Snasser

At UVic, fellowship payments come the first of each month. You can only receive SSHRC funds towards the degree for which it has been awarded.

Quite honestly, this forum saved my sanity last year (so supportive when I was turned down) and again so wonderful now. Thanks gradcafe!

1. Received 2 years of funding in category B (2 x $20,000), 24.1/30 2. Victoria, BC 3. Letter received: May 13 4. History 5. Through my university 6. Will be 3rd year in September 2010 7. Taylor, Ross, or Queen's Fellowship? No. 8. A couple of other research fellowships; Conferences (2 in province; 2 out of province; 1 USA; 1 Europe), Publications (2 book chapters, 2 articles in mid-level journals), 2 book reviews in good journals; helped with one small, non-academic conference; co-editor for a grad student journal; and a couple of community history lectures. Recommended but not funded twice before.

I was passed over twice before this year with a well developed CV and 4.0 GPA. I know people with 3.7, no pubs and no conferences who've ended up with Doctoral CGS's, so it beats me. I think a lot of it has to do with whatever the flavour of the month is. You will probably end up with one next year.

Yay! Finally! 1. Funded 2. Victoria 3. Letter received: N/A found out from grad studies 4. Subject area and/or committee: History 5. Applied through your university or direct to Ottawa: University 6. Year in PhD studies when you would take up the award (so, what you’ll be in Sept/Oct. 2010): Three ($20,000 x 2) 7. Taylor, Ross, or Queen's Fellowship?? No 8. Anything else you want to include that might be helpful: business-related project pitch? publications? major conference presentations? second time applying? 4 publications; 5 conferences

Has anyone from UVic heard? Sorry for my lurking and silence. I have been trying to control my obsessive desires to think about SSHRC by *not* posting this year. But this waiting is driving me crazy. I am starting to think I have not heard because my department isn't bothering to tell me I was unsuccessful.

I'm thinking May, myself.

I recently read a paper at a conference that is ready for submission for publication (the long version of the paper, that is). After the conference I was approached by one of the organizers who said that s/he is interested in organizing an edited collection related to our common research interests. This person typically works with very well respected publishers. This would *not* be a conference proceedings, but a book published independently and subject to peer review as any other book would be. My question is, when thinking strategically, which is going to help my career in the long run: a paper in a respected journal (but not *the very best* journal - I plan to wait for dissertation material to be ready for submission to these) or a chapter in an edited collection (highly respected editor, very good/ one of the best academic publishing houses in my field)? I should also add that I would really like to eventually apply for a Post-Doc in this person's department. Any thoughts?

I think that conference presentations are important enough. While you only need to submit a short abstract to present a paper, this is still a vetting process. I also think that your performance as a graduate student will carry more weight in an application to a PhD program than your undergrad performance. If you are still concerned about the value of conference papers, I would suggest submitting one or all of them for publication and/or mention a desire to do this in your application. There is a professional expectation that at some point you will publish what you present at conferences - but in due time - the point of a conference is to get feedback and to take part in academic discourse. Good luck on the application process!

Congratulations! That is awesome! Not to worry, if you turn down a CGS because you're taking it outside of Canada, you will simply be offered a 3 or 4 year SSHRC fellowship instead: the tenure of the award depends on the year of your program when you begin to receive funding. Congrats, again! I suspect it has to do with my proposal (it's gender stuff and I think it can really turn an audience off), it may have been too analytical and I might not have sounded 'excited' enough. We'll see. There is always next year. It is all just a lesson in patience and understanding.

I think you have accidentally hit the nail upon the head: there is confusion and disappointment about a set of scores that are not really accurate barometers of achievement. The secrecy that shrouds these awards is ludicrous. When my husband was awarded an NSERC he was provided with a graph that plotted his application against others in his field and subdivided his score into the three major categories of achievement that are under consideration. This way, he understood where is greatest strengths and weaknesses were - information that would be even more valuable for an unsuccessful applicant. This was at the doctoral level, too, so the claims that providing this information to SSHRC applicants is completely bogus. In fact, NSERC has even more awards to hand out. I got my score today. 15.3. Ouch! It went DOWN from last year. I would have been eligible for three years of funding and I am in History. The application included four international (three in Canada, one in the US) conferences, two book reviews in established and respected journals, a book chapter from Duke University Press, another from U of T press and two peer-reviewed journal articles, I have also helped to organize a conference. I have A's all along. My department endorsed me, my FGS endorsed me. I am left with no idea what it is I did wrong or what I need to improve on. My department assumed I would be getting a SSHRC this year, so they can't help me either.

