dramanda
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Posts posted by dramanda
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The whole process seems to me to be such a crap shoot--even the people I know who already have SSHRC fellowships or CGSs tend to think so...
I think whether or not I believe this process to be a crap shoot will be directly correlated with my outcome. Irrational? Yes, but it keeps me sane.
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At the lovely, wonderful, incredible department where I did my MA, they would have a SSHRC workshop every year. They'd gather 10 or 12 professors for the afternoon, students would bring drafts of their proposals, and you would go around the room getting ripped to pieces by as many professors as possible. It was so incredibly helpful. Old profs, young profs, all different areas of the discipline... every school should do it.
Wow, that is amazing. I wish my department did something like this.
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That is absolutely ridiculous, I can't believe that your supervisor wasn't helping you! Most departments realize that they have a vested interest in their students' success with SSHRC and act accordingly.
If you knew my supervisor, you would understand
All I got was a "this is good" when I showed her the final draft.
EDIT: in the interest of full disclosure, I am leaving the department for my PhD, so maybe that had something to do with it. Although if I get it, it will still raise their quota for next year....
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At the same time, though, people who are at university's have a big leg up just from the fact that they can consult with professors and develop their applications with much more one-on-one feedback. I'd feel far less confident in my own application if I hadn't gone through 14 drafts or so, getting feedback from a variety of profs on each.
Ha! I applied through my university and got no feedback until I was all done. Maybe my department just sucks though....
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I went to an information session in the fall about SSHRC and one of the presenters was a professor who actually sat on an Ottawa panel once. One of the points he kept stressing was that, overall, what the judges looked for most was the ability to articulate a clear vision for the thesis/research proposal. He sort of admitted that the scoring system was just an attempt to make the whole thing look objective or to somehow quantify how they determined the best ones.
I even asked about the importance of publishing and he said that they really don't expect much in most disciplines unless you're in a second or third year of a PhD. All in all, he said, the clarity, insightfulness and originality of the two-page proposal is what they really focus on (assuming you have decent marks and references of course.)
I've heard this "proposal is everything" idea as well. I sincerely hope it's true, as I have no publications. I've been worried about that since the day I submitted my application.
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Does anyone know how THE LIST looks like? I mean the list that universities get access to. Is it a list of all SSHRC winners, or just a list of their winners? I'm asking because I applied independently and although my choice of university was clear from the SSHRC application (I'm already doing research at that university, without being registered there. Freelancing, kindda...), I'm not sure if I could start inquiring there once I find the results are out (from this forum obviously!). I called SSHRC about a week ago to ask if results would be made available to my future university, and they said I should wait for the letter if I applied independently. No other details or explanations. So perhaps Masters SSHRC winners would know anything about that? Or anybody...do you know what's on that list, or database, whatever?
I don't know the answer to this question, but what's the harm in asking the potential university when the results come out? The worst they could say is that they don't have access to your information.
Total speculation here, but it WOULD make sense for the university you listed on your application to also receive your results.....please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
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Hey everyone - I have been following this thread for a long time, it's nice to know others are in the same boat waiting to hear about SSHRC Doctoral $. Where are people getting info on how they were ranked out of 30? This is news to me so I wanted to ask. Thanks!
If you applied as an external applicant, you'll have a letter from the first round with your score. Those of us that applied through our university will only know our score when we get our letters in the coming weeks.
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It has been suggested (by SSHRC) that they score on a curve, in which case it might make sense to re-score, given that your application is now being compared to a different set than it was in the first round. There's a discussion on another forum somewhere (discover vancouver? test magic? not sure but search for SSHRC results) where people talk about the changes in their scores from round to round.
There are several places where I've seen this info:
http://www.discovervancouver.com/forum/ ... 46022.html
and
http://community.livejournal.com/canuckgrads (you'll have to poke around for April 2008 topics about SSHRC)
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Hi,
I am interested in applying for a the Doctorate in Communication program at TC at Columbia. This is under the Science and Technology department. I have been trying to figure out if they offer funding to doctorate students. I know it is pretty normal for Phd programs to give their phd free tuition + a stipend, but this doesn't seem to be the case at TC. Am I correct? I would love to be in the program, but I can't take out any more student loans...
Any info would be great.
Thanks.
During my interview for a doctoral program at Columbia TC, I was told there was zero funding for my first year, and that I could perhaps have an RAship in subsequent years (this wouldn't put a dent in their tuition, and we all know about NYC living expenses). However, it might vary a bit by department/program. I would suggest that you try to get in touch with a current student in your program and ask these questions. You could also ask the grad secretary or someone in a similar position.
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My understanding is that if you received a rating like that you applied independently directly to SSHRC, right? I also understand that those numbers they rate you at out of 30 are not 'scores' as such but are ranks. So that out of the pool of people you were ranked in, at least 1/3 of them would have a rank of less than 10/30, a third of them would be 10-20/30 and a third would be above 20/30.
Although a rank like 5/30 could be disappointing (I know - I was once there as well), it doesn't represent an awful application, just a good one that was ranked lower.
I don't think this is right. Last year, I think you needed ~18/30 to get a SSHRC. Since 60% of A-list applicants get doctoral SSHRC each year (give or take a few), this would mean that 60% of people got above 18/30. SSHRC tells you in your letter both what your score was and what the cut-off was in your particular year to win an award.
