[NSERC C/PGSD 2020-2021]

On 4/17/2020 at 4:18 PM, Wallberg said:

Made an account just to vent about my results.

Committee 198. 2 first author papers, a handful more non-first-author papers, a couple of research patents, 4.0 GPA, university research excellence grants (<5% acceptance rate among eligible selected applicants), multidisciplinary work that has very clear upside potential, etc. etc., I have no clue what could possibly be wrong with my application.

Both scores in the low 40's, rank not even above 120/166, far from even the waitlist.

This was my last chance, too. I'm still waiting for a provincial grant but I'm not exactly hopeful. I would like to believe the problem is how I wrote my proposal, but I got checked by a past winner who thoroughly checked and approved everything, and they're not releasing comments so it's hard to tell where the weaknesses are and how to improve them (though that's no longer an option), if that's even possible (I sent an email to request the comments as they suggested in the results letter at least).

I'm especially worried about how much it will impact future prospects (post-doc and professorship). Looking at the profiles of young professors and of random postdocs in my and similar labs, they all have in common some form of government research grant awarded during their PhD and I have heard from the people I asked that these things matter a ton. While I'm at a good school, it's no Stanford (or UofT for that matter), so competition ought to be even worse at more interesting labs. I don't know what to do and I'm wondering if it's even worth completing my degree anymore.

like what everyone else says: you sound highly capable and it could just be bad luck with committee members. with that being said, i think your shortcoming may have been in the proposal because your accomplishments sound super good!  i have a decent amount of insight into the proposal review process (how to write one, participated in a review panel, how ranking works, etc) and I also read 3 successful proposals (2 nserc, 1 nsf) to give me a flavor of what to expect. i probably put the most effort into the proposal out of the whole application (although I did get 2 good journal pubs in undergrad- 2nd and 3rd author). i got ranked 5/6 for the research potential and got a pgsd (i'm a 1st year at a US school). it's unfortunate that you can't apply for this award again but writing a good proposal is going to be a skill you need to carry forth anyways. if you need any help with this, i'd be happy to read yours and give u feedback for the future! 

[NSERC C/PGSD 2020-2021]

im at a US institute and got PGSD (3 years) in chemistry committee! rank 29/149

[NSERC C/PGSD 2020-2021]

1 minute ago, StructIntern said:

I am sure when you put a group of PhD students in a forum during a pandemic, we can work out how the results are released based on limited data and publish a paper out of that

i think it may be last name starting from z->a ?? mostly got t's, o's, s's

[NSERC C/PGSD 2020-2021]

Just now, aarhar said:

Sorry, I my mistake. I did not ask my supervisor, but asked the graduate studies coordinator in the department. 

are u at a Canadian school? I’m currently at US school so idk if my graduate advisor would know anything?

[NSERC C/PGSD 2020-2021]

lol imagine them sending all 1000 emails at 11:58pm on April 16 

[NSERC C/PGSD 2020-2021]

just got email 12:45 EST - last name F

[NSERC C/PGSD 2020-2021]

28 minutes ago, MetaB said:

Just got an email now, 11:40 EST, so it seems like there's either a delay or they're sending them in batches

do u mind sharing the first letter of ur last name? (to confirm this batches by last name theory) 

[NSERC C/PGSD 2020-2021]

isn't CERB only for people who had to stop working this year bc of COVID? if you're still being paid by your university (i'm still doing TA duties remotely) despite physically not going into lab, you wouldn't qualify right? 

[NSERC C/PGSD 2020-2021]

23 minutes ago, AlphaBetta 12 said:

I guess I should be more specific. NSERC plans to share the results securely on a new Extranet site. You should expect to receive two system generated emails from NSERC prompting you to access your account. The first email will give you a link to the Extranet as well as your username. The second will give you a password. Once you login you will be able to access award information for the competition.

has anyone else received this email? 

[NSERC C/PGSD 2020-2021]

ahhh the anticipation is killing me! on their news release (march 31) they're saying IF there are delays, they'd be communicated...but it's been over a week past the 23 week mark. confused to why they're emailing people one thing and putting out news releases saying another. probably because of covid19? 

https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Media-Media/NewsRelease-CommuniqueDePresse_eng.asp?ID=1139