SSHRC

[psyched]

I know that SSHRC for the master's award come out in spring, but does anyone know when exactly that would be April, May?

[ec86]

Not sure about SSHRC, but I can tell you NSERC comes out mid-March. CIHR comes out in July sometime because of their much later application deadline.

[thepoorstockinger]

Last year it was early to mid April for the MA awards I believe. I just got the e-mail telling me that my application was forwarded this week.

[jackassjim]

Last year it was early to mid April for the MA awards I believe. I just got the e-mail telling me that my application was forwarded this week.

That's right. Mid-april

[thepoorstockinger]

I know that in previous years if you were forwarded from your home institution you were basically ensured of getting a SSHRC, but given the uncertainty around the new federal budget it's going to be really interesting (and potentially terrifying) to see how this shakes down.

[dramanda]

According to: http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/site/winnin ... s_2008.xls approximately 61% of applications that were forwarded by the home institution (A List) were successful in the doctoral fellowship competition. The same information doesn't seem to exist for master's level fellowships, but from my understanding it is markedly higher.

I don't get the impression that funding will be affected this year, as the money has likely already been set aside for SSHRC 2009-2010 in previous budgets. However, future years may be affected. For example, there was a petition started by an NDP MP because Harper had a line in his budget asking that

[thepoorstockinger]

There is no link to it on the website but I changed a word in the URL and found last year's MA results: http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/site/winning-recherche_subventionnee/stats-statistiques/masters_2008.xls

It seems to imply that every MA application that was forwarded by the home institution was given a SSHRC last year, but there is no clear indication one way or another.

(and yes - the business related degree stuff was what I was referencing when I mentioned the budget)

[dramanda]

I don't think those tables imply that 100% of MA applicants who are forwarded by their institution are successful in their SSHRC bid. The PhD and MA tables are showing very different things. The PhD tables have a "success rate" column, which indicates, of the applications forwarded by the home institution, approximately 61% were successful in 2008-2009. There is no such information on the table you linked to for MA fellowships. All the "100%" on the MA tables means is that if you add up the success rate of each institution, it totals 100%, which makes sense.

I think the info I got from my institution's writing clinic was that it was somewhere between 80% and 90% for the MA level, depending upon the year.

[thepoorstockinger]

The number awarded from last year match up perfectly with the allotments from last year of at least three schools.

The indication I have had from everyone I've talked to is that the CGS for MA students is basically decided by home institutions with SSHRC just making sure nothing strange happened (i.e. someone with a 3.2 getting forwarded as a result of no one else applying) and I've never actually heard of anyone getting rejected after forwarding. I am, perhaps incorrectly, assuming that the fact that SSHRC didn't see fit to provide a success rate on the second table indicates something. (of course I am probably cursing my chances here)

Either way, I do agree with your first question: It is frustrating that you can't be 100% sure about SSHRC (or OGS) until well after you already have to accept or decline offers from schools. I had to separate spread sheets to figure out money - one with each school's offer including a SSHRC, one with each school's offer without a SSHRC. It's a silly system, you'd think they'd be able to change the time lines to make this work out better.

edit: The powerpoint SSHRC circulated to departments says this:

3. STATISTICS FOR 2008 AND AWARDS FOR 2009

[jackassjim]

While we're on the topic, here's one more reason to be angry at the conservative government:

In the Feb 27th budget, we read: "Scholarships granted by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council will be focused on business-related degrees."

I strongly encourage you to sign the following petition set-up by Niki Asthon from the NDP:

http://nikiashton.ndp.ca/sshrc

About a hundred professors co-signed a letter on this topic. It was published in Le Devoir of the 28th. There must be an english version too, I'm just too lazy to find it, and this is the one that was sent to me by email:

http://www.ledevoir.com/2009/02/27/236191.html

Also, you could do like me, and write an actual letter to your member of parliament. Remember that sending letters to the House of Commons is free. You don't need a stamp.

[ec86]

Just FYI, for NSERC master's awards, the award % for applications forwarded at my institution is about 80% and around 70% for doctoral awards.

