SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship/CGS Doctoral Scholarship 2014-2015

[Wher4RtThou]

aaaand they've been mailed.

 

Good luck everyone!

[MakeYourself]

aaaand they've been mailed.

 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH X2

 

 

 

 

On a serious note, I talked to the lady who handles all the awards and ish for our grad studies office and she said the usual 'you will find out first blah blah', but I really don't believe her. I think SSHRC has notified all schools and has told them not to say anything to students, but looks like some folks are breaking those rules.

 

Oh well.

[Zaftig]

The graduate awards office emailed me: I won 20K x 3yrs. 

My stats:

 

Second year Phd, in the social sciences 
 

2 publications, 2 invited/in progress (I have a narrow specialty)

A dozen or so conferences, half are prestigious, the other graduate conferences. 
Multiple guest lectures on my specialty, for academic and popular audiences alike. 
1 teaching gig
7 TAships
1 RAship
Do not yet know my score for this year, but the last 2 years I was also shortlisted and scored just a point or two below the winning scores. 

Anything else? 

I have been lurking on the forum for the past 3 years, and this year I finally won. Perseverance kids! Don't lose hope!

[Safferz]

Congrats Zaftig! And good luck to everyone still waiting for results

[bentharbour]

Congrats! Seems as if a lot more are finding out from grad departments this year than in years past!

[Mamahope]

My stats (I'll edit this post when I get my letter):

 

Received 20k/4 year SSHRC. Just completed 1st year PhD.

1 year PhD GPA was 4.15/4.3; I had less than a 4.0 for my cumulative MA GPA (3.5 years), though my last year was a 4.something (I think 4.08).

0 publications

12+ conferences, including 1 regional, 1 national, and 1 international

1 teaching course at major Canadian University, 5+ courses at Quebec CEGEP, over the last two years.

Several guest lectures/invited panelist (Like Zaftig, my field is very specialized)

6 TAships

1 RAship

1 External fellowship during my MA (final year).

 

This was my first time applying for a SSHRC.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Mamahope

[Konstantin]

Does it seem to anyone that departments are notifying only successful applicants? Do departments notify rejected/waitlisted applicants as well?

[bentharbour]

I think that depends on the department and if they are taking the initiative to email students or if it is the result of enterprising students hounding graduate studies.

As I have no idea, I would assume grad studies would avoid emailing unsuccessful/waitlisted students in lieu of "wait for sshrc" responses. But yet again, I have no idea!

[Macavity]

Does it seem to anyone that departments are notifying only successful applicants? Do departments notify rejected/waitlisted applicants as well?

 

I hope not. That would be a really jerky thing to do.

[MakeYourself]

Question for you all: Did you guys put a specific timeline on your program proposal? Like did you say: "I will complete my program in 3 years?" I didn't do this (against other people's advice) cause I thought it was clearly BSing, most people don't finish their PhD in 3 years. I instead put "I plan to accomplish all this blah blah crap during my program." Or something like that.... don't remember exactly what the statement was.

 

I'm wondering now if I should have had an explicit timeline? Thoughts?

 

This, and other tiny details, will probably drive me crazy until I get my letter. Fun!

[bentharbour]

I did not. I had a temporal timeline for my proposed empirical site, but not for my studies.

[Konstantin]

I hope not. That would be a really jerky thing to do.

 

Me too, although @Zaftig posted earlier (page 22) that "Last year in my school, the winners received emails, but not the losers! It was torture to wait for my (rejection) letter." 

[Zaftig]

Question for you all: Did you guys put a specific timeline on your program proposal? Like did you say: "I will complete my program in 3 years?" I didn't do this (against other people's advice) cause I thought it was clearly BSing, most people don't finish their PhD in 3 years. I instead put "I plan to accomplish all this blah blah crap during my program." Or something like that.... don't remember exactly what the statement was.

 

I'm wondering now if I should have had an explicit timeline? Thoughts?

 

This, and other tiny details, will probably drive me crazy until I get my letter. Fun!

I did not put it in the proposal. But didn't the form itself have an expected completion date? It was so long ago I cannot remember. 

My university puts deadlines for all PhDs at 6 years, though people do go over. 

[Mamahope]

If I did put in a timeline it was because it was a box to fill out that specifically asked for it. I would not have volunteered that information. I don't know if we are capped, though it's suggested one is done within 5 years (presumably because that is when all funding sources are exhausted if you're full time.)

[jambon]

Are our departments lying to us about not knowing!? Today, in the context of a discussion about rejection in a professionalization seminar, our director of graduate studies made eye contact with me while saying 'if you don't get a SSHRC, just keep on trying! Keep on trying!' When I chased her out of the room later she insisted that she has not received any information and will not know before me. (Though I know that last year my friend found out from the department secretary.) Does she know I didn't get one but is sticking to some confidentiality rule, or was it a cruel coincidence!?

[Safferz]

Are our departments lying to us about not knowing!? Today, in the context of a discussion about rejection in a professionalization seminar, our director of graduate studies made eye contact with me while saying 'if you don't get a SSHRC, just keep on trying! Keep on trying!' When I chased her out of the room later she insisted that she has not received any information and will not know before me. (Though I know that last year my friend found out from the department secretary.) Does she know I didn't get one but is sticking to some confidentiality rule, or was it a cruel coincidence!?

 

Hmmm I wonder if SSHRC discloses it to the graduate school (or whatever body manages fellowships and funding for the entire university), and that they in turn choose whether or not to notify individual departments (or contact students directly)... so the DGS of your *department* really may not know who the winners are, while the university itself has received that info from SSHRC. It does seem that SSHRC has notified all Canadian universities, but I don't doubt that the people some of you guys are interacting with may not be the same people who possess that info.

