NSERC C/PGSD 2020-2021

[Walczyka]

5 minutes ago, Wallberg said:

Made an account just to vent about my results.

Committee 198. 2 first author papers, a handful more non-first-author papers, a couple of research patents, 4.0 GPA, university research excellence grants (<5% acceptance rate among eligible selected applicants), multidisciplinary work that has very clear upside potential, etc. etc., I have no clue what could possibly be wrong with my application.

Both scores in the low 40's, rank not even above 120/166, far from even the waitlist.

This was my last chance, too. I'm still waiting for a provincial grant but I'm not exactly hopeful. I would like to believe the problem is how I wrote my proposal, but I got checked by a past winner who thoroughly checked and approved everything, and they're not releasing comments so it's hard to tell where the weaknesses are and how to improve them (though that's no longer an option), if that's even possible (I sent an email to request the comments as they suggested in the results letter at least).

I'm especially worried about how much it will impact future prospects (post-doc and professorship). Looking at the profiles of young professors and of random postdocs in my and similar labs, they all have in common some form of government research grant awarded during their PhD and I have heard from the people I asked that these things matter a ton. While I'm at a good school, it's no Stanford (or UofT for that matter), so competition ought to be even worse at more interesting labs. I don't know what to do and I'm wondering if it's even worth completing my degree anymore.

It is 10000000% still worth completing your degree. You are CLEARLY so so so capable. You have so many other things to be proud of and 198 is Comp Sci right?! Its a tough area to be in, remember that even if you didnt get it, being forwarded to this level still puts you with the top 5-10% of people in your cohort!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know things look grim right now, but take tonight to grieve and be sad, and use this as motivation for the future. I believe in you and I'm proud of all your accomplishments listed and MORE!

[Wallberg]

Just now, rejected_ubc said:

Though I don't think it's all that hard to find things to improve with a little introspection.  

I thought so too, but when there's no change in score whatsoever after improving most metrics and rewriting half the documents AND getting a past winner to check everything thoroughly, clearly there's some magic going on and I'd love to receive a little hint.
 

 

1 minute ago, Walczyka said:

I know things look grim right now, but take tonight to grieve and be sad, and use this as motivation for the future.

Thanks for the kind words, but I feel like this game is all about what checkboxes you can tick, not what you can do and how good you are. Being in the top 10% is great but neither enough nor supported by any leftover documents for those who didn't get the grant. Additionally, when the acceptance rate is 25%-33% and you still don't make it, it looks rather bad, looking into the future 2-4-6 years.

Congratulations to those who could make it, though. It's a great achievement and you're bound to go far!

[StructIntern]

43 minutes ago, Wallberg said:

Made an account just to vent about my results.

Committee 198. 2 first author papers, a handful more non-first-author papers, a couple of research patents, 4.0 GPA, university research excellence grants (<5% acceptance rate among eligible selected applicants), multidisciplinary work that has very clear upside potential, etc. etc., I have no clue what could possibly be wrong with my application.

Both scores in the low 40's, rank not even above 120/166, far from even the waitlist.

This was my last chance, too. I'm still waiting for a provincial grant but I'm not exactly hopeful. I would like to believe the problem is how I wrote my proposal, but I got checked by a past winner who thoroughly checked and approved everything, and they're not releasing comments so it's hard to tell where the weaknesses are and how to improve them (though that's no longer an option), if that's even possible (I sent an email to request the comments as they suggested in the results letter at least).

I'm especially worried about how much it will impact future prospects (post-doc and professorship). Looking at the profiles of young professors and of random postdocs in my and similar labs, they all have in common some form of government research grant awarded during their PhD and I have heard from the people I asked that these things matter a ton. While I'm at a good school, it's no Stanford (or UofT for that matter), so competition ought to be even worse at more interesting labs. I don't know what to do and I'm wondering if it's even worth completing my degree anymore.

Again this speaks volumes about the cut-throat nature of competition in your committee. With this kinda stats, you are a shoe in for PGS-D in smaller committees. I would say you even have a shot for CGS-D. I can assure you that post-doc and professorship don't care a single bit about scholarship record. Publication is the key among other things like teaching experience and the ability to get grant money. But again, in your field, the competition can be cut throat like you said .... 

Wait a minute, I just realized you are in Comp Sci ??? To hell with NSERC lol......you have a long list of accomplished ppl in your field without even an undergrad  degree let alone PhDs......

 

??

Edited April 17, 2020 by StructIntern

[Crawn]

3 hours ago, Wilton said:

Yep, it says "your application will remain on a short-list of alternates."

Just wish I knew how short!

In the same boat. Hard to put it out of your mind!

