NSERC PGS D 2021-2022

[PasserBy]

2 hours ago, ssethi25 said:

Asking for a friend -  if they have two years left in the program, are they able to apply for PGSD this upcoming fall for funding in their final year?

To be eligible to apply, an applicant must:

...

• have completed no more than 24 months of full-time study in their doctoral program by December 31 of the calendar year of application if previously enrolled in a master’s program
• have completed no more than 36 months of full-time study in their doctoral program by December 31 of the calendar year of application if enrolled in a joint program; for example, MD/PhD, MA/PhD
  • applicants who fall into this category have access to the 36-month window whether or not they were previously enrolled in a master’s program
• have completed no more than 36 months of full-time study in their doctoral program by December 31 of the calendar year of application if enrolled directly from a bachelor’s to a PhD program (with no time spent in a master’s program)
  • direct-entry applicants must be enrolled in their doctoral program at the time of application

 

https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/students-etudiants/pg-cs/cgsd-bescd_eng.asp#a4

[millisecond]

22 hours ago, Janexkz said:

I noticed that in the award letter they ask not to make any announcement until they make the official one. Do you guys know when that could be?

I noticed that too. I'd like to announce that I won on my twitter (and I see that many other people already have if you search for 'NSERC'), but I'm not sure if we're supposed to wait until they officially announce the results?

Edited April 30, 2021 by millisecond

[dyarch]

Last year their official announcement went out on June 19th.

I doubt there are any actual consequences for discussing your award publicly whenever you want, though.

[MaCar]

Hello, everyone, 

 

I followed the forum for a few days and thought that maybe my experience would be useful for some people. Yesterday, I was fortunate to received CGS-D confirmation (Geosciences committee 168). Last year (as an incoming student) I did not get anything, and I was actually pretty far down the ranking, so you can imagine that my hopes of getting anything this year were relatively low. 

For those interested in getting an idea of personal profiles, I had been working for 4 years after my M. Eng. and I had 4 papers (3 as a first author, 1 as the second author). I did my Masters at Polytechnique Montreal (3.92 GPA), and my undergrad at a small university in Latin America you will never find in any sort of ranking list.  However, my profile had not really changed this year from the previous year. So, what happened? 

Well, I am not sure how much each factor influenced the overall strength of my application, but here it goes: 

-       Changed committee, even though I am a civil engineer by training, I chose this time to go with the geoscience committee based on the specific area of application. 

-       Added more minor prizes and awards from previous programs, even those with no monetary value.

-       Really worked a lot on the proposal. I took a bunch of passes at it, with 5 people reading it with very substantial comments and changes.

-       My supervisor made several comments to the “previous contribution statement”. Beyond focusing on the merits of each paper/contribution on its own, she told me to try and link it as much as possible to my proposal. That involved cutting some parts that I liked, but in the end, it helps sell the argument “why are you the ideal person to carry out this project?”

I do not know how much the fact that I was already registered at the university influenced the outcome or not (i.e. applying as first year student as opposed to applying at the same time you apply for university admission). Nevertheless, given my experience, I think the actual quality of the proposal and supporting documents can play a much bigger role than the background profile (e.g.: number of peer reviewed papers, coming from a prestigious university, etc.). So, I would recommend working on making sure the different components of the application help sell the idea that you are the ideal candidate for your project, even if you feel your background profile is not the most flashy or impressive. Oh… and really, really, really work on the proposal. Conversely, a flashy profile does not guarantee anything and still needs work to make sure an application is cohesive and interesting.

I sincerely understand the disappointment many of you are experiencing (been there myself). I hope that my experience can help some of you perform better next year and hopefully get an award!

Have a good weekend!

[ssethi25]

I just found out I was waitlisted for OGS but got PGSD - shows how truly subjective these awards are.

[Janexkz]

2 minutes ago, ssethi25 said:

I just found out I was waitlisted for OGS but got PGSD - shows how truly subjective these awards are.

Same here. Got CGS-D but nothing offered for FRQNT.

[LonelyHunter]

2 hours ago, Janexkz said:

Same here. Got CGS-D but nothing offered for FRQNT.

Same too ! Got PGSD, waitlisted for OGS and nothing for FRQNT. Funny, at least we got the most prestigious one !

[Bob Caygeon]

Anybody else still waiting to hear on results? It's becoming frustrating at this point to still not know.

Edited April 30, 2021 by Bob Caygeon

[okyes]

37 minutes ago, Bob Caygeon said:

Anybody else still waiting to hear on results? It's becoming frustrating at this point to still not know.

Sorry to hear tha buddy. You should probably contact them at this point Or you can wait until the end of today to contact them.