 

(I'm a direct applicant at a US school and have no idea how this works in Canada, so just a guess)

[Nerd_For_Life]

I've been in contact with my GPD and GPA and I'm fairly certain they actually don't know. I do think that the Faculty of Graduate Studies does know and that they are just slow or following SSHRC's rules and not sharing the information. My uni is quite large so this situations seems somewhat likely to me as there is quite a bureaucratic divide between my department and FGS.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Nerd_For_Life

[Konstantin]

Are our departments lying to us about not knowing!? Today, in the context of a discussion about rejection in a professionalization seminar, our director of graduate studies made eye contact with me while saying 'if you don't get a SSHRC, just keep on trying! Keep on trying!' When I chased her out of the room later she insisted that she has not received any information and will not know before me. (Though I know that last year my friend found out from the department secretary.) Does she know I didn't get one but is sticking to some confidentiality rule, or was it a cruel coincidence!?

 

I'm sure this was a coincidence and her eyes just happened to land on you while she was talking! I assume she was speaking to the entire audience and didn't mean to single you out.

 

I'm hesitant to email my awards administrator knowing that her reply could be "you should get the letter soon" instead of getting a yes/no answer.

[Konstantin]

I've been in contact with my GPD and GPA and I'm fairly certain they actually don't know. I do think that the Faculty of Graduate Studies does know and that they are just slow or following SSHRC's rules and not sharing the information. My uni is quite large so this situations seems somewhat likely to me as there is quite a bureaucratic divide between my department and FGS.

 

I agree. our departments may not know, but grad studies do know for sure, especially awards officers. They've been notified in advance.

[Safferz]

I'm sure this was a coincidence and her eyes just happened to land on you while she was talking! I assume she was speaking to the entire audience and didn't mean to single you out.

 

I'm hesitant to email my awards administrator knowing that her reply could be "you should get the letter soon" instead of getting a yes/no answer.

 

If you're in Ontario, your letter will probably arrive on Friday, no? Sit tight!

[Konstantin]

If you're in Ontario, your letter will probably arrive on Friday, no? Sit tight!

 

Yeah, should be tomorrow or Friday. Checked my mailbox today just in case -- nothing from SSHRC yet.

[Nerd_For_Life]

If you're in Ontario, your letter will probably arrive on Friday, no? Sit tight!

 

Could be Friday, could be Monday (depends on the powers that be at Canada Post). My fingers are crossed for Friday ><

[Lulusheep]

Could be Friday, could be Monday (depends on the powers that be at Canada Post). My fingers are crossed for Friday ><

Yes totally depends on Canada Post...just checked their website it says in province delivery takes up to 3 days....fingers and toes crossed for Friday! if not it'll be another agonizing weekend T_T

[jambon]

thanks grad cafe, I am somewhat consoled!

[surefire]

Best of luck to everyone waiting!

 

I see a lot of conjecture about what individuals in respective institutions/departments may or may not know about results, and I just wanted to draw everyone's attention to this:

http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/funding-financement/policies-politiques/f_notification-b_avis-eng.aspx

 

That's a policy from SSHRC regarding the notification of competition results. The relevant blurb states that:

"Individuals who apply through a Canadian university for either a master’s scholarship or a doctoral award will first receive notice of the results of their application through their university’s faculty of graduate studies or equivalent. In addition, SSHRC informs these applicants in writing of the outcome of their applications.

Those who apply directly to SSHRC receive notice of the results of their application directly from the Council."

 

I did apply through my Canadian university. I think that part of their reason for notification is that they're adjudicating OGS right now as well (part of the message to me stated that, in light of the SSHRC news, my app was being removed from the OGS pool). I know that that's not the most satisfying answer, given that the department/institution-level decision-making seems to vary, but it always makes me feel better to know there's a policy.

 

As for my background:

I actually don't have any grades converted to a 4.0 scale, my institutions have all been about letters and 0-100 numbers!

Tiny undergrad cGPA: A (85/100)

MA: A

PhD to date (I'll be entering my third year in the fall): A

LOTS of university/private sector scholarships and awards (6 for undergrad, 4 for MA, 4 for PhD), but no OGS or SSHRC awards prior to this one.

No pubs (not uncommon in my discipline; I've got two on their way to submission though, and my LOR peeps might have discussed those!)

Two years of relevant work experience in between MA and PhD (working with data sector I proposed in my statement).

5 conference presentations (3 refereed and (inter)national-level)

At the time of app: two abstracts accepted to two more refereed national-level conferences.

I'm on my way to ABD (if this matters): I've got one comprehensive exam down and most of my coursework done, just need one more comp and a proposal!

8 TA-ships and 5 RA-ships.

I wanna say two awesome LORs, but I'm not sure how helpful that info is. One letter is from my awesome supervisor, who I've worked with in multiple capacities (coursework, TA/RA, my own research), and one from a department rock-star (I had him for a course and he recommended my term paper for publication, I've presented it at a big conference and it's one of my near-submissions - he's been advising on the article throughout).

On the proposal front: my current institution offers resources for SSHRC apps, so I accessed the hell out of those. In addition to the multiple drafts on which I got feedback from my Chair and supervisor and peers and other faculty, I took a SSHRC proposal writing course (4 weeks) and booked individual consultations with the writing center (I actually did all this twice, for the 2012/13 app round AND this round).

 

If I can be of anymore help, do feel free to PM me! This forum has been invaluable for commiserating/advising/supporting and I feel very lucky to have had access to such an awesome community!