Does anyone know how often shortlisted people actually get the awards? I'm just not sure whether it's worth me keeping an eye on things since I didn't get an email when the files were posted to my account.

[neuroMD]

2 minutes ago, Crawn said:

In the same boat. Hard to put it out of your mind!

Does anyone know how often shortlisted people actually get the awards? I'm just not sure whether it's worth me keeping an eye on things since I didn't get an email when the files were posted to my account.

I wouldn't focus on it until after May 7 (the deadline to accept/decline an award). Having looked through this thread previously, I know that I and a couple of other people are declining our awards, so there is definitely still hope! Please don't stress over it though for the time being, it'll make you go crazy (and we need you functioning on all gears so that you can do your amazing research ) 

[Genes129]

My results finally got posted. I had sort of given up with how long I was waiting for the results so I wasn't surprised that I wasn't successful. However, I was a little surprised to see how poorly I had done, although it was my first time applying. I agree that the feedback form is more or less useless. I plan to apply again next year, but with the 'feedback' given im a little unsure on how to improve. I just received a full ride scholarship thats fairly prestigious and only a given to one applicant so im sort of confused with the discrepancy here.

[StructIntern]

16 hours ago, Genes129 said:

My results finally got posted. I had sort of given up with how long I was waiting for the results so I wasn't surprised that I wasn't successful. However, I was a little surprised to see how poorly I had done, although it was my first time applying. I agree that the feedback form is more or less useless. I plan to apply again next year, but with the 'feedback' given im a little unsure on how to improve. I just received a full ride scholarship thats fairly prestigious and only a given to one applicant so im sort of confused with the discrepancy here.

I heard the competition in health/biology side of things is quite random. They literally throw applications up in the air and pick the ones that land on the floor first.....

[dana.and.monsters]

On 4/1/2020 at 2:28 AM, CarefreeWritingsontheWall said:

I don't even see that - just that the current version of my CV has been verified. :S Perhaps I wasn't eligible? Who knows. Will be watching my mail (and having a friend check my mail in the US). Yay for waiting!

I have the same thing in mine! I applied independently/not through a Canadian institution as I am a Canadian citizen already studying abroad. Have you heard anything from SSHRC? I know the SSHRC CGS-M was awarded earlier this week. Any word from any PGS-D applicants?

Thanks!

[cm1234]

On 4/17/2020 at 6:18 PM, Wallberg said:

Made an account just to vent about my results.

Committee 198. 2 first author papers, a handful more non-first-author papers, a couple of research patents, 4.0 GPA, university research excellence grants (<5% acceptance rate among eligible selected applicants), multidisciplinary work that has very clear upside potential, etc. etc., I have no clue what could possibly be wrong with my application.

Both scores in the low 40's, rank not even above 120/166, far from even the waitlist.

This was my last chance, too. I'm still waiting for a provincial grant but I'm not exactly hopeful. I would like to believe the problem is how I wrote my proposal, but I got checked by a past winner who thoroughly checked and approved everything, and they're not releasing comments so it's hard to tell where the weaknesses are and how to improve them (though that's no longer an option), if that's even possible (I sent an email to request the comments as they suggested in the results letter at least).

I'm especially worried about how much it will impact future prospects (post-doc and professorship). Looking at the profiles of young professors and of random postdocs in my and similar labs, they all have in common some form of government research grant awarded during their PhD and I have heard from the people I asked that these things matter a ton. While I'm at a good school, it's no Stanford (or UofT for that matter), so competition ought to be even worse at more interesting labs. I don't know what to do and I'm wondering if it's even worth completing my degree anymore.

Unfortunately I think it is just the competition. I am in your committee and I got a CGS, I can only speculate what got me that score considering I was so low last year - I had a reference from a university different from mine, which my supervisor speculates helped a lot. I’ve also served on conference organizing and program committees which I highlighted this year. I am at UofT but I don’t think school matters. My proposal did not change HEAVILY between the two years. I did get to add a bunch of pubs, only one IEEE first author pub though. I have workshop and poster papers though. I also did have a lot of collaboration. Maybe the ability to collaborate and disseminate research matters a lot? It may just be the research topic too.

Im really sorry to hear, I’d ask to read the actual written feedback - I may ask for my feedback too just to be able to give advice to other people in the future.

 

Edit: Also OFCOURSE complete your degree! As someone said, you’re in the top 5-10% of your cohort for even making it to the federal level. I don’t think government grants really mean anything if you are a good researcher for your future. Grants are all about the game. Maybe the person who reviewed you just didn’t lie your research. It’s the same with pubs. Some reviewers have shitty days and shitty reviews. It’s not a sign of your capabilities as a researcher.

