SSHRC CGS-D & Doctoral Fellowships 2024-2025

[Surrealist]

26 minutes ago, AB2222 said:

What do you mean by control group? I am also on the waiting list in the same committee and reached out to the email provided for a rank/cut off score. I got a response this morning saying they forwarded my inquiry to a Programme Officer.

I was making the statement based on a casual conversation. There's no hard evidence that we were part of a control group, so please don't consider this too seriously. Control groups are often used to make sure that selections remain fair.

I also emailed them for some clarity, but they haven't responded to me yet. I hope your program officer is able to give you some clearer answers than the documents.  

Sometimes a group might be selected to be evaluated based on a more rigid standard that is to be applied more generally to other groups. It's just to ensure standardization across the board. There would be less variabilities in selection criteria compared to other non-control groups. My friends and I were only discussing this because our committee's percentages aligned almost identically to the larger average of offered/unoffered. Of course, I could be completely wrong to assume that, but without clarity on the selection process, I don't think it hurts to consider what the selection process can look like. 

Committee 3E: 
Applications: 97
Offered: 41 (42.3%)
Not offered: 56 (57.7%)

Overall Results: 
Applications: 2201
Offered: 935 (42.5%)
Not offered: 1266 (57.5%)

Edited May 1 by Surrealist

[shsheen]

Looking at the statistics, it does seem like they decided to fund much less people compared to last year? Folks getting rejected with scores above 10 is just insane...

Edited May 1 by shsheen

[thisphdwillkillme]

27 minutes ago, impatientlylurking said:

I am so so sorry. I am not taking this well at all and had the exact same reaction. Got no sleep and really don't know what to do going forward.

I am so so sorry too for your suffering. Just know you are not alone in this experience. I know it does not offer any tangible relief for you, but getting recommended for funding is amazing. You should really be proud of yourself.

I do not know what I am going to do going forward either. Subconsciously I was holding onto SSHRC as a way forward. 

Edited May 1 by thisphdwillkillme

[juliamir]

Surname P, committee 2 here--trying really hard not to obsessively refresh the page. I know it'll probably be end of day or even tomorrow morning, depending when I go to bed. Hearing cutoffs above 10 is really stressful, and I'm so sorry to everyone who's heard a denial thus far--your work is worthwhile and important. The judgement of a faceless group of scholars who don't know you and have only seen impersonal documentation doesn't define your quality, and I hope that those who feel it's worth it will press on. And, for those who have received awards thus far: mazel tov! We're all in this together, rising tides, etc etc. I'm hoping for the best for all of us, regardless of results.

[britfitmeltfelt]

Committee 3, last name M

I received a waitlist letter from my university and nothing from z-fellowships. Is anyone else in the same boat? 
 

I am not sure how the waitlist works and if I should be anticipating an email from z-fellowships, or if I am allowed to claim OGS while on the SSHRC waitlist?

A whole new stress has been unlocked haha

[prettyhuge]

2 minutes ago, britfitmeltfelt said:

Committee 3, last name M

I received a waitlist letter from my university and nothing from z-fellowships. Is anyone else in the same boat? 
 

I am not sure how the waitlist works and if I should be anticipating an email from z-fellowships, or if I am allowed to claim OGS while on the SSHRC waitlist?

A whole new stress has been unlocked haha

I also received OGS. My supervisor told me to accept OGS anyways while waiting for SSHRC (because you can always decline OGS, if you do end up getting SSHRC). 

[thestressedone]

9 minutes ago, britfitmeltfelt said:

Committee 3, last name M

I received a waitlist letter from my university and nothing from z-fellowships. Is anyone else in the same boat? 
 

I am not sure how the waitlist works and if I should be anticipating an email from z-fellowships, or if I am allowed to claim OGS while on the SSHRC waitlist?

A whole new stress has been unlocked haha

What University?

[britfitmeltfelt]

Western University!

[britfitmeltfelt]

1 minute ago, thestressedone said:

What University?

Western University!

[Shannon1111]

Do the universities find out before we do? That would be strange! 

