Poppet

Well it's not about going to London, I'm British. It's about the education- the programme itself, the professors, the opportunity.

Did you do it yourself? I'd really like to hear other people's experiences to be sure it's the right decision, that it is worth it (or whether it is). I'm not saying I'm doing it "just for the experience"--does anyone do education for that?--I'm saying I'd like to hear what people have experienced on the programme is all.

@avsilver

You can be an undergrad, masters or PhD student. The application you fill out depends on what your 'status' will be the following September. For example, you can be in your 4th year when you apply for OGS as an upcoming masters student. Or, you can be a master student in your second year and apply as an upcoming PhD student. Or, you can be a master student in your first year and apply as a continuing masters student.

Hope this helps.


@fricafrak

Yes, I am also in Biology/Environmental Sciences.

Let's try to make this forum helpful. So when people post in the future about success and failure, please post level (MA or PhD), discipline, date of status change (not day you found out, but what it says on site), and maybe even school if you are comfortable with that.

From what I am reading this is the information we have:

3 successes posted thus far, status updated April 24th, 2011 - like Jargon99 said:

-stanvx (PhD, no discipline stated) - I am guessing science(?)
-ictidomys (No level stated, Biology)
-wlugrad (No level stated, biochemistry)

If there are people who have received successes who are not in bio or biochem, please post to give us a better idea of who is getting word.

Let's try to give each other maximum information, otherwise this forum is just good for increasing blood-pressure.

-----

In the past year people started getting successes on the 14th of April. More successes were reported on the 20th and 21st of April (alongside people on remission list). People started getting failures on the 26th.

Seeing James Franco's GRE scores > Seeing Obama's birth certificate

How very remiss of me not to cyberstalk some other poster and all of their entries dated before I joined the site. I'm really just checking in to get a head's up on when the letters are dropping, since which continent I end up on next year depends on how this turns out.

This is the mail I sent SSHRC:

«J'ai visité le site web du CRSH aujourd'hui. Je n'ai pas trouvé la date de diffusion des résultats du concours de bourses pour le doctorat.

Je me demandais si vous pouviez m'indiquer la procédure pour faire connaître aux étudiants le résultat des comités d'évaluation et le moment où je devrais connaître leur décision.

En vous remerciant à l'avance de toute information que vous pourriez me communiquer à cet égard.»

Loose translation:
«I surfed on the SSHRC Web site today. I couldn't find the results of the doctoral awards.

I was wondering if you could tell me how students will be notified of the results and when I will know the decision regarding my application.

Thanks in advance.»

SSHRC answered my mail.
«Bonjour, Les résultats vont être postés à la fin du mois d'avril 2011.»

Translation:
«Hi, resultat will be posted/mailed at the end of April 2011.»

«Postés» could either mean «posted on the Web site» or «sent by mail», although the latter seems more likely.

Well, it's true, that's how long it takes. The good thing about Montreal is that two and a half hours (or two hours if you drive fast) really isn't that long a time. I used to have a long-distance relationship and would take the 4pm bus to Ottawa every Friday afternoon, arriving at 6:30pm just in time for dinner, and would leave on Monday afternoon to make my evening classes in Ottawa. When you are a student, the bus ticket is only $20 (+ tax) each way. You can do your readings on the bus and spend the whole weekend in Montreal. Also, it's not a very common option, but I have driven to Montreal in the morning, arrived for lunch and and dinner with friends, and driven back in the evening. It is doable.

As for Toronto, yes, that is a longer trip. I still regularly go to Toronto for long weekends though, driving or taking the train up there on the Thursday or Friday, and coming back Sunday or Monday. If you're interested in visiting either city, it is definitely feasible and you can have a good time taking a weekend off to go.

Also, if he is making advances to you right now, I think you should reconsider your relationship aspirations with him. While I agree with the above poster that stranger things have happened and there's nothing really wrong with having a (carefully considered) romantic relationship with a former prof or supervisor, if he is not respecting this boundary that exists in a very real and important way right now, that's a problem.

While you are his student, it is inappropriate for him to make himself open to or make advances in any way, shape, or form. And while it's also not appropriate for you, HE is the professor and HE needs to meet his ethical obligation to keep an appropriate working relationship with you. Your marriage, while something you will have to reconcile with your conscience, is a separate issue. Be careful.

