SSHRC 2011

[linggirl]

avsilver: haha! seriously!

dear self: thanks for the sshrc doctoral awards update. i hope you're right! (although as mentioned in previous posts - there never seems to be a sshrc consensus. on anything. sigh... what i do know is that the committees met at a hotel here in ottawa WAY back at the end of february, so it certainly seems plausible that they could have something out by mid-april. fingers crossed!

[pomodoro]

linggirl, I can confirm that as well. At a reading group I attended at the beginning of March, one of the speakers teasingly lamented her involvement as a SSHRC committee member. She joked that her group was "locked" in an Ottawa hotel's basement over reading week. That would have taken place in late February, to be precise.

[transboundary]

linggirl, I can confirm that as well. At a reading group I attended at the beginning of March, one of the speakers teasingly lamented her involvement as a SSHRC committee member. She joked that her group was "locked" in an Ottawa hotel's basement over reading week. That would have taken place in late February, to be precise.

damn. all of this new insider info is making me hope SSHRC will actually meet its deadline this year. i wasn't going to do that this time. thanks for the SSHRC gossip all - it would be great if everything actually goes as advertised.

[zhanghy]

I am going crazy for checking this forum from time to time....I hope that we can get the results soon~~

[linggirl]

By the way - for all you MA SSHRC applicants who made the alternate list - don't give up hope! I was 8th (out of 8!) on my University's alternate list last year and got word in November that I had been awarded funding. I was told by my University's SSHRC people that I didn't stand a chance. Apparently they were wrong.

[wantingthatsshrc]

I emailed SSHRC yesterday asking very specific questions about the likelihood of meeting deadline and some other stuff for Doctoral, here's the reply I got from the anonymous SSHRC representative this morning:

"The applicants will be informed first by letter in the regular mail around mid to end of April. Letters might be going out next week. Their will be one score on the letters."

Hope this doesn't cause more anxiety than relief to my fellow competitors... good luck everyone!!!!!!

Edited April 12, 2011 by wantingthatsshrc

[Lymrance]

I emailed SSHRC yesterday asking very specific questions about the likelihood of meeting deadline and some other stuff for Doctoral, here's the reply I got from the anonymous SSHRC representative this morning:

"The applicants will be informed first by letter in the regular mail around mid to end of April. Letters might be going out next week. Their will be one score on the letters."

Hope this doesn't cause more anxiety than relief to my fellow competitors... good luck everyone!!!!!!

Too late. I am beyond the point of anxiety and into the stage of frantic nail-biting.

Thanks for posting! I think we've seen enough posts by this point to suggest that this year we may indeed find out sooner rather than later.

Great user name, btw.

[wantingthatsshrc]

I hear ya Lymrance... it's torture. I've gone over my proposal so many times in my head that I think I could deliver it as a speech without forgetting a single word... it sometimes feels like I've put everything on red and am now watching the roulette wheel spin. I guess the true test of character is what you do if it lands on black

[catwoman_80]

I never thought I'd say this, especially not with three in four days, but it's *almost* like final exams are a wanted distraction. I also think I have a while to go yet, as it appears from today's postings that PhD will be out before MA.

I hear ya Lymrance... it's torture. I've gone over my proposal so many times in my head that I think I could deliver it as a speech without forgetting a single word... it sometimes feels like I've put everything on red and am now watching the roulette wheel spin. I guess the true test of character is what you do if it lands on black

Edited April 13, 2011 by catwoman_80

[Lymrance]

I emailed SSHRC yesterday asking very specific questions about the likelihood of meeting deadline and some other stuff for Doctoral, here's the reply I got from the anonymous SSHRC representative this morning:

"The applicants will be informed first by letter in the regular mail around mid to end of April. Letters might be going out next week. Their will be one score on the letters."

Hope this doesn't cause more anxiety than relief to my fellow competitors... good luck everyone!!!!!!

Ok, I decided to email SSHRC this evening, too. I figure duplicates of the same answer will only make us feel better at this point.

I'll post when I hear from them.

[Lymrance]

Here is the response from SSHRC I received just a few minutes ago (this is a direct copy & paste):

Description : FW SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship Results 2011

Dear ___________,

We are pleased to inform you that your request has been completed.

Resolution:

Hi,

The Doctoral results will be mailed near the end of April 2011.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Fellowships and Institutional Grants Division, quoting the reference number above.

Thank you,

Fellowships and Institutional Grants Division

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Fellowships@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca

Edited April 13, 2011 by Lymrance

[dear self]

Thanks for posting your responses wantingthatsshrc and linggirl (and for the insider information linggirl and pomodoro)! Linggirl - what is going on with that response? What has been completed? What was your question to them?

[n31290]

I just emailed re: the Master's competition, will post if I hear a response

[catwoman_80]

Please do! They must be pretty tired of fielding calls and emails (I called too), although likely used to it by this point, and also a good impetus for them to get moving!

