frustrated Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I'm in Vancouver. No letter yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuckle Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I got the letter in Winnipeg. Very positive. Rank 19.5/30. Good luck to all! Oh dear. The letters are only as far as Winnipeg? Anyone farther west have any news? At this pace, we'll be into next week in Vancouver.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogopogo Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Oh dear. The letters are only as far as Winnipeg? Anyone farther west have any news? At this pace, we'll be into next week in Vancouver.... Actually, I'm in Vancouver and I just (like 5 minutes ago) got the letter. Late in the day mail delivery might have it's advantages after all. So I guess Vancouverites can expect to see their letters soon. It's postmarked the 26th, letter dated the 20th. For those interested in scores, I got 29.4 in the first (external applicants only) round and a final score of 24. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tofunoodle Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Congrats to other lucky recipients! I just received my letter from SSHRC, and I got a doctoral fellowship! My final score was 23.8 after an initial score of 26.something. I'm an external applicant in the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ekktri Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 Just FYI. Score in first round was 23.9, second round 9.6. I guess I win the award for largest drop - maybe ever? (I don't care to describe my research or speculate about the reasons; I'm posting only so that others who may appreciate some perspective may have it.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*&* Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 i appreciate hearing about everyone's doctoral sshrc results stories.... as an external applicant this year i went from an initial 27.3 to a final 15.3. i think i understand how the juries are structured, but does anyone know what they are looking at during the first evaluation that they are not looking at during the second? how does one account for such a drop? are they only reading the research proposal the first time around? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sshrchopeful Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I'm pretty sure they don't see your initial score when it gets to the national competition. This is one of the reasons that people say that external applicants have an advantage: they are only scored once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerome888 Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I'm in Toronto and didn't get the letter today (as I said before I heard that I got the SSHRC back in mid May) so I don't think it's necessarily a distance from Ottawa thing.... can anyone who has their letters say anything about the postmark? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snasser Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I'm in Toronto and didn't get the letter today (as I said before I heard that I got the SSHRC back in mid May) so I don't think it's necessarily a distance from Ottawa thing.... can anyone who has their letters say anything about the postmark? I believe a previous post in this stream mentioned that his/her letter was postmarked for the 26th; while the letter was dated for the 20th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogopogo Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I'm pretty sure they don't see your initial score when it gets to the national competition. This is one of the reasons that people say that external applicants have an advantage: they are only scored once. I apologize if this is pointless arguing, but I still don't understand this reasoning. First, external applicants actually get scored by actual SSHRC committees twice, and as we can see from the posted scores, often get quite different results. University students go through two levels within the university first, but I don't see how this affects your chances of success at all, since the number of applications forwarded by either schools or SSHRC committees is predetermined and that is ultimately what matters. If you have 200 applications and you can only send 60, what does it matter if you cut 100 first and and then 40, or if you do it all at once? The only thing that I can see that would really make a difference is if the quotas represented vastly different percentages of applications that are allowed to be forwarded to the final round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaje Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I couldn't help registering just say a BIG thank you to all who started and kept contributing to this discussion ... it was enourmously helpful for me in the past few week trying to concentrate on my work .... My award notice date was May 20th and the date on the envelope was May 26th (I am in Ottawa and got the letter last week with a score of 21.9). Congrats to all winners and best of luck to all on the waiting list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper.milvain Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I'm in Vancouver and also received my letter today. I got a 15.9/30. Ouch! Even though my score is so low, though, I got the boilerplate about being placed on a waiting list and hearing within the next six months. This is somewhat unsettling for me. :shock: I have internal funding at my school that is the equivalent of a CGS for two years, and I'll lose it if I get SSHRC. Not knowing for sure and for good that my internal money is safe until the end of November? Not good. I hope that I'm waaaaay faaaaaar down the wait list, and that all of you other lovely waitlisted posters get the money. Congrats to all the recent winners, and hugs for all those bound for next year's competition. I agree with snasser that the hopeful tone of this thread is excellent. We're all doing good work, winners and potential-future-winners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaje Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finitejane Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 There must be more to how they make use of the scores because I got a 17.3 and was awarded the 4 year doctoral scholarship. Perhaps you need a higher score if you are in your 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year, or perhaps there are discipline or university quotas (e.g. X number go to each university) in place that influence why some people may be rejected with a 17.4 when others are not. I don't know what my initial score was, but I was ranked first in my department and given an award (by my department) for my proposal. I was hoping for the CGS, but it looks like I just squeaked by with the doctoral. Its hard to guess where/why points are taken off, but I had one professor tell me he liked my proposal but thought both my master's