SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship/CGS Doctoral Scholarship 2017/2018

[adepaola21]

Hey everyone!

I emailed my grad secretary regarding my status. She told me I have been successful. I'm not sure which award I have received yet though. But just to point out for those waiting, I did not have any publications, only conferences (only one being peer reviewed). Therefore, it IS possible to get an award without pubs. I have to give most of the credit to my references, and a reformatted proposal from last year. I was in committee 3.

Good luck to all still waiting; and congrats to those who have received awards! 

[Writeswell]

3 hours ago, misswan said:

Congrats JW! 

Would you mind sharing what publications (ie. writing, art making etc) or conferences or the like you included in your application? My research-creation project is in poetry and poetics and I've never seen one of those receive an award before...

misswan, this is so exciting! My research-creation project is also in poetry/ poetics!! And I was informed I got the CGS (though again, I don't have the letter in my hand yet). It would be great to compare notes and discuss our work if you are interested. 

[Melida]

Still.no.letter.in.the.mail! (Toronto)

[yellowsweatygorilla]

18 hours ago, Logik said:

Good luck! I was wait-listed unfortunately. 

Well, also on the wait-list.  Just called the research officer.

The whole process is confusing. Always knew it was hard to get, but don't know how I was top 10 at York for Vanier .. but not top 50 or so for SSHRC. 

Edited May 3, 2017 by yellowsweatygorilla

[crackerjacked]

3 minutes ago, yellowsweatygorilla said:

Well, also on the wait-list.  Just called the research officer.

The whole process is confusing. Always knew it was hard to get, but don't know how I was top 10 at York for Vanier .. but not top 50 or so for SSHRC. 

I had that experience last year. Got really close to Vanier (I think 10 away from however many they award) and was rejected for SSHRC. I guess it's a reminder of how arbitrary the whole process is.

[EmpiricalCriminology]

3 minutes ago, yellowsweatygorilla said:

Well, also on the wait-list.  Just called the research officer.

The whole process is confusing. Always knew it was hard to get, but don't know how I was top 10 at York for Vanier .. but not top 50 or so for SSHRC. 

 

I don't pretend to know your particular situation but I know that SSHRC prioritizes research and publications more than extra-curricular kind of stuff like Vanier does. For instance, I had a friend win Vanier without a single or co-authored publication. 

[yellowsweatygorilla]

1 hour ago, crackerjacked said:

I had that experience last year. Got really close to Vanier (I think 10 away from however many they award) and was rejected for SSHRC. I guess it's a reminder of how arbitrary the whole process is.

I was 20 away from Vanier :/  

... we really should have proper funding for all graduate students, instead of having everyone churned through this process. 

1 hour ago, EmpiricalCriminology said:

I don't pretend to know your particular situation but I know that SSHRC prioritizes research and publications more than extra-curricular kind of stuff like Vanier does. For instance, I had a friend win Vanier without a single or co-authored publication. 

Makes sense. 

In case people are curious: social work committee, 2 single authored publications, 2 conferences. 

Edited May 3, 2017 by yellowsweatygorilla

[Writeswell]

23 minutes ago, yellowsweatygorilla said:

Well, also on the wait-list.  Just called the research officer.

The whole process is confusing. Always knew it was hard to get, but don't know how I was top 10 at York for Vanier .. but not top 50 or so for SSHRC. 

You are right, it is crazy confusing. A few years ago there was a guy at Queen's who was waitlisted for the SSHRC (several times) and won the Vanier. http://www.queensu.ca/culturalstudies/node/43

[SadieLou]

Hey, if there are any stressed-out Americans who live in urban areas, you might want to look into whether or not you are eligible for Informed Delivery from USPS. It sends you a daily mail with scans of mail to be sent to you that day.

 

[Writeswell]

Got my letter. It's real! 

FWIW...my score was 17.7/20, Committee 1, research-creation project, poetry. 

In comparison, last year my score -- same project, same committee -- was 12.5 or maybe 12.75 (can't remember, I was so upset by the whole thing) and I was waitlisted for a smaller award. 

When I say "same project" I really mean it. I did not change the project description. Changes to the package included the following: I had some PhD grades on the transcript from my first year. But they were comparable to my MFA grades. Instead of my MFA supervisor, I asked a current prof to write a reference, along with my supervisor. (Again, both told me they wrote strong letters and I have no reason to doubt either of them). I also had a few more publications, but honestly, I don't think it was that because I had a strong publication record to begin with in my field. The only thing I can think is that my program may have rated me higher this year. They are pretty strategic, aiming to get the most money for the entire "team," if you will, over time. The other possibility is that this year's committee was simply more favourable to research-creation projects than last year's. 

