SSHRC 2011

[n31290]

Congrats all! Glad this thread is buzzing with good news!

[Lymrance]

Good news in Ottawa too - 18.5/30, which qualified me for an award in the "A category". Seemed like a low score to me, although I'll be in my first year of a PhD in September, so have no familiarity with the scoring process. Won a A Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral - three years of funding.

-won OGS and SSHRC at MA level

-two publications

-zero conference presentations(!)

-two RA-ships

-several internal scholarships during undergrad and at MA-level

-an undergraduate award for a paper

As Felan said, this is a bit of a SSHRC crap-shoot, so you just never know. Good luck to all...!

First -- Congratulations to all of you who received the awards! It must be a fantastic feeling to know all of your work and worry have paid off.

So far it looks like all of those who have received results so far have been in Toronto and Ottawa, right?

If anyone from further (much further, ideally) West receives any SSHRC news, please update the rest of us! I will do the same as soon as I hear anything.

Thanks, guys!

Edited April 26, 2011 by Lymrance

[avsilver]

No magic letter for me today (a Masters applicant in Waterloo). Hopefully by the end of week or early next week at the latest!

Congratulations to all of the successful applicants. What a relief that all of your hard work paid off and your waiting is over!

Edited April 26, 2011 by avsilver

[pomodoro]

bouncing off the walls! just received a doctoral CGS

some pertinent info:

- entering 2nd year PhD, no major external awards

- located in Toronto

- 10 presentations, no pubs

- 22.4/30

congrats to everyone else who was successful and good luck to those still waiting!

pomodoro

forgot to add, i also have held 1 ta-ship and 2 ra-ships

Edited April 26, 2011 by pomodoro

[Dave_WLU]

I'm also in Waterloo with an empty mailbox, but I'm actually not sure when the mailman comes. I'm hoping by the end of the day or by tomorrow!

[Pris]

Hi everyone,

I got my letter today (I'm in Toronto).

Score 17.8, got the CGS. I'll be starting my first year of PHD this fall.

Good luck to everyone!

[zhanghy]

waitlisted in Kingston with 18.3/30

tears................

no publication, no conference, no perfect GPA........

[Ludwig von Dracula]

I think I might be the first to report that I didn't receive an award. I am in Edmonton, so it is a bit surprising that I got the letter already. The postmark is April 21st.

My score was 16/30. Applying first time for doctoral awards, received a Master's SSHRC for this past year, one conference presentation (and a few grad conferences), no publications. 4.0 GPA and a number of awards/scholarships throughout grad school and undergrad. I just emailed them to ask if I'm on a waitlist, but they probably would have told me if I was. Although I wasn't totally depending on this for funding next year, I still really wanted it.

Best of luck to everyone who is still waiting to hear back. I think I'm going to go and try to buy some cheap Easter chocolate to soothe my wounded feelings...

EDIT: OK, not the first rejection after all. I took too long to whine about my sorrows

Edited April 26, 2011 by Ludwig von Dracula

[retirw]

wow so phd letters are arriving. good luck to everyone still waiting! Quick question - how does the scoring work? I always thought that applications were ranked by scores with the higher scores receiving the funding.

[wantingthatsshrc]

wow so phd letters are arriving. good luck to everyone still waiting! Quick question - how does the scoring work? I always thought that applications were ranked by scores with the higher scores receiving the funding.

Just a hypothesis, but I suspect you need a higher score to get the SSHRC funding than the CGS funding, even though the latter is worth more, because after 1st year PhD you cannot apply for it anymore.

[Ludwig von Dracula]

wow so phd letters are arriving. good luck to everyone still waiting! Quick question - how does the scoring work? I always thought that applications were ranked by scores with the higher scores receiving the funding.

I think you're mostly right, but it's the top-ranked persons within each of the five committees who get the awards. So even though Pris had a lower score than zhanghy overall, the average score to get an award in Pris's subsection must have been slightly lower than in zhanghy's--perhaps that committee marks harder, or has fewer applicants, or whatever.

[Lymrance]

I think I might be the first to report that I didn't receive an award. I am in Edmonton, so it is a bit surprising that I got the letter already. The postmark is April 21st.

My score was 16/30. Applying first time for doctoral awards, received a Master's SSHRC for this past year, one conference presentation (and a few grad conferences), no publications. 4.0 GPA and a number of awards/scholarships throughout grad school and undergrad. I just emailed them to ask if I'm on a waitlist, but they probably would have told me if I was. Although I wasn't totally depending on this for funding next year, I still really wanted it.

Best of luck to everyone who is still waiting to hear back. I think I'm going to go and try to buy some cheap Easter chocolate to soothe my wounded feelings...

EDIT: OK, not the first rejection after all. I took too long to whine about my sorrows

I'm sorry to hear that, Ludwig.

And wow, I'm not sure why your score was lower (though only by a few points, it seems) considering the other factors you mentioned. Do you have any ideas on what might have made the difference...? Sometimes it can help to at least have a reason. That way you know what to change for next year if you decide to apply again, right?

Anyways, seeking solace in chocolate sounds like a good plan!

[ajesusj]

Depends on the competition within your discipline. i.e. if the scoring is harsh in psychology then people with lower scores will be awarded grants (17/30) but in economics wif the scoring is high, people with high scores may not get the award (19/30).

[Ludwig von Dracula]

And wow, I'm not sure why your score was lower (though only by a few points, it seems) considering the other factors you mentioned. Do you have any ideas on what might have made the difference...? Sometimes it can help to at least have a reason. That way you know what to change for next year if you decide to apply again, right?