Is it possible that you are perceiving him differently now that you have this crush? Are you sure he has taken a liking to you other than that of an encouraging professor to a promising student? An unhappy marriage can play tricks with your perception of close relationships.

At this point in time there is no reason to be concerned about large amounts of radiation drifting from Japan to California. While there have been more alarmist articles in the print media, most experts agree that California is simply to far away from Japan to suffer significant exposure to radiation. When you are applying for a job several years from now and have the prestige of Stanford on your resume, it will probably seem silly that you thought of choosing another school based on this singular disaster in Japan.

no. a SSHRC recipient (or SSRC, or ACLS mellon, etc.) is NOT an equivalent position to a post-doctoral fellow.

when a university gives you their own internal fellowship, you are also called a fellow. and you still list that under "awards, grants, AND FELLOWSHIPS."

"education" is for degrees conferred or in progress.

"employment" is for TAships, post-docs, and any sort of position where you are paid a salary to do something IN ADDITION TO working on your own research.

but you can go ahead and put it under education if you want to. that's not where it should go and anyone that sees your CV and knows what the SSHRC is will think it's odd, but if that's where you want to list it... go for it.

I like to live by the Suze Orman financial philosophies...she would probably say NO unless the Masters will get you a lot more money!. I wish I would have known about that when I racked up 70K in loans after receiving two Masters degrees (long story). Nevertheless, I have found that this debt takes forever to pay down! Sallie Mae, the company which services my loan, is a *itch. The more I pay against my loans the less they seem to go down...I am scheduled to make my final payment in 2036!!!!! If at all possible find another route...either with funding or another school. Far be it for me to tell you to reconsider your dreams, but unless your starting pay will allow you to easily pay this loan off within ten years....please think about it. After graduating, I love my job but really I don't get paid enough to put a significant dent into this debt. Now with a family, buying a home, vacations, etc.....I am always having to make sure that Sallie Mae gets her money. Yet another "woman" gets the best of me.... (only kidding)...but seriously....think, think , think...

Well you obviously are not an adult yet, since you rely so much on your parents and cannot stand up for yourself.

ppl don't always get what you dream of. This is just how life is. So stop crying and move on. You didn't get in so what? Maybe that dream school of your is not a perfect fit for you after all. Cheer up alright. Think of those ppl who are suffering in Japan and those who got rejected by all of their dream schools. You are way better off than they are.

I also disagree with the idea that we should adopt puppies instead of taking proactive action regarding our applications. Clearly if you've been informed that a decision will not be reached until a certain date then it is unreasonable to call before that time. But past that, I don't think that inquiring about your application is at all unreasonable, particularly if you've paid application fees. Admissions committees receive numerous calls from anxious and annoying students and I'm sure they aren't waiting by the phone hoping for more applicants to bug them, but in my experience, I have only had considerable success in contacting schools - not only have staff members been extremely polite and helpful, but each time I have obtained information that I wouldn't have otherwise had.

I think that as long as you practice extremely polite email and telephone etiquette and that you don't make unreasonable demands, there isn't anything wrong with contacting admissions departments regarding your application. Don't presume that such inquiries will never be successful, because given what can be seen on the results board and the number of unofficial acceptances that have allowed people the opportunity to start planning their lives accordingly, that presumption clearly isn't always valid.

I advocate that people should be reasonable about their inquiries, but that no one should ever sit back and wait around for things to happen when they don't have to.

I don't see why you'd force yourself to wait. You've already found yourself in a situation where your transcripts were lost and you were not notified of this properly. I don't think there is anything unreasonable about calling your top school and saying, "I realize that this is a very busy time and I apologize for bothering you, but I received disturbing news from another school that my transcripts had not been received. Can you please confirm for me that my application is complete?" I adamantly believe that it is far more prudent and reasonable for you to watch out for your application than to practice a passive politesse that neither ensures the success of your application nor prevents the (realistic) possibility of error. As long as you are polite and gracious in your request for information, I do not think this is an unreasonable concern in the least.