Edited April 18, 2020 by cm1234

[labcoat777]

On 4/17/2020 at 4:18 PM, Wallberg said:

Made an account just to vent about my results.

Committee 198. 2 first author papers, a handful more non-first-author papers, a couple of research patents, 4.0 GPA, university research excellence grants (<5% acceptance rate among eligible selected applicants), multidisciplinary work that has very clear upside potential, etc. etc., I have no clue what could possibly be wrong with my application.

Both scores in the low 40's, rank not even above 120/166, far from even the waitlist.

This was my last chance, too. I'm still waiting for a provincial grant but I'm not exactly hopeful. I would like to believe the problem is how I wrote my proposal, but I got checked by a past winner who thoroughly checked and approved everything, and they're not releasing comments so it's hard to tell where the weaknesses are and how to improve them (though that's no longer an option), if that's even possible (I sent an email to request the comments as they suggested in the results letter at least).

I'm especially worried about how much it will impact future prospects (post-doc and professorship). Looking at the profiles of young professors and of random postdocs in my and similar labs, they all have in common some form of government research grant awarded during their PhD and I have heard from the people I asked that these things matter a ton. While I'm at a good school, it's no Stanford (or UofT for that matter), so competition ought to be even worse at more interesting labs. I don't know what to do and I'm wondering if it's even worth completing my degree anymore.

like what everyone else says: you sound highly capable and it could just be bad luck with committee members. with that being said, i think your shortcoming may have been in the proposal because your accomplishments sound super good!  i have a decent amount of insight into the proposal review process (how to write one, participated in a review panel, how ranking works, etc) and I also read 3 successful proposals (2 nserc, 1 nsf) to give me a flavor of what to expect. i probably put the most effort into the proposal out of the whole application (although I did get 2 good journal pubs in undergrad- 2nd and 3rd author). i got ranked 5/6 for the research potential and got a pgsd (i'm a 1st year at a US school). it's unfortunate that you can't apply for this award again but writing a good proposal is going to be a skill you need to carry forth anyways. if you need any help with this, i'd be happy to read yours and give u feedback for the future! 

[Genes129]

On 4/18/2020 at 3:15 PM, StructIntern said:

I heard the competition in health/biology side of things is quite random. They literally throw applications up in the air and pick the ones that land on the floor first.....

oh wow, I love that ?

[Gemma_G]

I request written feedback but was told that there wasn't any...They said I could see the "report on the applicant" but that seems like a violation of my referee's privacy.

[delf4660]

On 4/17/2020 at 4:12 PM, Walczyka said:

Commitee 187 - just in, Rank 109/227. Seems like I'm waitlisted. Anyone know what the cutoff was?

commitee 187 and i ranked 108/227 (so i guess we're neighbours?) I was going to ask how you know you're shortlisted. My application also says "your application will remain on a short-list of alternates" but how do we know they don't say that to everyone? 

Anybody willing to share their scored in each section? I received 64 in research and 48 in experience and I'm trying to build a gauge on whether i need to improve in both sections or just one (I don't want to change my application next year so much so where i compromise my research mark to improve my experience mark). 

[GPCRy]

19 hours ago, delf4660 said:

commitee 187 and i ranked 108/227 (so i guess we're neighbours?) I was going to ask how you know you're shortlisted. My application also says "your application will remain on a short-list of alternates" but how do we know they don't say that to everyone? 

Anybody willing to share their scored in each section? I received 64 in research and 48 in experience and I'm trying to build a gauge on whether i need to improve in both sections or just one (I don't want to change my application next year so much so where i compromise my research mark to improve my experience mark). 

You do not need to change your application to the point where you compromise one section or the other. You just have to gain more experience and get more publications. Also keep in mind that those scores are relative to everyone else and could vary widely just depending on who else you are up against. For reference, I am in 187 and had 89 for research and 73 for experience.

[Walczyka]

On 4/20/2020 at 2:46 PM, delf4660 said:

commitee 187 and i ranked 108/227 (so i guess we're neighbours?) I was going to ask how you know you're shortlisted. My application also says "your application will remain on a short-list of alternates" but how do we know they don't say that to everyone? 

Anybody willing to share their scored in each section? I received 64 in research and 48 in experience and I'm trying to build a gauge on whether i need to improve in both sections or just one (I don't want to change my application next year so much so where i compromise my research mark to improve my experience mark). 

Hello neighbour! Please do let me know if you end up receiving an award Some people said that they got flat out rejected (didnt have that last line about remaining on a short list of alternates. I have a friend that I think was ranked 121st and it included that line. I think probably close to 100 people got it, and about to 125 is waitlist. Again just speculation from my advisor from his past experiences. 