I just emailed re: the Master's competition, will post if I hear a response

[n31290]

Please do! They must be pretty tired of fielding calls and emails (I called too), although likely used to it by this point, and also a good impetus for them to get moving!

I will. It's really the conflicting information that everyone's getting that made me do it. So hopefully we'll get one more response to add to our pile.

The fact that the OGS pushed their notification date to "early May 2011" is making me antsier for SSHRC information. I'm a direct applicant too, so I haven't had much to go on!

[dear self]

A friend of mine called the doctoral office again just before 4.30, and was told that the letters for the doctoral awards will start being mailed next week and will continue until the end of April, and that the MA letters will start being mailed out at the end of April and will continue into early May. So perhaps the letters will come out in waves this year instead of all on one day as per the old system.

[linggirl]

Hey dear self - no problem! It's nice to be a part of this supportive community. I wasn't one of the ones who emailed SSHRC though...so nothing to report on that front.

Thanks for posting your responses wantingthatsshrc and linggirl (and for the insider information linggirl and pomodoro)! Linggirl - what is going on with that response? What has been completed? What was your question to them?

[dear self]

Yikes - sorry linggirl! I mixed your screen name up with lymrance's!

Hey dear self - no problem! It's nice to be a part of this supportive community. I wasn't one of the ones who emailed SSHRC though...so nothing to report on that front.

[n31290]

Response to my inquiry about when we should hear the Master's results:

Hi,

The results should be mailed near the end of April or beginning

of May 2011.

seems like we're all hearing about the same thing right now?

Edited April 15, 2011 by n31290

[catwoman_80]

Except for the beginning of May bit - that's new! And disappointing! But apparently to be expected...

Response to my inquiry about when we should hear the Master's results:

seems like we're all hearing about the same thing right now?

[dear self]

End of April/beginning of May for the masters award. Next week to the end of April for the PhD. I think that's pretty consistent information.

Edited April 15, 2011 by dear self

[ChanEcon]

This probably doesn't help, but MA candidates shouldn't worry. If you've made it this far, odds are you're going all the way. I think the reason why SSHRC doesn't provide any "success rates" for MA candidates is that it would be very close to 100%, which would probably unrightfully diminish the glamour of the scholarship. It would be interesting to know how many students apply at the university level, and don't make it to the national competition, but at this point, it's not all that relevant. Enjoy the nice weather!

[n31290]

This probably doesn't help, but MA candidates shouldn't worry. If you've made it this far, odds are you're going all the way. I think the reason why SSHRC doesn't provide any "success rates" for MA candidates is that it would be very close to 100%, which would probably unrightfully diminish the glamour of the scholarship. It would be interesting to know how many students apply at the university level, and don't make it to the national competition, but at this point, it's not all that relevant. Enjoy the nice weather!

I'm a direct applicant so I unfortunately can't take comfort in this! But I will stop waiting for this or the OGS results until the end of the month. Good luck to all of us!

[ChanEcon]

I don't know how it works for the MAs, but a letter is sent around the end of February to PhD students applying on their own (it was my case last year). They are either forwarded to the national competition or not. I would presume that the same procedure applies to MA candidates applying on their own. If you have received that letter, you're now in the national competition, and you'll be treated like candidates applying through their university. The "don't worry" applies.

Maybe there aren't that many candidates applying on their own. I can only think of two cases: 1) You've taken a sabbatical between your undergrad and your MA or 2) You're now at a foreign university applying for an MA at a Canadian university. In that sense, it wouldn't be worthwhile to have a pre-selection. Maybe somebody has some inside information on this matter.

Not waiting for the results is always the best strategy. But is it time-consistent? Canuck can answer this if he's still around...

[paperweights_]

I was a direct applicant last year for the Masters award. After I submitted my application I didn't hear anything- at all- until I got a letter in the mail in late May letting me know I had been chosen. So, if nothing has changed from last year, direct applicants are totally in the dark until official confirmation. At this point there's nothing you can do to change the result so it's probably best to attempt to distract yourself and not obsess.

I don't know how it works for the MAs, but a letter is sent around the end of February to PhD students applying on their own (it was my case last year). They are either forwarded to the national competition or not. I would presume that the same procedure applies to MA candidates applying on their own. If you have received that letter, you're now in the national competition, and you'll be treated like candidates applying through their university. The "don't worry" applies.

Maybe there aren't that many candidates applying on their own. I can only think of two cases: 1) You've taken a sabbatical between your undergrad and your MA or 2) You're now at a foreign university applying for an MA at a Canadian university. In that sense, it wouldn't be worthwhile to have a pre-selection. Maybe somebody has some inside information on this matter.

Not waiting for the results is always the best strategy. But is it time-consistent? Canuck can answer this if he's still around...