I am having trouble describing NSERC

[Guest ABC]

I am under the assumption that many applicants will have an NSERC summer award by the time they apply...

so is it necessary to describe it in detail for the Ottawa sketch?

 

all I put under the qualifications section was "Grant lasting for 16 weeks to stimulate interest in research,

 

under competition I put "5 spots out of 40 applicant, have a minimum academic avg. of 85%"

 

...and thats it. Im look at it from the big picture and it seems that this is all I can put. But it doesn't convey the fact that NSERC are highly competitive, given to only students that can find a supervisor, etc.

 

what do you guys think?

[Guest V]

I think that the name NSERC will be recognized by the admissions commitee. It is generally known to be a prestigious award, which is highly competitive.

 

I had the same problem last year, and I wrote something like this....

 

NSERC- summer studentship in research

Received: XX/YY/ZZZZ

- awarded to students in high academic standing, who exhibit the potential to contribute to the field of research

- awarded to an undisclosed number of students

 

I remember it sounding something like this.... but I really don't remember. I wrote it like I did above, because I remember that there is really no criteria to GET the award (to be considered to need to have over a 75% average, but to GET it you need to be at the top...).

 

I wouldn't worry about trying to explain it in great detail... you have the opportunity to expand on this award in your research section (IT IS THE ACTUAL RESEARCH COMPONENT THAT THEY WILL BE INTERESTED IN.... thats where you will get experience working with the scientific method, problem solving and working as a team, etc...)