turkergirl

I have so far applied for a SSHRC doctoral award 7 times, and this year I was successful --- finally. Of the 7 times I've applied, I was forwarded to the National Competition 3 times, and waitlisted once. Every one of those "unsuccessful" years were frustrating. One year my score was 7.1 out of 20...which was depressing. Last year, one adjudictor gave me 7.5, while the other gave me 4.1. For my 5th and 6th applications, I hired grant writing specialists, but for the 7th and final time I did it myself, imagining what the pros would be saying as I proofread my Program of Study. I guess what I'm trying to say is that the scoring doesn't always make sense. "Congratulations" to those successful, and, more importantly, for those who weren't awarded a scholarship this time around, don't let it get you down: learn from this experience, and try again next year.

Anyone on the West Coast received any notice in the mail yet? I'm an external applicant at a UK university, but currently in Vancouver.

HI JimBob1--I was waitlisted the last 2 years, but nothing transpired of it. In fact, I was told by my Programs Officer that it's not impossible for none of the waitlisted applicants to receive an award. Apologies for all of the negatives in that last sentence: in other words, sometimes no on on the waitlist gets an award...even IF people turn down their scholarship -- it's as if the funds get sucked back into the SSHRC vortex.

How is it that SSHRC has just sent out the results today, but some applicants have already heard the results...? Or were these just the results for the Vanier scholarship?

I also got the sense from speaking with the Program Officer that specific committees didn't seem to matter when it came to being plucked from the waitlist and offered funding.... I'm not sure what to make of this, so please correct me if you know otherwise! I mean, is this to suggest that, from here on in, everyone is in the same boat as far as committees, and all that matters is one's waitlist score? Or do some committees have priority over others? Or do they take random turns selecting from the various committees if some funding should emerge? And...if two people share the same score, which it appears they do on this forum (and they also appear to be in the same committee, which seems...odd) and both of them find themselves to be "next in line" for funding, what criteria does SSHRC use to pick between these 2 tied candidates? Is another adjudicator/reader brought in to make the judgement call, or do they toss a coin? So, yes, a sense of procedural transparency would be nice....

Yes, it does seem improbable, but please don't misunderstand me: I'm relaying what I was told by the SSHRC Program Officer that I spoke with this week. I simply asked if it has ever happened that none of the waitlisted applicants were offered funding, and he said that it has. It sounds like this is not the norm, but that it is not impossible. I also asked if it had ever been the case that all of the waitlisted applicants were offered funding, and I was told that this has never happened in this person's experience working for SSHRC. Personally, among other things, I would like to see more transparency on the part of SSHRC -- perhaps statistics outlining the percentage of waitlisted funding recipients, and approximate timelines, historically speaking. While these statistics won't predict the outcome for this year, they will give us waitlisted folks some sense of what has happened in the past and when.

Not to be a big downer, but, when I spoke to someone at SSHRC earlier this week, I asked if it were conceivable that none of the waitlisted applicants would get any funding, and I was told that, yes, this has happened in the past. It was hard to squeeze out any further information, though what I'd really like to know is the average percentage of waitlisted applicants who end up being offered funding. It would be great if, say, another waitlisted applicant could ask what other tried to.... ?

Hope you're not going too crazy. The reference letter that my supervisor sent to me for my package never arrived in the mail, so he had to send it straight to SSHRC. Mail loss is REAL! Good luck.

That's crazy! Maybe think about asking SSHRC to re-send? Are other Toronto-based applicants in the same boat? I'm in Vancouver and received my letter last Wednesday.... Good luck.

Sorry to hear it. I applied 5 times before even making it to the wait list. Good luck with your application for next year!

I asked for something akin to this when I emailed SSHRC, but they responded with: "As the chances of additional offers being made depend on a variety of factors, it is impossible to predict if and when such offers would be made. Please rest assured that SSHRC will contact you in the event that funding should become available." More waiting....

I emailed this address: fellowships@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca They said it could take up to 4 working days for me to hear back from them, though I did get a detailed response within 24 hours.

I actually emailed them yesterday, and they got back to me today.

I emailed SSHRC about my place on the waiting list. Please see reply below. I have 21 people ahead of me.... That doesn't bode well, does it? Either way, I'm a bit confused re: the difference between the scores I was given by the two adjudicators -- I mean, if the second adjudicator had ranked me a little bit higher, it might have made a significant difference: Committee 1A Scores (2 members): 7.6 and 4.5 (out of ten)Total Score: 12.1/20Success rate and rank necessary to be offered award in the National competition: 42.1 % Success rate Rank necessary to be offered award: 74/176 The top 74 applications in Committee 1A where offered a Doctoral AwardYour Rank: your application ranked: 95/176

Sorry....