dramanda

From what I understand, the "Competition Results" table gets posted loooong after recipients are notified. It's not that odd that the stats would be available beforehand.

Interesting. Did you do your undergrad at UofT as well? I applied through UofT for the doctoral level competition, and here's my email. No mention of numbers or alternates.... "Dear Amanda: Your application for a 2009-2010 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Award was submitted by your graduate department to the School of Graduate Studies. The School of Graduate Studies Selection Committees have met and reviewed all the applications, and I am pleased to inform you that your application was selected to go forward. The criteria used by the selection committee included the student

There are many masters students who didn't even make the A-list. Although I understand that it would be upsetting to not receive it at this point, there are worse things that could happen. ALSO, keep in mind that there will likely be a waiting list. You can't take master's SSHRC to the US, so some students will decline their award.

As a follow-up question, does your school/SSHRC generally tell you that you were forwarded as an alternate? I didn't have any such info in either my email from my school or SSHRC, so is no news good news?

And there`s 83.33% odds that you're not the one who didn't get it, ashleyv

I wasn't referring to you particularly, just the general sentiment in this thread....

This is precisely why I have been against this "everyone who is on the A list for masters SSHRC gets it" nonsense. It's pretty disappointing regardless, but even more so if you're under the impression that your odds are 100%

Awarded

Very interesting. This wasn't up last time I was on the website, so it looks like a fairly recent development (http://www.shhrc.ca may as well be my homepage!). Looking over the spreadsheet you linked to, I'm a little troubled. This year's total number of awards is lower than last year. For the sake of comparison (and to occupy my time), I've tabulated the total number of winners for masters SSHRC for all years available: 2003 = 815 2004 = 985 2005 = 1250 2006 = 1182 2007 = 1194 2008 = 1338 2009 = 1228 So, this isn't the first time the numbers have dropped (see 2005 to 2006). However, I wonder what this means for doctoral awards this year. Here's the data for SSHRC doctoral: 1995 = 557 1996 = 563 1997 = 574 1998 = 567 1999 = 612 2000 = 591 2001 = 587 2002 = 575 2003 = 587 2004 = 994 2005 = 975 2006 = 974 2007 = 1050 2008 = 1105 I hope we don't see a similar 100+ reduction in doctoral awards this year... Would anyone else like to elevate their level of anxiety? EDIT: I'm not really sure how this info fits into the mix....

It's possible, but someone posted the total number of awards this year a few pages back, and it was the same as last year. The info came from the SSHRC website. Since Vanier has a different website, I assumed that their numbers were considered separately. I could be wrong, of course. By the way, the Vanier website said there will be 55 winners from each of the granting agencies (SSHRC, NSERC, CIHR).

I think the delay this year has everything to do with the new Vanier awards. They obviously wanted to have this big pomp and circumstance event in Ottawa announcing the recipients (see Vanier thread) on April 30. As far as I understand it, those students who are nominated for a Vanier and don't receive one are going to get a CGS. If they released the results for CGS/regular SSHRC before April 30, then those students nominated for a Vanier who didn't end up getting a CGS would know they won the Vanier, taking some of that surprise away. I could be wrong, but this is how I've put all the pieces together over the last few days..... In any event, this is good news for the rest of us as a collective. The existence of the Vanier means that top applicants will get that, and we can only assume that they would've won a CGS/regular SSHRC otherwise. Thus, there's a little more "wiggle room" for those of us in the regular competition this year. I'm not sure how many Vaniers will be awarded, so I could be entirely off-base with this. Also, I could end up putting my foot in my mouth in a few days when I don't get SSHRC even with this extra wiggle room....

Doesn't that mean you automatically got a CGS? I'd definitely settle for a CGS!

Wow, amazing news! Congratulations kaoru!

Yes, I asked this a few pages back. My decision-making was even more stressful given that I didn't have the full details on my financial situation. Anyone?

This makes me simultaneously happy and terrified....

Wow, big news. Best of luck to all those invited!

But at least their delay is based on the idea that they might be awarding more fellowships this year.

I think this is normal. I've had similar thoughts, though perhaps not to the same degree as you're describing here.

Yes! But then again, I can't accept a CGS anyway....

Thanks jackassjim and Snasser!

That doesn't answer the "why" bit

I know this is adding absolutely nothing to the thread, and for that I apologize. But everytime I read the title, it sounds like the beginning of a lame joke.

General SSHRC question for the masses: My dad is always dumbfounded when he hears me say that I can take SSHRC with me to a US school. Although I'm happy that they do allow this, why? What's in it for SSHRC/the Canadian gov't? There's no guarantee that we'll return to Canada eventually.....Thoughts?