SSHRC Doctoral 2018-2019 Waitlisted

[YperG]

1 hour ago, VentralStream said:

Got waitlisted with a 12.2

Bummer. Do you know what committee?  Here is the link to check which one you are in. 

http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/apply-demande/background-renseignements/doctoral_committees-comites_doctorat-eng.aspx

[Chirany]

Hello everyone. I was waitlisted with a 12.9/20. Committee 4, it looks like.

Really frustrating to hear that it is possible to receive an award with a lower score, but presumably that just depends on which committee you were assigned to (and in turn, which field you're in, I suppose).

[digitalethnographer]

Hello all!

I was waitlisted in Committee 3 (Sociology) with a score of 11.9. 

[VentralStream]

2 hours ago, YperG said:

Bummer. Do you know what committee?  Here is the link to check which one you are in. 

http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/apply-demande/background-renseignements/doctoral_committees-comites_doctorat-eng.aspx

Sorry, forgot to post: committee 2. 

[VentralStream]

On 5/3/2019 at 6:41 PM, NavIndWmn said:

My letter told me what committee and I think when you apply you choose the committee if you’re a direct applicant.

where you in your letter did it specify the committee? 

[rockyhorror78]

Hi All,

Waitlisted (likely committee 3 or 5 - I can't remember which one I applied to) with a score of 12.2. Fingers crossed.

[gradstudentka]

Hey everyone, bummer to be strung along like this. I was waitlisted with a 12/20, presumably committee 2 because it was a history proposal/I'm a history student, but can't remember what I chose (direct applicant at a U.S school, first time applying--my letter just said "mutlidisciplinary committee" like some others here). Friends of mine in the past have said it was possible to email SSHRC for your position on the waitlist; I guess they're not providing that information anymore?

[waitingwondering]

Does anyone know how the waitlist effects  fellowships upgrading to CGS? Are upgrades even a thing?  

[NavIndWmn]

I know no one can say for sure, but does anyone have any feedback on my likelihood of moving off the waitlist?  I believe I am in committee 3 and was waitlisted with a 12/20. I did email SSHRC today for my waitlist position, but I doubt they will tell me. I was also accepted in to Law School. The law school is where I currently live which means I would not have to move. The Phd I want to do accepted me and offered 22k/year. but would require me to move. If I move it means my husband will be quitting a job where he makes 35k/ year (not a lot but keeps us afloat while I am in school). My SSHRC would have been what I needed to make moving realistic and ensure we were financially okay as my husband looked for a new job.

I did receive a scholarship to Law School -it does not cover all of it so I will still to take about 10k in debt for this year. Law school is like 3-4 times more than the PhD tuition sadly. However, my husband will not have to quit his job. I am thinking it may be more feasible to go to law school as I can stay where I am take some debt for tuition? I am considering deferring my PhD applications for a year while I attend law school as if I absolutely hate it, I can always do my PhD the year after  - also maybe next year I will have better SSHRC luck.

I am wanting to know roughly my chances of getting a SSHRC as if they are high I would not want to risk going to Law school and having the SSHRC offered to me but not be in a doctoral program.

 

[TBay]

5 hours ago, NavIndWmn said:

I know no one can say for sure, but does anyone have any feedback on my likelihood of moving off the waitlist?  I believe I am in committee 3 and was waitlisted with a 12/20. I did email SSHRC today for my waitlist position, but I doubt they will tell me. I was also accepted in to Law School. The law school is where I currently live which means I would not have to move. The Phd I want to do accepted me and offered 22k/year. but would require me to move. If I move it means my husband will be quitting a job where he makes 35k/ year (not a lot but keeps us afloat while I am in school). My SSHRC would have been what I needed to make moving realistic and ensure we were financially okay as my husband looked for a new job.

I did receive a scholarship to Law School -it does not cover all of it so I will still to take about 10k in debt for this year. Law school is like 3-4 times more than the PhD tuition sadly. However, my husband will not have to quit his job. I am thinking it may be more feasible to go to law school as I can stay where I am take some debt for tuition? I am considering deferring my PhD applications for a year while I attend law school as if I absolutely hate it, I can always do my PhD the year after  - also maybe next year I will have better SSHRC luck.

I am wanting to know roughly my chances of getting a SSHRC as if they are high I would not want to risk going to Law school and having the SSHRC offered to me but not be in a doctoral program.

 

Be sure to also look at the bursaries offered at the PhD school, because they can make up a bit while you re-apply for SSHRC.  Usually you need to do another application for the school (a short one) to get those, often right in the Fall to get bursary money by January.  I'm sure a big question for you is going to be which path will get you a job?  I don't know numbers but I believe there are quite a lot of unemployed people with law degrees, so you might want to check in your field and look at those stats as well and compare.  Good luck! 

[Swysan]

Hey everyone. Hope you're all keeping spirits up! This is definitely stressful.

I was waitlisted with a score of 11.7 for committee 3. Definitely hoping something will come through but in the meantime I'm going to try my best to move forward and put this out of my head.

[WKLP]

I'm really peeved at the lack of transparency. I mean, yes it's great to be waitlisted, but when you read about students applying with the same applications year after year and getting wildly different scores, and then you have no idea what your rank is on the waitlist, it feels a little too random for comfort or hope. They could at least publish data with ranks, cut-off scores and committees so that we could figure out if we had a chance in hell of getting a grant.