Sad for those who lost out this year but unless you are in the last year to apply, don't give up hope. You can see from this experience that it varies considerably year to year. 

[rugox]

19 minutes ago, SadieLou said:

Hey, if there are any stressed-out Americans who live in urban areas, you might want to look into whether or not you are eligible for Informed Delivery from USPS. It sends you a daily mail with scans of mail to be sent to you that day.

 

Lol, I'm going to have to check this out.

[crunchtastic]

18 hours ago, misswan said:

That's a great score, congratulations! Would you mind sharing if you had many publications, conferences or the like? 

Thank you (and thank you to everyone who said congrats)! I only had one book review and one grad-student conference on there, so I was a bit shocked at the score! I didn't even have an MA thesis on there because I literally just handed it in last week. I'm not sure whether or not they take into account what year you're in when figuring out how many pubs you should have (maybe they thought well one of each is fine for an MA)?

I did have a SSHRC for my MA, which I've heard gives you a better chance, and a lot of scholarships from undergrad. My undergrad grades are pretty exceptional I'd say (nothing but As on my transcript) and my MA grades are average. 

[Frettchen]

A bit more information if it helps others:

As mentioned in a previous post, I got the CGS this year as a first-time applicant with a score of 17, committee 4. At the time of the application I was finishing up my MA, had two submitted/under-review publications (one for the "short pieces" section of a major journal and one for a very small conference proceeding), and 4 conference presentations -- two small, student-run ones and two professional rather than academic. Other applicants from my department had way more research contributions and I thought this would affect my chances. So I think that research background counts, but isn't a make-or-break deal -- it can be made up in other areas.

BTW, it turns out my MA supervisor (who's also our program director) has known for a few days, but wasn't allowed to tell me anything!

[1Q84]

58 minutes ago, SadieLou said:

Hey, if there are any stressed-out Americans who live in urban areas, you might want to look into whether or not you are eligible for Informed Delivery from USPS. It sends you a daily mail with scans of mail to be sent to you that day.

 

This is enabling in all the worst ways lol... but I'm going to look into it as well

[SadieLou]

You have no idea how much Googling I did of delivery standards before I found that. *Shame.*

[rugox]

2 minutes ago, SadieLou said:

You have no idea how much Googling I did of delivery standards before I found that. *Shame.*

I enrolled but it said that there were no deliveries for today or for the days before. I am assuming it will start tomorrow?

[SadieLou]

That's what I assumed. I mean, I get mail for my landlords, too--seems unlikely that there is absolutely no mail coming here today.

[SadieLou]

Nothing in the mail in Atlanta, America-dwellers.

[spicytunaroll]

13 minutes ago, SadieLou said:

Nothing in the mail in Atlanta, America-dwellers.

 so for those in canada (especially west coast), you should receive something by tomorrow I assume...? anyone's got anything yet?

[SadieLou]

Should I be discouraged by this?

https://ribbs.usps.gov/modernservicestandards/ssmaps/find_map.cfm

(Must. Stop. Googling.)

[jekawrites]

@Misswan :

My background is in creative writing, but my current work is in game design and game studies. I have a loooot of conference papers under my belt, 1 forthcoming book chapter (my only refereed publication, really), a lot of games, and I have non-academic publications (I was the managing editor of a lit magazine and I guest-edited two issues, including one on games). 

[apoc19]

Waitlisted with a score of 12.6 committee 5A - after emailing SSHRC I found out that the top 62 applicants in the committee out of 148 were given awards. My rank was 68. Does anyone know if that means I am 6th on the waitlist? Is that how the waitlists work?

[mwigg]

3 minutes ago, apoc19 said:

Waitlisted with a score of 12.6 committee 5A - after emailing SSHRC I found out that the top 62 applicants in the committee out of 148 were given awards. My rank was 68. Does anyone know if that means I am 6th on the waitlist? Is that how the waitlists work?

Asuming they follow normal waitlist procedures, then yes that's exactly how it works.

If you'll forgive the stupid question, committee 5A? I wasn't aware there were subcommittees - how did you find out which one you were on?

Edited May 3, 2017 by mwigg
typo

[apoc19]

Just now, mwigg said:

Asuming they follow normal waitlist procedures, then yes that's exactly how it works.

If you'll forgive the stupid question, committee 5A? I wasn't aware there were subcommittees - how did you find out which one you were on?

That's what they told me ( I wasn't aware of sub-committees either)

Wonder what the odds are of getting an award while being #6

[violabec]

13 minutes ago, spicytunaroll said:

 so for those in canada (especially west coast), you should receive something by tomorrow I assume...? anyone's got anything yet?

Nothing yet--I'm in BC. (I know my results--just waiting for the letter.)