I worked in an immigration law firm for years and managed over 1200 clients myself - I received hundreds of emails and telephone calls every single day from panicked clients asking if they'd signed documents properly, if I'd received the email they sent 30 second prior, if they were going to receive a decision soon, etc. Sure, some of the calls and emails were fruitless and annoying, but human beings are generally capable of understanding the stress and anxiety of other human beings who are trying to process life-changing decisions. The administrative staff of graduate admissions are also people, and as long as they are treated with respect and appreciation, and as long as communication with them is polite and gracious, I do not think that anyone should worry about the call causing any negative consequences. In contrast, sometimes the act of passively waiting instead of calling can have very bad consequences.

I don't see why you'd force yourself to wait. You've already found yourself in a situation where your transcripts were lost and you were not notified of this properly. I don't think there is anything unreasonable about calling your top school and saying, "I realize that this is a very busy time and I apologize for bothering you, but I received disturbing news from another school that my transcripts had not been received. Can you please confirm for me that my application is complete?" I adamantly believe that it is far more prudent and reasonable for you to watch out for your application than to practice a passive politesse that neither ensures the success of your application nor prevents the (realistic) possibility of error. As long as you are polite and gracious in your request for information, I do not think this is an unreasonable concern in the least.

I worked in an immigration law firm for years and managed over 1200 clients myself - I received hundreds of emails and telephone calls every single day from panicked clients asking if they'd signed documents properly, if I'd received the email they sent 30 second prior, if they were going to receive a decision soon, etc. Sure, some of the calls and emails were fruitless and annoying, but human beings are generally capable of understanding the stress and anxiety of other human beings who are trying to process life-changing decisions. The administrative staff of graduate admissions are also people, and as long as they are treated with respect and appreciation, and as long as communication with them is polite and gracious, I do not think that anyone should worry about the call causing any negative consequences. In contrast, sometimes the act of passively waiting instead of calling can have very bad consequences.

I find the waiting game to be the hardest part of the whole process. I can deal with the application details, and the deadlines, and the stress surrounding the proposal construction, but seriously. The long-term waiting is crazy. Everything I decide to do next year with my research depends entirely on how much funding I get... and since I'm your typical type-A personality and like to plan everything months (sometimes years) in advance, I get so frustrated with the seemingly endless SSHRC holding-pattern. I can't for the life of me figure out WHY they aren't capable of giving an exact date for sending out competition results. It's ridiculous! It's too bad we can't hold them to a firm notification date as staunchly as they hold us to their teeny tiny irritating application details! /rant

I have three referees who have been exceptionally good to me, and who I have pestered like crazy without the slightest suggestion from any of them that I was being a brat. One of my professors was even on sabbatical and frequently out of the city - if not the country - when my references were due. She would come into the city to personally drop them off for me, which I think was completely beyond the call of duty. I think very highly of all of them and I know that the inverse is also true. I have also started receiving successful responses because of their efforts, so I would like to thank them accordingly. I have been very gracious in my emails already, but I would like to send them cards also.

What I don't really know though, is when I am supposed to send these cards - now? I might be asking for another reference in a few weeks, should I wait until then? Do I send a card after each batch? I don't want them to seem like tokens, either. Additionally, I suspect that I am going to be deferring some admissions this year and probably bugging my referees all over again next year, so I don't them to think that I don't appreciate how much of an inconvenience this all is for them.

Finally, is it appropriate to make additional gestures? I would love, for example, to buy each of them a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine or something like that to demonstrate my appreciation, but I'm really not sure if this is considered appropriate. I don't feel like a simple thank you card is enough.

Oh god. I definitely need to google kitties now.

Reading this thread was a MISTAKE.


Edited to add: This helped.

I don't see why you'd force yourself to wait. You've already found yourself in a situation where your transcripts were lost and you were not notified of this properly. I don't think there is anything unreasonable about calling your top school and saying, "I realize that this is a very busy time and I apologize for bothering you, but I received disturbing news from another school that my transcripts had not been received. Can you please confirm for me that my application is complete?" I adamantly believe that it is far more prudent and reasonable for you to watch out for your application than to practice a passive politesse that neither ensures the success of your application nor prevents the (realistic) possibility of error. As long as you are polite and gracious in your request for information, I do not think this is an unreasonable concern in the least.

