OGS - Any word?

[changeling]

I'm really waiting on the SSHRC, too! As nice as getting an award is, an OGS seems to only have a slight affect. First years normally get 20,000, and according to an email I got from my department, getting an OGS results in the OGS 15k, top ups, paying tuition, which leaves you with... $20,876. Although I think the description going along with the $20,876 invovled less teaching than the standard $20,000, so maybe that's the real benefit. The SSHRC would make a much bigger difference.

For anyone who wants to share, how does your department treat the OGS, and what's the final result like?

My department has both funded and nonfunded Masters programs. For the funded program, they do something similar to yours -- take most of it towards your promised funding (although you do come out a bit ahead, plus there is a top-up award of a couple thousand dollars from the school as a reward for winning a major scholarship). I don't know the details, however, as I wasn't accepted in to the funded program -- I was waitlisted but never moved up the list, and am instead in the completely unfunded version of the same thing. Which is where I got the last laugh when I actually did win an OGS -- it would have saved my department a bunch of money if they HAD given me one of their funded spots!

[msjd]

I'm really waiting on the SSHRC, too! As nice as getting an award is, an OGS seems to only have a slight affect. First years normally get 20,000, and according to an email I got from my department, getting an OGS results in the OGS 15k, top ups, paying tuition, which leaves you with... $20,876. Although I think the description going along with the $20,876 invovled less teaching than the standard $20,000, so maybe that's the real benefit. The SSHRC would make a much bigger difference.

For anyone who wants to share, how does your department treat the OGS, and what's the final result like?

The benefit is to your program - with OGS, the majority of that 20k is coming from an external source, rather than internal. This allows them to have more funding available for current or additional grad students (or, you know, martinis on the beach). I'm guessing that this department has decided that 20k is enough for a grad student to live on in whatever city you're in without being so destitute as to not be able to focus on actual grad work, and so the top-up is designed to bring you in line with that standard. SSHRC is prestigious enough that I have seen some SSHRC top ups be more generous than OGS ones (not for me personally - I applied mainly out of province and don't have a good SSHRC/OGS comparison to share). And, yeah, the less time teaching is also definitely a benefit! The more time for you to be a student and not an odd-jobber, the better. And don't knock the tuition waiver, if that's what you meant by "paying tuition" - that's a huge chunk of change not to have to pay up front.

In my program, I was guaranteed a minimum of 18k no matter what. Either from SSHRC with top-ups (admittedly, this best case scenario would bring me to a bit more than 18k), or from a university-level funding scholarship if I was selected for that, or, in the worst case scenario, out of my advisor's own pocket. But I had to apply for external funding even to be eligible for this kind of internal funding, whether or not I was awarded it. Another program I was accepted to didn't have an advisor for me (god knows why they even accepted me), and wouldn't make any funding promises whatsoever because there was no one to back them up.

Regarding OGS results and how they are distributed... I got nothing. I know at least two people in the exact same year, city, and out-going program as me, with very similar academic standing, who haven't heard, but I did on April 14th (and we're not that radically far off alphabetically either!). All my best info is coming from this thread!

[UGStudent]

In my department are similar. Every student has a combination of research assistantship and TA-ing That is true unless they are receiving funding from an outside source, such as OGS or NSERC funding. Research assistantships come directly from the prof's budget and so awards really really help you in the sense of making more money available for your lab. This is a bigger deal in some labs than others depending on how well they are funded (science is expensive, good science is very expensive).

The lack of TAing is a HUGE deal. Right now I TA two days a week for 5 hours each day. This means if I am in my lab running experiments, I can't do anything that overlaps the days I TA which means I have to come in on the weekends way more often as pretty much everything I do takes more than a couple days (proteins are bastards). Finally, money aside awards are great fodder for the CV, regardless of how prestigious (obviously the more the better).

This is the latest update from my school:

I am sure that you have all been hearing from students regarding OGS as

some students have gone into their OGS accounts and seen that they have

been awarded an OGS for 2010-11. I just received some information from

the Ministry Friday afternoon about this situation.

