Ontario Graduate Scholarship

[Sivi]

I hope everyone's holding on with the app. processes...

I have a question regarding the OGS. Is this grant for research only (master's thesis/ph.d. dissertation)

I know I'm probably asking a silly question><

I've been an international student and funding used to from my country... Now I'm a permanent resident and applying to the Canadian funds for the first time... If someone could please let me know if the OGS is a research fund, that would be great.

Thanks!

Sivi

[TakeruK]

Hi,

The OGS is meant for students in a full time graduate program and usually provides for a large fraction of their stipend. The award value is $15,000 if you are enrolled year-round, and $10,000 comes from the government while the remaining $5000 comes from your school. This money generally replaces other sources of stipend. But you may still see a slight overall increase in total funding. For example, at one school, winning an OGS increases your total funding by about $5000 (over someone without any scholarship at all). Your funding from other sources (TA, RA) is reduced (which also reduces your TA commitment). Overall, it's a good thing because the less your supervisor has to pay you, the more freedom you get. Also, it's a good award to list on a CV.

As to whether or not it's a "research fund", no -- it's a scholarship. The money is used to pay your stipend, which you will use to pay tuition and living expenses, or you can save it up. That is, you get the money directly and it's 100% yours. The OGS is NOT for research purposes. If you are looking to applying for an award in order to get funding for your research project (e.g. equipment, an experiment, whatever), then there are other awards available for this.

Finally, I don't think the OGS strictly requires that you are doing research at all (i.e. Masters/PhD dissertation). The only requirement I think is that you are a full time graduate student. However, since the application package asks for a research proposal, I think students who are doing research / has a strong research background are more likely to win this award.

[Sivi]

Thank you very much for the reply!

that was very helpful. I'm applying to two different streams--Clinical Psych and Social work. For the latter, there's not really a research component, so I didn't know whether I am eligible at all to apply.

After hearing your input, I think I will apply for OGS for Social work too. thank you!

Sivi

[TakeruK]

No problem -- I should note that when I applied for the OGS (2010,2011), the system is a little different from today. The biggest change is that until 2012, Ontario's Ministry of Education administered the awards but now it's up to each school to allocate their quota of OGS awards any way they want. So, it would be useful to check with your school and department for advice too!