[Vf1]

got recommended for funding but SSHRC can't fund me.... beyond frustrating!

[pugluvz]

Just now, Vf1 said:

got recommended for funding but SSHRC can't fund me.... beyond frustrating!

ugh that's so frustrating, I'm sorry. did you hear directly from SSHRC or your university? are you in the L-Z last name group?

[Gretta Conroy]

wtf does recommended for funding mean then, if you don't get funded? haha. how frustrating!

[Vf1]

5 minutes ago, pugluvz said:

ugh that's so frustrating, I'm sorry. did you hear directly from SSHRC or your university? are you in the L-Z last name group?

SSHRC directly and my last name is F

[pugluvz]

3 minutes ago, Vf1 said:

SSHRC directly and my last name is F

Thanks for clarifying. If you were recommended for funding, does that mean you are on the waitlist? I'm hoping that since the federal budget mentioned an increased number of scholarships for SSHRC/NSERC/CIHR that more people may get off the waitlist this year. so frustrating either way! fingers crossed for you

[QuantumQuill]

1 hour ago, juliamir said:

Surname P, committee 2 here--trying really hard not to obsessively refresh the page. I know it'll probably be end of day or even tomorrow morning, depending when I go to bed. Hearing cutoffs above 10 is really stressful, and I'm so sorry to everyone who's heard a denial thus far--your work is worthwhile and important. The judgement of a faceless group of scholars who don't know you and have only seen impersonal documentation doesn't define your quality, and I hope that those who feel it's worth it will press on. And, for those who have received awards thus far: mazel tov! We're all in this together, rising tides, etc etc. I'm hoping for the best for all of us, regardless of results.

I was committee 2 and got it with a 9.77!

[FutureAssyriologist]

Guess we have another 4-5 hours to go for emails to start for L-Z…?

this has been… a journey so far

[Shannon1111]

9 minutes ago, FutureAssyriologist said:

Guess we have another 4-5 hours to go for emails to start for L-Z…?

this has been… a journey so far

How do you know they will be released in 4-5 hours? Is it an estimate based on yesterday or did you get an email? I have my candidacy exam tomorrow so this is not ideal. lol. I can't focus on prepping right now no matter how hard I try, and if I don't get funding my emotions will high (not in a good way), and that is going to make the exam even more challenging. Ugh....

[pseudoacademic]

I was one of the people who had the issue with CGS-D awards in the United States. I received the following from someone who had the problem last year. With their permission, I share it here:

 

" Yes, as the application directly to SSHRC (and I assume the other agencies) automatically is sent to the CGS-D and Doctoral Fellowship committees, I received results for both. The CGS-D is only able to be held at a Canadian institution, whereas the Doctoral Fellowship is anywhere. So the way my results were delivered ended up with an offer for the CGS-D (which I had to decline) and an offer for a Doctoral Fellowship (which I accepted and now hold in the USA). So, you likely have results from both and chances are that if you were accepted for a CGS-D then you did well with the Doctoral Fellowship, though I am sure there are different circumstances for both.

 

As I recall, my CGS-D results were in a file with the term "Results_Letter" in the name, whereas my Doctoral Fellowship results had "Notice_Decision" in the name. I can't recall whether there was any delay between getting these, but I downloaded them at essentially the same time so I wouldn't think they were too far apart.

 

I hope this helps, but feel free to message me back if you have more questions. Also, congratulations on the CGS-D! It is a great achievement, even if we need to enter it as 'declined' on our CVs (LOL)."

[burnside201]

3 hours ago, thisphdwillkillme said:

Thanks guys. My topic is a bit risky for current academia so I was half expecting it but I also just really thought there would be a chance because I really truly know it is such an important topic. Just feeling so discouraged. It is so dehumanizing to put your heart and soul into something you genuinely feel is so important and be rated out of 12 and dismissed. It honestly felt worse than my worst heartbreak last night haha. I have not cried like that in so long.

