SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship/CGS Doctoral Scholarship 2014-2015

[Aubergine]

Yes, unless I did it wrong as well  Off to USPS to mail my application off now! I think I will pay for tracking lol.

 Thanks! Phew! And yes... I paid for tracking as well.

[Nerd_For_Life]

SUBMITTED! After innumerable revisions and having 5 other faculty members review and give input + one last minute look over by the head of the department (she likes it!) my application is officially submitted. Now....the waiting. Apparently my department is meeting next week and their deadline to forward to the school of graduate studies is the 21 or 22?

 

Edit: 2nd time applying for PhD SSHRC - 1st time I applied for it I was waitlisted (received MA SSHRC)

Edited November 6, 2013 by Nerd_For_Life

[Konstantin]

I found out that the grad committee in my dept had met sometime last week and that my name was pretty high on the rankings list! I think that now my application is entered into the university-wide competition and if successful, it will leave the university sometime late-December. 

 

I think in total I went through 20 or so drafts of my proposal, 5 from my supervisor, 5 from my committee members and another 10 from other faculty in my dept. The way I see them, SSHRC proposals are never really in their final draft! Thank God for deadlines, haha.

 

3rd time applying, held an MA SSHRC, an Ontario Graduate Scholarship and another major fellowship, and 5 or 6 smaller awards I have 4 refereed journal articles, about 10 conference presentations, solid reference letters.

 

From what I heard the only thing that really matters is your SSHRC proposal, references, and grades. Other stuff is a tie-breaker basically!

[ArcticApp]

FYI for all the external applicants out there - i.e. Nov. 6th deadline - I just received an email with a confirmation of receipt of my application and my application number from SSHRC.

I submitted my application Nov. 1; so just under 2 weeks to hear, in case anyone is wondering.

 

Good luck everyone.

[Luna1]

Just thought I'd make myself known. Long time lurker, new official member. Wondering if anyone here planning to apply to Canadian universities is considering taking the year off to write GREs if you don't win SSHRC?

 

p.s. thank god for forums like this, this process is beyond stress-inducing...

[Luna1]

Also, submitted application to my department about 3 weeks ago. Waiting to hear. I'm applying as an MA SSHRC holder this year for my first year of PhD funding next year. fingers crossed!

[surefire]

Just thought I'd make myself known. Long time lurker, new official member. Wondering if anyone here planning to apply to Canadian universities is considering taking the year off to write GREs if you don't win SSHRC?

 

p.s. thank god for forums like this, this process is beyond stress-inducing...

 

First, welcome! And best of luck on the SSHRC app front!

 

I'm not sure that I get your question. Why would one take a year off to write the GRE is they didn't get SSHRC? The GRE is kind of a US thing, no? Also, I didn't get a SSHRC for my first year of the PhD but was funded through the departmental/university fellowship (plus TA-ing/RA-ing) instead. I mean, I'm in a funded program/cohort. If I were to get a SSHRC, it's bonny for the prestige element, but it doesn't result in much more money as the university just takes their own fellowship off the table (so I would switch from being internally to externally-funded).

 

Getting a SSHRC would be lovely, but NOT getting a SSHRC never threatened my plans to enter a program, provided that I was made a part of an internally-funded cohort (no funding at all would certainly be a deal-breaker for me).

 

Perhaps I've misunderstood you or your context is somehow much different than my own? I've heard of a few Canadian MA programs that are unfunded, but I rarely hear of PhD programs that provide nothing at all!

[Luna1]

I was just curious if anyone was considering going to the US because they have better funding than Canadian universities, or at least that's what I've been told! 

 

My question was unclear, my apologies!

[Nerd_For_Life]

US schools can provide excellent funding that exceeds the average amount of funds at Canadian school - at the same time they often provide zero funding. It depends on how competitive a candidate they think you are. Canadian schools, particularly at the PhD level, generally have a guaranteed minimum for funding (though they don't always advertise it). So it really depends on your cv, reference letters, grades, and gre score for US schools. Also, remember you can take SSHRC to the states ($20k sshrc, if you get $35k you have to downgrade)

Edited November 16, 2013 by Nerd_For_Life

[Konstantin]

US schools can provide excellent funding that exceeds the average amount of funds at Canadian school - at the same time they often provide zero funding. It depends on how competitive a candidate they think you are. Canadian schools, particularly at the PhD level, generally have a guaranteed minimum for funding (though they don't always advertise it). So it really depends on your cv, reference letters, grades, and gre score for US schools. Also, remember you can take SSHRC to the states ($20k sshrc, if you get $35k you have to downgrade)

Tuition fees at many US universities are also much higher than they are at Canadian schools, often ranging from USD 35,000-45,000 a year. So a lot of times the cost of tuition by far exceeds the amount that funding packages may provide.

[Aubergine]

Tuition fees at many US universities are also much higher than they are at Canadian schools, often ranging from USD 35,000-45,000 a year. 

 

Yes, but tuition remission is almost always (if not always?) part of the PhD funding package at US schools.

[Nerd_For_Life]

Yes, but tuition remission is almost always (if not always?) part of the PhD funding package at US schools.

I would not place my bets on this as I know several US PhD students (both American and Canadian) who have racked up heinous amounts of debt resulting from the cost of their tuition.