Edited April 30, 2021 by okyes

[Maddy S]

57 minutes ago, Bob Caygeon said:

Anybody else still waiting to hear on results? It's becoming frustrating at this point to still not know.

I'm still waiting too! It's not just you...

[PasserBy]

On 4/29/2021 at 1:02 PM, Darshana Upadhyay said:

Would like to know your first three digits of original application code. Can you please share that?

Were you successful, Darshana? You were quite a prolific poster within this thread, also quite a good number of citations. You should share your experience if you'd like to. 

[PasserBy]

Anyone else? So odd that it seems like some people did not report their results , are people still missing theirs? 

 

I also was wondering if anyone has experience with PGS being upgraded to CGS (like Windows of time, how it was communicated). I can't reapply any more. But lets say I could, and I have PGSD already, can one apply again the following year's competition? 

[Darshana Upadhyay]

9 minutes ago, PasserBy said:

Were you successful, Darshana? You were quite a prolific poster within this thread, also quite a good number of citations. You should share your experience if you'd like to. 

Unfortunately, I didn't receive any. I was not 100% sure but really hopeful for this award. I personally feel this competition is more about how you convey your idea and how your proposal is valuable to the real world rather than publications. I have a very good number of papers published in good venues, however, I felt my research proposal might not up to the mark. My department notified me about this award before a week of the deadline (That time I first heard about CGS-D/PGS-D). And, hence I personally feel I couldn't get enough time to make it perfect. Moreover, I have also not focused more on my leadership skills/ extra-curricular activities, which is another part where I felt my application went down. Probably, these are some excuse but I am a strong believer in GOD's decision. I move forward with the hopes that something better is waiting for me. This experience will help me shape my PDF application. I wanted to share the same on the day of my results, but my daughter (she is in Grade 5) was upset with my result  And I was occupied making her happy... Wishing you all good luck! And I really enjoyed and learned so many new things from this forum. 

[PasserBy]

4 hours ago, Darshana Upadhyay said:

Unfortunately, I didn't receive any. I was not 100% sure but really hopeful for this award.

I am sorry to hear , Darshana. I am happy you took time to share. Thank you. Good luck on your future applications. 

[PasserBy]

On 4/30/2021 at 11:55 AM, Janexkz said:

Same here. Got CGS-D but nothing offered for FRQNT.

Same here!

[Walczyka]

Has anyone heard back with their rankings yet?

[PasserBy]

2 hours ago, Walczyka said:

Has anyone heard back with their rankings yet?

Won't be until June at the earliest. 

[bublik13]

Has anybody who accepted the PGS D award offer via email got some sort of response or confirmation? I sent an email over a week ago and got no confirmation. Tried to call the Scholarships and Fellowships division - it's all automated and the mailbox is full. Applied directly to NSERC, wish to hold the award in the USA. The deadline to make the decision is this Friday, according to the acceptance letter... 

[dyarch]

I got an email confirmation from someone at NSERC two days after I sent in my acceptance. Check your spam and email them again, I'd recommend.

[jburnz]

17 hours ago, bublik13 said:

Has anybody who accepted the PGS D award offer via email got some sort of response or confirmation? I sent an email over a week ago and got no confirmation. Tried to call the Scholarships and Fellowships division - it's all automated and the mailbox is full. Applied directly to NSERC, wish to hold the award in the USA. The deadline to make the decision is this Friday, according to the acceptance letter... 

I didn't get any kind of confirmation email. A few days later I emailed them back to ask for confirmation and then got an email saying:

"I will sending the information in the next couple of weeks."

 

Whatever that means...

[bublik13]

8 hours ago, jburnz said:

I didn't get any kind of confirmation email. A few days later I emailed them back to ask for confirmation and then got an email saying:

"I will sending the information in the next couple of weeks."

 

Whatever that means...

gotta love government employees and bureaucracy. Thanks for sharing that

[LonelyHunter]

Interesting. When I accepted mine, I got a confirmation in less than 10 hrs. Maybe that's because I asked for one ["please confirm the reception of this email"] or because I communicated in french. 

[ssethi25]

16 hours ago, LonelyHunter said:

Interesting. When I accepted mine, I got a confirmation in less than 10 hrs. Maybe that's because I asked for one ["please confirm the reception of this email"] or because I communicated in french. 

I got confirmation the next business day...

[KierDoyle]

Fellow waitlisters, looks like scores have been uploaded! 

 

Anyone know the cutoffs this year? 

[illuminatice]

On 6/12/2021 at 3:16 PM, KierDoyle said:

Fellow waitlisters, looks like scores have been uploaded! 

 

Anyone know the cutoffs this year? 

Interesting, I received a PGS-D, but my folder hasn't been updated with scores. Last updated with my result on April 27th. You received your scores/rankings? Was it uploaded to extranet, and if so, when?