SSHRC Doctoral 2018-2019

[Almond]

Yeah, I re-emailed and my awards office said  that they'll have the results in "a couple weeks time".... ah!!

[KaliLogan]

Just now, Almond said:

Yeah, I re-emailed and my awards office said  that they'll have the results in "a couple weeks time".... ah!!

Well, that's not very helpful, is it? I'm sorry that you received that response! I'm sure the results will be released to the institutions whenever the letters are mailed out (within the next couple days). 

[displaynamesarehard]

Well when I emailed and asked SSHRC they definitely said they would be sent by the end of the month so fingers crossed nothing went wrong and they’re sent out tomorrow!

[fabula]

1 hour ago, displaynamesarehard said:

Well when I emailed and asked SSHRC they definitely said they would be sent by the end of the month so fingers crossed nothing went wrong and they’re sent out tomorrow!

Sigh. Bracing myself for another week/weekend in the dark: “The delivery standard for regular mail sent inside Canada is: Two business days for local mail. Three business days within the province. Four days for national mail.”

[displaynamesarehard]

33 minutes ago, fabula said:

Sigh. Bracing myself for another week/weekend in the dark: “The delivery standard for regular mail sent inside Canada is: Two business days for local mail. Three business days within the province. Four days for national mail.”

You should try asking your awards officer once the tweet goes out. I know not every school tells their students but doesn’t hurt to ask! Based on previous years’ threads it looks like my school does and they even said earlier in the year that they email you the result/show it in our online portal once they know. So I’m really banking on knowing tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest... I don’t know if I’m mentally and emotionally prepared for the off chance they don’t tell us once they get the results ?

[TBay]

8 hours ago, Antikythera said:

I’ve been lurking for months. Hello, all you familiars. As I’m reading through all of these comments to the tune of “I don’t know how I’ll make it through financially if I don’t get this SSHRC,” does anyone else find themselves kind of harrowed by the fact that the *majority* of people don’t? Some people don’t even apply—I’m imagining the majority don’t. But HOW? That’s (at least) four of our years below the poverty line, and then future prospects either start to snowball from there, or they don’t. I am probably banking far too much on succeeding this round for my own good.

I know some people don't apply because they have very good resources: maybe their grandparents bought college savings funds, or maybe they have been working and saving, or maybe they are just from affluent families.  I think a large percentage of people who apply to SSHRC are really motivated because they need the funding to get through.

[Adelaide9216]

17 minutes ago, TBay said:

I know some people don't apply because they have very good resources: maybe their grandparents bought college savings funds, or maybe they have been working and saving, or maybe they are just from affluent families.  I think a large percentage of people who apply to SSHRC are really motivated because they need the funding to get through.

Even if they have good resources, these people should still apply. Getting those scholarships look good on a CV if they want a career in academia. These scholarships are merit-based, not need-based. Getting them also shows communication skills and ability to explain your research in simple terms and to a wider audience, which is key in academia. I personally believe that people should always apply to any scholarship they are eligible for, regardless of having financial resources/means to survive through grad school. Even the small scholarships create a "pipeline" to win the bigger and most prestigious ones. This is really important in grad school and after grad school.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Adelaide9216

[anon1234567]

38 minutes ago, Adelaide9216 said:

I personally believe that people should always apply to any scholarship they are eligible for, regardless of having financial resources/means to survive through grad school. Even the small scholarships create a "pipeline" to win the bigger and most prestigious ones. This is really important in grad school and after grad school.

Precisely! Money brings in more money. 

[anon1234567]

On 4/25/2019 at 4:33 PM, Adelaide9216 said:

Vanier I learned on April 1st. I don’t have any news for SSHRC. 

Thanks but I failed my masters thesis (learned the news yesterday). I have a month to resubmit.  otherwise bye bye Vanier and PhD in September

I am so sorry to hear that. Good luck with revisions! 

[Phdlp]

Will they for sure send a tweet when they mail the letters? Likely tomorrow then?

[Clinpsyc01]

Do the reviewers see our internal ranking or is that just used to determine who is sent to the national competition? 

[elodie]

1 hour ago, Clinpsyc01 said:

Do the reviewers see our internal ranking or is that just used to determine who is sent to the national competition? 