I worked in an immigration law firm for years and managed over 1200 clients myself - I received hundreds of emails and telephone calls every single day from panicked clients asking if they'd signed documents properly, if I'd received the email they sent 30 second prior, if they were going to receive a decision soon, etc. Sure, some of the calls and emails were fruitless and annoying, but human beings are generally capable of understanding the stress and anxiety of other human beings who are trying to process life-changing decisions. The administrative staff of graduate admissions are also people, and as long as they are treated with respect and appreciation, and as long as communication with them is polite and gracious, I do not think that anyone should worry about the call causing any negative consequences. In contrast, sometimes the act of passively waiting instead of calling can have very bad consequences.

I don't see why you'd force yourself to wait. You've already found yourself in a situation where your transcripts were lost and you were not notified of this properly. I don't think there is anything unreasonable about calling your top school and saying, "I realize that this is a very busy time and I apologize for bothering you, but I received disturbing news from another school that my transcripts had not been received. Can you please confirm for me that my application is complete?" I adamantly believe that it is far more prudent and reasonable for you to watch out for your application than to practice a passive politesse that neither ensures the success of your application nor prevents the (realistic) possibility of error. As long as you are polite and gracious in your request for information, I do not think this is an unreasonable concern in the least.

I worked in an immigration law firm for years and managed over 1200 clients myself - I received hundreds of emails and telephone calls every single day from panicked clients asking if they'd signed documents properly, if I'd received the email they sent 30 second prior, if they were going to receive a decision soon, etc. Sure, some of the calls and emails were fruitless and annoying, but human beings are generally capable of understanding the stress and anxiety of other human beings who are trying to process life-changing decisions. The administrative staff of graduate admissions are also people, and as long as they are treated with respect and appreciation, and as long as communication with them is polite and gracious, I do not think that anyone should worry about the call causing any negative consequences. In contrast, sometimes the act of passively waiting instead of calling can have very bad consequences.

I don't see why you'd force yourself to wait. You've already found yourself in a situation where your transcripts were lost and you were not notified of this properly. I don't think there is anything unreasonable about calling your top school and saying, "I realize that this is a very busy time and I apologize for bothering you, but I received disturbing news from another school that my transcripts had not been received. Can you please confirm for me that my application is complete?" I adamantly believe that it is far more prudent and reasonable for you to watch out for your application than to practice a passive politesse that neither ensures the success of your application nor prevents the (realistic) possibility of error. As long as you are polite and gracious in your request for information, I do not think this is an unreasonable concern in the least.

I worked in an immigration law firm for years and managed over 1200 clients myself - I received hundreds of emails and telephone calls every single day from panicked clients asking if they'd signed documents properly, if I'd received the email they sent 30 second prior, if they were going to receive a decision soon, etc. Sure, some of the calls and emails were fruitless and annoying, but human beings are generally capable of understanding the stress and anxiety of other human beings who are trying to process life-changing decisions. The administrative staff of graduate admissions are also people, and as long as they are treated with respect and appreciation, and as long as communication with them is polite and gracious, I do not think that anyone should worry about the call causing any negative consequences. In contrast, sometimes the act of passively waiting instead of calling can have very bad consequences.

Even if you do email the school they will probably not have the information. DO NOT EMAIL THE SCHOOL. Sit tight and have patience. When you receive notification (along with everyone else, mind you) it will be the earliest possible. Don't bug the people in the department. Have you ever heard of someone calling and receiving an admissions decision earlier than anyone else? NO, because it doesn't happen. Take a xanax and wait for it. It will come!

I also disagree with the idea that we should adopt puppies instead of taking proactive action regarding our applications. Clearly if you've been informed that a decision will not be reached until a certain date then it is unreasonable to call before that time. But past that, I don't think that inquiring about your application is at all unreasonable, particularly if you've paid application fees. Admissions committees receive numerous calls from anxious and annoying students and I'm sure they aren't waiting by the phone hoping for more applicants to bug them, but in my experience, I have only had considerable success in contacting schools - not only have staff members been extremely polite and helpful, but each time I have obtained information that I wouldn't have otherwise had.

I think that as long as you practice extremely polite email and telephone etiquette and that you don't make unreasonable demands, there isn't anything wrong with contacting admissions departments regarding your application. Don't presume that such inquiries will never be successful, because given what can be seen on the results board and the number of unofficial acceptances that have allowed people the opportunity to start planning their lives accordingly, that presumption clearly isn't always valid.

I advocate that people should be reasonable about their inquiries, but that no one should ever sit back and wait around for things to happen when they don't have to.