Adelaide9216

I think I will use N'Vivo for my comprehensive exam. I really hope it is a good strategy.
 

Yeah, I'm sure all of the successful applicants believe that their work is impactful too. If you look at last year's cohort, it certainly seems like they're making progressive changes in their selection criteria. They must have a killer pool of applicants.
 

My mention of prestigious universities was meant in terms of the caliber of applicants that they are getting and not the foundation selection process per se. I know that not everyone has the circumstances to even think about a Yale or Oxford, but we don't know who the other applicants are or what they've accomplished. Ultimately, we are all doing impactful work in our communities or why else would we be applying. It sucks for us, but these decisions are truly a crap shoot because this is all good and important work. There are just so many applicants and so few spots. I don't like finding out in online forums rather than by them, so they could definitely improve that still. 

I've read on other threads that invites went out several days before people received the declined emails, at least in previous years. I also have not heard anything, so... I think it's a wrap. I can't really see anyone applying and then declining the interview. As we all know, failure and rejection is a HUGE part of academia. Also, more so than other scholarships, this one is a crap shoot. I had a stellar leadership reference (from a 6 term City Councillor in my city and on the Board of my university), several recent publications, and a 10 year career in non-profit leadership. Still, nada. They probably selected 40 applicants or 60 maximum as finalists in all four themes and the competition is global with previous winners having been from Yale, Oxford, Harvard, etc. The person who did get an interview said it was their third time applying, so onto next year! 
 
 

Some info here:
I saw someone on social media (one of my Facebook friends) asking on behalf of someone information regarding the scholarship today. I am assuming because that person got an interview invite, even if the Facebook post did not say so explicitely. Also, the other person in my department who got nominated by my university also did not get any news. 
I am under the impression that they are sending out the invites one by one...which is strange.
My application is still under review on the Portal. 

I am in my second semester of my PhD.  

I got my diploma! It's official now and no one can take it back from me lol

In case anyone is waiting to hear back, I found out today that I have an interview (third year in a row applying..!). Anyone have any insight/ can link to a thread where people have described the interview process before? I have no idea what to expect. Keeping my fingers crossed for you all as well!

Cool, I am sure you will be done in no time . The first two years of my PhD were my favorite.

I am in my second semester of my PhD.  

Nothing from my institution yet. 
I've got a conference presentation out of the country, so I really hope they'll let us know before that so I can change my flights. I will have to fly straight there after my presentation and hope I've packed enough clothes in my tiny carry-on, haha. 

I got my diploma! It's official now and no one can take it back from me lol

I got accepted to a doctoral program at an extremely prestigious business school!

I got an offer to be a tenure track faculty from a good institution. I am in a very rare field where this is still possible right out of grad school, and even with us, probably half of everyone graduating will have to take visitings this year because the market is rough. I am going to the school of my dreams, and I can't chalk it up to anything other than being incredibly blessed.

If I remember correctly you are in the social science, right? So by publications you mean mostly articles? 
A good resource for note-taking can be found in http://www.raulpacheco.org/resources/note-taking-techniques/ I haven't used much of his techniques (though I borrowed ideas) because in history we read mostly monographs. However, based on his Twitter interactions, students and faculty have found these techniques useful. 
Do remember, however, that what works for someone may not work for you so, ultimately, the figuring out part rests on your learning style, your needs, and comps goals. 

Hello,
This is a bit of a personal/off-topic thread.
I've often been told that as a woman of color in graduate school, it will be harder for me to find a partner. Because the things that I represent don't fit the image that most people have of black women. And yes, I have to admit that I have been single my entire life. I am about to turn 25 in a month and I haven't been successful in my romantic life in the same way that I  am perceived to be in my professional/academic life. I have never been in a committed relationship with anyone. But I am still young, so I try to remain hopeful but as I see all of my friends getting married, engaged or having children, I would be lying if I said that I am starting to lose hope. Even if I am truly passionate about my career and the projects I am involved in, I don't want my life to be only that.
A friend of mine was telling me the other day that all the work that I do, the activism that I am involved in outside of the classroom and the media attention that I get might make it difficult for a man to approach me because I don't "fit" in. The thing is that I don't want to change the things that I am involved in because they make me happy and keep me grounded and sane. But I get these kinds of reflections from friends and adults since my teenage years. It's starting to hurt to get this feeling that I have to choose between being myself and finding a partner. I just want someone who accepts me as I am and with whom I can have interesting conversations with but it seems to be too much to ask.
Do you think that finding love is harder for people pursuing graduate studies or with graduate diplomas, especially if they are part of a minority group? Do you think the whole idea of a woman being successful makes it harder to her to find a partner?
I am happy in my life and I have never been happier but yes, sometimes, I do feel some kind of void in the sense that I fear to fail my personal life. I am able to manage that fear by trying to focus on the things that I already have in my life, and yes, I do have a lot already and I recognize that with great humility. And I try to cherish that because nothing can be taken for granted. I'm in a good place in my life and it has not always been the case. However, I'm afraid of turning into the kind of unattached woman who just works and has her career for sole purpose in her life. 
 