They see our department ranking, but not our institution level ranking.

[Clinpsyc01]

24 minutes ago, elodie said:

They see our department ranking, but not our institution level ranking.

Great... my department had a very strong group of applicants this year so I really don’t know where I stand. I imagine it hurts your application to be lower ranked.

[elodie]

1 minute ago, Clinpsyc01 said:

Great... my department had a very strong group of applicants this year so I really don’t know where I stand. I imagine it hurts your application to be lower ranked.

Keep in mind departmental ranking is only one part of the application, and I'm sure they are aware that different cohorts in different departments will have varying levels of strong applicants. I've seen people with lower departmental rankings win SSHRC over someone with a higher ranking. This whole thing is so subjective as we know. I received a very high departmental ranking last year and still lost. Anything is possible!

[BibliophileSW]

36 minutes ago, elodie said:

They see our department ranking, but not our institution level ranking.

This is so interesting, I didn't know that. Did any of you learn your department ranking? They don't share that in our department (guessing for morale reasons).

[Desperate Clinical]

Hi friends. I know the struggle of not getting SSHRC- I have not gotten it the past two years and this is my last round (fingers crossed). I live in the GTA and it is difficult to make end's meet even on the "competitive" stipend my university gives me. One thing I will share is I make money teaching Chinese students English online from my apartment. PM me if you want to know more about that, I know this is not the place to post things like this, but I thought it was pertinent to the conversation above!

[TBay]

1 hour ago, elodie said:

They see our department ranking, but not our institution level ranking.

Oh thanks for that.  It makes me very happy because I think my institution has applications from one of the high priority research areas which is a different department and that is one reason I thought my application would be ranked lower and be negatively impacted. 

[Magdulia]

14 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

Even if they have good resources, these people should still apply. Getting those scholarships look good on a CV if they want a career in academia. These scholarships are merit-based, not need-based. Getting them also shows communication skills and ability to explain your research in simple terms and to a wider audience, which is key in academia. I personally believe that people should always apply to any scholarship they are eligible for, regardless of having financial resources/means to survive through grad school. Even the small scholarships create a "pipeline" to win the bigger and most prestigious ones. This is really important in grad school and after grad school.

Hey all, hang in there! Thanks for this thread and these interesting conversations! I hope we get news today

I just wanted to add to this conversation that not all PhD students are able to apply. Many have to work many jobs outside the university to support themselves and members of their family. One person in this thread said they will not be able to apply again because they will need to work full time if they don't get the award this year. Another issue I have encountered is supervisors that discourage students, telling them it is a waste of their time or that they won't get it anyway.

I know the PhD is a financial, health and mental health struggle for many of us in this thread. But we should also acknowledge our privilege to be able to even apply and find the time to have written a strong proposal (with all the stress and anxiety it provokes). Many of us have the privilege to have support from faculty and colleagues in this journey. And some of us have a funding package that, while we might struggle, allows us to have less extra work. Many PhD students (I am sure in this thread) have no funding packages.

 

[Almond]

24 minutes ago, Magdulia said:

Hey all, hang in there! Thanks for this thread and these interesting conversations! I hope we get news today

I just wanted to add to this conversation that not all PhD students are able to apply. Many have to work many jobs outside the university to support themselves and members of their family. One person in this thread said they will not be able to apply again because they will need to work full time if they don't get the award this year. Another issue I have encountered is supervisors that discourage students, telling them it is a waste of their time or that they won't get it anyway.

I know the PhD is a financial, health and mental health struggle for many of us in this thread. But we should also acknowledge our privilege to be able to even apply and find the time to have written a strong proposal (with all the stress and anxiety it provokes). Many of us have the privilege to have support from faculty and colleagues in this journey. And some of us have a funding package that, while we might struggle, allows us to have less extra work. Many PhD students (I am sure in this thread) have no funding packages.

 

Yes! Thanks for bringing up these points.