I was ranked 55 in research potential (I have one second author paper and one paper under review where I'm in the middle of the pack), and a 57 in experience. Highly frustrated with the experience category as I am extremely involved in my department from helping build a new lab intensive neuroscience course to being the president of the graduate student council. Just never seems like enough

[Andy50319]

I have sent an email to confirm my acceptance, but they have no reply yet....is anyone going through the same thing?

 

 

[michmar]

2 hours ago, Andy50319 said:

I have sent an email to confirm my acceptance, but they have no reply yet....is anyone going through the same thing?

 

 

I confirmed my acceptance Monday and have not heard anything back, just an automated email saying that they were busy! I'm sure they're dealing with them, but just too bogged down to get back to us right away  

[Genes129]

On 4/22/2020 at 10:18 AM, Andy50319 said:

I have sent an email to confirm my acceptance, but they have no reply yet....is anyone going through the same thing?

 

 

I emailed them just before midnight on the 16th because I was in the 187 committee and was among the people that didn't get their results. They only got back to me yesterday asking if I had received my notification letter. So it seems they're fairly backed up. 

[StructIntern]

On 4/20/2020 at 12:46 PM, delf4660 said:

commitee 187 and i ranked 108/227 (so i guess we're neighbours?) I was going to ask how you know you're shortlisted. My application also says "your application will remain on a short-list of alternates" but how do we know they don't say that to everyone? 

Anybody willing to share their scored in each section? I received 64 in research and 48 in experience and I'm trying to build a gauge on whether i need to improve in both sections or just one (I don't want to change my application next year so much so where i compromise my research mark to improve my experience mark). 

I had similar experience scores...with similar activities....donno what I can do to improve during the summer before my next chance to re-apply. 

[StructIntern]

On 4/21/2020 at 2:22 PM, Walczyka said:

Hello neighbour! Please do let me know if you end up receiving an award Some people said that they got flat out rejected (didnt have that last line about remaining on a short list of alternates. I have a friend that I think was ranked 121st and it included that line. I think probably close to 100 people got it, and about to 125 is waitlist. Again just speculation from my advisor from his past experiences. 

I was ranked 55 in research potential (I have one second author paper and one paper under review where I'm in the middle of the pack), and a 57 in experience. Highly frustrated with the experience category as I am extremely involved in my department from helping build a new lab intensive neuroscience course to being the president of the graduate student council. Just never seems like enough

Similar scores in experience...with similar activities...donno what I can do during the short summer to reinvent the universe.....

Btw...the waitlist seems overly long...I mean do you seriously expect 25 people to turn it down ???

Edited April 26, 2020 by StructIntern

[linganth_]

Anthro here. Still haven’t heard about CGS-D. Nobody in my dept has...we are all eagerly awaiting our letter. Wishing they would just send an email like they do for CGS-M, but alas. Seems like my institution’s other social science departments haven’t received much (if any) notifications either. 

[AlphaBetta 12]

Hey everyone, 

I'm a bit late on this, but I sent an email to NSERC to accept my award and ask for feedback. Unfortunately, I was told that there was no feedback from the reviewers, I honestly thought we would receive something based on what a friend told me (they were awarded NSERC in the previous year). Either, I must of misinterpreted what they said or maybe things must have been different during the previous years. I would like to apologize for repeatedly mentioning in my posts that we should expect to receive feedback, I was spreading misinformation.

This is probably going to be cheesy but, once, again congrats to the winners of CGS/PGS-D, and for the people who weren't awarded, please don't let the rejection bring you down and define you as a researcher/student. There's a reason why your applications made it out of your university, all of you should be proud of what you've have down/are going to do. Many students already assume that they won't get NSERC and never apply, so the fact that you tried, shows how much you believe in yourselves. If any of you are eligible please apply for the scholarship again (and many others of course), and seek out help (which you've all have done already), if anyone wants feedback/help on next year's application, shoot me a message in the future, I'm willing to help. It was nice waiting/stressing over the results with all of you, good luck on your future endeavors.

[AlphaBetta 12]

On 4/29/2020 at 5:26 PM, linganth_ said:

Anthro here. Still haven’t heard about CGS-D. Nobody in my dept has...we are all eagerly awaiting our letter. Wishing they would just send an email like they do for CGS-M, but alas. Seems like my institution’s other social science departments haven’t received much (if any) notifications either. 

Have you sent an email to NSERC?

[charlink]

Does anyone know if NSERC PGS-D can be used in a master program? After master program, it will follow a PHD.