wordbird

Are you talking about Masters or PhDs? Masters yes, a lot of programs will only guarantee funding for a year. PhD funding at York is for 6 years guaranteed and (according to the York GSA, take that how you will) is the best guaranteed minimum in Canada. SFU I'm not sure about the number of years, but you are top of the sessional priority pool once you are ABD and until you defend your dissertation. And of course course directorships pay more than a teaching assistant gig. But rather than funding amount I believe the more important question to ask is WHERE is the funding coming from. Teaching Assistantships? Research Assistant? Straight up scholarship? Go to the school that has the smaller TAship workload (which I'm pretty sure we can all agree is the biggest timesuck out of the three usual options for funding sources). You'll want to minimize your workload so you can focus on research and publishing.

Were you accepted for a PhD or a Masters? This information will change my answer dramatically. And re: the above poster, they are probably annoyed that York seems to be on the verge of another strike.

Current York PhD student here. Are you applying to a masters or PhD at York? If you are waiting on a PhD I don't really have a lot of good news. I have a few friends who have applied to various programs and they already heard 2-3 weeks ago that they were accepted. I know this probably won't help, but I think this was a TERRIBLE year to apply to York. No matter how awesome you are on paper and how much your department might want you, there just aren't many PhD spaces to go around. Apparently York has been over admitting PhDs in the past, so while FGS says they have "reduced incoming numbers slightly" most of the other grad students I talk to report that their PhD intakes have been reduced by half. Some programs have decided to not admit any international students this year either (another cost saving measure). And of course we had more drama about FGS no longer mandating that all base funding packages be equal. Bad timing all around

The only problem I have heard of someone with depression not getting clearance was when they had a history of non-compliance. If you have a record of taking your meds as prescribed (ie. not going off for periods of time, not trying to self medicate) (imo) I don't think you will have a problem.

Still no results in the lower mainland. Let's hope that tomorrow's mail brings letters for us BC peoples

I feel your pain. I no longer live at the address that SSHRC has on file for me. When I moved, I set up mail forwarding to my parents place on the west coast. Now I am kicking myself for not emailing SSHRC to update my address to my new place in Toronto, I am sure I would have my results by now!

It sounds like possibly a wait list, but maybe it is a nice way of saying "thanks but no thanks"? I expect your letter will be a bit more clear.

From what I understand SSHRC lets you work a certain number of hours per year, so most schools let you work. At York I was told I can keep a 1/2 TA if I get a CGS and a full TA if I get a PGS because the health benefits I get as a TA are much better than the ones I get from the GSA.

I was in a similar situation to you, really looking forward to getting a pet when I started grad school. I have yet to get a pet and I doubt I will get one anytime soon. Of course I still really really really want a cat or a dog, but I know that at this point in my life it just isn't fair to the animal. I know this post is going to be quite negative and I don't want to say anything that offends you, but maybe consider this a reality check before you go ahead and adopt a pet. If you have taken all these into consideration and still feel comfortable being a dog owner, then I am sure you can give a pet a great home Grad school means long hours. Maybe you are the type of person who works best at home, but for me I needed to go into the office to get any work done. When it came time to write my MA thesis I was pulling really late nights (typically staying on campus until at least 11pm) because it was only after every one else went home that I would be free from distractions and get down to work. Perhaps your new department will let you bring your dog to campus with you, but make sure you get it in writing (don't assume anything!) I also traveled a lot as part of my MA. I went to a lot of conferences and attended a lot of meetings as a grad student rep. If you plan to participate in the conference circuit, who will take care of your dog? Have you lived in a cold climate before? Edmonton gets COLD in the winter. I just moved away from Alberta and nothing had prepared me for the bone chilling cold of the winter. I had absolutely no interest in going outside when it was -30 degree weather. Those readings you are putting off will start to look mighty interesting when faced with the choice between reading and going for a walk. Have you worked out your budget? Cost of living was pretty high in Calgary, I am not sure how bad it is in Edmonton. Expect to spend considerably more on your groceries, going out for dinner, pub nights, etc. The Calgary Humane Society has a budget breakdown on how much to expect to spend on your new pet: http://www.calgaryhumane.ca/Page.aspx?pid=333 The most important thing is to make sure that you can give your dog a home for its entire life. During my MA I got a few emails from fellow grad students who were moving and needed to find a new home for their pet. To me that is a really crappy thing to do. If you are sure that you can provide a stable home for the next 10+ years, go ahead and adopt. If things get hazy after you are done your MA, maybe it is best to hold off a bit longer. Again, I am sorry if I come off as being overly negative. Good luck in your grad school adventures!

It didn't happen to me, but I know of others it happened to. Rejected across the board, got a major scholarship, contacted all the schools, suddenly they had multiple offers on their desk. None of this is personal, it is just the business of grad school. There is never enough funding to go around, so if you come with your own funding it is going to open a lot of doors. If you have money and there is a prof willing to take you on, you should be able to start in September. Talk to the grad office and see about getting the paperwork pushed through.

<br /><br /><br /> Generally, it all depends on the start date of your program. If you start in September, you find out now that you got it and get payments starting Sept 2010. If you start in the winter semester, you start getting payments in January 2011. If you are currently in a program, you start getting the payments right away (ie. May 2010). Two years ago I won a MA SSHRC and I found out late (right at the end of May or maybe in the first few weeks of June). Since I was already in a program I was supposed to start payments right away. However, at that point I had already found a full time (paid) summer internship. I was working far too many hours to qualify for a SSHRC, but because I got my letter so late (they had actually emailed me to let me know I won) I had the choice to push the start date to September.

You might be on a wait list. Unfortunately NSERC doesn't send a letter to notify you of this, only if you won or were rejected. I'd suggest contacting them, just in case they made a decision and it was lost in the mail.

It probably depends on the school you are applying to. They may let you into the PhD, or maybe they will make you do some undergrad classes before they let you into a MA. Your best bet is probably to talk to the grad program coordinator for a program you are interested in, and see what they say.

Does anyone know what the timeline for individual letters will be after the results get distributed at the faculty level?

Probably no sign at all. For one of the schools I applied to I had a temp ID from my original web application, and then they gave me a new ID number (which I was informed of via snail mail) when they processed my application materials. This new ID number became my student number when I was admitted, but it was assigned long before they made admission decisions.