SSHRC

[Zhivago]

Hey, thanks for the letters from the Sshrc admin folks. This is my first time dealing with this type of situation. Pros: Huge chunks of money fall from the sky for localized research in Quebec, Cons: ...waitressing again? I feel like a marionette: but i'm getting some storm-style white stress-streaks waiting on this baby. The Sshrc website is super useless, so thanks for the letters posted here: i guess its some kind of solace in shared outrage.

[canadiangirl78]

This is just unbelievable. They should at least send out emails to everyone apologizing for the delay and giving us a "real" idea of when we might be hearing from them.. this is ridiculous..

[monkeybrain]

Thanks to all who have posted their correspondence from SSHRC. This is helpful information.

[socfreak]

This is my group therapy.

[LyndaD]

Let's face it, "mid-next week" is just a buzz phrase! I bet no matter when anyone asks the answer will be "mid-next week!"

Of course it would be foolish to PLAN for money that may or may not be awarded to you, but I feel sorry for those who are hoping to know for May payout options, and who really need to decide if they're taking that summer job or not! All we can hope now is that many of our departments/grad offices may get some sort of confirmation list generated beforehand, and might hopefully share the results!

I have NO fingernails left at all!

[monkeybrain]

I'm not sure that I understand this "letters will be mailed on date X" business.

I'm expecting SSHRC to contact my graduate studies office, and then they will contact my department, and my department will then contact me. So surely I will hear from my department before getting the formal letter, yes? Because my dept secretary is faster than Canada Post? Right?

Please enlighten me if I am misunderstanding the process. I understand that this process does not apply to those who applied directly to SSHRC; I am speaking about the process for those of us who applied from within a university.

The last time I applied (three years ago) was at the MA level, and SSHRC emailed me to let me know my result. I don't understand why they've switched to lettermail ... but that's a whole 'nother gripe, I suppose.

[revoltingmedievalist]

I'm expecting SSHRC to contact my graduate studies office, and then they will contact my department, and my department will then contact me. So surely I will hear from my department before getting the formal letter, yes? Because my dept secretary is faster than Canada Post? Right?

Please enlighten me if I am misunderstanding the process. I understand that this process does not apply to those who applied directly to SSHRC; I am speaking about the process for those of us who applied from within a university.

Yes, this is my understanding too - for those of us who applied from within a university.

[virdisun]

I have given up on waiting for SSHRC. I need to be more productive. No one seems to have any information either. I asked my department about SSHRC and they said they have absolutely no idea when to expect the results and assume that we will find out before they do because the process of word traveling 'top-down' so to speak is a time consuming one... one that does not respect our time.

[canadiangirl78]

Yes, this is my understanding too - for those of us who applied from within a university.

I guess our "hero" would be the first person who gets to hear from their university grad studies office and let us know so we can hunt ours down and get the info.. lol..

[mt1]

Dear SSHRC Bureaucrats,

A panel of doctoral students has reviewed your performance. We regret to inform you that you have been deemed incompetent. We encourage you to get your f*cking act together and communicate with the people who are waiting to make major descisions.

We award you no points and may God have mercy on your souls.

Sincerely,

The GradCafe SSHRC Forum Panel

[synecdoche]

Dear SSHRC Bureaucrats,

A panel of doctoral students has reviewed your performance. We regret to inform you that you have been deemed incompetent. We encourage you to get your f*cking act together and communicate with the people who are waiting to make major descisions.

We award you no points and may God have mercy on your souls.

Sincerely,

The GradCafe SSHRC Forum Panel

*slow clap.*

[jasper.milvain]

I'm expecting SSHRC to contact my graduate studies office, and then they will contact my department, and my department will then contact me. So surely I will hear from my department before getting the formal letter, yes? Because my dept secretary is faster than Canada Post? Right?

It depends on the staff in your grad studies office, and on your grad chair. Ours certainly doesn't pass on the information. They got all confused about who was supposed to pass along the information that we even got FORWARDED, and it left people waiting for weeks and weeks while their friends slowly got acknowledgment e-mails from SSHRC. I'm expecting to hear by letter first. They're pretty tight lipped around here.

[LyndaD]

We had a situation last year where those who had won awards were told, but those who hadn't were left to wait and wonder. It was only when someone in the dept. was being congratulated on winning that those who hadn't found out...not cool. It really does depend on your dept./grad studies office. The grads who won even found out before their supervisors who had helped them with applications!!

[Zhivago]

Query: i heard that 80% of people on the A-list get the Ss@#%$hrc, but i was wondering if someone could confirm that. Is all this waiting-stress for nothing? Is there a good chance more people will be dropped this year under the whole 'financial re-adjustment' tag? Would that be a reason they are taking so long to get back to us?

[chenzitian]

It was from graduate office of my university. 'We have forwarded your file to SSHRC for their justification. We considered 112 applicants for possible 50 recommendations, upon this year's Quata system'. Does this mean the cut rate is over 50%? Not as some1 said here.

[synecdoche]

Chenzitian, I might be missing the context of what you quoted but it sounds to me like your graduate department is talking about how many total applicants (ie every person who applied through your institution) are forwarded on to the national competition. For example, here, a couple hundred or whatever apply. In my program if you do not have a SSHRC already, it is mandatory that you apply. Of all the people in the university who apply, something like 70 are passed on to Ottawa. From there, the odds will be different again and I think all you have is to look at how many students in past years have received SSHRCs out of your school's quota. This isn't really the "odds," but just historical data that indicates your university's usual success rate which may vary considerably from year to year.

