maraoud

Hi Everyone, It was also my first time applying. I received a CGS with a score of 17.49. I have no idea what committee my application was in, but I study diasporas. I'll be starting my PhD in the Fall. As I wrote in a previous post, just to put things in perspective for everyone, my partner applied for a Marie Currie Post Doc this year and was in the bottom 50% of the selection committee, but for a Canadian SSHRC PostDoc was number 4 out of 120 for the committee. It was a very similar proposal, so the takeaway was: sometimes what you're doing gels with the readers and sometimes it doesn't. Try to not get too hung up on the results. That being said, I imagine it must be heartbreaking. I gleaned quite a bit of useful information from this forum in developing my proposal, so I thought I'd give my experience here for any future applicants. I began developing relationships with potential supervisors several years ago, bouncing ideas, and meeting up for coffee now and then to discuss possibilities until a meaningful research proposal came to light. I started working in earnest on my proposal in June, and by July was sending drafts to people I knew, ABD PhD students in my field, all my potential supervisors, and scholars in (somewhat) related fields. Every person had their own feedback (sometimes highly varying!) and I was able to craft my proposal to take in the good points of them all. I also made sure that my proposal highlighted the SSHRC Future Challenge areas that related to it. It also helped me to not take their feedback seriously. As I've read more, I realized that a lot of the feedback was right on point, even though at the time it felt almost like an attack. Other feedback was less helpful, but everything helped me to develop a new perspective on the issues I'm researching. Also, everyone was more than happy to help out! I don't have a lot of scholarly experience, but I do have over a decade of professional experience in my field, which is highly competitive, so I'm sure that also helped a bit. It was important for me to think outside of the box, look at my history and see what work experiences had merit, even if they might not have been peer reviewed. Regardless, I still maintain that it's a crap shoot. I happened to be on the good side this time, but I've also received many rejections from other grants I've applied for over the years, both for myself, and for others through my work place. It's always disheartening. With the rejections, I always try and remind my self that we're so lucky to live a place that has a robust grant system in place. For all it's flaws, it does support so much good work. Last night I opened the email with my partner and our son - I wanted us to all see the results together. Before opening the result letter my son asked whether or not I was nervous and I said "You know, I'll for sure be disappointed a bit if I don't get it, but either way, I'll be cooking you dinner afterwards."

This is my first post here, though I've lurked for over a year and am now also waiting for the SSHRC response. Just to put things in perspective for everyone, my partner applied for a Marie Currie Post Doc this year and was in the bottom 50% of the selection committee, but for a Canadian SSHRC PostDoc was number 4 out of 120 for the committee. It was a very similar proposal, so the takeaway was: sometimes what you're doing gels with the readers and sometimes it doesn't. Try to not get too hung up on the results.