Nerd_For_Life

I feel like every year there is a consensus that applicants will be notified sooner but that never ends up being the case. That said...I would love to be notified earlier.

Profs in my department (anthropology) often say that it will take about 5 years to land a tenure track job from the time you graduate with your PhD, with any postdoc time included in that. Of course it's just a rule of thumb. I've also been told straight up that not having kids is a plus in the hiring process because they expect and want you to devote the majority of your time to your research, publishing, and teaching once you land the much coveted tenure track position. Not that it's not possible, of course it is, but just that it is harder.

I vote UVic. But that is entirely based on personal bias resulting from having attended both schools for social science degrees (UVic BA(hons); UofT MA) and finding the environment of UVic (supportive, collegial, profs that care) to be much more to my taste than UofT (isolating, profs too busy with their own research to give you any help, peers too worried about having their 'ideas' stolen to brainstorm and problem solve with their cohort). Also, are you planning on going on to your PhD?

I have one cohort member who I don't get along with, but we're both professional about it. We say hi, we talk to each other when we need to, and in class we comment on and engage with each other when it is relevant to the discussion. Outside of those settings we don't interact and there is no need to. You don't need to be friends with everyone in your cohort, but you do need to be respectful and professional with them (regardless of your personal opinions about their work ethic). If they think you are coming across as arrogant and judgemental, I would take this as an opportunity for some critical self-reflection and as an opportunity to clear the air with them. Or don't. You can always stay up on the pedestal you've built for yourself and continue to look down at the 'others.' But keep in mind, there will always be people in your work environment that you won't click with. Rather than let it get you down and lead you to leaving your program, use it constructively.

Depends on the school for sure. My experience with two dif grad school for my MA and PhD in Canada (social sciences) is that if the program is funding you they will offer you a 'funding package.' This package will often amount to enough money to pay for tuition and then some for living expenses (often called a 'stipend'). Even when the term 'tuition+fee waiver' is used it often just means that your funding will be enough to cover tuition+fees and then you will have X amount left over for living expenses. These packages are often the result of funding gathered from a wide variety of places, including the department itself, the faculty of graduate studies, and the CUPE union that TAs are apart of. Pretty much all funding packages have a teaching assistantship or research assistantship built into them as well, so part of your funding comes from you working as a well paid TA. You may also receive an entrance scholarship and be able to apply for further bursaries and scholarships both internally and externally. Many programs do not advertise the funding they will offer on their departmental website because doing so means that they are contractually bound to guarantee that amount of minimum funding. This leaves them with little flexibility and, as such, is seen as unappealing. Instead, you receive a funding letter with or shortly after you receive a letter of offer and that is what you are contractually guaranteed.

The number of courses you have to take is not necessarily the best indication of that workload you will experience. The courses may have quite different content and expectations and there may be very different requirements for the degree beyond course work. Comprehensive exams are one example, internship or supervised work/clinic experience may be another. I am currently undertaking a PhD in Canada and while I only have to complete 5 courses, I can assure you that the work load is anything but light. I have comprehensives, proposal defense, field work, dissertation, and working throughout. Average completion time is 6-7 years.

I went to a small for undergrad, big for masters, and small for PhD. I'm glad that I went to the larger school and larger program for my MA because it made it very clear to me that I thrive the most in a smaller environment that is more supportive and less competitive. By less competitive I don't mean that anyone in the smaller program was less competent or qualified, but that people were less paranoid that others were going to 'steal their ideas' and as a result were happy to brainstorm, support each other, etc. This was also reflected in the faculty, who generally ascribed to an 'open door' policy wherein if their door was open you were welcome to stop by and chat about whatever, regardless of whether or not you had an appointment. The MA program I was in was very competitive (not that anyone was more or less competent or qualified as a result) and that was paired up with me not having a great connection with my supervisor. As a result I felt incredibly isolated. That said, it's different for everyone in every school.

April 28-May 2 is my bet! Is this for when they say they release the letters, the postmark on the letters, or when we the first person receives a letter?

Oh peas! Sorry to hear that *sending some confidence* your way (also sending it everyone's way, cause heck, who among us doesn't need it?)