It sounds like at your university, of 112 total applications, your university had a quota of 50 applications that could be forwarded on to Ottawa. Of those 50, a certain number will then receive funding. That's what people upthread are talking about, I think.

[thepoorstockinger]

It was from graduate office of my university. 'We have forwarded your file to SSHRC for their justification. We considered 112 applicants for possible 50 recommendations, upon this year's Quata system'. Does this mean the cut rate is over 50%? Not as some1 said here.

MA or PhD?

What do you mean by cut rate?

Each school receives a set quota - a set number of applications which they can forward to SSHRC. (there is one quota for MA and one for PhD).

The MA scholarships have a very high success rate once forwarded (there's some debate on here about how high it is, but I think everyone agrees that it is at least 90%).

The PhD scholarships have a lower success rate once forwarded. (The numbers are somewhere in this thread, but I don't know where)

SSHRC really need to just issue a very clear one page explanation on how exactly this stuff works.

[natalia]

So... I was just obsessing on the SSHRC website and checking last year's doctoral statistics (again) and I noticed that the statistics are already posted for this year's Master's competition (http://www.sshrc.ca/site/winning-recher ... s_2009.xls).

I don't really know what this means, except that SSHRC is definitely sitting on the Master's results. There is nothing in the statistics to tell you how many people got scholarships (sorry), so this is actually pretty unhelpful information other than letting us know that something is moving.

[dramanda]

So... I was just obsessing on the SSHRC website and checking last year's doctoral statistics (again) and I noticed that the statistics are already posted for this year's Master's competition (http://www.sshrc.ca/site/winning-recher ... s_2009.xls).

I don't really know what this means, except that SSHRC is definitely sitting on the Master's results. There is nothing in the statistics to tell you how many people got scholarships (sorry), so this is actually pretty unhelpful information other than letting us know that something is moving.

Very interesting. This wasn't up last time I was on the website, so it looks like a fairly recent development (http://www.shhrc.ca may as well be my homepage!).

Looking over the spreadsheet you linked to, I'm a little troubled. This year's total number of awards is lower than last year. For the sake of comparison (and to occupy my time), I've tabulated the total number of winners for masters SSHRC for all years available:

2003 = 815

2004 = 985

2005 = 1250

2006 = 1182

2007 = 1194

2008 = 1338

2009 = 1228

So, this isn't the first time the numbers have dropped (see 2005 to 2006). However, I wonder what this means for doctoral awards this year. Here's the data for SSHRC doctoral:

1995 = 557

1996 = 563

1997 = 574

1998 = 567

1999 = 612

2000 = 591

2001 = 587

2002 = 575

2003 = 587

2004 = 994

2005 = 975

2006 = 974

2007 = 1050

2008 = 1105

I hope we don't see a similar 100+ reduction in doctoral awards this year...

Would anyone else like to elevate their level of anxiety?

EDIT:

I'm not really sure how this info fits into the mix....

The powerpoint SSHRC circulated to departments says this:

[ashleyv]

So... I was just obsessing on the SSHRC website and checking last year's doctoral statistics (again) and I noticed that the statistics are already posted for this year's Master's competition (http://www.sshrc.ca/site/winning-recher ... s_2009.xls).

I don't really know what this means, except that SSHRC is definitely sitting on the Master's results. There is nothing in the statistics to tell you how many people got scholarships (sorry), so this is actually pretty unhelpful information other than letting us know that something is moving.

This table gave me SO MUCH anxiety....

I have a question though... For Table #1, is that the number they AWARDED to each institution or just the number of applications each institution SENT in?

[dramanda]

This table gave me SO MUCH anxiety....

I have a question though... For Table #1, is that the number they AWARDED to each institution or just the number of applications each institution SENT in?

Awarded

[ashleyv]

Well that is scary because my University sent 6 and they only awarded 5. That means one of the 6 that were on the A list didn't get it and that could very well be me

[dramanda]

Well that is scary because my University sent 6 and they only awarded 5. That means one of the 6 that were on the A list didn't get it and that could very well be me

This is precisely why I have been against this "everyone who is on the A list for masters SSHRC gets it" nonsense. It's pretty disappointing regardless, but even more so if you're under the impression that your odds are 100%

[ashleyv]

This is precisely why I have been against this "everyone who is on the A list for masters SSHRC gets it" nonsense. It's pretty disappointing regardless, but even more so if you have the idea that your odds are 100%

I never assumed I would get it 100%. There was always that doubt in my mind. Everyone kept telling me though that I would. The lady who heads the SSHRC committee at my school said she has never sent one to SSHRC and not had it awarded to the student. Thats what all my professors kept telling me too but I knew it wouldnt be 100% until I had the paper in my hand.

Nonetheless it made me feel a lot less confident.

[dramanda]

I never assumed I would get it 100%. There was always that doubt in my mind. Everyone kept telling me though that I would. The lady who heads the SSHRC committee at my school said she has never sent one to SSHRC and not had it awarded to the student. Thats what all my professors kept telling me too but I knew it wouldnt be 100% until I had the paper in my hand.

Nonetheless it made me feel a lot less confident.

I wasn't referring to you particularly, just the general sentiment in this thread....