cathaea

I have never heard of anyone who was unable to convert a category A SSHRC into a category B award. I think it takes a few weeks to process because there are administrative hoops but I wouldn't worry. Diakonos, sorry to hear. These scholarship competitions are often a weird mix of politics and are certainly not a measure of how valuable your project it is. Since you were unsuccessful (and not just waitlisted), you may very well want to appeal. I have no experience with that so I'd highly recommend talking to your supervisor and grad chair for some advice on how to navigate that process--could be tricky waters going forward if your appeal is unsuccessful. ETA: Actually, I just read the appeals document and I'm not sure how you would prove your case since the grounds to appeal are entirely procedural in nature.

Well. I'm just outside of the GTA and mail just came -- no letter yet. Anyone else in Ontario still waiting?

Sorry to hear despejo. Fingers crossed you get off the waitlist.

Whoever posted that SSHRC could make a fortune by emailing results for a nominal fee hit the nail on the head. Good luck to everyone still waiting to hear.

Sorry for the 20 questions. So the CGS eligibility has been expanded as of this year but the fellowship still remains at 20K and tenable up to 4 yrs, correct? Has the 5 year window been introduced yet?

I normally stalk this post but after 3 dejecting years, I actually tried really hard to forget about SSHRC this year. Anyway, I'm reading that the amount of the fellowship has changed has changed from 20K to 25K and that it is now tenable at any point in a 5 year period. Anyone have any confirmation of this? I'm particularly interested in the 5 year change, if that's true. Does that mean candidates going into their 3rd year (as an example) would be offered a 2 year fellowship instead of a 1 year? My anxiety has sky-rocketed about this whole process since tentative confirmation that I might have won this year. Also, is the bolding warning not to post scores/information a new thing? I don't remember that from previous letters but perhaps I've blocked the previous trauma from my memory.

I've been waitlisted 3 yrs in a row, never made it off the waitlist. But my scores weren't that close to the cut-off and I know of others who were successful.

Yes, thanks for adding that clarification. Hence why you can only get CGS up to month 17 of your studies because it is only tenable for 3 yrs.

They are different. CGS is a 35K/year award awarded to applicants who have completed less than 17 months of study (so typically students up to PhD1) and a fellowship is $20K up to a max of four years (I think? There's been some rule changes this year I haven't totally followed). However, CGS cannot be held in the US which is why all US students have to decline CGS for the fellowship. CDN students can receive either offer. ETA: Not a dumb question!

Received an email from the external scholarship coordinator at my school yesterday that I was successful but haven't received a letter from SSHRC yet to confirm. Last year there was a bit of a debacle at my school and both successful and wait listed OGS candidates received the same congratulations form letter. I'm hoping that was a one-time glitch as the school adjusted to the process of adjudicating OGS from within. But, just in case, I'm waiting with baited breath in the event that I am only wait listed. That being said, I've been waitlisted 3 yrs in a row so it would be nice to get a SSHRC for my 4th and (hopefully final) year.

I just called the number for the fellowships office and left a message and someone called me back. They were pretty prompt. And re: the waitlist, I have no idea. There were a ton of people who were rejected with higher scores than 15.0. There's no rhyme or reason to SSHRC. I'm going to guess that if you're around 18/19 and were waitlisted that you have a good chance; probably not so good of a chance if you're significantly lower than that (like me!).

Some news for those on the waitlist. I called SSHRC and talked to a snarly woman who told me that everyone on the waitlist would be combined into a master list sorted by discipline before any SDF offers would be extended. Before that, they're going to go through each sub-committee and try to fill out the CGS awards from those who declined. That process hasn't happened yet so they can't/won't give specific information about your placement on the waitlist. For English, she said the lowest cut-off on any of the sub-committees was 18.7 and the highest was 19.5. That's all I could get out of her but at least it's something!

From what I've been told, you compete against people in your discipline. For some reason, I seem to remember that the figure is something like 60 awards per subject although that seems awfully low so perhaps my memory is incorrect. Anyway, scholarship adjudication committees are crapshoots--congrats to those who got it, but for those that didn't, this really isn't an indication of your academic merit/worth (as much as it might feel like a slap in the face). I was lucky enough to get an OGS this year but I have no idea why.

Mine still has the regular message -- looks exactly as it has for months now. How aggravating.

I think the TA thing is school specific. We have an abundance of TAs (I'm not really sure why, but we definitely do) so they revoke your TAship before they take away your internal funding. This is only for the CGS/Vanier though, regular SSHRC holders are totally fine.