Anyone know how the CGS is awarded? They say "top ranked", but a large proportion (almost half) are awarded CGSs. :?:

[jasper.milvain]

The SSHRC money that's getting earmarked for business-related projects is cut money that the government is restoring specifically for this purpose. It's NOT going to result in fewer non-business-related SSHRCs this year. Not saying that it's not worth getting mad over, but it's not something to freak out over in the context of this year's results, either.

ec86, it's my understanding that the ranking committees in Ottawa use a points system to rank students. I assume that they allocate CGS money based on high point totals, regardless of regional/academic affiliation.

And if the OP is still hanging around, the commenter who said that forwarded MA SSHRCS are shoo-ins was absolutely right. Unless you've got something strange on your app, like a nightmare semester, you'll be getting good news. They just go down the list and check applications against the ground rules.

Now that my PhD acceptance is all set, I'm starting to worry about SSHRC again... I had an MA SSHRC this year, and I'm hoping that helps me in the PhD competition. Good luck, everyone!

[ogopogo]

Just wondering if anyone else applied to the SSHRC doctoral competition as an external applicant this year?

I'm one of the lucky 255 (out of 813) applicants who made it to the second round so now I'm nervously awaiting the final results in April. I've heard that scores can drop dramatically between phases, so even a really good one in the first round doesn't mean much in terms of getting funding - anyone know anything more about that?

I guess I should just appreciate that at least I got one big 'good news' SSHRC envelope in the mail this year and can only realistically check the mail once a day between the start of April and whenever they actually release the results.

[peppermint.beatnik]

I know that in previous years if you were forwarded from your home institution you were basically ensured of getting a SSHRC, but given the uncertainty around the new federal budget it's going to be really interesting (and potentially terrifying) to see how this shakes down.

This isn't necessarily true because the apps are ranked. In my old department (at a large Canadian research university) whatever faculty member was doing the ranking, his/her students were forwarded. It was such a ridiculous process that favoured one sub-field over all others. That's just my experience, though.

[dramanda]

I'm one of the lucky 255 (out of 813) applicants who made it to the second round so now I'm nervously awaiting the final results in April. I've heard that scores can drop dramatically between phases, so even a really good one in the first round doesn't mean much in terms of getting funding - anyone know anything more about that?

As it's been explained to me, your department scores and ranks applications. Depending on their quota, the top X applications are forwarded to the main graduate school at your university. However, the graduate school sees neither the scores nor the rankings given by your dept. Again, applications are read, scored and ranked by your university committee. If you make it past your university and are entered into the national competition, the scores and rankings are again deleted. Seems pretty fair to me, as you get a fresh start each time. Just because your department favours certain students doesn't mean they'll be at an advantage in the larger competion.

[dramanda]

By the way....does anyone have an "inside edge"? Any rumours about when the results might be released this year? (I'm specifically interested in the doc level fellowships).

[jasper.milvain]

Dramada, you missed that ogopogo is an external applicant going straight through Ottawa, and has no university ranking in this whole process.

I'm one of the lucky 255 (out of 813) applicants who made it to the second round so now I'm nervously awaiting the final results in April. I've heard that scores can drop dramatically between phases, so even a really good one in the first round doesn't mean much in terms of getting funding - anyone know anything more about that?

Obviously individual changes are fairly random, but if you go to the results spreadsheets here:

http://www.sshrc.ca/site/winning-recher ... x-eng.aspx

You can see that unaffiliated applicants have about a 60% success rate, which is comparable to some pretty decent schools. It's more likely than not that you're getting good news in April, although it's still a bit of a dice toss.

[peppermint.beatnik]

As it's been explained to me, your department scores and ranks applications. Depending on their quota, the top X applications are forwarded to the main graduate school at your university. However, the graduate school sees neither the scores nor the rankings given by your dept. Again, applications are read, scored and ranked by your university committee. If you make it past your university and are entered into the national competition, the scores and rankings are again deleted. Seems pretty fair to me, as you get a fresh start each time. Just because your department favours certain students doesn't mean they'll be at an advantage in the larger competion.

Well then students in my previous program were pretty damn successful. We got at least three OGS, CGS, SSHRC, a year.

[ogopogo]

Thanks for pointing me to the right part of the spreadsheet jasper.milvain - I missed that stat the first time around and for some reason I always thought you had a much better chance applying through a school. The whole 'dice toss' aspect isn't so exciting, but well, I guess that's the same for everyone when dealing with SSHRC. I looked elsewhere on the web and, for the information of any other externals, scores seem to drop in the second round by anywhere between 0.4 and 10 points, with people receiving scores of around 20 in the final competition getting funded.