[bamsquirrels]

15 hours ago, Adelaide9216 said:

Even if they have good resources, these people should still apply. Getting those scholarships look good on a CV if they want a career in academia. These scholarships are merit-based, not need-based. Getting them also shows communication skills and ability to explain your research in simple terms and to a wider audience, which is key in academia. I personally believe that people should always apply to any scholarship they are eligible for, regardless of having financial resources/means to survive through grad school. Even the small scholarships create a "pipeline" to win the bigger and most prestigious ones. This is really important in grad school and after grad school. 

Ok, I was lurking just to keep tabs on the timeline but I find this justification ironic coming from someone with Angela Davis as a profile pic who also just won a 50k/year scholarship. I try not to have a crab bucket mentality about funding, but this attitude bothers me. Check your privilege, people. Don't justify a broken system, it's a crapshoot for everyone. Play the game, but don't let the game infect your mind.

Less than 10% of applicants are awarded SSHRC. The odds are even worse for other scholarships, and major funding bodies in other countries. NSF used to award 1 out of every 3 applications, and it's down to less than SSHRC levels. This is a result of systematic budget cuts for decades from conservative governments. Many, many, MANY applications from excellent projects do not make the cut. I may have been up for a number of other prestigious scholarships, but I definitely recognize that my success in previous applications has more to do with luck and institutional support rather than merit. That is just the reality of academia today. Not only that, but institutional discrimination works against a lot of us. People who have the time and money (or debt) to apply to scholarships tend to win more scholarships later on.

As for running out of funds: Take it from someone who had a multi-year gap between degrees - there is far more to life than academia. Financially, you statistically would be better off working anyway. You should feel proud of yourselves for even making this far to the point of applying to SSHRC. There are other sources of funds. And if you do not manage to get OGS or any other backups, you will be ok if you have to downgrade or move on. Academia tends to create an insular environment where we can lose sight of how much we have accomplished already, because we're used to being surrounded by high achievers and being in a high pressure environment that encourages perfectionism. Only 2-4% of the world's population holds a doctorate degree. If you find yourself working 3-4 jobs (been there) and piling on the debt to stay in (and I mean maxing out debt), there is no shame in leveraging your skills (you do have them!) to find work in industry, non-profits, or government. The PhD is a great pursuit, but it is not the only option to achieve success and fulfillment.

[angrycrustacean]

Ahead of some or all of us finding out results very soon, I wanted to address something that I saw in past doctoral SSHRC threads. A lot of past applicants have been concerned or surprised because they had X number of publications, conferences, or they ranked a certain way in their department and they expected to do better/worse because of it, etc.

My perspective on this is different, because I'm applying to SSHRC in support of my Doctor of Musical Arts degree in music performance. Because this (partially) falls under the SSHRC criteria for research-creation, my publications, for example, include important performances. Since I output my research largely as performances, my publications list is therefore very long - but of course the nature of those is different than a published article. Who can say whether I will be advantaged or disadvantaged by that?

What I am hoping to get across in sharing this is that we are a very diverse range of people and scholars applying to essentially one type of award. Inevitably it will be difficult for the committees to compare people bringing radically different things to the table. I am sure that from our perspective as applicants, adjudication injustices will take place.

I am reminding myself every day that SSHRC is not a measure of objective success. The money is nice, as is the recognition, but it doesn't validate or invalidate what you're doing - it just records that in a particular set of circumstances, at a particular moment in time, things went your way. If it doesn't go your way, something else will. Actually, as has been pointed out in this thread, a bunch of things already have gone your way just to get here, and that's already pretty great. Stay strong, friends. 

[SSHRC]

For those still obsessing about hearing the results release today....?

Even though SSHRC still hasn't tweeted about the results being mailed, I'd say there's still an excellent chance of finding out the results today/early tomorrow. According to SSHRC's "Service standards" (see below), they aim to release results to institutions on or before the last day of the month (i.e., today), and they aim to meet this service standard 95% of the time. 

They also publish their stats on meeting these targets here: http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/service/annual_results-rendement_annuel-eng.aspx Their track record on notifying institutions on or before the last day of the month is really good (they meet the target 95% of the time +, but their success in sending out letter mail to applicants isn't as great).

Anyway, really hoping institutions hear today and we get email notifications today or early tomorrow. ?