My understanding is that it is actually a score, based on the 5 rubric categories I posed previously.
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Hi dramanda, if you also think that I am writing crapy proposals, then how come I got Dean's Fellowship from our med school in the amount of 20,000$ for 4 years? I submitted the same proposal. In addition, my proposal ranked number 1 in the School of Medicine when submitted to the School of Graduate Studies. And if it was crapy, why SGS would choose it and send it to SSHRC? Is it so difficult to acknowledge that mistakes can happen and SSHRC messed up my file?
Um..wow. I never said you wrote a crappy proposal, and I didn't belittle your Dean's Fellowship....
With the number of different people that rate any SSHRC proposal (I believe it's 3 different judges) I think it's pretty unlikely that all three made a mistake. If something was missing from your file (let's say your transcripts or a reference letter), I'm pretty sure SSHRC would've contacted your SGS to have this looked at.
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Yes, ogopogo, but also when some university is given a quota of 40 and the other one only 8, you may have a better application then 30 people from a bigger university but your problem is that you are number 9. Being in NL, I find it always extremely tough competing with people from big universities as if the name of the university provides some guarantee that those guys are better. I ended up here since my husband is teaching here, so I don't have luxury to choose and study somewhere else. Anyways, let's remain optimistic.
Well no, it's not just that "the name of the university provides some guarantee that those guys are better". SSHRC determines the allotment for each university based on the number of winners from the previous year multiplied by some coefficient (because, as we know, there are more A-list applications than awards). If a university is able to attract top students and submit more successful SSHRC applications, they will have a larger allotment for the following year.
The idea, generally speaking, is that the #9 applicant at a school with an allotment of 8 will be relatively equally qualified as the #41 applicant at a school with an allotment of 40.
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You must be kidding me! You think that after getting two major research scholarships and several minor (piror to applying for SSHRC), I don't know how to write a research proposal?! Even my supervisor was shocked from my result and we were convinced that someone misplaced my papers or something. But since SSHRC is not willing to discuss any decisions, we got nowhere. And BTW I get all my proposals and papers reviewed by a professional proofreader. In addition, I got now 9 papers published in peer-reviewed journal papers. So please be considerate when you pass judgements like that on your fellows.
Sylvinka,
I think jackassjim has some good points. From my understanding, the SSHRC adjudication committee scores you on each of the following factors:
- past academic results, demonstrated by transcripts, awards and distinctions;
- the program of study and its potential contribution to the advancement of knowledge;
- relevant professional and academic experience, including research training, as demonstrated by conference presentations and scholarly publications;
- two written evaluations from referees; and
- the departmental appraisal (for those registered at Canadian universities)
Even if your previous awards and distinctions were COMPLETELY ignored, a score of 5/30 means that there were some problems in other aspects of the application as well. This is not meant to sound accusatory, but you should know that those 5 bulleted points listed above are fairly evenly weighted by the judges.
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Again, this is a little off topic but... Does anyone know what the odds are of getting an OGS in your second year of Masters if you received a SSHRC in your first year? Is it easier to get an OGS if you have already had a SSHRC?
This is very unofficial, but I heard from a prof that having already received a major award does increase your chances of getting one again. Kind of a "rich get richer" scenario, but he said that reviewers generally have the impression that if you were good enough to be "chosen" once, you're good enough again. However, he and I were discussing OGS (master's) first, doctoral SSHRC next (my situation). I know SSHRC actually awards points for getting external awards previously during the review process. I don't know as much about OGS's review policies, so I can't really comment on the SSHRC first, OGS next scenario you're in.
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Might this depend on the University? I had a SSHRC at the University of Toronto (it ended this Jan). Neither SSHRC nor the University took any money for fees. Instead, the university would make a direct deposit in my account three times a year. (Jan, May, Sept). I think these were the dates that SSHRC released its funding.
To find out how your university manages SSHRC funds, contact your program coordinator.
Yes, in my experience UofT administers all external awards (SSHRC, OGS, NSERC, CIHR) on this thrice-yearly schedule. Other schools seem to follow the 12-month pattern. Ask around to see what your school does
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Sorry, I thought that was clear when i said 'PhD notifications to grad departments'. What I meant, and I thought you all were saying/betting on, was when you thought SSHRC would tell the universities (so that we could find out from them).
That's what I assumed, but just wanted to clarify
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Okay...a new date to hope for news, time for a new pool. Let's see if Snasser can win again.
PhD notifications to grad departments on:
May 11th - Cree8tiveGyal
May 12th - Dramanda
May 13th - ogopogo
May 14th - Snasser
May 15th -
And, for those who learn from experience:
May 18th -
May 19th -
May 20th -
May 21st -
May 22nd -
And for the real pessimist:
May 25th -
After May 25th -
Let me know if I missed anyone...
To clarify, what are we betting on? The date letters are received? Dated? Mailed? The date we find out from our grad secretary/FGS? I guess just the first date someone hears anything about the doc competition?
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SSHRC
in The Bank
Posted
Excuse me....are my fellow Canadians taking a break from the stressing for the weekend? No posts all day?!