Lymrance

Just called the awards person at grad studies at my school, she told me I got the SSHRC over the phone - go call yours instead of stalking the mailbox, apparently results have been emailed to them all already

I fell upon this forum last week when I was wondering about letters from SSHRC. Thanks to those who posted info about the letters being sent out last week.

I figured rather than just lurking, I'd let folks know that I recieved a SSHRC fellowship for 2 years (I'm in my 2nd year PhD - Educational Studies right now). My score was 19.9/30 and I'm in northern Ontario. I was one of 6 PhD applicants forwarded from the University.

I have never applied for or received OGS or SSHRC in the past

I've been lurking in this forum because of a technical glitch which wouldn't let me post. Finally fixed it now. I got a four-year award in Toronto today. Letter dated April 21 and am extremely happy to have it. The tension in my shoulders is half what it was yesterday. So, good luck to everyone and wish me luck trying to get into an institution now! (I got turned down the one place I applied and now have to negotiate the next stage of the process.

Good news in Ottawa too - 18.5/30, which qualified me for an award in the "A category". Seemed like a low score to me, although I'll be in my first year of a PhD in September, so have no familiarity with the scoring process. Won a A Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral - three years of funding.

-won OGS and SSHRC at MA level
-two publications
-zero conference presentations(!)
-two RA-ships
-several internal scholarships during undergrad and at MA-level
-an undergraduate award for a paper

As Felan said, this is a bit of a SSHRC crap-shoot, so you just never know. Good luck to all...!

Yeah that's me!

For anyone wondering, I'm a second year PhD in Communication and Culture at York, applied twice before as an MA and twice before as a PhD, all unsuccessful, my score was 21.7/30, with high A GPA, 1 pub, three previous OGS, several internal graduate awards and scholarships, twenty or so conference papers, three years TA experience, and one RAship. Honestly though I think good references and a solid proposal are more important than any of that for the SSHRC crapshoot.

FYI, my letter says that 1907 applications were forwarded by Unis to SSHRC, and that the Council made offered 1085 awards.

I have also just received an envelope and the news was good news, what relief and excitement!

The envelope was regular size but it was thick, I'm in the A category and my score was 18.5/30 (whatever that means).
I received a doctoral award and I am going into my 2nd year of studies. This was my first year applying. Hope this info helps; the wait won't be much longer for you guys, hang in there!

Good luck to all!

I'm pleased to be the first person to post with the good news that my letter arrived today! (I'm located in Toronto.)

Even more pleased that my application was successful, and I got a two-year SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. (I'm entering the third year of my PhD, so I was uneligible for a CGS.) Bit disappointed that it isn't the full three years I applied for but that's just my over-pronounced sense of grad student entitlement talking! Free money!

Best of luck to everyone else.

I got through to someone at the doctoral office. They said the mail out for the doctoral awards/CGS will happen late this week or early next week. They are literally printing the letters off as we speak.

About stars. If don't feel like a star going into your PhD, you should reconsider. If you feel like a star during of after your first year, you should seek psychological help.

As a current student who helped out with grad recruiting this year, I have gotten a few letters that have made me chuckle. Usually it's because the letter writer has unintentionally said something slightly presumptuous. For example, it is not necessary to go out of your way to reassure people that their program is a great one -- we are glad you liked it, but honestly as long as you're not coming it doesn't really matter to us whether you think we are "great." That is for the job market and our general reputation in the field to decide. Also, it is not necessary to imply that we might be upset or offended by your rejection. Of course we wish you had come, but it's not like we're going to take it personally, and it can almost sound like you're fishing for us to reinforce your sense of self-importance: "Indeed this is a dark day for our program! It troubles me deeply to know that YOU will not be coming!" (How else am I supposed to respond to that kind of comment? "Actually, it would have been great if you'd decided to come, but it's really not THAT important to us"?)

I don't mean to poke fun. I'm sure I said some of these things myself last year. I know that these comments are completely well-intentioned, and that declining an offer can be a very emotional experience. However, it is just not as emotional to the programs whose offers you are declining (even if they are truly disappointed you won't be coming), so there's no need to write your letter as though it is. Just thought I would share my perspective, since clearly this is a hard thing to get right when you've only been on the applicant side.

[Also posted over in the govt affairs forum]


I was accepted to the Harvard Kennedy School for a Masters of Public Policy, but discounted it as a serious option almost immediately after receiving no financial aid. However, since then I've been talking to a number of older relatives, mentors and supervisors--really intelligent, accomplished, educated and non-crazy people--whose judgment I respect tremendously. And they've all urged me to consider going the Harvard route--particularly a few HKS alums who've told me that they still benefit a lot from their connections/experiences 15+ years after receiving their degrees, and that there's "no substitute" for the name recognition (though of course they'd say this, wouldn't they?)

