RosamundReage

Yeah I only heard by mail as my institution put an embargo on giving out results. It seems some Universities are being kind and letting people know ahead of time so they do not have to suffer waiting for snail mail! It looks like maybe they are telling you something by sending you that email. If they are emailing people information they may give you the results over the phone. A few people on here won and didn't hear a peep from their institutions before they got the letter. I won CGS and no one at my university thought it might be nice to email me on Friday when they got the results (they actually probably got the results earlier than that). On a side note my university hasn't even sent me anything even after I received my letter, you think they could send out a measly congratulations. When I called the awards office to tell them I was accepting they sounded irritated I was bothering them and wouldn't even tell me how my guaranteed funding would change. They usually only win 4 or 5 CGS' a year so you think they could give us a little special attention. I don't want to sound bitter but this wait was awful and I am pretty upset how the stress has derailed my work this month. My university could have alleviated some of this stress by just emailing people if they got it or not- the last week was the worst and they could have prevented it. Some people found out they won over a week ago, if we can believe what was written on this thread then it is really silly to make all these people suffer when it would take a very small amount of time for each institution to email out the results. I think they are changing how SSHRC is decided next year- from my understanding each university will have a quota and decide just like OGS this year. I hope this new format will take out some of the wait time and universities will just post the results online instead of using the antiquated mail system. For those still waiting for a letter do not despair it still could be good news!

Yeah mine was pretty thick with the three pages stuffed into it. I think rejections probably only have one sheet of paper in them.

Mine was also postmarked Monday. Though it does say on the Canada post website mail takes 3 days to get from Ottawa to Toronto, so it would have gotten here super fast if it was mailed on Monday. The letter inside was dated the 25th of April.

Yes only conferences I presented at

Some advice for people rejected. I too was rejected last year and didn't even make it out of my university, I was crushed. I do have a publication and numerous conferences, but I think what won me the CGS was my proposal. This year I completely revamped my topic over the summer, developing a really innovative idea which concentrated on Canada. I know people are really tied to their research but coming up with a "sexy" idea for your proposal goes a long way. I have spoken to numerous adjudicators and this is what they all say- the proposal is the most important thing. It needs to be very easy to understand why the Canadian government needs to fund this research. You can have the best CV in the world but you will not get funded if you do not have an appealing proposal- note appealing is the operative word. Also, remember you have to have an amazing first sentence- I worked for months on just that- because they read so many of these you have to hook them right away. I spent months refining my proposal and even though I hate sending off unpolished drafts for critique I did numerous times. I went to every workshop and sent it to every department chair and graduate advisor. You need to get a lot of people outside of your discipline to read it because they will be on the jury- I sent mine to people in 5 different fields. Because supervisors usually do the same type of research they are actually not always the best people to only take advice from because they will not give you the breadth your proposal will need (they do help with the depth though). Everyone who has won has been rejected from something before and I know it is hard and believe me I know the crushing feeling. i really urge those rejected to start this summer talking to many different academics on how to make your proposal stand out. Think about starting from scratch- that really helped me. You also really need at least 7 or 8 full drafts so start sending out drafts ASAP. I am sure there is some element of luck or divine intervention in this, but successful proposals really do have a certain formula. Try to get your hands on some and you will see what I mean.

Communications

I got my mail today and am in shock I got CGS! I was certain I didn't get an award because I did not hear anything from my department or grad office. It appears York really did not contact anyone with results, so for those who have not heard anything there is still hope! My score was 25.3 MA SSHRC One accepted publication 3 conferences (2 national and one grad) 2 RAships both profs I worked for wrote me reference letters 3.95 GPA 7 drafts of my proposal Going into second year PHD

FYI most programs at York only let in one international student because they have to guarantee full funding for 6 years. Most PHD programs at York have sent out there first round of offers and they are most likely waiting to hear back from the first round before they respond to you.

I would work full time as the RA, you will buid better connections with faculty and get to do the research you want to do, which is presumably the reason you are in grad school. You will also be in a better finacial situation by taking the option. TAing is generally pretty terrible and you can always do it later on in a PHD program.

How long are you guaranteed funding at McMaster? There is usually 6 years of funding at York and other universities usually have a lot less. You also get much better health benfits and TA pay at York, so that is something to consider. For fiances though Hamilton is a much cheaper city to live in than Toronto. Both offers sound really good, but you will probably be more financially secure with York. It also really depends on who you would rather work with.

Even if you don't get into the program if you win a sshrc they will very likely let you in. Because it is for the MA SSHRC you have about a 90-95% chance of winning, so I wouldn't stress about it.

It does sound like a rather difficult situation. I am in Canada, so not sure if this applies for your situation but students who are no longer attending an institution can apply as an independent candidate. Do you have to go through your undergrad school to apply for these scholarships? If you have to go through a university have you thought about taking some classes at another school who may support your application? Sorry if this isn't any help.

I am not sure what type of scholarships you have been looking at, but many do not require proof of acceptance. You need to make your proposal sound like you will be gettign into the program though. Every scholarship I have applied for has not asked for proof of acceptance, but they have all been government funded so I am not sure about private scholarships. I would try to find some other scholarship options. I would start by contacting past professors (who can also write you reference letters) and ask them what kind of funding options they are aware of. You can also contact the schools you want to apply to and ask them what type of funding they provide for international students. If you can find a professor at an institution you want to study who really wants to work with you they can often help with funding as well. As for your question regarding deferral, some programs will allow you to defer for a year.