research and proposed PhD research were too ambitious and he would have taken off points for it. I think previous history has a lot to do with it too. I have seen people get awards with very weak proposals, but they had a strong record of awards and went to several conference in their undergrad. I had a limited number of awards and academic publications in my undergrad (and I did not get SSHRC for my MA), which I think hurt me a lot too. Here is some cheery news for those who missed out: many departments at McGill (and I suspect other universities) are starting to guarantee PhD students funding for 4 years at an amount that is not all that much less than SSHRC. The same day I got my letter from SSHRC I was called in to be told I would be stripped of almost all the money my department guaranteed me because I won an external fellowship. At one point, it actually looked like I would be guaranteed more money if had I won SSHRC in my 2nd or 3rd year instead of the 1st because of all the money they were taking back (we are currently disputing the wording of my funding offer...it turns out my department was hit with a major budget cut and they seem to be dealing with it by withdrawing as much support as they can from SSHRC winners). You can't win! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasper.milvain Posted June 1, 2009 Share Posted June 1, 2009 *Edited to be less of a douchebag. I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jujujujunk Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I am terribly confused. My score was 18.1 for the doctoral competition. Original score was 22.5 (applying from the US) I'm going into my third year (needed 2 years of funding). I got the: "I regret to inform you that the council is not able to offer you the support requested. ...Should funds become available in the next six months... Of 1834 apps... 970 awarded... success 52.9%............." I don't understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
criss cross crash Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I would guess that the cut-offs may well be different for the different review committees... so we won't know much about what the cutoffs mean. If it's any use to anyone, mine was Philosophy, 17.4, waitlisted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dramanda Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I would guess that the cut-offs may well be different for the different review committees... so we won't know much about what the cutoffs mean. If it's any use to anyone, mine was Philosophy, 17.4, waitlisted. Yes, this seems to be the only reasonable interpretation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sylvinka Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I am terribly confused. My score was 18.1 for the doctoral competition. Original score was 22.5 (applying from the US) I'm going into my third year (needed 2 years of funding). I got the: "I regret to inform you that the council is not able to offer you the support requested. ...Should funds become available in the next six months... Of 1834 apps... 970 awarded... success 52.9%............." I don't understand. Maybe the cut-off for the external applicants differs from the one for the internal? Try to ask SSHRC directly about this. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogopogo Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 For all those who are wait-listed like myself, I have some good information about the process. I emailed SSHRC to find out what, exactly, it means and here was their response. As you can see, there's still a glimmer of hope. "Good morning, When applicants apply to a committee in the Doctoral Awards program (National competition), their applications are forwarded randomly to one of the committee's sub-groups (the number of sub-groups varies by committee and depends on the volume of applications received by the committee). Each sub-group is assigned three committee members (normally from different research backgrounds) that evaluate, score and rank all applications in their assigned sub-group. The success rate in the competition remains the same across all committees and their respective sub-groups. Your place on the waiting list is determined by your score within your sub-group. If an award recipient in your sub-group declines their award, we will proceed through the list in rank order. Please note, that there will be allot of movement on the recommended but not funded lists this summer. SSHRC plans to let applicants know their final decisions by August 2009. Thank you very much for your patience with this matter and good luck in this year's competition" The above post (from pg.73) indicates that cut-off scores will vary not only by committee, but by sub-group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snasser Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 People with lower scores getting funding than others with higher ones? Sounds like a gong show and that the score is absolutely meaningless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarah7 Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 People with lower scores getting funding than others with higher ones? Sounds like a gong show and that the score is absolutely meaningless. Perhaps their concern is that each sub-group might mark slightly differently or slightly more strictly, and then those graded more strictly would automatically be lower on the waiting list and never be offered any scholarship relative to the other subgroups whose committees were more lenient? Either way, unless one committee were to mark all the applications (which is obviously unreasonable), there is no way to be perfectly fair, and we have to accept the least unfair solution. Also, there seem to be so many variables involved in the score, that we could never determine what is definitely a factor and what isn't. I thought SSHRC was attempting to make its process more transparent? So much for that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dood Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I have a question for the PhD's on this board. Are there any of you who were awarded a SSHRC/CGS and DO NOT have anything published in a peer-reviewed journal? thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neatgirl Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 I have a question for the PhD's on this board. Are there any of you who were awarded a SSHRC/CGS and DO NOT have anything published in a peer-reviewed journal? thanks, Hi dood, I am in that boat (awarded a CGS with no peer-reviewed publications). If you take a look at the SSHRC/Vanier 2009 Results thread and you'll be able to get some more information about this for others too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phreeduh Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 *sigh* Come on lucky wednesday's mail! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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