NSERC CGS/PGS-D 2017-2018

[TakeruK]

@Liv57ac2: That number in the middle is NOT your NSERC PIN. It's the number that is used to distinguish your application from the others that also applied to the 2017 CGSD3 competition. I don't know the full format of this number, i.e. is it just a number that goes up in order for every applicant, or perhaps there is something in the number that identifies your field etc. However, I know it's not your PIN because my NSERC letter (from 2012) also shows my PIN right below this application number. They are different, as they should be, because my PIN has been the same forever, from 2007 to 2017. I have had the same PIN from my NSERC USRA, my CGS-M, my CGS-D and my postdoc applications. So, no need to worry

[Liv57ac2]

@TakeruK Thank you for clearing that up

[doefficient]

Congrats to the winners! I got notified on Friday as well - PGS-D3. 

[MathCat]

They told me I can accept my award in May. They didn't provide any explanation of what "coincides with your insititution's calendar" means, just said I could start in May.

For direct applicants: do you know if the required signature of the 'authorized institutional official' on the installment request form is applicable to us, or just those at Canadian institutions?

[TakeruK]

1 hour ago, MathCat said:

They told me I can accept my award in May. They didn't provide any explanation of what "coincides with your insititution's calendar" means, just said I could start in May.

For direct applicants: do you know if the required signature of the 'authorized institutional official' on the installment request form is applicable to us, or just those at Canadian institutions?

You are talking about Form 1-B right? The one you filled out to formally accept the award? Part II ("To be completed by an authorized institutional official") is supposed to be filled out at the school where your award is tenured, so this applies to both direct applicants and applicants through a Canadian school. 

I got the Dean of Graduate Studies to sign my form because the blank line for the signature and name says "Dean of Graduate Studies". 

[MathCat]

3 hours ago, TakeruK said:

You are talking about Form 1-B right? The one you filled out to formally accept the award? Part II ("To be completed by an authorized institutional official") is supposed to be filled out at the school where your award is tenured, so this applies to both direct applicants and applicants through a Canadian school. 

I got the Dean of Graduate Studies to sign my form because the blank line for the signature and name says "Dean of Graduate Studies". 

It is unclear to me if I have to submit such forms (meaning 1A and 1B). The email/letter just says to email them with proof of citizenship to accept. To actually begin payment, the award holder's guide says we must send in the form " Request for Instalment and Reinstatement of Award" form, found here: http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/_doc/Students-Etudiants/InstalmentReinstatement_e.pdf

The bottom right corner is the bit I am asking about. 

Edited March 22, 2017 by MathCat

[TakeruK]

@MathCat: You're right---it's been 5 years now so I forgot the order. Also it seems like the Award Holder's Guide has changed (not really a surprise lol). It used to be accept with proof of citizenship (Form 1A), and then a Form 1B for the first payment and then Form 2 every 6 months to get additional payments. Now, it seems like you send the form you linked, which seems to be an updated (and unified with SSHRC/CIHR) version of Form 1B (see: http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/_doc/Students-Etudiants/PDF1B-BP1B_eng.pdf)

Probably best to check with the NSERC contact to make sure you're doing the right thing, since it seems like the policies have changed since I held it. I would guess that you probably do need someone like the Graduate Dean to sign it because this forms looks a lot like the last one and NSERC will want your school (someone at the institutional level) to know about your award and to confirm your status. 

[MathCat]

They told me that the 'authorized institutional official' signature must come from somebody who can confirm you will be conducting your studies at that institution, e.g. dean, acting dean, or department head.

[ragequit101]

Anyone heard about filling out form 1A and form 1B this year? I emailed my passport to confirm citizenship and told them I want to start the scholarship in May, as requested by NSERC, but haven't heard anything since. Is my school's grad office going to contact me about these forms? 

[Thu.berc]

Was relieved and thrilled to get PGSD2 this year, after technical problems made me unable to submit my completed application last year!

Question: I just received my letter from NSERC yesterday with my scores and rankings. Ended up 40/122 for Physics and Astronomy. I'm at a US school, but I indicated on my application that I would like to be considered for CGSD anyway since If I get it and decline it, it's good for the CV. Given that my rank probably puts me roughly in the 3rd quartile of recipients, and CGSDs are initially offered to the top third of award recipients (first quartile and a little more), it doesn't seem so likely that enough people will decline CGSD for me to be offered one. But if I want to hold out for it, that means I shouldn't accept my PGSD offer until the last day, right? That is, I'm assuming that accepting my PGSD removes me from consideration for being upgraded to CGSD if enough people decline... does anyone know if this is correct?

Also, in the unlikely event that they do offer me CGSD, does the upgraded offer come by e-mail? Has this happened to anyone yet?

Thanks!!

[purple_clang]

1 hour ago, Thu.berc said:

I'm assuming that accepting my PGSD removes me from consideration for being upgraded to CGSD if enough people decline... does anyone know if this is correct?

You could try emailing schol@nserc-crsng.gc.ca to ask about it. I think they'll be emailing upgraded offers this year. According to my programme's grad admin, they've had problems in the past when sending out upgrades by mail because recipients have a limited amount of time to respond, but people do a lot of travelling over the summer and missed the letters.

Does anyone know if rankings were sent to people who were put on the waitlist? I didn't receive rankings last year. It would've been much more useful to have a sense of where my application stood last year. I got a CGSD and ranked 3/122 for physics and astronomy, but all that really tells me is my application was much better this year. I already figured that was the case with the CGSD, though.