It is possible to win a sshrc and be rejected, but you will very likely get into any program you want with a sshrc win. People who win a sshrc and do not get into a grad program can contact the school to let them know they have won a sshrc. In almost all cases said program will admit you because sshrc will cover your expenses and grad programs want and need sshc winners ( the university gets money for and it may increase their quota for next year). If you were passed on for the MA competition you have about a 90-95% chance of winning sshrc, so congrats you will most likely be going to grad school next year.

Just got an email from York today that my application was passed on.

I actually posted something on this in the writing section. I am also interested in seding some work to be edited. There are a lot of websites that do this, has anyone ever used any of them?

I personally think curving grades is unfair. I know I would be very upset when I was in undergrad if a TA gave me a lower mark because they wanted to meet a certain average (actually I think this happened once and the prof changed my mark). I was also concerned with the distributions of my marks, and was worried that I would end up having to use a curve even though I desperately did not want to. I found that my concerns were unwarranted and the average marks for my first year course ended up naturally being in the -B range, which is generally what it should be. For my upper year course, which was very specialized and small I had a much higher average at a +B, but for me this was understandable based on having a high concentration of strong students. I think you have to recognize the type of class you have (again if it is a upper year seminar type class the marks will naturally be higher and it would be unfair to curve their marks) and generally the marks will just naturally fall into place. Now if the average was super low I still would have a hard time curving the marks, and I think it would be more fair to reassess the difficulty of the assignments and maybe make the next one less difficult. I think you can also just be more lenient with the marks if the average seems to be super low. For example if it is a first year course you shouldn’t mark them like they are a fourth year course, and I think this is often the reason for very low averages.

Hi everyone, I am extremely nervous about sending in papers for journals, and I was thinking maybe sending my work to a professional editor may alliviate some of my anxiety. I have found a few through google, but I was wondring if anyone here has ever used a professional editor, and if they have any recommendations? A lot of the services seem to also be essay wrting services, which I am not interested in, and I was worried they are not really professional and may be a scam.

Did anyone get an email? I am not at my home computer right now, and do not have my osap number handy.

What are the requirements that you have to fulfill in the last year of you MS? Have you finished all your coursework? If you do not have a lot to do maybe you could do both. Perhaps you could finish your MS as a part time student, which would not be as big of a time commitment. If you choose to do this it may be pretty stressful having to juggle both, but it sounds like you really want to finish your MS and I think it would be possible to do both. It sounds like it would be better to stay with the first PHD program because it is in the same consortium as your MS and it would be easier to pursue both degrees with this option. I would also talk to your supervisor as she/he may have some sage advice.

I generally do not think schools have a problem telling you if you are actually rejected. It sounds that they have not finalized all their offers yet. They may have already sent out the first round offers and are waiting to hear back before cutting others lose. You possibly may be on an unofficial waitlist or maybe they are super late at making any decisions. There are a ton of possibilities other than you have been rejected! Have you tried calling the secretary? They will usually at least answer the phone, but may not have any more information.

It would probably be best to contact the specific programs you are interested in to see how they calculate GPAs. but generally it is only the last two years of study even if you have taken fewer courses. The thread that surefire posted probably has better ideas than I do on how to improve your chances. As for the cause of you low GPA, I have read that it is a good idea to get you referees to mention in their letters that you have overcome certain obstacles such as mental illness or learning disabilities and they feel you are ready to commit to a graduate program and excel.

Yes, I recently went through a similar problem and chose in the end to pursue an interdisciplinary PHD. I wish you all the success in making this decision, I know it is a hard one!

The operative words were "right out of grad schools" and this is absolutely another correct statement as many students go into graduate studies thinking they can pay off the loans after they graduate and with disciplines like humanities you will often have to wait a significant amount of time before you get a job and thus will not be able to pay off your loan on time. I have friends who have graduated with MAs from some of the top universities /programs in the world and have been unemployed for over 6 months and are unable to pay off their student loans. ruru107 was specifically asking if 18,000-19,000 is a lot for loans, and in my experience it would be a lot. I actually recommend that in any discipline people think very carefully taking out large loans at the graduate level, as student loan debt has become an epidemic in an economic downturn with record unemployment. Again 20 hours is over the recommended hours that most programs would suggest a graduate student work. Again this is all dependent on specific circumstances, but as someone who has graduated with an MA in humanities and continued onto a PHD program I would not recommend working over 10 hours if you want to do your PHD and take full advantage of professional development through going to conferences, applying for grants and getting published. Your experience is valid, but so is mine and the other people who posted about being careful about taking out loans. You are very lucky that you have been able to get jobs and pay of your loans, but it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to be able to do this. If you read my first post I don't advise the OP to give up, but to contact the school about RA/TAships and other grants available. I too wish the OP well and hope you get some sort of financial help and if you do have to take out a smaller federal loan arandall suggested, but do contact the school and try to work something out before you consider taking out any loans.

I actually didn't say that you will never pay your loan back if your degree is in humanities, but that you will not be able to guarantee that you can pay your loan back right after graduating in the humanities. Some fields, like say some forms engineering and some science degrees, have much higher job placement records than say an MA in art history, these are just the facts. After receiving a humanities MA, especially in a field like art history, you will very likely be looking for a job for at least a few months so you have to factor that into your plans. Also, many people who are pursuing an Art History degree will want/need to continue into a PHD program and that will greatly increase your chances of accumulating a large amount of debt. I also want to point out that I think it is bad advice advise someone to get a full time job while pursuing a graduate degree full time. A couple people that I know in my program who attempted to work and go to school full time completely burnt out and did not do well at all in our program. i guess it is somewhat dependent on the rigours of your program, but you will want to be able to do research, go to conferences and try to get published and I have never seen that happen with someone who has tried to work while in full time graduate program. There is a reason that programs who provide funding often do not allow you to work more than 10 hours a week while taking courses.