electrochoc

Might have been the whole group a/group b thing. It used to throw me off a bit too. The way I see the process it's like this (please anyone correct me if I'm wrong). You apply through the university. A while later you get a letter or e-mail from the university stating whether they will forward your application to SSHRC or not (group A or A-list - forwarded, group B or B-list - not forwarded). A couple of months later you get an e-mail from SSHRC (only if you were forwarded) confirming they have received your application. Then in the Spring you get the letter with your offer of funding or rejection. You are awarded a grade out of 30. If it's really low, probably rejection. The higher grades usually get the CGS (also called super-SSHRC, 3 years of 35), others get the 4 years SSHRC (also awarded to those studying abroad). I've seen people refer to this part of the process as being in group A (super SSHRC) or group B (4-yr SSHRC). It used to drive me nuts while I tried to understand what was going on.

I got my confirmation from SSHRC about a month ago. I think it's worth contacting them, but I know people get the SSHRC confirmation at different times (maybe it depends on when the university forwards the group A applications).

Heads up that I've gotten offers from Carleton in Political Science and Sociology (phd). They met over last week (and possibly other departments did too), so the wait for this one university may be over soon.

Just a heads up, you only get the score out of 30 in the final letter in the spring (which announces whether or not you're actually getting it and which award - 3x35 or 4x20).

The summer tuition is separate at some universities. I had to register for summer to get the summer chunk of SSHRC and OGS so I ended up paying an extra 2500 basically for the summer. It is really depends on the programme, I know people that don't register for the summer and get a job somewhere else to make some money. But since you're on a phd track programme, that might not be possible. Once you're ABD and register for the thesis then you might have to register for the summer like TakeruK said, because they'll require you to have a continuous registration until defense.

It's still considered funding because in Canada all students pay tuition, whether you have funding to cover it or not. But it seems you only got enough funding to cover tuition. You usually get your basic offer of funding (we don't really call it stipend now that I think of it). Do you know if they will consider you for a TAship or RAship? It might help.

I would suggest you take a look at the diplomatic relations between the UK and your home country. Sometimes they offer competitions or special funding to promote the exchange of students between countries.

Depending on the university and department, funding comes from a variety of sources, not only your supervisor. Have they made a formal offer of admission (and of funding)? I would contact the graduate office for further information on this, might help you breathe easier.

As a student on a student visa you will be considered a temporary resident and you can still file taxes from within Canada with your temporary SIN. I'd advise you to do that as those tuition credits will come in handy in the future (especially if you decide to stay in canada after graduating). Plus you may be eligible for GST/HST credits. When I was an international student in the past (prior to getting my PR) I always made sure to file my taxes here and not in my country of origin. It works out really well (especially since the university may deduct taxes at the source and you might get a refund from them because of the personal and tuition credit amounts).

So I'll try to address a few of your questions. The external award: The majority of Canadian universities reduce their internal offer of funding if you get external funding from the government (SSHRC, OGS, Vanier, etc). Tuition: A normal offer from a Canadian University explicitly states what they will be paying you, no tuition or no other costs deducted yet. So If they give you 40,000, it's 40,000 minus tuition and indicental costs (which you can have HR take off their paycheck every month). Whatever is left over is yours to spend on housing, books, etc. I know in the US sometimes the offer means you don't pay tuition, but you do pay tuition here and your funding is usually higher to allocate for that (especially as an international student - they're trying to make sure your take home pay is comparable to a domestic student's). First year funding is usually higher than the other years (mostly because of the heavy course load and moving costs). After that that's what you get" a minimum offer. You could end up getting more if they run into more money, but the minimum offer works at a guarantee and helps you to budget accordingly. The special fellowship for intl students could be of any value. You never know with these endowment awards, so you can just hope you luck out. But even without them the offer you got now is quite reasonable for an intl student. I know it might get tougher after the first year, but at least you can start budgeting now and plan for part-time jobs. (it is quite possible to get an extra RA position from your supervisor if they're doing some SSHRC funded project). Montreal is a big city so it's expensive, but nowhere close to Toronto or Vancouver expensive. I'd just advise you not too feel very rich with the 40k the first year and save the most you can for rainy days. Hope this helps.

Normally, by January they let us know that our application was entered in the competition (that is, they received a complete file). But results come out in April, sometimes in May. OGS tends to be pretty slow with these things. But yes, it sucks that you have to decide on what grad school offer to accept before knowing about OGS or SSHRC results. Especially relevant for OGS applicants who applied for schools outside of Ontario.