Congrats! I think I've seen someone describing having a quite intense individual interview and a somewhat awkward group interview in a thread from past years. There are several threads about this scholarship here.  

One of THE most prominent people in my field and faculty member of one of the programs to which I applied followed me on Twitter!

Chiming in to say that just finding a straight man who /truly/ respects women can be such a challenge. As a transmasc person, I genuinely think it's easier for me to find a good guy now that dating straight dudes isn't an option. So many of them, even if they're generally good people, have these deeply-ingrained misogynistic ideas that they've never questioned. Plus, I imagine you're better at discerning that than the average bear.

Hello, I think I can answer this.
I did all my university studies in SW though. However, I think it doesn't hurt to have an interdisciplinary profile. Many of my colleagues at the university I attend and professors have interdisciplinary profiles.
I am constantly being told that it is currently easier to get a job in academia in the field of social work right now. That is, most social workers don't do PhDs. It's a pratical profession, so most people who choose that path are not inclined to pursue PhDs at first. Plus, not all Schools of Social Work across Canada have PhD programs. So in the next couple of years, they'll want to develop some more. And they'll want more people with PhDs in Social Work. I would not take that situation for granted though, because it's probably going to get as competitive as other disciplines, but the omen are quite good right now. I know a couple of people who graduated with their PhDs who got hired as a profs before finishing their doctoral thesis, just to give you an idea. They completed their thesis after getting hired.
My feeling is that Sociology and Political Science are wayyyy more competitive fields than Social Work for prof positions. 
You would need to ask more people to get diverse perspective on this, but personally speaking, although I am doing everything i can to increase my chances to get a tenure-track position, I am being told that the omen are often good in social work for this. 
I did not attend York university, but heard that their program is quite progressive. Maybe you could contact current PhD students and ask them about their experience in the program. I always do that whenever I have to apply to something, and people often are very happy to share their experience and perspective.

I’m glad to hear that! It’s very frustrating, but you deserve someone who respects and loves you for who you are and what you do. Anyone who doesn’t isn’t someone that would make you happy in the long run. Don’t worry about what other people think so much—everyone has an opinion about where people should be at any given point in their lives, but everyone lives their life differently. You do what’s best for you, and you’ll find someone who loves that.
I wasn’t trying to undermine your point by any means by sharing where I’m at, and I hope it didn’t come off that way! I was just contributing to the topic more generally

I agree with you. I'm not saying being in a relationship is easy. I'm not expecting things to be perfect neither. But I just wish what it felt like to be in a positive and happy relationship with a man.
But I do agree that it makes things easier to be single in terms of planning and moving, etc. I am planning on being a Visiting Research Scholar in 2021, and it would have been harder to plan that if I was in a relationship. I also think that being single allows me to devote my entire time to my studies, which would be a little bit more difficult if I was in a relationship, especially if I was in a relationship with someone that does not understand what PhD studies entail.
FYI, I began seeing a therapist over this. I have not been in a good place mentally at the end of 2019. And she believes that there is nothing wrong in what I am doing, my approach, who I am. A few people tried to "blame" me for being single, that I attract my situation by not being positive (law of attraction), and other types of BS. And it makes me angry every time when I get told that I must do something for me to experience this. I am glad that she sees I haven't been lucky, that's it. Because I have self-respect, and don't settle for less (which is a good thing in her opinion), it's just harder to find a good man out there. She also does not believe my expectations are too high or unrealistic. I just want a man that will respect me, and most of the men I have dated did not have some sort of respect for me, which led me to stop seeing them entirely.
I kinda feel better, but I'm taking the days one at a time. 

Women in my family have made comments about me not getting married until after grad school but more because I think they see my life "starting" when I finish school and not that being in a PhD would be part of my life. I'm less concerned with the 'intimidating' thing and more that being in a PhD program makes it difficult to be in a relationship especially with the tumultuous nature of the field and not knowing where I'll be next geographically, as well as being in a (potentially) new city and not really meeting people outside the program.
I was talking with a professor in my program about applying PhD's in general and relationships came up. When I told her (at the time) that I was single, she responded, "Good. That makes choosing and transitioning to a program easier." Her husband is in academia, too, and she said they struggle a lot with debt and finances because they're both in this field. 
I'm now in a relationship and waiting to hear back from PhD's. My boyfriend is applying to Law schools in the area whereas I've applied all over the country. Even though we have a great, open, and communicative relationship, and he's super supportive of my career, we've kind of just been putting off discussing what the future looks like for our relationship because things are so uncertain right now. It's become "let's just wait and see" about applications, and that's been kind of tough.

Congrats!

I would say top-quality journal publications (Science, Nature etc.) and has previous history of awards (NSF, NSERC) and recognitions.

Also, the choice of supervisor for PDF and strong research plan helps.

Here is a very informative video explaining all of that: