waitinggggg

Sorry to hear that. I hope you ultimately do get the award. Why do you think "it doesn't look good"?

LOL...we are now interpreting emoticons!!! But seriously, hmm....the questions you need to ask yourself are 1) does Paula usually use emoticons? and 2) is it reasonable to believe that Paula would be "in the know" at this point? If the former is a 'no' and the latter is a 'yes' then I might be cautiously optimistic, as that IS an emoticon giving a wink!

Thanks!!

Thanks for clarifying! One more question for you though: did you apply for the award through your university? I'm thinking that it's possible that my awards people might not be notified since I applied on my own. I live in the US.

I don't get it! Are you a grad student? Does your grad coordinator get access to the results? How? Mine seems clueless. If you are talking about your future grad dept, I still can't understand why my present grad dept should remain any less enlightened about the results! Sure, I applied on my own and was not vetted by my dept, but still!

anyone want to call sshrc later today and ask if the letters have gone out?

Good luck to all!

Ahhh, I see. Well, let us know if you get anything tomorrow.

wait, just to clarify, are you saying that if the letters go out before 3pm that they still won't arrive tomorrow? or that if they go out after 3pm? couldn't they potentially process them this evening/early morning tomorrow and ship em out in the am?

really? how do you know? i'm finding myself curious about things i've never cared about in my life before....like, how does the mail get processed, etc., etc. LOL

LOL...maybe they'll learn from this and do things better next time. They should have one person designated to answer phone calls from frantic students. I'm still hopeful that at least some letters will go out today....

did they say the all get mailed out at once?

No prob. I like that I was able to get a more direct/clear answer by taking an indirect approach and presenting my dilemma...hehe. I agree, rejection will hurt, given all this anticipation, but...better to know than to be in the dark! Anyway, fingers crossed!

Thank goodness for Saturday postal service! I wish I could find a really reliable estimate of how long mail takes to get from Ontario to midwestern USA...but I'm optimistic that early next week I have the letter. Good luck with your other deadlines!

I'm pretty sure we'll only get a letter. My grad coordinator said that she's never had any info relayed to her regarding SSHRCs in the past, and there are a few students in our dept who have it.

Haha...But seriously, if you think about it, it's totally consistent with the earlier info. I got the sense that letters were definitely going out today, which means that they will likely go out in 2 mailings, today and tomorrow. He said "friday" as a hypothetical in my case, but then kept saying "[your results] will go out today or tomorrow". I think worst case scenario some letters will remain to be mailed out Thurs, but since he didn't mention it, I'm guessing not. I wonder if they will send out the first half of the alphabet first?

Just talked to a program officer....today or tomorrow!!!! I was asking him about my situation (having a deadline of next friday to get back to people at my school regarding another award) and he was very skeptical that I would not get the letter by then, even though I'm in the US. He said (regarding my situation), "It won't take 8 days to get there. If the letter goes out this afternoon...you'll probably get it by Monday....if it goes out tomorrow then you'll get it Mon or Tues....worse case scenario, if it goes out friday, but it won't be friday, so don't worry..." I don't trust his judgment about how long it will take to get here, but I do think we can now be VERY optimistic that the letters are going out today and/or tomorrow. He didn't say anything about Thursday. Finally!!!

Haha. Well at least you have something to occupy your thoughts. Maybe I should take on a new project to get my mind off SSHRC...

I agree - envelopes in the mail Thurs does seem credible. Hopefully it's earlier though. The "mid May" interpretation could be checked by someone more obsessive than me. (Check whether there was a public announcement last year shortly after the results were mailed.)

Your post made me laugh for some reason. Could be the bit about 11 separate guitar parts. (My boyfriend also has a habit of ordering random guitar parts...and bike parts). Also, the fact that you have so much mail flooding out of your mailbox yet no envelope from SSHRC, though this should keep you somewhat satiated as you continue to wait. (Though it could be addictive! I find receving lots of mail in a short time frame leads me to want more mail). I'm also waiting for my tax return and my paycheck (I'm down to my last $2). Seems like waiting is all I do these days. I should be a professional........waiter.

I say go ahead and call...they should expect us to be pains in the ass by now. They said April and now it's May. I'm calling in the morning. I'll let you know what I learn...

Yep. I can imagine that some people have offers to schools without full funding, so knowing whether you are going to get a SSHRC could be an important part of the decision making process (e.g., someone might accept a school's offer in the hopes that they'll get a SSHRC, but if they knew that they did not in advance, they might think twice about accepting). I just don't understand why it takes so long. The deadline was only last November!!!

This is just so ridiculous. I'm going to call them tomorrow (too busy today). Maybe if we all call then we can come up with an average score that will converge on "the truth" since what people say is so variable. Do they enjoy torturing us?

Hi all, I have a serious dilemma on my hands. I have been awarded a fellowship at my institution that, although decent, is not really comparable to a SSHRC. I have decided that if I get a SSHRC, I will take it and decline the internal award. However, the people who administer the award are putting pressure on me to make a decision and I'm worried that they are going to force me to decide before I know about the SSRHC! It's starting to really look that way. So...assuming that people start finding out about the PhD SSHRC results tomorrow, what do you think are my chances of actually getting SSHRC to disclose my results over the phone? It seems so ridiculous that they would not. But maybe they would not believe me that I have another deadline, or perhaps they won't care. The problem is that I am in the US and chances are I won't get the results for another week at least, assuming that people start finding out tomorrow. :S Perhaps I could have my grad studies coordinator contact them directly? They do release results to the departments of undergrad applicants, so perhaps they might consider doing the same in this case?? Has anyone ever been in a similar situation? They present themselves as this impenetrable, Kafka-esque organization, but surely there are real human beings with decision making power who can be of assistance if circumstances warrant consideration? Uggghh...

Thanks for posting this info. It's funny how much vagueness one notices in statements when they really want to know something with certainty. For example, how should we interpret "producing the results for the beginning of next week"? I'm guessing that Monday could be the day people start receiving news. Maybe the letters have already been picked up or dropped off to Canada Post....That's my hunch anyway.