I did not even get wait list just a flat out hard no 

I'm truly so sorry to hear this. I'd love to hear about your thesis topic if you want to talk about it  cheering you on!

[burnside201]

Hi everyone, I still haven't heard back yet (last name U, committee 5). However just for fun, I thought I'd share my stats from last year to contextualize this. Last year my subcommittee was 3E

• research ability and potential: 9.6
• relevant experience: 10.21
• Total: 9.91/12; score of last funded application: 10.36/12
• Rank: 71/102
• applications: 102; fellowships offered: 49 (48%); fellowships not offered: 53 (52%)

As you can see, I didn't receive it with a 9.91, which is still quite high (it's just that the last funded score was higher at a 10.36). In fact, some people in other committees got it with less than 9.91 (some in the 9.7's) because the score of their committee's last funded application was lower. Okay my point of sharing this is to show that there is a subjective element or I guess you can say as much as they try to standardize the process, there may be some bias depending on the sub-committee you're in or who your evaluators were that day. I know it sucks, but maybe your research topic just resonated (or didn't resonate) for a certain person that day. I know it's disheartening but I totally believe all of your research projects are important and worthwhile, so please focus on that if you don't get it. (and if you did get it, I'm so proud of you!). Continuously cheering you all on!

[JB9797]

16 minutes ago, pseudoacademic said:

I was one of the people who had the issue with CGS-D awards in the United States. I received the following from someone who had the problem last year. With their permission, I share it here:

 

" Yes, as the application directly to SSHRC (and I assume the other agencies) automatically is sent to the CGS-D and Doctoral Fellowship committees, I received results for both. The CGS-D is only able to be held at a Canadian institution, whereas the Doctoral Fellowship is anywhere. So the way my results were delivered ended up with an offer for the CGS-D (which I had to decline) and an offer for a Doctoral Fellowship (which I accepted and now hold in the USA). So, you likely have results from both and chances are that if you were accepted for a CGS-D then you did well with the Doctoral Fellowship, though I am sure there are different circumstances for both.

 

As I recall, my CGS-D results were in a file with the term "Results_Letter" in the name, whereas my Doctoral Fellowship results had "Notice_Decision" in the name. I can't recall whether there was any delay between getting these, but I downloaded them at essentially the same time so I wouldn't think they were too far apart.

 

I hope this helps, but feel free to message me back if you have more questions. Also, congratulations on the CGS-D! It is a great achievement, even if we need to enter it as 'declined' on our CVs (LOL)."

Thanks for sharing this! I definitely do not have two different sets of documents, I've just received the zip file and two additional PDFs (Notice Decision and Notice Award), only mentioning CGS-D. Although from reading previous posts of years before, it seems that SSHRC just moves you to the SSHRC doctoral fellowship. It makes sense you'd automatically get it as CGS-D is considered higher grade.

They may also perhaps be waiting for info. from the gov't as this year, 2024-2025, everyone should just be getting $40K, no matter the award.

[thisphdwillkillme]

14 minutes ago, burnside201 said:

I'm truly so sorry to hear this. I'd love to hear about your thesis topic if you want to talk about it  cheering you on!

Thank you. My topic was the commodification of Indigenous medicines (ayahuasca) through healing retreats offered in North America and the prevalence of sexual misconduct allegations at these retreats. I won't go into detail because at this moment my passion is completely depleted on this topic and on life lol 

[ssnerd]

Does everyone with above a 10 score have publications? Feeling pretty nervous at the moment & hoping that my lack of publications won’t completely curb my chances. 🤞🏼🥺

[Shannon1111]

7 minutes ago, thisphdwillkillme said:

Thank you. My topic was the commodification of Indigenous medicines (ayahuasca) through healing retreats offered in North America and the prevalence of sexual misconduct allegations at these retreats. I won't go into detail because at this moment my passion is completely depleted on this topic and on life lol 

WOW! That is a fantastic topic that needs to be talked about more. Please try not to feel too discouraged - I know it is hard though. I am certain that this will be a successful research topic if you remain persistent. I personally would love to read your final dissertation when you are done.