human instinct Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 hey all I have applied for NSERC and had a question regarding it. I have seen a list of previous NSERC award recipients at U of T 's biology department and although all of the profs took in one student each; there was one prof who took in 3 students out of the 20 that got accepted. Could this mean that the chances/competition of getting an NSERC with a particular supervisor also depends on how many NSERC students that supervisor is taking in a given year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuantum Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 At my school, if you want a specific prof, you just go to them letting them know and they write a note on your NSERC application that you want to work with them. At UofT, I don't know. I've heard that the competition for these awards are pretty intense. They aren't as intense at my uni, I just walked into his office, told him I am applying for an NSERC and wanted to work in his lab. He showed me around his lab, signed my paper, and four months later, I started working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
temp_degoo Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 Yea, at UofT, the professors can take many names. They then forward them to the internal selection committee which forwards its selections for NSERC approval. If the prof really wants you, then it is possible to get in, if for example the prof doesn't accept any other applications and you are a competitive applicant. Not many will do this, because its not entirely fair. Also, I'm not sure why a prof would take 20 applications for 3 spots. To my knowledge, you have to write a page of the research you will be doing over the summer, and the prof has to write a counterpart to that. It'd be a lot of work on the profs end to submit 20 reports, knowing he/she will only get 3 students out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
temp_degoo Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 hey all I have applied for NSERC and had a question regarding it. I have seen a list of previous NSERC award recipients at U of T 's biology department and although all of the profs took in one student each; there was one prof who took in 3 students out of the 20 that got accepted. Could this mean that the chances/competition of getting an NSERC with a particular supervisor also depends on how many NSERC students that supervisor is taking in a given year? It certainly does. I'm not sure if you can apply to a specific lab, and still get a position in another lab if you don't get into your first choice. You should look into that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
human instinct Posted January 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 hey, i think i didnt state the question clearly. what i meant is tht the whole BIO department took in 20 ppl. Each of these ppl were with a different prof. However there were 3 that got in with one prof alone. This means that this prof allowed all the 3 ppl to apply for nserc for his lab (meaning he had 3 positions dedicated to nserc in his lab), doesnt the fact that 3 got in mean tht they had a higher chance of getting in the prof's lab than those that applied for an nserc position with a prof who had only one nserc position. hope thts not confusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neutral Posted January 28, 2007 Report Share Posted January 28, 2007 Your question makes sense. Certain professors are more likely to have their NSERC prospectors receive the award. Politics comes into play at all levels and more particularly at the departmental level. If your university is anything like mine (UofT) the committee struck at the department may feel that awarding students applying with long-standing tenured professors more favorable than awarding students applying with new, young untenured professors. This is secondary of course to the individual competitiveness of the applicants. It is also probably secondary to how interesting the research project is. My opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurfette Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 It's probably true that the rank of the professor plays a role in the selection process. But another likely reason for this situation is that a certain prof taught a course and was a great teacher. So many students wanted to work for this prof. If he/she has a few students apply and they happen to be good, competitive students, then he/she will have several students funded. I think the two most important parts to getting funded are: (1) the competitiveness of the individual students and (2) whether the project is something that a student can do and whether it is educational for the student (ie. grunt work is usually not acceptable since NSERC is trying to pay for student education not for slave labor for profs). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachy Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 As always, keep in mind that NSERC USRA rules are very university specific. At York, for example, USRA's are awarded purely based on applicants' GPAs, and it doesn't matter who your prof is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
human instinct Posted January 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 hey everyone, thanks for the reply... i was actually talking about the prof at whos lab i applied. Yeah she is quite a renowned prof but i think this yr only me and another 1 or 2 students have applied to her lab. I emailed asking for a volunteer position but she willingly said tht i could apply for an nserc and although i have research experience related to her research my GPA is only 3.6... Do my chances look good as i know this isnt a competitive GPA. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neutral Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 As always, keep in mind that NSERC USRA rules are very university specific. At York, for example, USRA's are awarded purely based on applicants' GPAs, and it doesn't matter who your prof is. Clearly that is a formal rule across the board, not just at York. However, explicit guidelines and what actually takes place can (and usually will) differ. As for your competitiveness human instinct, it depends on...your competition. Also note that when applicants are close in overall GPA, committees usually review performance on the department's courses (i.e. if you're applying in the bio department, they'll check your performance on bio courses). All the best to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachy Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 However, explicit guidelines and what actually takes place can (and usually will) differ.What actually takes place at York is that applicants are ranked by GPA and the top X applicants get the NSERCs. I have no idea how it works at other schools, but I'm not speaking in ignorance of how it "actually takes place". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireDragoonX Posted January 29, 2007 Report Share Posted January 29, 2007 removed... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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