My connections have informed me that the SSHRC doctoral applications are being adjudicated now and over the coming weeks and then the rest of the time between adjudication and when we receive the results is purely administrative. Not that this makes the wait any shorter! I just find every scrap of information that trickles down to me or is shared with me is worth knowing...whether it helps me cope with the waiting anxiety or not is another story altogether.

Some of it will depend on what province you are going to school in. The Ontario Graduate Scholarship are $15,000 but you can only get them in Ontario. Also, depending on what field you are in, a lot of PhD programs will provide some level of funding for their PhD students (generally enough to cover at least tuition and fees + a small living stipend), but that will depend on the department/program. Keep in mind that a lot of programs don't advertise their funding packages online for legal reasons, but if you call and ask they might be able to give you an idea of what is available or likely.

Congrats to those forwarded! Welcome to 'the wait'.

Yes, I do recall them having a twitter feed which I begin to check in a rather anxious manner towards the end of April. I believe they were actually a bit late in announcing when the results were released last year, as in the date the results were actually mailed didn't quite match the twitter feed. That said, I will still check it constantly in April! (Just as I will check this forum constantly to see when people start posting their results!)

I like how they say results will be out in April, as if there is hope that they will mail them before the last week of the month. Can you imagine if they sent them out in the beginning of the month? *faint* lol. Congrats on making it through to the final round of the competition!

True, but we also have to consider where the majority of SSHRCs funding money goes to. It's not to students, not by a long shot. The BIG SSHRC grants go to professors that are applying for 6 figure grants. While the number of graduate student scholarships that SSHRC distributes certainly add up, it doesn't compare to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that go towards large scale multi-year research endeavours. This leads me to think that the cuts will be distributed in such a way that no one area in particular will feel the full impact. Rather, cumulative cuts across a wide variety of their grants and scholarships that SSHRC provides will have the affect of an overall continual shrinking (much as we have already observed over the last 5 years) rather than a dramatic 'gutting' of any one area.

My guess is that the timing of the budget makes no difference for SSHRC. A prof of mine has served on SSHRC committees at the Ottawa level before and they receive their invitations to review proposals and the timeline for completing reviews well in advance (as in Fall of last year). I don't imagine those would change if the government happens to release the budget at an earlier or later date. As for the number of awards that will be distributed based on the budget....who knows. If there is a difference it will probably be minimal - a small decrease that will reveal itself over the years as a gradual change rather than as a dramatic decrease from one year to the next.

Mine too! Hopefully at least one of them comes through so I can pay for a psychologist to help talk me down from all the anxiety the end of April is bound to bring ><

This prompted me to check and mine's gone too, as per usual

What other schools and programs are you considering? Have you been accepted into the other programs? I have experience with grad school at UofT in a different department and it was anything but pleasant. That said, I wasn't in the department you are considering. One thing that comes to mind for me is do you want to go to the same school for multiple periods of your education? What are the pros and cons of doing so compared to, for example, attending a different school at each stage and in doing so demonstrating that you can thrive in different environments and network more broadly?

Ugh. Here too

Is it the end of April yet? I'm impatient already >< Not a good sign.

I received notification from SSHRC today that they had received my application - never did receive notification from the graduate department at my University. But yey! Good to have the formal acknowledgement

One of life's great mysteries? The GDP of my program is looking into getting a timeline since myself and the other students keep bugging her about out applications and she also wants to make sure they are forwarded Edit: I'll post an update when I know more!

I have also applied through my University this year and I will also not hear until February (sad face!) if I have been forwarded (though I have already unofficially been told that my application has be A-listed). Last year I was at a different university and I found out in December, but I guess there are different timelines and a pretty big window for Universities to forward the applications to SSHRC

Some people don't post their schools so that they can maintain their general anonymity on the forum, since anyone who signs up can search and read any posts that a given user has made and people sometimes want advice on sensitive issues (dealing with supervisors and their actions, dealing with peers, etc.) or may receive information 'unofficially', in which case if they are found to be sharing that information publicly online it could cause problems for them. I know that many of the profs in my school are aware of this forum and other students at my school use it. With that in mind I do not share the name of the school that I attend.