SSHRC 2010

[transboundary]

does everyone have the same program officer? Mine is not Michelle...

Mine is Jennie Tomkins, so Michelle's holiday may not mean much but judging by the pace of things so far I'd still bet on mid-Aug.

[mudlark]

Does this mean that only those who qualify for CGS have hope of being bumped up? (i.e. those of us NOT in first-year PhD) thoughts?

Only people entering their first year and people entering their second are eligible for CGS.

[Phalène]

^^ but a 3rd or 4th year student could be bumped up from the waitlist to the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship.

[Canuckonomist]

Michelle is back in the office today. She e-mailed me first thing this morning to let me know that nothing has changed so far. 

Canuck

Edited July 26, 2010 by Canuckonomist

[ChanEcon]

Michelle is back in the office today. She e-mailed me first thing this morning to let me know that nothing has changed so far.

Canuck

What do you mean nothing has changed? Have the (few) people who hadn't answered back responded to her calls? What about the Vaniers?

[Phalène]

What do you mean nothing has changed? Have the (few) people who hadn't answered back responded to her calls? What about the Vaniers?

It just doesn't make sense, LOL! If all that had to happen was for a Vanier winner to accept their award for Canuck to receive an SDF... and presumably this would have happened in May... do you see why I'm confused?

At the same time, we know at least 2 people on this thread were bumped from an SDF to a CGS... maybe I should accept that I will never understand how SSHRC works!

[Canuckonomist]

What do you mean nothing has changed? Have the (few) people who hadn't answered back responded to her calls? What about the Vaniers?

Haven't asked. She told me that she can't release any results until they're ready to say things 'officially', so I imagine they're still waiting to clear up what the second round is going to be. It could take a while, so we all need to hang tight.

Canuck

P.S: Nice to know everyone is still lurking religiously.

Edited July 26, 2010 by Canuckonomist

[ChanEcon]

I presume that the official email has to be approved by at least numerous levels of bureaucracy at SSHRC, and there's probably somebody who's always on vacation. I thought the second round would be more spontaneous. At least it gives credit to my "bureaucracy" theory.

I just realized that the results were first announced 2.5 months ago, and we had been waiting at least one month before that announcement was made. That's a lot of waiting.

Lurking religiously... I guess. I would love to post some good news...

[Canuckonomist]

I presume that the official email has to be approved by at least numerous levels of bureaucracy at SSHRC, and there's probably somebody who's always on vacation. I thought the second round would be more spontaneous. At least it gives credit to my "bureaucracy theory." I just realized that the results were first announced 2.5 months ago, and we had been waiting at least one month before that announcement was made. That's a lot of waiting.

Lurking religiously... I guess. I would love to post some good news...

I agree with the bureaucracy theory, though I expect that it's not the final e-mail that will take so long, as it will be the final decision to send those e-mails. That's usually what takes so long, in my experience with administration. No one is willing to make the call without at least half a dozen cosigners.

This is indeed one of the longer waits for results that I've encountered, but keep in mind, when we're academics, the publishing process can take a year, easy. This is practice, I guess.

Canuck

[SpaceJump]

Here's my theory - the results went out around May 7th-ish, right? And there's the secret deadline of July 7th, where those who got the award were supposed to have either accepted or declined... basically, 2 months after the initial offers. Then, SSHRC has to do due diligence... basically, they have to try everything they can to reach the people they haven't heard from. This is the stage they're in right now. Wouldn't it make sense if they spent one month trying to reach these people, and then freed up the funds to those on the wait list?

Therefore, my theory is that there will be "no official movement" until around August 7th, when they can say that they've done everything they can to reach those who were initially offered an award... and then they'll move down to the wait list folks.

At least, that's what's going to help keep me sane until around August 8th...

[Canuckonomist]

Good point, SpaceJump, but your timeline is a tad off. The initial awardees had until mid-june-ish to reply. Then there was the secret deadline of July 7th, which was the date through which they would try to contact awardees to see why they haven't responded. Unofficially, however, they will keep trying until a short time after that to see if they can still reach those who haven't responded, so that could delay everything even longer. I want to get news before August 10th, as that is the date for my comp retake, and anything I can get to boost my standing with the grading committee would be excellent. Not only that, but SSHRC funding for me means they just might keep other students around, too, if my funding is then freed up -so it's good for everyone.  

Anyhow, Michelle did also tell me that the wait could be through December, as that was the case in previous years for some waitlisters (students not choosing to continue in the program past first term), so the wait could be quite long indeed.  

No hopes, no expectations, just pleasant surprises.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Canuckonomist

[ChanEcon]

Anyhow, Michelle did also tell me that the wait could be through December, as that was the case in previous years for some waitlisters (students not choosing to continue in the program past first term), so the wait could be quite long indeed.

Imagine filling out the forms, running after the profs, and sending off your documents for the 2010-2011 SSHRC competition to hear in December that you actually got the money the last time around. Obviously, it would be good news, but it would be so frustrating.

My bet is for the first round of recalls mid-August.

