SpaceJump

Congrats! That's awesome!

Did you talk to MSP? Or is that just an observation on this delightful process?

Who's lurking NOW, Canuckonomist?

I've been caught! Ah, checking this page has just become so much a part of my routine now, that I've still been checking this week - albeit with a lot less anxiety than normal

Agreed. I imagine they'll take at LEAST a week after getting back to the office to figure out the budget.

Good luck, Phalene! Yeah, as far as I know, the hold only applies to the doctoral competition, which is completely separate from the post-doctoral. I've gotta be honest, I'm actually happy knowing that the budget people are away until the 23rd... it means that I can have a nice break from the "maybe TODAY will be the day" situation that has been the past 3-4 months. I know for sure that today won't be the day, nor will tomorrow, nor the next day, until at least Aug. 23. So no butterflies/pit in my stomach every time I check the old email!

Glad to be of service! As far as I understand it, money only moves within a sub-committee. The only exception is the Vanier, because it's a Tri-Council award, not just a SSHRC award. Far as I know, there's no information on Vaniers yet (thanks to the hold - EVERYTHING is frozen.)

Exactly, transboundary - you can only accept a CGS if you're going to a Canadian university. If not, the highest you can take is a SDF. Hope that helps!

Alright: I got too antsy over here, and spoke with SSHRC over the phone. Thanks to that, I have figured this out pretty clearly (I think). Here's what I know. 1) Everything is on hold right now while they count the money. 2) Why are they counting the money? People who got the CGS have declined their offers, which means that they will be offered SDFs. At the same time, people who originally got SDFs will be offered the freed-up CGSs. That started to happen before the hold (as evidenced earlier in this thread) but then they figured they should count FIRST then award, hence the counting. 3) Does the counting mean no more awards at all? Will they cut the grants? Signs point to no. The money that was originally offered in CGSs and SDFs is already there and must be awarded. It's also important to mention that CGSs and SDFs are in two completely separate envelopes. And for funding them, they have to move down the lists in order. Basically, the "budget re-count/re-assessment" is, at worst, a zero-sum game (every CGS has to land somewhere, and when it does, it frees up a SDF, which goes first to the original CGS decliner), and at best, will fund people on the wait list (for every full-on decline, someone moves up - every SDF has to land somewhere too.) The thing that they're doing now is figuring out who goes where and gets what. 4) This happens in waves. The first real wave (not counting the few that slipped by before the hold) will happen as soon as the budget hold is off. When they say that this process can go as long as December, they mean the last wave. After every wave, another budget hold. 5) There's no guarantee when the first wave will happen. No one has heard anything yet. 6) The two key people to moving the budget are out of the office for this week and next week, so there will be no movement until at LEAST August 23. And even then, that's just when they're both sure to be back - it'll likely take longer than that, as we all know. Hope that helps!

Agreed, MSP is very helpful. However, I don't think this really debunks ChanEcon's theory... after all, there's no guarantee that they WILL release the funds... ah well. Either way, thanks for checking in for us! I certainly appreciate it!

Ugh. Was away from the computer all weekend, and this speculation is not a happy one to come back to. Canuck - if you check in with MSP, could you possibly ask about ChanEcon's theory? She seems pretty open to discussing various things, so maybe she can shed some light. Thanks for doing that, by the way!

I'm going to guess that the "hold" isn't necessarily a new thing - that it's probably why things haven't moved at all yet. Problem is, there's no telling how long it'll take for the hold to be lifted... but if there's one thing I've learned it's that it'll take longer than whatever I expect.

Thanks for keeping us updated! I'm still hoping for sometime next week, but I am also genuinely starting to feel like there won't be movement for months yet. Just judging based on how long it took the postdoc second round to come out (congrats, by the way, to sagmoo!) , and on how pretty much everything has taken about twelve times longer than we all expected so far. Maybe it'll be a week or so after the 2011 SSHRC application deadline!

