solala

Just popping back into the thread this year (I was on this forum over the two previous years, and I understand how difficult the waiting can be!) I'm checking for a friend who was wait-listed this year, receiving a score of 11.9 from committee 4 (Education, linguistics, psychology, social work). We are trying to find out if she still has a chance of getting the fellowship. Can others from committee 4 let us know their scores and grant status? (So far I've just seen one post from a committee-4 fellowship recipient with a 13.4). Also, a quick note of encouragement for those who were wait-listed or rejected. I was rejected with an 8 my first year applying as a direct applicant. Last year (1st year of PhD) I was offered a fellowship, which was upgraded to a CGS a few months later. So a lot can change even within a few months. I think what made the difference for me last year was having a strong reference letter from my current supervisor, going through 8 detailed drafts of the proposal with several profs, and also emphasizing my non-academic work experience. Hang in there and keep trying everyone!

Hi everyone! Just popping back into the forum this year. Thanks to everyone for the heads up that the awards managers get the results early. Congrats to Anthrogal and others on the success! I emailed my awards advisor today, and she told me that I got the fellowship!!! I am more than thrilled! Last year I didn't even make the waitlist and I was completely devastated (and I can't even bring myself to confess the super low score that I received). Honestly my application was almost the same this year, so I just wanted to let everyone know in advance that if you don't get an award, then you should keep trying. A lot can change from year to year, and sometimes small details can make a huge difference. (I apologize in advance that I'm not going to disclose the university where I'm attending, but it doesn't hurt to ask your awards manager, whatever school you are at). Best of luck to everyone who is still waiting!

Hi folks, I just wanted to thank everyone for the messages of encouragement for those of us who didn't make it this year. I emailed sshrc to see if I could get more information, and I am shocked that they won't even provide unsuccessful applicants with a breakdown down their scores based on SSHRC's own 5 evaluation criteria (I think it's the minimum they could do in the absence of qualitative feedback). It doesn't seem like there are proper checks and balances in place to see if reviewers are taking these criteria into account, which is discouraging. But I hope we all keep trying, and I'm sure I will be seeing many of you around here next year. After many sleepless nights and a lot of advice from other applicants, I still can't figure out what I could have done wrong, but I think I'm going to try simplifying my proposal, cutting out much of the interdisciplinary component (and being enrolled in a program next year will also likely help). Perhaps the one useful piece of information I received from sshrc is that the cut-off score for successful applicants this year was 12.1. It looks like many of you who posted from the wait list are very close. Best of luck!

It turns out my letter did arrive today (my niece didn't see it at first), and it's a devastating rejection for me (no wait list). I know that there are many incredibly smart grad students with great proposals who were also rejected, but I'm a bit confused about the process and my extremely low score (it was below a 9). My background: - 4.0 GPA - 1 publication - MA SSHRC - Took several years after BA and MA to get extra research and teaching experience before applying for PhD. I guess I'm wondering what I need to work on? More publications? (any suggestions would be helpful). I got really great feedback on my proposal from several profs, and was ranked highest for entrance awards at some the PhD programs I applied to using the exact same proposal (so I don't think the proposal was the problem). Or could I have made an epic mistake somewhere? Is my research too interdisciplinary? Or perhaps was it reviewed by the wrong committee (as my topic crossed several of the adjudication fields?). At this point, I think that appealing the decision would be useless, but I would appreciate any thoughts on this. Diakonos, based on your (similar) experience last year, do you mind if I PM you for more advice? Thanks everyone for your support along the way! and wishing you all the best regardless of the competition results.

I completely understand your frustration. I even considered writing them back with the same questions (as the "out of fairness" claim just doesn't make sense), but I don't think that would change anything. At least now we can stop checking the online portal every 5 minutes. Now all we can do is find a better distraction, go for a bike ride, bake cookies or whatever until the mail arrives on Monday. Wishing all you all a peaceful and relaxing weekend!

To everyone who is still waiting for their letters (like me): I just wrote to SSHRC to see if they will be posting the results on the portal for applicants (as suggested by some of the earlier emails folks received from them). Here is the response I received from SSHRC: "The results were sent via postal mail on April 20th, 2015. Per Canada Post standards; you should receive your letter within 10 business days. Out of fairness to the other candidates; we will not be communicating the results in any other format until this target has been reached (May 6th, 2015). If you do not receive your letter by this date, please contact us via email and we can then consider other means of sharing your results with you". I still haven't received my letter in Vancouver (which is surprising since others' letters have arrived in Europe). It's going to be a long week-end. How is everyone else is far western, eastern, northern and rural locations holding out?

Hi Inquietude, I'm also sorry to hear that your application was unsuccessful. Rejection always stings, but I hope you try again. One thing I wanted to add about the topic of transparency, is that SSHRC is an institution funded by the public, and as far as I know they are legally required to release (non-confidental) relevant information/documentation upon any Canadian citizen's request (which may be why they are so careful to not take notes at adjudication meetings). If you want more information such as relevant statistics, cut-off #s for funding, etc, etc, I think the best thing is to just ask them for it. If that doesn't work, you also have a right to submit a formal freedom of information request (or if you don't feel comfortable doing that yourself, ask your grad student society, as they tend to like doing that sort of thing . I also think that asking other folks you know who were successful if you can read their proposal is a really helpful strategy.

Congrats Girlfriend_In_a_Coma! This is a great sign for everyone to keep trying!

I just noticed that there are 57 people reading this thread, likely all waiting for an update. If anyone needs a distraction, may I recommend some harmless grad-student humour: www.theonion.com/articles/pros-and-cons-of-going-to-grad-school,38467/ And congrats beebop!

I'm clearly obsessed now, but just wanted to share that according to Canada Post, delivery standards for regular mail (the slowest postal service) is 2-4 business days between major urban centres. The "up to 10 days" listed by SSHRC is likely considering applicants in rural and remote locations, but most of us should definitely get our letters this week. Okay, I'm going to shut up now. Wish you all the best!

Although I'm new to this thread (this year), I concur with crimsoc. Everyone who has posted the news from SSHRC about the mail-outs this week seems really solid, and non-troll like. I do think, however, that SSHRC might have some internal communication issues (as do most big institutions), with the employees responsible for social media/twitter going on different information than the employees who respond to applicant email inquiries. On what appears to be the same day, the former group said that "results will be announced in May" and the latter claimed "this week." These types of communication issues are very typical in organizations like SSHRC, with people getting fed different information at different times, and updates/changes being hard to keep track of. Still, my best guess is that we were indeed sent our letters this week and will (hopefully) have news very soon (at least from some of you in Ottawa).

Hey beebop, Perhaps you are right, in which case some of you might be able to find out from the admins at your universities (and the rest of us direct applicants would have to wait for the snail mail)? I had no idea that webpage existed! Good research skills. Anyways, I'm going to keep checking the portal thing, fingers crossed they will post news there.

Sorry, the website didn't paste properly above. Here it is again: webapps.nserc.ca/SSHRC/faces/logonFellowships.jsp

Hi Luna 1, Yes, I'm pretty sure that by "secure SSHRC site" they are indeed referring to the "portal thing": https://webapps.nserc.ca/SSHRC/faces/logonFellowships.jsp. It looks like we are all still getting the same message under the portfolio tab, which states "nothing to display." Based on the info emailed to a few folks from SSHRC, we should all have a message on the portal by the end of week to let us know if we have received an award or not (in addition to the letters that they are sending us in the mail).

If the letters were really sent out yesterday, I bet some folks in Ottawa may be getting their letters today. Let us know how it goes. Good luck everyone!