sbaldwin

Of course they want you to do a full year of courses, more money for them!  
 
That seems like absurd advice, but when applying for a CGS-M marks are the big deciding factor.  I was in your position regarding poor academic choices in my undergraduate degree, which resulted in being rejected for the CGS-M.
 
I was funded by my supervisor for my MSc and am currently in my second year as a PhD candidate.  I have done a 180 since my undergrad days, but it is still a black mark on my application.  My PGS-D application was forwarded to NSERC for the past 2 years and I was first on the wait list last year.  This is my final year for eligibility, so I'm hoping my other credentials and proposal negate doing poorly in a few course 10 years ago.
 
Supervisors always want students with their own funding (free labour), especially in the current research funding climate.  But you may be able to find someone with money who is willing to take you on, it happened to me twice.  You just have to have the special something that sets you apart and makes them have faith in you and believe you will be productive.
Don't give up!

OK, you got me. When I was on faculty at Harvard, we held regular pagan rituals in which babies were sacrificed on fiery altars, and the flames of those altars were fed  by the files of job applicants from non-top-10 departments.
 
My recommendation would be to take a look at job placements for just about any top department. I'm in the process of doing so at OSU, and our placements run the gamut from junior faculty at Harvard all the way to places you've never heard of. If our rank as a department or our connections with other faculty members were as determinative as you and others here and on PSR think they are, placement records for top departments would be far, far more consistent than they are.
 
Don't mistake certainty for truth. The truth is, there's a lot of noise, and anyone who tells you something different probably has either never been on this side of the process or has an axe to grind.

Hi there! If you want to be proficient in reading Spanish, you want this book: http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Reading-A-Self-Instructional-Course/dp/0764103334
 
"Spanish for Reading" by Fabiola Franco and Karl C. Sandberg is the book's name. This book follows the same approach as Sandberg's earlier works "French for Reading" and "German for Reading". While the focus is exclusively on the ability to read, and thus of little help when speaking, you'll find that this is actually an advantage. The format of the book, the deliberateness of the exercises, and the excellent layout all mean that by the end of the first chapter, you will be reading a fairly sizeable excerpt from an actual, real, Spanish journal article. There is -- point blank -- no better option than Sandberg's "for Reading" series for either French or Spanish (German for Reading has been out of print for a long time, so it is debatable whether it is still quite as useful given the reformation of German spelling in recent decades, although its method is still vastly superior to Jannach).
 
You won't regret picking up this book, particularly since it is currently listed at only $10 and some change on Amazon. If you work hard and do a chapter/day, you'll be reading Spanish comfortably within a month -- comfortably enough to pass most Ph.D. programs' Spanish exams with a dictionary in hand (if you aren't allowed a dictionary, you'll obviously need to do a lot more work to memorize vocabulary et al. )...
 
Good luck!
 
Editing to note that I am in no way affiliated with Sandberg, other than that his approach to reading has saved me a lot of heartache and got me through two of my three Ph.D. program reading exams.

Got a PGS-D3 !!!

Very happy

Good luck for everyone

This is so bizarre. I'm not sure how Vaniers and Bantings (or even CGS) are justified when so little people have access to the standard PDF awards. PhD students don't need $50,000 dollar scholarships. I'm hoping for $21,000/year

I have no idea why I keep checking this forum every 10 minutes as if NSERC is going to publish results here

I was so happy to see responses in French and English in this forum. I don't think that it is rude at all!!! As you said, vivaldi, both are official. I love that about Canada I hope to be bilingual (or at least close) one day. My bf grew up in NB so he is bilingual and I am so jealous of that. I can understand your posts, but I'm not confident enough to reply back

but this sited does not end in .ca or .fr...does it?

I'm happy to see posts in both OFFICIAL languages. How is it fair to always expect french speaking Canadians to write/speak in english when dealing with english speaking Canadians, and basically never have english speaking Canadians outside Quebec or Ontario (or small pockets in other provinces) write/speak in French? It is my problem I'm not confident in my french, but I am super tired of expecting french speaking Canadians to speak english for my benefit, it is embarrassing!

I was so happy to see responses in French and English in this forum. I don't think that it is rude at all!!! As you said, vivaldi, both are official. I love that about Canada I hope to be bilingual (or at least close) one day. My bf grew up in NB so he is bilingual and I am so jealous of that. I can understand your posts, but I'm not confident enough to reply back

It is extremely impolite to write in French in a forum where most of people do not know French. If you want to talk in French, why don't you go and create a forum for it and enjoy it?

French is an official language of Canada if you do not know it.
Be a good citizen.
Thanks

The recent decreases are partially because of cuts to the program, but are also because they have started handing out the awards differently. They used to give out more than they could afford, expecting that a certain proportion would be turned down. Now, they hand out the correct amount, and take people from a waiting list as awards become available. So, the difference between the 2011 and 2010 numbers is exaggerated by this change.

This was NSERC's official response to one complaint:
http://nghoussoub.co...bers/#more-4130

Not completely satisfying, but at least you can see what is driving most of the change.

I think what they meant is that they're investments in researchers isn't transitioning into new businesses and products as fast as they expected their investments would. I don't think they understand how basic science works

I am really puzzled :( Is some one playing with our emotion?? :(

Yeah, how can he be awarded NSERC PGS-D and NSERC PDF at the same time !!!!!! This guy is bluffing !

This guy is just here to stress us all out, he only has 3 posts that contradict each other multiple ways. As of now, I'm quite certain that no one has actually received their PGS letters, they'll probably only start sending them out tomorrow or Friday, as NSERC has said multiple times to people who have called them.

It is amazing hearing about the records that some students have. I am hopeful that it is a sign that science in Canada is competing well at the international level (for now). It's tough when we're all fighting for the same money. There are so many well trained, intelligent students.


I hope that our level of accomplishment is good enough!

I have one to add:

My boyfriend just came into my office with an envelope and said, "Did you see this mail for you? It's from Columbia."

--Excited pause--

"I'm just kidding. It's from Direct Loans! Ha!"

WTF.

Who is going on this thread and randomly downvoting normal responses? I just upvoted all the unnecessary ones I saw.