Ah. I'd been under the impression that July 7th was the secret deadline for awardees to report their accept/decline to SSHRC. Ah well. Either way, I doubt we'll hear anything this or next week - my money's on the week of August 9th. Here's hoping that's not just a lame pun!

Here's my theory - the results went out around May 7th-ish, right? And there's the secret deadline of July 7th, where those who got the award were supposed to have either accepted or declined... basically, 2 months after the initial offers. Then, SSHRC has to do due diligence... basically, they have to try everything they can to reach the people they haven't heard from. This is the stage they're in right now. Wouldn't it make sense if they spent one month trying to reach these people, and then freed up the funds to those on the wait list? Therefore, my theory is that there will be "no official movement" until around August 7th, when they can say that they've done everything they can to reach those who were initially offered an award... and then they'll move down to the wait list folks. At least, that's what's going to help keep me sane until around August 8th...

I really, really, REALLY hope you're right about those odds.

I THINK it's because the only reason someone would turn down a Vanier is because they're studying abroad - which would make them ineligible for the CGS anyway. But that's just my theory - I could be dead wrong. And no news from my end - I've basically heard only what's already been said in the last page or so! Here's hoping for some "official movement" soon!

Congratulations! That's excellent news! Mind if I ask: When did you find out? Did you have to ask them, or did it just come out of the blue? EDIT: Wait - I think I got that wrong... did you get the small SSHRC right away? I originally read that as you had been on the waiting list and have now moved up to a small SSHRC, and are still waiting on the big one, but I think that I've misunderstood. (Either way, congrats!)

Thank you for posting this info! I think this is reassuring - I guess no news is good news for now. Did they give July as an approximate time frame? Best of luck to you too!

Heh, forgot that people can see if I'm online... yep, that's exactly what I'm up to. So far nothing, but you can be sure if I hear anything at all, I'll post! Best of luck Canuckonomist (and everyone)!

Congratulations, Mudlark! That's amazing news!

Yep, this is correct. I emailed SSHRC to double check this last week, and they verified that it's true. Here's exactly what I wrote to them and the verification I got: "- 2 people in my subgroup have been granted both the Vanier Scholarship and a regular doctoral fellowship; if they accept their Vanier, they must then decline the regular doctoral fellowship. If both people with the Vanier accept their Vanier, the first two people on the waitlist (including myself) will be funded. Correct"

From what I understand, within the different categories (econ, psych/counselling/linguistics, etc.) there are smaller sub-groups. Each sub-group has 79 or 80 people. Within that subgroup, everyone receives their score, and are ranked against only the other 79ish people in their subgroup. So that's why there are different cut-off scores for CGSs and SDFs. They can only fund so many within each subgroup, so the top X are funded. Beyond that, some are wait listed, and some are not funded. People on the wait list move up if: - People who are funded decline their award - More funding becomes available to that particular subgroup. I don't know that the A or C means anything. But yeah. If you're waiting to be bumped up to a CGS or off the waitlist into the funding, you're only affected by what happens in your specific subgroup. So for example, Canuckonomist is first on their wait list, and I'm 2nd on mine. But these are entirely different wait lists - it's entirely possible that 5 people on Canuckonomist's list end up getting funding, but none on mine do. Does that make sense? Anyway, that's as best I understand it, from speaking with the officers at SSHRC. Hope it helps!

A couple questions regarding getting bumped up: 1) If you received a fellowship, how long do you have until you have to accept/decline it? 2) Does anyone know, maybe from previous years, when wait list people start to hear about getting bumped up? 3) Does anyone ever decline the Vanier? I'm only asking because I'm 2nd on the waitlist, and I'd like to know how long I realistically have to wait. (Also would like to know about the Vaniers, because there are currenly two Vanier winners ahead of me in my group... and if they TAKE their Vaniers, I'm definitely funded...)

Then you and I are in the exact same situation! Woo-hoo! Not to be too premature, but congratulations! ... course, we probably won't get official notice for another month...