I keep hearing mid April for results dramanda, although I have no even remotely official sources for that, and in past years some people haven't found out until early May. If you did apply through your school though, some higher ups get access to results earlier than anyone else and often pass that info along to students through grad studies or their departments.

[dramanda]

Thanks for pointing me to the right part of the spreadsheet jasper.milvain - I missed that stat the first time around and for some reason I always thought you had a much better chance applying through a school. The whole 'dice toss' aspect isn't so exciting, but well, I guess that's the same for everyone when dealing with SSHRC. I looked elsewhere on the web and, for the information of any other externals, scores seem to drop in the second round by anywhere between 0.4 and 10 points, with people receiving scores of around 20 in the final competition getting funded.

Hm...I have no idea how many "points" I got. Is there a blank scoresheet hanging out online somewhere? I'd love to see what sorts of things get scores (I know generally, but not sure of the relative weighting).

[dramanda]

To continue the pattern of posting too much on this thread....

Am I missing something? I got an email from SSHRC that I was forwarded by my school, and an email from my school stating the same. Should I have also received a letter from someone telling me my actual score before it was entered into the national competition?

[ogopogo]

I think only people who applied directly to SSHRC get a letter with a score, and that's all it says, nothing about weighting or anything. I think you might be able to find a scoresheet for individual schools' ranking procedures online but that doesn't really help at this stage.

[jasper.milvain]

Dramanda, the e-mail is all you'll get if you went through a school. Took long enough to come out this year, too!

If anyone knows more about the actual scoring system, I'd LOVE to hear about it. I've been a pretty big SSHRC geek for two years and have never heard about the details of scoring.

[amleta]

If anyone knows more about the actual scoring system, I'd LOVE to hear about it. I've been a pretty big SSHRC geek for two years and have never heard about the details of scoring.

Not sure this will count as "details," but I do have a bit of info. My significant other was declined funding, and, being the forthright individual that he is, emailed to ask about the marking scheme. Here's what they sent him:

Applications to the Doctoral Awards program are evaluated solely on academic merit, measured by:

* past academic results, demonstrated by transcripts, awards and distinctions;

* the program of study and its potential contribution to the advancement of knowledge;

* relevant professional and academic experience, including research training, as demonstrated by conference presentations and scholarly publications;

* two written evaluations from referees; and

* the departmental appraisal (for those registered at Canadian universities).

You will notice that the evaluation criteria are not assigned individual weights. Rather, committee members take every criterion into account when assigning a score. It may also interest you to know that applications are evaluated in relation to one another and committee members must score all applications on a curve.

His thoughts are as follows: "The last bit of information is the most important, I think -- it seems to suggest that the marks out of 30 are really just arbitrary numbers they assign, in fact simply ranking the applications they have against one another. Not exactly what you'd call a transparent process -- especially the criterium "the program of study and its potential contribution to the advancement of knowledge" which is about as subjective as subjective comes -- but I guess it gives you a hint as to what they're looking for, for applying again next year."

(as it turns out, he doesn't need the funding at all - UofT is generous and they, at least, recognise the value of his research ^_~)

[jasper.milvain]

Thanks so much for passing that along, and congrats on the U of T love. Although "in relation to each other and on a curve" isn't very soothing information. Ah well. It's nice to know the departmental appraisal is still in the mix at the final stage.

I'm starting to get twitchy about waiting. I keep trying to tell myself that it's too early to think about it, but that's not really working. I've got a weird funding set up where if I get the small SSHRC, my money actually goes down significantly, since it makes me ineligible for a certain recruitment award. The SSHRC mantra around my house has changed from "Anything please please anything" to "Go big or go home!"

It's a nice problem to have. Still, a letter that actually comes in early-to-mid April instead of a long stretched out crazy delayed process would be nice. I think what's making me anxious is that I know through hearsay that at least the some rankings are already complete (friend's supervisor has returned from her not so secret top-secret trip to Ottawa) and my news is likely sitting in some database, waiting for a letter to be generated.

Good luck to everyone waiting! This is the home stretch.