OGS staff are in the midst of entering the results for the 2010-11

competition but do not expect to have them all entered until the end of

April. The data is live as soon as it is entered so students who do not

see anything about the result of the competition on their account should

keep checking. Official letters will be mailed out by OGS to all

applicants letting them know whether or not they were successful in

early May. It will be mid-May when I receive the report of the OGS

results from the Ministry and I will post the results to the secure site

as soon as I get the information.

I hope that his information will assist you in responding to students'

questions and if there are any further updates from OGS, I will pass

them along to you immediately.

That is from our awards officer for the university. So people SHOULD be getting updates, but it is taking a LONG time to get done. Some won't know for quite some time yet. The school most definitely will know about OGS after the students.

[kateem]

At my school, in my department, some people found out Wednesday night...I'm personally still waiting. And somewhat frustrated that OGS couldn't figure out how to upload all results simultaneously (or at least within a few days of each other!).

It makes a big difference to me. In our department we're guaranteed 18k funding, of which 7k or so goes to tuition. If I get OGS, that means I'm guaranteed 15k from them, 5k from a half TAship, plus my tuition is covered by the school. If I don't get my results posted before the end of the month, that's precious little warning about whether or not I have to come up with $1300 to pay summer tuition (due May 2).

[jsmandur]

on reversion list !!!

[homebrew]

My department has both funded and nonfunded Masters programs. For the funded program, they do something similar to yours -- take most of it towards your promised funding (although you do come out a bit ahead, plus there is a top-up award of a couple thousand dollars from the school as a reward for winning a major scholarship). I don't know the details, however, as I wasn't accepted in to the funded program -- I was waitlisted but never moved up the list, and am instead in the completely unfunded version of the same thing. Which is where I got the last laugh when I actually did win an OGS -- it would have saved my department a bunch of money if they HAD given me one of their funded spots!

congratulation!

[enggirl]

Status: Successful Applicant

And before everyone asks:

Proposed discipline: Computer & Software Engineering

App Type: Web App-submitted

Submit Date: Oct 11, 2009

[Xnient]

Still no word for me

[enggirl]

I thought I should add that I checked two hours ago and there was nothing, so they seem to do updates in the middle of the day. No need to wait up past midnight!

[Zartosht]

I thought I should add that I checked two hours ago and there was nothing, so they seem to do updates in the middle of the day. No need to wait up past midnight!

Would you please let me know when exactly you got your result?

[Zartosht]

on reversion list !!!

Would you please let me know when exactly you got your result?

Thanks.

[enggirl]

Would you please let me know when exactly you got your result?

Since I didn't get it two hours ago, and I did now, then in the past two hours.

I posted as soon as I got it.

[ajesusj]

on reversion list !!!

When did you get your result?

[wlugrad]

congrats guys!!! hope more good news come along from others as well

[Zartosht]

Since I didn't get it two hours ago, and I did now, then in the past two hours.

I posted as soon as I got it.

Ok thanks. Congratulations.

[jsmandur]

Would you please let me know when exactly you got your result?

Thanks.

I checked last night around 11:30 pm and it was nothing .... then around 11:45 am, I checked again, and it was there ...

so no clue when they updated exactly.

[Zartosht]

I checked last night around 11:30 pm and it was nothing .... then around 11:45 am, I checked again, and it was there ...

so no clue when they updated exactly.

Ok thanks.

[ajesusj]

Ok thanks.

Nothing for me as of now.

[Xnient]

Hi all,

Good news, they are still updating the results. As of 12noon today, I am a successful applicant. They must update some time between 11AM and Noon because I checked several times this morning with no results until around noon.

Good Luck to all those who are waiting.

Cheers,

[UTgradst]

I also got it! It was updated afte 1 pm.

[Xnient]

Good to hear, Congrats!

[if-you-can-pick-up-a-fork]

i was successful this year. i checked this morning around ten and then checked this afternoon around two...and there it was. le sigh of relief. best of luck to those who have not yet received results. m

[Ally31]

I'm still waiting... and it's killing me

[cheesethunder]

god

OGS

why do you make me wait

FOREVERrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrugghhh

[ajesusj]

I'm still waiting too, hopefully we'll here this week.