cathaea

I have never heard of anyone who was unable to convert a category A SSHRC into a category B award. I think it takes a few weeks to process because there are administrative hoops but I wouldn't worry.
 
Diakonos, sorry to hear. These scholarship competitions are often a weird mix of politics and are certainly not a measure of how valuable your project it is. Since you were unsuccessful (and not just waitlisted), you may very well want to appeal. I have no experience with that so I'd highly recommend talking to your supervisor and grad chair for some advice on how to navigate that process--could be tricky waters going forward if your appeal is unsuccessful.
 
ETA: Actually, I just read the appeals document and I'm not sure how you would prove your case since the grounds to appeal are entirely procedural in nature. 

I've received OGS twice before and was unsuccessful this time.

I have the highest GPA of my cohort, dynamite reference letters, and a published article from my research.

It's a total crapshoot. Could also be reduced scholarships due to government cutbacks. It's basically horseshit.

It's a risky move obviously but I know two people (at 2 different institutions) who did exactly that.

One person turned down the standard SSHRC because the school didn't let external scholarship winners have TA/RA jobs and he wanted at least one year of teaching experience. In his case, he actually made more money as a TA w/o SSHRC then he would have with the small SSHRC. He did get CGS in his 2nd year.

And another person I know did the same thing, not for TA experience but because they thought they had a good shot at the Vanier. She didn't end up getting the Vanier in the end but she was offered a CGS this year.

I wouldn't be ballsy enough to do it personally but there are two anecdotal stories of people I know who had it turn out for them.

I wonder if SSHRC would fund that.... haha

For all of you sitting alone without drinking companions

Oh fuck.

Just for the record, I wasn't even one of the people who took exception to your initial post. And calling ME self-righteous? Please. I'm just stating the obvious. You're at a school that considers themselves "special" enough to give their students an unjustified advantage. I'm pretty sure I'm not the one being self-righteous here. Indeed, it isn't your fault. The blame does lie with your department. I just don't think that those who *did* take exception to your initial post were out of line at all.

I wonder if the people at SSHRC follow this forum and laugh at the amount of anxiety we display..

That may be the case, and you have every right to be angered by the fact that some individuals are privileged enough to find out their results ahead of time; but, let's not lose sight of what this forum is for, to share information. So even though it is unfair that SleepyPhD received results before the rest of us, I don't see much sense in attacking him or her for providing us with what we want - information. Let's just try and keep the discussion cordial.

I plan to drink either way. But I'd to be drinking in celebration rather than drowning my sorrows obviously.

So if you don't get any news, does that mean you have to drink both insofar as you will be stuck in the undecidable state of the insupportable in-between?

Nope. the only significant result I can give so far is that drinking only temporarily helps with the wait and hinders the studying process on the next day

^ If you're in Humanities, the lack of publications usually isn't a big deal at all. It takes years to get published and I've been told that it's not until year 3-4 that having forthcoming publications becomes important. I know two people who won Super SSHRCS last year with zero pubs (one of whom also had 0 conferences too) but since they were just finishing up their MA year and entering PhD1, no one was expecting them to have done much work in their fields yet. And, in my case, my supervisor feels strongly that I should only go to the major conferences (in my field there are two respective conferences a year that are important) and avoid colloquiums/grad conferences/anything else because it's unnecessary, you won't make valuable connections and you'll waste time that could be spent writing articles for future publication and/or writing my dissertation. So I have very little activity in my field because I have only recently started working on material worth showing off at conferences.

Also, re: the other question about similarities between projects. My MA thesis was thematically related but I changed periods entirely. In terms of how similar the projects are, the only thing I've been told by multiple people is that you need to show growth (this is true even in terms of re-submitting SSHRC apps if you're unsuccessful) and ensure that they're not funding the same project twice so to speak. As in, if you got an MA SSHRC/OGS/other tri-council award for your MA thesis and your PhD thesis isn't much difference, what's the point in giving you more money to repeat the same research. So as long as you avoid that and make it clear that your new research is original, you'll be fine.

Also, I just want to add to help counter our anxiety that there's really no magic formula to getting these awards. I got an MA SSHRC for the worst proposal/mediocre grades/probably not very good references for instance. By contrast, highly successful, smart, accomplished people miss out on these awards just as frequently as less deserving people do. I know it's so hard to believe this when we're all broke but getting these awards is genuinely not a test of any worthiness. Deciding between proposals is, ultimately, an arbitrary process couched in the guise of other "credentials" to distinguish between applicants. It's a crap shoot, but all you can do is improve your odds by writing strong proposals, knocking the socks off your references and being active in your field. And pray/hope. Lots and lots of praying/hoping.

So, who wants to bite the bullet and e-mail SSHRC for an update?

Agreed, it makes no sense in a time of fiscal austerity to waste the money on envelopes, stamps, etc. It would be way cheaper and more efficient to develop an online system a la OGS.

All of your logic, be silenced! For ye now dwelleth in the pits of bureaucracy, and Lo, no light of reason shall penetrate this chasm.

Thanks for the link. I'm far too anxious to look at it and figure out all the mistakes I made that will cripple my chances of getting a SSHRC but I've bookmarked it for next August given the very high likelihood that I will starting this circus all over again.

I think this all really depends. Last year, I spent a million hours on my SSHRC proposal and didn't get out of the school (I was an MA student applying for PhD1) but this year, I totally changed my proposal and spent considerably less time on it and I was forwarded by my institution. Obviously, I still don't know if my application will be successful but I can say that for me personally, the more time I spent editing my SSHRC proposal, the more complicated I made it. I really benefited by having a more logical approach to SSHRC this year and realizing that spending a ton of time on it doesn't always (although it can) make a better proposal. This year, I started earlier than last year but I spent considerably less time on it. I still got it vetted by a ton of people but I feel like I was able to articulate my project much more clearly because I fought my inclination to keep tinkering with it. As with lots of things in life, input =/= output. Plus, I think SSHRC is a crap shoot anyway -- there are lots of qualified people who don't get it and lots of under-qualified people who do. I know it's really hard not to take SSHRC's decision personally but I really think a lot of it is luck and whether or not your research project is trendy. As long as it is well-written and you've gotten lots of good feedback on it, I don't think the amount of hours you spent necessarily matters. For some people, this will be a labourious project; for others, it might come a little easier because you're further ahead in your studies and have written more proposals, abstracts, etc.