Vanier 2018-2019

[Adelaide9216]

Hello,

anyone here applying for a Vanier scholarship this year for Fall 2019? 

Edited May 29, 2018 by rising_star
edited post title

[PsychBoy]

Aren't applications due Fall 2018? 

[Adelaide9216]

Yeah, they are due this Fall but for the following year, 2019-2020.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Adelaide9216

[CrazyPugLady]

On 2/17/2018 at 3:51 PM, Adelaide9216 said:

Hello,

anyone here applying for a Vanier scholarship this year for Fall 2019? 

If you are planning on applying you should start to talk to people in your department who could nominate you. The sooner that is established the better. In my school I think they nominate one person per department? Policy may vary depending on where you are.

Once I found out I was nominated I worked on my application right away. Took 20 drafts and passed a lot of faculty and peers hands!

I say the earlier you work on it, the more you can refine your application. It is pretty lengthy with the extra referee letters you have to get, the research proposal, bibliography (5 pages max), research timeline, and leadership statement.

 

[Adelaide9216]

37 minutes ago, CrazyPugLady said:

If you are planning on applying you should start to talk to people in your department who could nominate you. The sooner that is established the better. In my school I think they nominate one person per department? Policy may vary depending on where you are.

Once I found out I was nominated I worked on my application right away. Took 20 drafts and passed a lot of faculty and peers hands!

I say the earlier you work on it, the more you can refine your application. It is pretty lengthy with the extra referee letters you have to get, the research proposal, bibliography (5 pages max), research timeline, and leadership statement.

 

I am applying to another university than the one I am currently enrolled in. Do I have to be nominated by my home university or the one I will apply to ?

[CrazyPugLady]

4 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

I am applying to another university than the one I am currently enrolled in. Do I have to be nominated by my home university or the one I will apply to ?

I don't know the answer for that. Perhaps this is a good question to ask via e-mail to the Vanier agency. I would assume it is the one you apply to? Since that's where you would be doing your research and part of your Vanier application should have a small section talking about why your institution is ideal to carry out your doctoral research.

Don't quote me on that. It's just better to ask directly from the source itself.

[PsychBoy]

6 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

I am applying to another university than the one I am currently enrolled in. Do I have to be nominated by my home university or the one I will apply to ?

You have to be nominated by the university you are applying to (not by your current one). Hence, contact them super early because they don't know you and to learn about their nomination process.

[Adelaide9216]

On 2018-02-20 at 11:05 AM, CrazyPugLady said:

If you are planning on applying you should start to talk to people in your department who could nominate you. The sooner that is established the better. In my school I think they nominate one person per department? Policy may vary depending on where you are.

Once I found out I was nominated I worked on my application right away. Took 20 drafts and passed a lot of faculty and peers hands!

I say the earlier you work on it, the more you can refine your application. It is pretty lengthy with the extra referee letters you have to get, the research proposal, bibliography (5 pages max), research timeline, and leadership statement.

 

Yes, I have contacted the university I will apply to already and am working on some ideas for my research proposal. 

So if I understand well, you apply through ResearchNet and then you are nominated afterwards? 

[PsychBoy]

26 minutes ago, Adelaide9216 said:

Yes, I have contacted the university I will apply to already and am working on some ideas for my research proposal. 

So if I understand well, you apply through ResearchNet and then you are nominated afterwards? 

the way it worked for me is that I had to apply through ResearchNet (to my institution) and then my institution forwarded (nominated) my application to Vanier 

perhaps other institutions tell you before that you will be nominated and then ask you to apply through ResearchNet but I'm pretty sure most schools let everyone apply and then they pick a few applications (the best ones depending on their quota) to send off to Ottawa

Edited February 26, 2018 by PsychBoy

[Adelaide9216]

I am involved in my community since the age of 12 years old but someone's told me today that it may not be enough to apply to Vanier. I don't know why she sounded like she wanted to discourage me from applying. I am still going to apply because she doesn't have my CV or my grades in front of her.

Edited February 26, 2018 by Adelaide9216

[PsychBoy]

6 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

I am involved in my community since the age of 12 years old but someone's told me today that it may not be enough to apply to Vanier. I don't know why she sounded like she wanted to discourage me from applying. I am still going to apply because she doesn't have my CV or my grades in front of her.

To be fair, it is a pretty long application (if you want to make it a good one). But if you believe you have the dossier, go for it--you have nothing to lose!

[Adelaide9216]

11 hours ago, PsychBoy said:

To be fair, it is a pretty long application (if you want to make it a good one). But if you believe you have the dossier, go for it--you have nothing to lose!

That's exactly what I told her.

[PsychBoy]

3 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

That's exactly what I told her.

Good luck! 

[p(ache)d]

23 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

I am involved in my community since the age of 12 years old but someone's told me today that it may not be enough to apply to Vanier. I don't know why she sounded like she wanted to discourage me from applying. I am still going to apply because she doesn't have my CV or my grades in front of her.

I didn't think I was qualified for a number of reasons and when I asked my supervisor if I should apply, he said "it's extremely competitive and an accomplishment if you even make it out of the department to the university level, but nothing ventured nothing gained". So I applied. And got one in 2017. I'd say put the work in, because you never know what could happen.

[Adelaide9216]

41 minutes ago, p(ache)d said:

I didn't think I was qualified for a number of reasons and when I asked my supervisor if I should apply, he said "it's extremely competitive and an accomplishment if you even make it out of the department to the university level, but nothing ventured nothing gained". So I applied. And got one in 2017. I'd say put the work in, because you never know what could happen.

