlines on you, which means it's entirely on you to hit targets and be independently motivated. The idea is to see how well you can do as an academic - since being a junior faculty member means you won't have any deadlines beyond those imposed on yourself. I didn't quite appreciate this on the outset of my degree, and it's been a challenge to grapple with as I move beyond coursework. It's the biggest difference between the standalone MA I did before, and my PhD. Some people thrive with the independence, but for many it's a serious adjustment. I think it's worth it to consider placements where you can build up a community and establish a positive work life balance. For some people that means picking a program closer to family, or at the very least a new city where it's easy to build a network beyond the program. I'm lucky to have colleagues that are incredible friends, and family who make the effort to travel to see me when I don't have the time to travel myself but if there's something I would do differently, it would be to consider applying to some programs closer to home. At the very least, I know I will be aiming for jobs closer to family when I finish.

Hey all. Saw the recent conversation about admission stats for OSU. Statistics wise, Princeton usually gets 500+ applications in a given year and admits ~40 people across 6 subfields (IR, CP, AP, Theory, Methods, Public Law) for an admission rate of 8% (less during years when it's higher). They aim for a cohort of 20ish but some are smaller (16) and some are larger (27) depending on the year. I suspect Harvard is similar, though they can have cohorts of 30. Just thought I'd pop this up here for perspective. https://www.princeton.edu/politics/graduate/prospective/faqs/

As a side note, if math camps are on ABD student resumes, it's likely because they helped lead it. In terms of timing, assuming camps will fall around August 10th assumes many other things - like acceptances (sorry to be blunt about this...just being honest). I honestly don't know and can't say anything with certainty about the timing of math camps for any of those programs. Luckily August is ~8 months away, so you should feel more than safe planning your trips closer to the beginning of Spring (say in 2-3 months) when you have a sense of what's going on for you - and this is still 5-6 months before you need to plan any moves or trips which gives you plenty of time to find a good deal on a particular destination. Best of luck with your applications!