bhdavis1978

My recollections on this are a little fuzzy. When I was a graduate student, I remember situations in which students who were not awarded scholarships initially, ended up being awarded a scholarship after the first round of acceptances went out, but I'm not sure if these scholarships were specifically NSERC, or if they were UGF (University Graduate Fellowship) awards. But yes, I would imagine that based on people declining awards, or people deciding to take a CGS out of the country, that this would result in some extra money which could be reallocated elsewhere.

No mail today. Maybe tomorrow, or Monday.... *sigh*.

I was hoping to hear by today or tomorrow so I could tell my boss I'm taking a week off (my wife is a teacher, and she has spring break off). I figured it'd be harder to argue with someone saying "Hey, I just covered my salary for the next two years, I'll see you in a week", than "I'm taking a week of vacation?"

I think that's a good question, but I don't think it's one you can answer until later, when the debt comes due.

I applied directly to NSERC, since it's for a PDF, and I'm in the US. I've applied to NSERC before, and previously had a PIN, but I didn't know what it was, so when I applied I didn't fill my PIN number in. I don't recognize the number though, so it may be a new PIN, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I'm working on protein evolution in a biochemistry lab.

Hi Shellyeah, I've never tried to bargain for extra scholarship money, but in my experience it's always better to go talk in person for anything. It's much easier to say "no" to an e-mail than to a persons face. Plus, going in person shows initiative. E-mail or call whomever you have to and schedule an appointment (always better to schedule an appointment rather than just showing up). I'd say it depends partially on exactly who is giving you the money. Is it the University as a whole, or is it an externally funded scholarship? If so, you might be able to convince your department to give you some money, since you're bringing money into the department with you (i.e. maybe they can cover some of your tuition, etc). But , as I said, I've never attempted to do something like this, so ymmv.

Me too....

I don't know how I'm going to get any work done this week. And, the results will likely take longer to get to the USA.

No! But I don't have much of a choice in the matter, do I?

I completely agree with zxcv. If you don't have a stipend, don't do it- it's not worth it. Not only are your job prospects not likely to be significantly improved with a PhD, they may be diminished, since you will be perceived as being over qualified. Thus, they don't want to pay you what they think a PhD is worth, and they're worried that if they hire you at what they can hire an Associates, Bachelors, or Masters for, then you'll bolt as soon as something better comes along. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but zxcv is right- almost everyone who becomes a faculty member will be from one of the few top ranked programs, and have full funding- and even then- having full funding all the way through your PhD at a top school still doesn't guarantee a faculty job. I love what I'm doing right now (I'm a postdoc)- I had full funding all the way through my PhD (never had to TA), I easily got a good postdoc position at another top University, and I'd say my chances at getting a faculty position are 50% at best. Despite the fact that I really enjoy what I'm doing now, I'm not sure I'd make the decision to go to graduate school again, and if I did, I'd probably go into economics instead (of population genetics). I like to tell my friends that the only good thing that came from my PhD was meeting my wife. However, ymmv.

For things like the CGS-M/PGS-M/PGS-D/CGS-D, one thing that's very important is how your department and university ranked you, NSERC takes that seriously (afaik). In my experience though, the single most effective predictor of whether or not you will get funded is how much effort you put into your application. I always put a lot of effort into writing my URSA/PGS-M/PGS-D applications, and I always got them. I had friends who did not put nearly the same effort into their applications (but whom otherwise seemed to have similar credentials, if not better grades) and were rejected. So, regardless of how well you do on this years competition- make sure you spend a lot of effort on it.

It depends why you want to go to graduate school, and for how long. If you just want to go, because you want to gain more education- then that entirely depends on your comfort level with harbouring a lot more debt. If it results in you having improved income when you get a job, and a higher median income, then it shouldn't be too hard to figure out if it's worth the risk of bankruptcy. Doing that calculation might show that not only is it worth it, but it will substantially increase the rate at which you can pay down your debt. For example, my wife is a teacher. When we lived in British Columbia, if she'd had a Masters, it would've added an extra $10,000 of salary on top of what she was already earning. It would've been worth a fair amount of extra debt for that increase in salary- especially because it'd also affect her pension (thou, she would've made most of that increase by just doing the coursework for a masters, and not the thesis- something called a PB+15, I don't really understand the details). So, if you want to do it cause you want to do it for your soul? Only you can answer that. To be honest, if I could do it again (go to grad school or not), knowing what I know now, I'm not sure that I would. I probably would've gone to medical school instead. I'm tired of moving, tired of the uncertainty, etc. The other thing to be aware of, when asking for advice, is who you're asking. A lot people in academics have never spent much time outside of academics, so they can't really give you a personal experience of with, or without advanced studies. The same problem exists for most people in the real world- they've never been in academia, so they only have their own experiences to draw from.

I don't recall the specifics, but my recollection was that she said on, and not by. Though they're fairly easy to get a hold of- the phone numbers are pretty easy to find on the NSERC website.

I called them last week, and I got a lame response- "All the results will be mailed out on March 31st", which is what they say every year, and usually are untrue because I've always received my letters earlier than that. Maybe it's true this year, maybe not.

Personally, I think you're good for at least a PGS-D, and probably a CGS-D. It probably also depends on your discipline, but my guess based on my previous experiences is that you will get it. When I got my PGS-D, I had one paper published, one submitted, and about a half dozen oral presentations at international conferences, and I got it, and I was told afterwards that I was almost awarded a CGS-D. In any event, good luck! I've got my fingers crossed!