I totally agree with you. I'm still going to apply. This year, I got SSHRC at the Master's level and I never thought I'd get it. I was extremely surprised. So I'm still going to apply this time around.

I'm also applying to Trudeau, and SSHRC (Doctoral level) in the event that I don't get Vanier or Trudeau.

[PsychBoy]

19 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

I totally agree with you. I'm still going to apply. This year, I got SSHRC at the Master's level and I never thought I'd get it. I was extremely surprised. So I'm still going to apply this time around.

I'm also applying to Trudeau, and SSHRC (Doctoral level) in the event that I don't get Vanier or Trudeau.

Make sure you start early; that's a lot of applications!

[Adelaide9216]

Yeah I Am already working on my proposal and I started to contact potential referees for LOR!

 

Edited February 28, 2018 by Adelaide9216

[CrazyPugLady]

On 2/28/2018 at 9:51 AM, Adelaide9216 said:

Yeah I Am already working on my proposal and I started to contact potential referees for LOR!

 

Previous winners have told me that you should be comfortable sending your drafts to other people in your department. I knew someone who wrote more than 20 drafts and sent it to like 20 people in my department and other professors they knew. Just ask! Any professor you've worked with. They'll understand if it's for the Vanier.

I wrote about 20 drafts for mine and combed through it so many times. It went through over 10 people who looked over it, commented, and proofread.

Also, find really honest people who will write you good letters. In previous years I've gotten waitlisted or rejected for SSHRC and OGS because, what I suspect, was weak reference letters. Even my supervisor told me (she was on a committee doing reviews) that a referee of mine wrote me a "lukewarm" letter. This year I changed my referee and I got forwarded to Vanier, SSHRC, and OGS! 

The same goes for your leadership stuff. Your leadership application is just as important as your research proposal. Look through Vanier's list carefully and write your letter in a way that touches on all the things they say they're looking for. Leadership is not just about volunteering. Any school activities you did, such as student groups, senate... or any jobs you had involving some sort of mentorship/supervisory experience within a community... then find solid leadership referees to write you good letters. Since you can actually see their letters, you can work with them in terms of crafting your leadership letter so it is reflective of what Vanier is looking for.

Lastly. The Vanier has a VERY generous formatting system. Make use of it. They say minimum font is 10 Arial! Which gives you a lot of room to write more on every application (research proposal, leadership, research experience). 

Edited March 1, 2018 by CrazyPugLady

[PsychBoy]

2 hours ago, CrazyPugLady said:

Previous winners have told me that you should be comfortable sending your drafts to other people in your department. I knew someone who wrote more than 20 drafts and sent it to like 20 people in my department and other professors they knew. Just ask! Any professor you've worked with. They'll understand if it's for the Vanier.

I wrote about 20 drafts for mine and combed through it so many times. It went through over 10 people who looked over it, commented, and proofread.

Also, find really honest people who will write you good letters. In previous years I've gotten waitlisted or rejected for SSHRC and OGS because, what I suspect, was weak reference letters. Even my supervisor told me (she was on a committee doing reviews) that a referee of mine wrote me a "lukewarm" letter. This year I changed my referee and I got forwarded to Vanier, SSHRC, and OGS! 

The same goes for your leadership stuff. Your leadership application is just as important as your research proposal. Look through Vanier's list carefully and write your letter in a way that touches on all the things they say they're looking for. Leadership is not just about volunteering. Any school activities you did, such as student groups, senate... or any jobs you had involving some sort of mentorship/supervisory experience within a community... then find solid leadership referees to write you good letters. Since you can actually see their letters, you can work with them in terms of crafting your leadership letter so it is reflective of what Vanier is looking for.

Lastly. The Vanier has a VERY generous formatting system. Make use of it. They say minimum font is 10 Arial! Which gives you a lot of room to write more on every application (research proposal, leadership, research experience). 

I totally agree with that!

You can even tell your leadership referees to take advantage of the Arial 10 rule

Also, make sure you check the instructions around mid-June, because last year the *new* instructions were published around that time (so we never know what could change)

Edited March 1, 2018 by PsychBoy

[gradschool__throwaway]

For those interested, I found this info on Waterloo's website on stats from previous Vanier Scholars at their University. Gives a good ballpark of # of publications  https://uwaterloo.ca/graduate-studies/awardsandfunding/external-awards/vanier-canada-graduate-scholarships-vanier-cgs 

Wish I had seen this when I was applying this year!

[PsychBoy]

29 minutes ago, slp_throwaway said:

For those interested, I found this info on Waterloo's website on stats from previous Vanier Scholars at their University. Gives a good ballpark of # of publications  https://uwaterloo.ca/graduate-studies/awardsandfunding/external-awards/vanier-canada-graduate-scholarships-vanier-cgs 

Wish I had seen this when I was applying this year!

huh...5 publications?!

[gradschool__throwaway]

14 minutes ago, PsychBoy said:

huh...5 publications?!

My thoughts exactly! But I think they take into consideration what field you're in and whether or not you're ahead of the game within that context.

[gradschool__throwaway]

Also I almost spit out my coffee when I saw that SSHRC winners had 2 book chapters. WHAT EVEN

[PsychBoy]

6 hours ago, slp_throwaway said:

Also I almost spit out my coffee when I saw that SSHRC winners had 2 book chapters. WHAT EVEN

on top of 5 publications and 8 "competitive" conference presentations

I have no chance of winning 

[gradschool__throwaway]

2 hours ago, PsychBoy said:

on top of 5 publications and 8 "competitive" conference presentations

I have no chance of winning 

They did a panel at U of A and one of the previous winners said he had no publications and won (SSHRC)! So there's hope. Plus that's an average, AND that's only 30% of your score.