Thing is, I also have two fairly great packages lined up--Duke has offered me about 70% tuition both years, and my state school (a well respected regional program) has given me more or less a full ride. When I've given the numbers to my mentors, the response has been, "These are all great options, BUT if you choose HKS it'll be SO worth it and you'll figure out how to make the money work even if you're not making bank right after your graduation." The fam is willing to help out but I would feel pretty bad taking a lot of their money since they already supported me through undergrad and aren't, you know, wealthy. HKS would almost certainly mean a six-figure loan and fairly substantial payments even if I take advantage of IBR/PSLF (Income Based Repayment/Public Service Loan Forgiveness), and yet my thoughts are drifting more and more towards Cambridge again as I've gotten all this assurance/encouragement.

Am I completely batsh*t insane for even considering HKS at this point? Anyone else thinking of biting a similar bullet?

(If it helps, my intended field is international economic development policy)

Thanks!

Well, apparently it was, because she responded with a scholarship offer and a promise to look for more funds! Doesn't quite match the other school, but it is enough to make me feel a lot better.

I hear ya Lymrance... it's torture. I've gone over my proposal so many times in my head that I think I could deliver it as a speech without forgetting a single word... it sometimes feels like I've put everything on red and am now watching the roulette wheel spin. I guess the true test of character is what you do if it lands on black

linggirl, I can confirm that as well. At a reading group I attended at the beginning of March, one of the speakers teasingly lamented her involvement as a SSHRC committee member. She joked that her group was "locked" in an Ottawa hotel's basement over reading week. That would have taken place in late February, to be precise.

I emailed SSHRC yesterday asking very specific questions about the likelihood of meeting deadline and some other stuff for Doctoral, here's the reply I got from the anonymous SSHRC representative this morning:

"The applicants will be informed first by letter in the regular mail around mid to end of April. Letters might be going out next week. Their will be one score on the letters."

Hope this doesn't cause more anxiety than relief to my fellow competitors... good luck everyone!!!!!!

There is so much contradictory information involved with this process. I've heard that decisions are made over reading break, that decisions are made up to and including the middle of April, and that decisions are made from January to March. I realize that it is year-specific, but would it be so hard to provide a rough guideline under the FAQ page to prevent all of this needless anxiety?

I swear, someone somewhere must have gotten SSHRC grant to study human behavior under extreme duress and this was their proposed methodology.

Hey there! Don't worry, this is perfectly normal. When I saw that my application had mysteriously vanished about a month ago, I had a full-blown panic attack and called SSHRC. They said that once the competition is closed then the "application" is removed from the page.

I understand that SSHRC has a waitlist too. Not everyone who is awarded ends up accepting, for various reasons (better funding offers from elsewhere, didn't get into any universities after all, etc).

I think it's also likely that some people who were given the larger award ($105,000) end up going to school internationally, qualifying them only for the lesser amount ($80,000), and perhaps if SSHRC is left with a surplus after several people do this, they will award a few more who didn't make the initial cut. They'd want to have a waitlist ready in this case. This is only speculation on my part though.

There is an "alternates list" or "waitlist". You can get a "we cannot offer you funding at this time, but we'll let you know if funding becomes available". This happened to me last year, and I eventually won an award in October. Funding can become available for a number of reasons, including people turning down awards, and SSHRC getting more funding. I was first on the waitlist, so my chances weren't too bad. If you win a CGS and are going to school outside of canada, you need to turn it down, and then it's passed to someone else on the list. Also, they tend to hold an SDF in the wings for Vanier winners, should they turn the Vanier down for whatever reason. That's why there are usually 2 applicants in every category that pick up SDFs off the waitlist (this one was of the things that contributed to my award). If you get a flat-out rejection, it'll mean that you were too far down to be put on a waitlist.

Hope that helps!

Canuck

EDIT: I just noticed that Ludwig posted an answer. Let this just be a second reference.

Okay guys - I think this is a false alarm! The person from U of T got a rejection letter for SSHRC Vanier, which is a different scholarship administered by SSHRC. For the person who posted about his Carleton and U of O friends- can you verify if it was for Vanier that they got a rejection letter? Thanks!

I called SSHRC this morning to see if they have started sending out rejection letters yet - they said they haven't sent any letters at all - positive or negative and don't expect to until the end of April. What discipline is your friend in? What was her score? Anyone else heard about rejection letters arriving?

She is a 2nd yr MA who applied for 1st year Ph.D funding.

And I should add that the person from Carleton was passed on to the national competition way back in Jan and was already informed about this.