[elodie]

7 hours ago, NavIndWmn said:

I know no one can say for sure, but does anyone have any feedback on my likelihood of moving off the waitlist?  I believe I am in committee 3 and was waitlisted with a 12/20. I did email SSHRC today for my waitlist position, but I doubt they will tell me. I was also accepted in to Law School. The law school is where I currently live which means I would not have to move. The Phd I want to do accepted me and offered 22k/year. but would require me to move. If I move it means my husband will be quitting a job where he makes 35k/ year (not a lot but keeps us afloat while I am in school). My SSHRC would have been what I needed to make moving realistic and ensure we were financially okay as my husband looked for a new job.

I did receive a scholarship to Law School -it does not cover all of it so I will still to take about 10k in debt for this year. Law school is like 3-4 times more than the PhD tuition sadly. However, my husband will not have to quit his job. I am thinking it may be more feasible to go to law school as I can stay where I am take some debt for tuition? I am considering deferring my PhD applications for a year while I attend law school as if I absolutely hate it, I can always do my PhD the year after  - also maybe next year I will have better SSHRC luck.

I am wanting to know roughly my chances of getting a SSHRC as if they are high I would not want to risk going to Law school and having the SSHRC offered to me but not be in a doctoral program.

 

I also don't really know the answer to this, but just so everyone knows there is more than one "committee 3" or more than one committee for each listed committee. Example there is a Committee 3A and Committee 3B etc so that makes things a bit difficult to compare definitively since SSHRC is no longer letting us know these details or our rankings or our score breakdowns (or anything helpful for that matter). I'm Committee 3 with a low 10 and waitlisted, so it sounds like you're at the higher end of the waitlist, however we don't know which specific sub committee we are on. Also its good to remember that roughly 20% of all SSHRC applicants are waitlisted, and that's quite a lot (I'm guessing 450 people). I've seen old threads where someone was notified by SSHRC they were top 1 or top 10 on the waitlist, and it was mid fall and they still hadn't heard. 

Sorry you're in this position. My advice would be try and prioritize what type of career you want to have the most. Do you want to practice law or do you want to be a professor or some other Phd related field? If you really want to practice law it may be worth the investment. Good luck!  Also remember that universities aren't very forthcoming about funding packages when it comes to Phd's, they often have clawbacks on scholarships and you typically end up taking home less than what was advised (depending on the school).

[halfasleep]

Hey all-- I was waitlisted with 11.6 and emailed asking what committee I was evaluated in, and what position I am in on the committee and overall waitlist. The email back was very unhelpful and basically just repeated my questions back to me:

"Good afternoon,

 Thank you for your email.  Applications are reviewed by the committee selected by the applicant at the time of submission.

Applicants who are advised that their application has been recommended by the committee but not funded are placed on a waiting / recommended list. SSHRC uses these lists, which are committee specific, to offer awards as funds become available. Periodically, supplementary funds may become available as a result of declines of offered awards, interruptions of awards, early termination of previous awards, etc.  These factors make it complex to predict when or if a particular candidate is likely to secure funding during this competition cycle. Consequently, while SSHRC offers candidates with their relative score, SSHRC does not offer candidates their committee specific ranking.

 Should an award become available, SSHRC will contact the next eligible alternate candidate email.

 We thank you for your understanding."

If anyone is able to find out more information, let us know what your approach was! Seems ridiculous that they can't even tell us what committee our application was reviewed by.

[NavIndWmn]

On 5/13/2019 at 1:47 PM, halfasleep said:

Hey all-- I was waitlisted with 11.6 and emailed asking what committee I was evaluated in, and what position I am in on the committee and overall waitlist. The email back was very unhelpful and basically just repeated my questions back to me:

"Good afternoon,

 Thank you for your email.  Applications are reviewed by the committee selected by the applicant at the time of submission.

Applicants who are advised that their application has been recommended by the committee but not funded are placed on a waiting / recommended list. SSHRC uses these lists, which are committee specific, to offer awards as funds become available. Periodically, supplementary funds may become available as a result of declines of offered awards, interruptions of awards, early termination of previous awards, etc.  These factors make it complex to predict when or if a particular candidate is likely to secure funding during this competition cycle. Consequently, while SSHRC offers candidates with their relative score, SSHRC does not offer candidates their committee specific ranking.

 Should an award become available, SSHRC will contact the next eligible alternate candidate email.

 We thank you for your understanding."

If anyone is able to find out more information, let us know what your approach was! Seems ridiculous that they can't even tell us what committee our application was reviewed by.

That is word for word the email I received. I am assuming everyone who asks will get the same.

[TBay]

Well, award holders have until May 24th to accept or decline.  So no one is likely to start coming off the waitlist until June-July but there was at least one person who got off last year's waitlist as late as February/March this year, according to one thread.  I presume it is because of students leaving their program, probably at winter break.  This is how I would look at it: 938 awards were given.  If 2-3% decline then 18-28 more awards could come available (of course that could be lower or higher).  Since our SSRCH thread seems to indicate that awards started at  around the 12.7 - 12.8 range, it would seem to be reasonable to assume that those with scores of 12.5 and up have the best chance at being among the 18-28 awards that *might* come available.   Possibly some in the 12.3-12.4 range would have a good chance too.  It would just depend on the number of awards that come available and how many people are on the waitlist in the upper range.  It's possible they will tell you your position on the waitlist after May 24th when they see how many awards were declined.  I would check in again over the summer.  Also, check out last year's thread, as people commented when they got off the waitlist and some may have given their scores.  The numbers are likely similar this year.  Best of luck to all of you!!

[CHM35]

Waitlisted with a 12.3 in committee 2.  At this point, I hope it works out for me just so I don't have to apply again.