Hmmm...it might have been that I approached my proposal as a continuation to my application for the M.A. award...maybe they thought there wasn't enough "new" stuff there to study. Also, something fishy happened with one of my recommenders--I had to keep reminding him about the deadline, and it seemed like he was getting a bit ticked off about the whole thing. I doubt he would have written a bad letter, though. I'll ask my current advisor what he thinks I could have done better. From his experience, he told me not to expect much as a first-year doctoral applicant.

I'm not sure how the scoring works, but there has to be a cutoff somewhere, and I guess my proposal just wasn't quite what they were looking for. Ethnomusicology is also a weird field, because we have to try to decide if we should apply under "fine arts" or "anthropology," so our committee members might have very divergent ideas about approach and methodology. I chose "fine arts," in any case. For what it's worth, my proposal was substantially similar to what I wrote about in my Ph.D. applications, and I was fairly successful there (of course, the statement of purpose was only one part of the package).

Anyway, I could probably jabber on and on about "could have, should have," but I don't want to put a downer on others' happy news!

[catwoman_80]

Wow - dying to hear about MA now!!

[Dave_WLU]

Hmmm...it might have been that I approached my proposal as a continuation to my application for the M.A. award...maybe they thought there wasn't enough "new" stuff there to study. Also, something fishy happened with one of my recommenders--I had to keep reminding him about the deadline, and it seemed like he was getting a bit ticked off about the whole thing. I doubt he would have written a bad letter, though. I'll ask my current advisor what he thinks I could have done better. From his experience, he told me not to expect much as a first-year doctoral applicant.

I'm not sure how the scoring works, but there has to be a cutoff somewhere, and I guess my proposal just wasn't quite what they were looking for. Ethnomusicology is also a weird field, because we have to try to decide if we should apply under "fine arts" or "anthropology," so our committee members might have very divergent ideas about approach and methodology. I chose "fine arts," in any case. For what it's worth, my proposal was substantially similar to what I wrote about in my Ph.D. applications, and I was fairly successful there (of course, the statement of purpose was only one part of the package).

Anyway, I could probably jabber on and on about "could have, should have," but I don't want to put a downer on others' happy news!

I would take this with a grain of salt, but my adviser strongly advised me to not frame my proposal as a continuation of my masters research. She said that what happens is they read the proposal as if it is "a continuation of masters level research" rather than "PhD level research" which detracts from the weight of the research when applying for a PhD level award. I'm not saying that is the full reason, but it might have had somewhat of an impact. Maybe something to consider for next year!

[thepoorstockinger]

Got the letter today in a town just outside the GTA.

I was awarded a CGS (doctoral)... but unfortunately I didn't get into any of the schools to which I applied. Awkward discussion time.

I am in history and scored a 21.6, for what it is worth.

[rmckinnon]

Got the letter today in a town just outside the GTA.

I was awarded a CGS (doctoral)... but unfortunately I didn't get into any of the schools to which I applied. Awkward discussion time.

I am in history and scored a 21.6, for what it is worth.

Contact the schools and tell them that you have a CGS. They'll almost certainly admit you. You're not costing them funding AND you bring the prestige of the CGS.

[Lymrance]

Contact the schools and tell them that you have a CGS. They'll almost certainly admit you. You're not costing them funding AND you bring the prestige of the CGS.

Totally agree with this suggestion! I did this last year. I contacted a school to which I had not originally applied at the end of August (i.e. 2 weeks before the start of classes) and they admitted me -- almost certainly only because I held an MA SSHRC.

Go for it! If you play your cards right, I don't doubt you'll get into one of the schools you wanted.

[Ludwig von Dracula]

I would take this with a grain of salt, but my adviser strongly advised me to not frame my proposal as a continuation of my masters research. She said that what happens is they read the proposal as if it is "a continuation of masters level research" rather than "PhD level research" which detracts from the weight of the research when applying for a PhD level award. I'm not saying that is the full reason, but it might have had somewhat of an impact. Maybe something to consider for next year!

Thanks for the advice. I'm definitely thinking of moving to a new area of research for the Ph.D. (not just because of this, but also for more breadth and employability).

[retirw]

I think you're mostly right, but it's the top-ranked persons within each of the five committees who get the awards. So even though Pris had a lower score than zhanghy overall, the average score to get an award in Pris's subsection must have been slightly lower than in zhanghy's--perhaps that committee marks harder, or has fewer applicants, or whatever.

thanks! and good luck for next year's round

I was waitlisted last year at 19.7 -that proposal was framed as a continuation of my MA research as well. My supervisor seemed to think that was a strength, but I've heard conflicting views on that.

[thepoorstockinger]

Totally agree with this suggestion! I did this last year. I contacted a school to which I had not originally applied at the end of August (i.e. 2 weeks before the start of classes) and they admitted me -- almost certainly only because I held an MA SSHRC.

Go for it! If you play your cards right, I don't doubt you'll get into one of the schools you wanted.

This is the awkward conversations I was talking about.

I just e-mail my advisor - we had discussed this possibility before. The problem is that I only applied to a handful of American schools. So I have to make some decisions fast. I also have to decide if my health will even allow me to start a PhD in the fall - I may end up seeking a medical deferral.

Has anyone tried to get a medical deferral for SSHRC before? Any thoughts or tips?

[zhanghy]

oops....I guess that one of the major disadvantage for my application is that I continued my research topic for my MA research.

[wantingthatsshrc]

Just received the CGS going into second year phd in political science - score 17.4 - 4 conference presentations - no publications - A/A+ MA average.

I might be the happiest person on earth right now.

My sincerest condolences to anyone who got unlucky - we all know its a coin flip - all the best everyone!!!

Oh and it was sent to Aurora (near Toronto)

Edited April 26, 2011 by wantingthatsshrc

[Oggy]

Not only was there a large envelope in my mailbox, but there were two. Unfortunately, neither were related to SSHRC. I imagine I have some waiting to do being an MA student.