abominable.snowman

I'm in Alberta and had received my letter yesterday, which I wasn't able to post about until now. I was awarded the 4-year DF (Category B with a score of 18.7/30: 3 pubs, 2 conference papers, MA SSHRC, 4.0 GPA). I'm just finishing my MA and will be starting a PhD (in Religious Studies at the U of T) in the fall.

Congratulations! Hopefully this means the letters will be arriving out west by the end of the week.

#2 is incorrect. I won a MA SSHRC for 2010/11 and was notified in the end of may. I was able to activate the award through my faculty of grad studies in June and they back-paid me for May. Its not a big deal. Ryan

Although UBC has a better 'ranking' as a university, I would say that if you are choosing between McMaster and UBC, McMaster probably has the more established program and better connected profs. It really does depend on what you want to do for your PhD and how it matches up to the strengths of the program, e.g. if your topic is on Paul, I'd definitely choose McMaster but if it is more related to social sciences approach to NT then maybe UBC. While McGill's funding does suck (I know, their offer to me was abysmal), the program is widely known and highly regarded. I know that funding is always a consideration, but you also need to assess the capacity of the program in helping you get employment afterward. A new program, such as UBC's, often does not have the professional development support system established and thus, you end up as a bit of a guinea pig for them, whereas McMaster and McGill (and TST to some extent) have that machine oiled already. Anyway, I would try to assess the expertise and strengths of the individual programs (as regarded by those outside of it) rather than the 'ranking' of the university. BTW good luck on the SSHRC.