ConservativeGrad

Oh he also said that the SSRC is funded by an organization that wants to promote research in the Humanities. So even though it's called the 'Social Science' Research Council the name is somewhat misleading. Since there are so many Social Scientists who apply each year, people the Humanities already have an advantage. So Art History or Religion people shouldn't be afraid applying. :-)

So he told us this information back in October 2010 (the applications were due in December). I'm sorry, he didn't give us a timeline or tells us if this years procedures are different. It was just basically a little seminar on how these applications are read to help us increase our odds just a little bit. Ha I imagine in February most of us will get really bad news and some of us will get really good news. If this helps he did tell us that they don't worry about rejecting a whole bunch of people for inconsequential stuff (inconsequential to us) since they get tons of applications each year, and each one of them is a good idea. Like if a reviewer's attention isnt grabbed on the first page of the proposal, or if there is a typo, or something is in the slightest unclear, they'll throw it in the reject pile without remorse. They don't have to worry about running out of good applications. The lesson I took was that there wil always be someone with a more interesting idea than myself. But not everyone knows how to convince people to give them free money. It's fascinating to see how this stuff is read! Note: I don't know any of this from experience. I'm personally expecting a rejection e mail. I'm just passing along the info I was told.

I'm really not sure it works like that. At my school we had a meeting with a professor who works for the SSRC. He says a collection of professors get a CD with a number of proposals, which they have to rate. One day they all get together in an office in NYC. There they select number of applicants they automatically accept, and a number they automatically reject (the extreme best, and the extreme worst). It's the middle group they argue about. Ironically this means that no one really talks about the best applications. He didn't say anything about asking for transcripts, but if what he says is accurate, I imagine this is for the middle group. Note, I can't speak for the accuracy of what he said, I'm just saying voer what I heard.