At Carleton we got a letter in December informing us on whether our application was forwarded to SSHRC or not. Mine was. I already got SSHRC for my MA and that was pretty straight forward. But I assume the process for the doctoral awards is a lot more complicated. Seems that if you get forwarded for an MA SSHRC, you're almost guaranteed to get it. For the doctoral awards being forwarded seems to only mean getting into the competition, you can still get rejected. What are the chances of being forwarded by the university and then rejected by SSHRC? Benefit of Carleton is that they don't reduce their offer of funding if you get the SSHRC. You get to keep it all.

See, this is what I don't understand. This is what's in the OGS website: " Duration of Support Lifetime Maximum You must have not have exceeded the lifetime maximum of 4 years of government-funded student awards. Awards received under the following programs are counted toward this lifetime maximum:the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program (OGS)the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) In addition, you must not have exceeded the maximum number of awards for your level of study. You may receive up to two OGS awards for a program at the master's level. The scholarship can be awarded for one or both of the first two academic years, but not after the second year. You may receive up to four OGS awards for a program at the doctoral level. The Scholarship can be awarded in any of the first five academic years but not after the fifth year." At first I thought it was a maximum of four years per degree, but my university (Carleton) tells me that it is 4 years total including all degrees (so both MA and PHD). So if you get 2 years of funding for MA, only 2 years left for funding for the PHD which hardly seems fair for those of us with expensive field work components in our degrees. So if, as you say, people have had than for more than 4 years, it's just something they don't check upon and limit you?

I always feel that the payment terms should be standardized. To get it in 3 payments instead of 12 would be specially helpful for those looking to pay off student loans. Besides, if the university does get it in 3 payments but only pays us in 12, I can't help but feel that they are investing my money on the side for a few extra bucks lol

I searched the forum and am not sure if this question has been asked before (if so can somebody direct me to the topic?). I'll begin the second year of my MA degree this fall and will funded by the MA SSHRC for that. The previous year I held an OGS. This makes up two years of government funding, but I've been told that "Graduate students can receive a lifetime maximum of four years of government- funded student awards." In this situation, if I apply for the doctoral SSHRC and were to get the three year or four year award, what would be the situation here? Would I have to forfeit one of two years of funding to abide by the four year limit? Since doctoral awards are larger than the MA ones, would paying back the MA ones be a possibility in order to keep an extra 10-20 thousand or so a year for the doctoral? I'd really appreciate if somebody who's had this experience could advise me. I''ll be also applying for Vanier, which I was told is not included in this lifetime maximum, but I'm being realistic and know it's a long long looong shot for me. Thanks in advance.

I got it but will be declining it because I also got a SSHRC. So here's some hope for those waitlisted at the MA level in Political Studies. Congrats to everyone who got it and good luck wishes for next year's hopefuls. I was rejected the first time I applied for SSHRC so I know how heartbreaking it can be.

Oh my! I hope so.. I was beginning to wonder whether "temporarily" stood for a couple of hours or a couple of days...

Oh yeah, they better be thanking us for our patience. I'm pretty sure there's not much of it left.

I know you can defer an OGS award for special circumstances, not sure your situation fits into it though. I advise you to contact the Ministry in case you do get the award to work out details of its tenure. Also, it is not uncommon for some graduate programs to accept people in the summer to begin in the fall, especially if you have a prestigious external award. I would think it's easier to sway the grad program you want to apply for, then to sway the Ministry your way.

I saw the tweet too. It's nice to have an idea of when to check for the mail so I can stop running to the door every time i see the mailman.

Hopefully not. That would be a horrible way to tease applicants like this. I tried logging in too and got the same reply about the update. Fingers crossed!

The problem is that the delay is no good for students that might get the award and would like to file it to begin receiving it for this current summer term. How would they know if they should register for summer or not, if they don't know if they will have funding? For those of us that would elect to begin the tenure of the award by the fall, it's not so much of a problem but I have friends in the other situation and now they don't know whether to register or get a summer job.

Yey, congrats to you too! I just wish they would speed up those letters, would like to have something in my hands before I call my parents haha

My departmental assistant just got notified by SSHRC that I got SSHRC CGS MA. My letter hasn't arrived yet though. I kind of have to see it to believe it. Discipline: Political Economy/ Political Studies 2nd year MA 2nd time applying Undergrad average: 93% MA average: 94% 2 conference presentations (national and international) TA/RA positions 2 letters from previous professors 1 major external scholarship, 2 major internal scholarships and a number of smaller ones I guess that means other MA applicants should hear soon too!

Ps: Just logged in and still nothing (Division Social Sciences - Discipline Political Studies - MA)