SSHRC 2011 waitlist

[interdis]

Starting to get a little frustrated about not hearing anything regarding the waitlist... I was placed on the waitlist for a doctoral fellowship and have been told to sit by the mailbox every time I inquire about movement etc, has anyone else been able to squeeze any information from SSHRC about their placement on the list or happenings in general??

[jagerman]

I'm also waitlisted, and was told by SSHRC (back in May, when I inquired) that the cutoff for my section was 18.6, and my 18.5 put me first on the waiting list for my committee and sub-group. I have not heard anything from SSHRC since then, though I haven't inquired further. Extreme amounts of patience are apparently required with SSHRC.

[Canuckonomist]

Be ready to wait, my friends. I was first on my waitlist too and didn't hear back until mid-october. They pay you retroactively to september, but still, you might be in for a long haul. Some don't hear back until early January (getting two payments at once!)

My sympathies, but being first on the waitlist is a great place to be.

[interdis]

Yes you are definitely in a good spot, first on the list. When I spoke with someone there in may they informed me I was number 7 of 15 or so people in my subgroup, i dont remember exactly the cutoffs but it was around 18 as well. She said I should not give up hope by any means as there would be some movement, but prepare to go without... I really hope I dont end up getting it in the new year (though I would take it), because I started an OGS in May, and if they only retro pay to september i would be 5 big ones in the hole!

[Canuckonomist]

Yes you are definitely in a good spot, first on the list. When I spoke with someone there in may they informed me I was number 7 of 15 or so people in my subgroup, i dont remember exactly the cutoffs but it was around 18 as well. She said I should not give up hope by any means as there would be some movement, but prepare to go without... I really hope I dont end up getting it in the new year (though I would take it), because I started an OGS in May, and if they only retro pay to september i would be 5 big ones in the hole!

They might retro pay SSHRC to May if you started your OGS in May. It's also possible, too, that if they won't retro pay in may, you can start the award in september, and OGS might make you pay back only the Sept. one. I can't imagine that they'd require you to pay back the OGS for the months that you're not getting SSHRC. There are ways to negotiate, too. I wouldn't be surprised if you could set a January SSHRC start date, and only have to give up the January OGS. That would be $10,000 the other way, and a sweet Christmas/Hannukah/Non-descript-gift-giving-holiday present.

[Phalène]

Just wanted to add that I wasn't bumped up until Christmas eve, and I was also #1 on my waitlist (from SDF to CGS, though).

[canukulhead]

I’m confused. I received notice in May I had been waitlisted and assigned a rank of 14.8. I assumed 14.8 was way down the list so steeled myself for more poverty. Is it possible I misunderstood SSHRC’s cryptic ranking system? Do I still have a chance? Might I still receive the notice, even months from now? I’ve tried contacting SSHRC to find out where I am on the waitlist but haven’t been able to get answers. Does anyone know what the “cutoff” was (I was assessed by committee 7523 – geography) or have any guesses on where I might be on the waitlist? Are there any “good news” stories from people who have been waitlisted?

[jagerman]

Hi canukulhead, no news yet for me. I e-mailed the other day and got the low entropy reply "Sorry to say, there has been no movement on the waiting list.". Unfortunately this all means I have to screw around with a SSHRC 2012 application, even though being first on the waiting list means I have a decent chance of having the funding come through eventually. I'm not sure, however, whether the above means that there has been no movement on *any* waiting list, or just no movement on the waiting list for my section.

As for the cutoff, that is dependent on your committee and subgroup: the score appears to be used by SSHRC as an ordinal value rather than cardinal value: the only thing that matters is the number of people with scores higher than yours in your committee/subgroup. I asked in May about the cutoff for my area and position on the waitlist, and got a reply fairly quickly with both data.

[lewin]

I think "14.8" is a standardized score that ranges from 1 to 30.

[canukulhead]

Thanks for the reply, jagerman, albeit with not-so-good news. That you haven’t been "bumped" yet doesn’t bode well for me. Ah well, there’s always next year (#$@&!).

[canukulhead]

Oh, and I'm not so sure the waitlist order is only by sub-group. I read in this forum somewhere that eventually all the waitlisted people get "rolled together" into one waitlist, which means it's possible to go from 1^st on a subgroup waitlist to, say, 7^th on the “rolled up” list (I think someone said they went from 1^st to 8^th). Combining ordinal lists is problematic, of course, which suggests they likely use an interval scale.

For what it’s worth, I think you chances are still very good, jagerman. Wish I could say the same for me – deep sigh (but, on the bright side, my 2012 app is in, and I think it’s much stronger than last year).

[Andsowego]

Still on a waitlist here too (Education committee, PhD applicant, not my first time applying)... when I contacted SSHRC recently, I got nothing in the way of useful information. All they told me was "sorry, you're still on the waitlist" and refused to answer my specific questions about rankings. Other than the random score I received in my letter back in May, I have nothing else to go on. So, I re-applied all over again for 2012. I've pretty much given up hope by this point that anything will change, and if it does, I'll have to pay back the OGS (Ontario Grad Scholarship) that started back in September in order to accept SSHRC funding. So frustrating. We're almost back around to the point where I'll find out again from my uni if I was forwarded - again - to SSHRC. My university informs us via e-mail by mid-January.