[Adelaide9216]

58 minutes ago, bamsquirrels said:

Ok, I was lurking just to keep tabs on the timeline but I find this justification ironic coming from someone with Angela Davis as a profile pic who also just won a 50k/year scholarship. I try not to have a crab bucket mentality about funding, but this attitude bothers me. Check your privilege, people. Don't justify a broken system, it's a crapshoot for everyone. Play the game, but don't let the game infect your mind.

Less than 10% of applicants are awarded SSHRC. The odds are even worse for other scholarships, and major funding bodies in other countries. NSF used to award 1 out of every 3 applications, and it's down to less than SSHRC levels. This is a result of systematic budget cuts for decades from conservative governments. Many, many, MANY applications from excellent projects do not make the cut. I may have been up for a number of other prestigious scholarships, but I definitely recognize that my success in previous applications has more to do with luck and institutional support rather than merit. That is just the reality of academia today. Not only that, but institutional discrimination works against a lot of us. People who have the time and money (or debt) to apply to scholarships tend to win more scholarships later on.

As for running out of funds: Take it from someone who had a multi-year gap between degrees - there is far more to life than academia. Financially, you statistically would be better off working anyway. You should feel proud of yourselves for even making this far to the point of applying to SSHRC. There are other sources of funds. And if you do not manage to get OGS or any other backups, you will be ok if you have to downgrade or move on. Academia tends to create an insular environment where we can lose sight of how much we have accomplished already, because we're used to being surrounded by high achievers and being in a high pressure environment that encourages perfectionism. Only 2-4% of the world's population holds a doctorate degree. If you find yourself working 3-4 jobs (been there) and piling on the debt to stay in (and I mean maxing out debt), there is no shame in leveraging your skills (you do have them!) to find work in industry, non-profits, or government. The PhD is a great pursuit, but it is not the only option to achieve success and fulfillment.

That is not at all what I meant to say. You’re totally misunderstanding me here. I never said that PhD is the only way to be successful. You’re putting words in my mouth and assuming stuff.

 

PS: FYI, I come from a family where my mom, with no job, raised a huge family on her own. No one in my family has a university degree. I grew up in poverty. I don’t come from a privileged background. But I am aware that I am privileged now and when I say the award is merit based, it’s just me repeating what is said about those awards, I never said that I agree with the system or that I agree with the word merit. I am just explaining how this system works for people who want academic careers. I am just saying how the game works. I never said I agree with that game.

It is true that a lot of people can’t apply for multiple and valid reasons. I am saying this for the people who can apply, but don’t probably because they don’t know they could apply. A lot of people underestimate their chances of being able to get these awards (myself included). I also agree that having a support system makes a huge difference and that not everyone has that.

 

 

Edited April 30, 2019 by Adelaide9216

[Adelaide9216]

1 hour ago, Magdulia said:

Hey all, hang in there! Thanks for this thread and these interesting conversations! I hope we get news today

I just wanted to add to this conversation that not all PhD students are able to apply. Many have to work many jobs outside the university to support themselves and members of their family. One person in this thread said they will not be able to apply again because they will need to work full time if they don't get the award this year. Another issue I have encountered is supervisors that discourage students, telling them it is a waste of their time or that they won't get it anyway.

I know the PhD is a financial, health and mental health struggle for many of us in this thread. But we should also acknowledge our privilege to be able to even apply and find the time to have written a strong proposal (with all the stress and anxiety it provokes). Many of us have the privilege to have support from faculty and colleagues in this journey. And some of us have a funding package that, while we might struggle, allows us to have less extra work. Many PhD students (I am sure in this thread) have no funding packages.

 

You re absolutely right.

[displaynamesarehard]

This is purely an off my chest comment, but I really don’t understand why they can’t just pick an official day they release the results and stick to it. They say the end of April anyways so why not just say April 30 (and actually release them on April 30) and we all won’t be wondering if today’s the day starting halfway through the month. Anxiety and stress related things are known issues in grad students so I don’t really understand why they couldn’t make the whole situation a little less precarious. Then we could more easily put it out of our minds until the official day. It’s such a small thing that doesn’t seem like it would be hard to implement, and it would make such a big difference... for my anxiety at least. And then an online portal for everyone. Just pop the results in there April 30.