People with lower scores getting funding than others with higher ones? Sounds like a gong show and that the score is absolutely meaningless.

I believe a previous post in this stream mentioned that his/her letter was postmarked for the 26th; while the letter was dated for the 20th.

Faint hope: One more thing that I would like to add that may provide a faint hope for those of us who are waitlisted. I have noted that the SSHRC website still has not published statistics for the 2009-2010 doctoral competition (note that I refer to 'program statistics' and not 'competition results'). MA and PostDoc stats were published as soon as results were announced to successful candidates. I think given the perilous position of government funding this year that it is faintly possible that the government may choose to provide more funding to the doctoral SSHRCs if the over all economic picture starts to look up a bit. Doc funding caps may not be written in stone yet, and the fact that program stats for this year have still not been published may be a reflection of this.

Keep on believing in your research, ricol. More people never get a SSHRC than do get one. Think of this as an opportunity to build a thicker skin. Academia takes no prisoners. I have been so impressed with the positive attitude that unsuccessful applicants have shown. I am still licking my wounds a bit because I was so hopeful, but all of your strength and your belief in your research are really helping me to find the positive side of all of this. Thank you. I am so happy to see that there are really well-adjusted, balanced people lurking around in the Academy.

It's terrible.

I assume that you applied as an applicant external to a university (e.g. not through a department/ FGS). Your score of 26 represents the first round of adjudication for external applicants. It will likely have changed (for better or for worse) in the final round. For those of us applying from within Canadian universities, we did not receive an initial score (though I imagine one was assigned) but were simply notified if our applications had been forwarded onto the final SSHRC competition at Ottawa. I hope this helps. 26 is a score to be proud of, and I hope it serves as a portent for the future! Statistically speaking, in previous years, external applicants had a slightly better chance of being awarded a SSHRC (because their applications did not have to survive two other rounds of cuts) so, you should keep your fingers crossed! I'm rooting for you!

I have been frequently checking the SSHRC website for program statistics so that I can compare this year's PhD numbers with last year. All other stats were posted within 24-48 hours of notice to FGS's. I note that PhD SSHRCs still haven't been listed. I realize this sounds like sour grapes, but the paranoid side of me wonders if either SSHRC isn't planning on cutting even more or isn't a little reluctant to post the stats: it seems to me that since MA results were basically determined from quotas set last year and since all other awards were announced before April 20 if the heaviest culling of money wasn't forced out of the PhD awards chest (since it was left to the very, very last). I realize there are probably other explanations - such as the obvious ineptitude of SSHRC staff - that are more accurate.

I think this is an excellent idea. The support from this forum has been really great. It helped so much when I was biting my nails waiting and helped to break the fall when I got my bad news. Thanks everyone.

Actually, 'recommended but not funded' refers to SSHRC, not the departments. It means that you were A-listed by SSHRC but that funding ran out. This year, due to massive cutbacks, over a 100 SSHRCs have been axed. It is a very faint hope, but you have been waitlisted, mikefriday. When you receive your letter from SSHRC it will probably explain your position in the queue. I knw this from bitter experience from last year.

Well, shit. No SSHRC for me. I have been relegated again to 'recommended but not funded' miss congeniality status. I don't understand the value of this standing. I suppose it adds to SSHRC's sadism.

here, here!

that's a sound plan. Have a pint for me.

I have frequent nightmares that I forgot to hand in my application or that I made a terrible mistake somewhere. I think my family will be even more pleased once I have the results, for or better or for worse, just so that I will shut up about it!

I think that the disparities between application support at each university suggests another flaw with the current dept and FGS vetting process. This is especially the case when students from different depts with different support criteria have to compete with each other at the FGS level. A stellar applicant from a disinterested/ disorganized dept stands to lose a great deal. Now, this all having been said, it confounds me that some depts do not offer adequate application support when their future prestige and funding depends on it - many universities determine departmental funding for grad programs based on past SSHRC success and of course universities earn higher quotas when they advance more successful applicants. My friend's old dept offered no MA/ PhD application support but actually had the audacity to go whining to the FGS when none of the dept's applications were forwarded to Ottawa. Anyway, I certainly hope that the response I got from Mme Bigras this afternoon suggested a later release date in order to dissuade me from asking again if for some reason results were not sent out right on Monday. Have a great weekend everyone - and good luck. I would be so thrilled is each of us came back to this forum late next week with great news.