[Canuckonomist]

Yeah, that would not be cool.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Canuckonomist

[SpaceJump]

Good point, SpaceJump, but your timeline is a tad off. The initial awardees had until mid-june-ish to reply. Then there was the secret deadline of July 7th, which was the date through which they would try to contact awardees to see why they haven't responded. Unofficially, however, they will keep trying until a short time after that to see if they can still reach those who haven't responded, so that could delay everything even longer. I want to get news before August 10th, as that is the date for my comp retake, and anything I can get to boost my standing with the grading committee would be excellent. Not only that, but SSHRC funding for me means they just might keep other students around, too, if my funding is then freed up -so it's good for everyone.

Anyhow, Michelle did also tell me that the wait could be through December, as that was the case in previous years for some waitlisters (students not choosing to continue in the program past first term), so the wait could be quite long indeed.

No hopes, no expectations, just pleasant surprises.

Ah. I'd been under the impression that July 7th was the secret deadline for awardees to report their accept/decline to SSHRC. Ah well.

Either way, I doubt we'll hear anything this or next week - my money's on the week of August 9th. Here's hoping that's not just a lame pun!

[Canuckonomist]

Ah. I'd been under the impression that July 7th was the secret deadline for awardees to report their accept/decline to SSHRC. Ah well. Either way, I doubt we'll hear anything this or next week - my money's on the week of August 9th. Here's hoping that's not just a lame pun!

Ah. I see what you did there. Good one!

Edited July 29, 2010 by Canuckonomist

[Canuckonomist]

So that looks like that might be it for the day, I'm guessing. Monday's a Civic Holiday (THE Civic Holiday, in fact,) so the offices will be closed. I'll resume my weekly contact with Michelle on Tuesday, and we'll see if anything has changed then.

Have a great weekend, all.

Canuck

[sagmoo]

i made the second round for sshrc postdoc at 1pm pacific time today. i imagine you will hear by tuesday. i didn't even know there was a second around. good news then. best of luck.

[ChanEcon]

i made the second round for sshrc postdoc at 1pm pacific time today. i imagine you will hear by tuesday. i didn't even know there was a second around. good news then. best of luck.

As much as the post is encouraging (there is a second round for everything, turn, turn, turn), it is also kind of distressing. The postdoc results first came out in February 2010. If we transpose the period to results that came out in May, it would mean that the results of the second round for PhDs would come in two months... It's not necessarily the case. There might be more resources devoted to the PhD competition for example.

Anyway, congratulations to sagmoo for getting the post-doc scholarship!

Looking forward to Canuck's post on Tuesday!

Good night!

[Phalène]

i made the second round for sshrc postdoc at 1pm pacific time today. i imagine you will hear by tuesday. i didn't even know there was a second around. good news then. best of luck.

Congrats!!

[Canuckonomist]

I'm sure everyone was thinking this to be the case, but of course, no movement on the waitlists. Perhaps next week, or the one after that, or perhaps, maybe, the one after that... Low expectations are the key to a stress-free waiting period.  

Canuck

Edited August 3, 2010 by Canuckonomist

[SpaceJump]

Thanks for keeping us updated! I'm still hoping for sometime next week, but I am also genuinely starting to feel like there won't be movement for months yet.

Just judging based on how long it took the postdoc second round to come out (congrats, by the way, to sagmoo!) , and on how pretty much everything has taken about twelve times longer than we all expected so far. Maybe it'll be a week or so after the 2011 SSHRC application deadline!

Edited August 3, 2010 by SpaceJump

[Canuckonomist]

Thanks for keeping us updated! I'm still hoping for sometime next week, but I am also genuinely starting to feel like there won't be movement for months yet.

Just judging based on how long it took the postdoc second round to come out (congrats, by the way, to sagmoo!) , and on how pretty much everything has taken about twelve times longer than we all expected so far. Maybe it'll be a week or so after the 2011 SSHRC application deadline!

At this rate, I'm unlikely to apply again if only to save myself the stress. This whole process has been a bit trying, and I'm getting sick of waiting. My feelings are that I'll need a break from it. Not to mention that SSHRC doesn't make a huge difference on the end of my overall funding package, after clawbacks.

[transboundary]

This just in from my program officer:

"I've been told that they have put a hold on offering more SSHRC awards at this time. Unfortunately, at this time, I am not able to check your status."

Weird. What do you think it means? Doesn't sound good, but maybe this is standard?

[Canuckonomist]

This just in from my program officer:

"I've been told that they have put a hold on offering more SSHRC awards at this time. Unfortunately, at this time, I am not able to check your status."

Weird. What do you think it means? Doesn't sound good, but maybe this is standard?

Doesn't sound that bad to me. Sounds like a variant on what we've all heard -nothing has moved yet. From what I've heard, they were still waiting to hear back from everyone, so who knows what's going on. Putting a 'hold' on more awards doesn't necessarily mean that no more will be offered. It just means we will all be waiting a heck of a lot longer than we were expecting to.

[SpaceJump]

I'm going to guess that the "hold" isn't necessarily a new thing - that it's probably why things haven't moved at all yet. Problem is, there's no telling how long it'll take for the hold to be lifted... but if there's one thing I've learned it's that it'll take longer than whatever I expect.