 

I think the important thing to take away is that if you are thinking about going to a US school (the same as a Canadian school), know what your financial limits are and under what circumstances you would realistically be able to go there. For example: would you go to X school regardless of funding? Or would the amount of funding play a substantial role in your ability to go there? You can always apply to as many places as you want (providing you can afford the application fee costs, which can be prohibitive) and then see what rolls in

[Konstantin]

Yes, but tuition remission is almost always (if not always?) part of the PhD funding package at US schools.

Admission offers to US universities do often include tuition waivers in the form of a TA-ship or RA-ship. I don't think that as a rule they always include a generous funding package on top of that. So, other costs like costs of living, can amount to enormous debts over 3-4 years.

[Carthage32]

Hi all,

 

Just checking in here after a while. Thanks for all your well wishes from earlier. Hope everyone's applications went well. It definitely was a challenge to fit the statement in 2 pages, but it's done now. I received my acknowledgement email from SSHRC, so I guess now we wait.

 

Good luck everyone!

[Michellle]

Hi everyone,

 

There doesn't seem to be a thread started for the Masters SSHRC but perhaps you can still answer my question. I'm filling out my CV and don't know if I should include dance certificates in the credentials section (I took ballet throughout high school and reached the highest level in the Royal Academy of Dance exams). The research I'm proposing has to do with ballet dancers and early retirement, so I thought my dance training might be somewhat relevant. However, I don't want to look as though I'm overstuffing my CV with irrelevant or petty "credentials", in case that will hurt my application especially since I've received some more legitimate funding and fellowships during my undergrad/this first year of my Masters.

 

Any thoughts?

[Luna1]

Hi everyone,

 

There doesn't seem to be a thread started for the Masters SSHRC but perhaps you can still answer my question. I'm filling out my CV and don't know if I should include dance certificates in the credentials section (I took ballet throughout high school and reached the highest level in the Royal Academy of Dance exams). The research I'm proposing has to do with ballet dancers and early retirement, so I thought my dance training might be somewhat relevant. However, I don't want to look as though I'm overstuffing my CV with irrelevant or petty "credentials", in case that will hurt my application especially since I've received some more legitimate funding and fellowships during my undergrad/this first year of my Masters.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

I would put your certification or achievement from the Royal Academy of Dance, not your studio. I agree, it is relevant to your work. However, as scholars we don't always want to show the personal connection to our research up front... You need to weigh the level of passion it shows for your topic, with the potential for a negative attitude toward subjectivity of the researcher. It depends what persona you are trying to show. I know that's not the most helpful, but as I said at the beginning, I would include it if you have the space.

Edited November 19, 2013 by Luna1

[Luna1]

ps I accidentally clicked the down arrow when trying to hit "quote" on Michellle's post, I'm sorry! Is there a way to delete this??

[Safferz]

ps I accidentally clicked the down arrow when trying to hit "quote" on Michellle's post, I'm sorry! Is there a way to delete this??

 

I voted her post up just to get it back to neutral 

 

Anyone else still waiting for the confirmation of receipt from SSHRC? I can see from the tracking number that it reached their office last week, so I'm not too concerned.

[Aubergine]

Hi Michelle,

 

I agree with Luna that it would probably make sense to add the Royal Academy Certificate to the credentials section, given your subject matter, especially if you are planning to incorporate your dance experience into your research methodology (which is common in dance studies). Btw, I work on dance as well!

 

Safferz, I'm still waiting for confirmation of receipt as well. It was sent via registered mail (from southern New England) on the 6th-- according to tracking, it was delivered on the 14th. Hopefully soon!

[Konstantin]

Hi everyone,

 

There doesn't seem to be a thread started for the Masters SSHRC but perhaps you can still answer my question. I'm filling out my CV and don't know if I should include dance certificates in the credentials section (I took ballet throughout high school and reached the highest level in the Royal Academy of Dance exams). The research I'm proposing has to do with ballet dancers and early retirement, so I thought my dance training might be somewhat relevant. However, I don't want to look as though I'm overstuffing my CV with irrelevant or petty "credentials", in case that will hurt my application especially since I've received some more legitimate funding and fellowships during my undergrad/this first year of my Masters.

 

Any thoughts?

I would include it regardless of whether you make a meaningful connection between your proposed studies and the award. After all, not everyone's awards are always in line with what they will be studying. The benefit of including the award in your SSHRC application is that you have some sort of credential supporting your research interests in the Program of Study; and the worst case scenario is that SSHRC will see the award as a filler, which is not a problem and is better than leaving a blank space.

[Safferz]

Safferz, I'm still waiting for confirmation of receipt as well. It was sent via registered mail (from southern New England) on the 6th-- according to tracking, it was delivered on the 14th. Hopefully soon!

I just got my confirmation this morning!

[Nerd_For_Life]

Whoot! Just found out that my SSHRC app is being forwarded by my university to Ottawa! Now to wait until Jan(ish? if I remember from last year) to hear from SSHRC that they have received my app and then the long wait until results are released.

[Konstantin]

Whoot! Just found out that my SSHRC app is being forwarded by my university to Ottawa! Now to wait until Jan(ish? if I remember from last year) to hear from SSHRC that they have received my app and then the long wait until results are released.

Congrats, that's great news! I'm at Carleton, we usually have to wait until the end of December (even though grad studies has received all the SSHRC applications from the departments Nov 1st).

[Nerd_For_Life]

Ahh the waiting. I lucked out and received some insider intel...I imagine I'll receive word through more 'formal' channels in December. Good luck!

[pbaid]

Congrats Latte! BTW, which university are you at?