[Liv57ac2]

Is it me or is NSERC taking a while to reply to emails? I sent an email accepting the scholarship on the 27th of March but haven't got any response back yet. I would think over a week would be long enough =)

 I don't want to email them and add to the backlog just yet.

[MathCat]

4 hours ago, Liv57ac2 said:

Is it me or is NSERC taking a while to reply to emails? I sent an email accepting the scholarship on the 27th of March but haven't got any response back yet. I would think over a week would be long enough =)

 I don't want to email them and add to the backlog just yet.

I sent my acceptance in the evening of the 23rd (Thursday) and they sent me a confirmation that they got it on the 29th.

Apparently there were 96 applications sent to the Mathematical Sciences committee. I expected there to be more, based on the ~1500 application numbers in recent years. Perhaps some fields have far more applications? Also, I suppose these numbers do not include the applications that were not forwarded, and I don't know what proportion gets forwarded...

I also think it is weird that they don't say at what ranking they stopped giving awards. Even if this could change with people declining, it would still be a useful number for people who will be applying again.

[purple_clang]

4 hours ago, Liv57ac2 said:

Is it me or is NSERC taking a while to reply to emails? I sent an email accepting the scholarship on the 27th of March but haven't got any response back yet. I would think over a week would be long enough =)

 I don't want to email them and add to the backlog just yet.

I emailed yesterday and got a reply today.

[Liv57ac2]

1 hour ago, purple_clang said:

I emailed yesterday and got a reply today.

Wow, I wonder what's the hold up for my email then? I'll email them in the morning.

[TakeruK]

10 hours ago, Thu.berc said:

Was relieved and thrilled to get PGSD2 this year, after technical problems made me unable to submit my completed application last year!

Question: I just received my letter from NSERC yesterday with my scores and rankings. Ended up 40/122 for Physics and Astronomy. I'm at a US school, but I indicated on my application that I would like to be considered for CGSD anyway since If I get it and decline it, it's good for the CV. Given that my rank probably puts me roughly in the 3rd quartile of recipients, and CGSDs are initially offered to the top third of award recipients (first quartile and a little more), it doesn't seem so likely that enough people will decline CGSD for me to be offered one. But if I want to hold out for it, that means I shouldn't accept my PGSD offer until the last day, right? That is, I'm assuming that accepting my PGSD removes me from consideration for being upgraded to CGSD if enough people decline... does anyone know if this is correct?

Also, in the unlikely event that they do offer me CGSD, does the upgraded offer come by e-mail? Has this happened to anyone yet?

Thanks!!

Sorry, but to be honest, this reasoning isn't a good one. Firstly, let's take the case of a student at a Canadian school who currently has a PGS-D offer. Why would NSERC set it up so that if the student accepts their PGS-D now, they get taken out of the running for the CGS-D? If NSERC wants to upgrade the student, they would do so regardless of whether they have accepted the PGS-D or not. Secondly, it's not that big of a difference to decline a CGS-D or to just have a PGS-D. Just accept your award  Congratulations!

[TakeruK]

4 hours ago, MathCat said:

I also think it is weird that they don't say at what ranking they stopped giving awards. Even if this could change with people declining, it would still be a useful number for people who will be applying again.

This number is published later on, after people have accepted awards. At least, it used to be in previous years. Not for specific committees though, just NSERC-wide, but you can figure the top X% NSERC-wide win awards and translate that to a ranking in your committee as a rough guide. It won't be exact, but even if they published the exact cutoff rank each year, there's going to be noise from year to year anyways.

[Thu.berc]

Woohoo: after a few carefully worded e-mails to NSERC, I got my PGSD2 changed to a PGSD3!!!

It's unlikely that there's anyone else in the situation that I was in which that allowed this to happen, but hey just in case: IF YOU CHANGE PROGRAMS DURING YOUR PHD, IT RE-STARTS THE CLOCK FOR PGSD3 ELIGIBILITY!!!!

My example: I went to PhD straight from bachelor's meaning the cutoff for PGSD3 vs PGSD2 was having completed 24 months of the program as of Dec 31, 2016. I started my PhD in Applied Physics in October 2014, which meant that as of Dec 31, 2016, I'd been at my school for 27 months, which made both myself and NSERC believe that I was only eligible for PGSD2. However, after 5 months of being in the Applied Physics PhD program I changed to the Physics PhD program (which at my school is a totally disjoint program from Applied Physics, run by a different administrative division) in March 2015. Two days ago I realized that because of this, I had actually only spent 22 months in the program for which I am requesting funding! Explained this to NSERC and they upgraded my award. The lady that I was in contact with was extremely kind and patient, which is totally the opposite of my experience dealing with NSERC when I had application problems last year.

TL;DR: If you've changed programs at some point in your PhD and you were given a PGSD2 this year, do the homework and see if you're actually eligible for the extra year!!

Edited April 7, 2017 by Thu.berc

[Thu.berc]

Has anyone gotten any of the forms that we need to fill out in order to get paid etc. if we are starting our award May 1? All I've gotten back was a one line confirmation e-mail saying that they received my acceptance e-mail. I'm concerned because I'm about to go to South America until May 2, and won't be able to have any forms filled out during that time, and won't be able to be paid in May!

edit: upon closer examination, I guess we just submit the forms that we find mentioned in the award holder's guide. that didn't seem initially clear from the notice of decision letter

Edited April 13, 2017 by Thu.berc

[TakeruK]

3 hours ago, Thu.berc said:

edit: upon closer examination, I guess we just submit the forms that we find mentioned in the award holder's guide. that didn't seem initially clear from the notice of decision letter

Yes, that's what you do

[doefficient]

Did anyone get an upgrade from a PGSD to a CGSD?