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Making Your Application Shine - University of British Columbia
Transcript of Making Your Application Shine - University of British Columbia
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Janice Eng, PhD
Professor & Associate Dean
UBC Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
Canada Research Chair in Neurological Rehabilitation
How to make your scholarship application shine
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Have others review your application
Have a colleague or friend read your application
for readability / grammar/ typos
Do they get excited about the work or get the
sense of importance from the way you wrote it
Put together a scholarship writing club
Use peers to review different pieces from each other
once a week running up to the deadline
Invite a faculty member to provide tips at one of the
sessions
Get as many eyes on your application as possible
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Common Application Mistakes
Didn’t follow instructions
Training expectations does
not build on experiences
Does not market proposal
Does not market CV
Language not lay
Typos
Lack of details in proposal
Supervisor’s CV does not
show support for proposed
work (CIHR)
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Components
Transcripts – used to assess academic potential
Proposal – used to assess research potential
Training expectations/Personal statement – used to
assess research potential
CV - used for all components
Reference letters - used to assess all components but
especially leadership and personal characteristics
Most significant contributions – research potential
Academic potential (Transcripts, previous awards) and Info
from References weighted highly for Master awards.
Increasing weight on Proposal and Productivity
(presentations/publications) for Doctoral awards
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The Reviewers
Topics range from A to Z, multi-disciplinary,
different methodologies
One primary & one secondary reviewer
Likely not experts in your topic
Lots of reviews and little time
Your neighbour
should be able to
understand your
application and be
excited about it
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What are reviewers looking for?
Candidates are expected to have an
exceptionally high potential for future research
achievement and productivity.
Potential for important contributions &
independent research.
Do not apply if you are truly not competitive –
takes a lot of work and time
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Be clear and specific
Write short sentences and keep it simple.
“My main objective is to identify critical
regulators of [….]. To attain this objective, I have
three specific aims. These studies will define the
role of [protein] in [biological activity].”
Use strong, active verbs, such as “is” and “will”.
“These studies will enhance our understanding
of the biology of…”
“To identify molecular regulators of axonal
guidance, I will...”
“The research is designed to…”
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Be clear and specific
Use transition words.
“Furthermore”, “Additionally” and “In contrast”
Minimize the use of acronyms.
Use all space provided!
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Transcripts
GPA is considered, but reviewers also
consider:
Courses and load taken
Grade relative to class average if reported
Program and university
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Proposed Research (typically 1 or 2 pages)
Must be easy to read and explain technical terms
Objectives / research hypothesis provided
Project fits your background but challenges or extends your skillset
Needs to be ‘stand-alone’, easy-to-read, and to capture the interest of reviewers and show potential for impact.
“Do-ability” (describe time frame, resources)
Fit between project and the supervisor's research program
Your role
Developing algorithms, collecting data, write and publish manuscripts, present data at conference
Must be detailed, not vague
Comment complaint: “Not sure what they are going to do”
“I’m not convinced this is feasible”
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Headers are helpful for proposals
Background:
Why is this needed?
Purpose and Hypothesis:
Methods Research design
Sampling/Subjects/Theory
Measures
Analysis strategy
Limitations
Significance/Impact:
Role of candidate:
Qualitative studies
might use alternative
headings such as
Theoretical context,
framework for
analysis
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Training Expectation/Personal statement
Logical description of experiences that contributed to development of interest in research
Must show that each experience logically builds and leads to next experience and has benefit to your development as a researcher
Introduced to research as a summer student (acquired skills in…)
Exposure to practical challenges in industry/work/4th year (acquired skills in ….) led to an interest in research
Led to Master's program where the candidate developed an important research topic, developed expertise in XXX and presented early results at conferences. Mentors strongly encouraged to continue to Doctoral program to develop complementary skills in…and address research gaps in...
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Training Expectation Fit with supervisor (why him/her) and research
centre/department
Unique skills that you will gain from the supervisor/research centre and how they will complement your prior experiences
if a supervisor CV is required (CIHR), it must reflect the type of work you have proposed
Future goals
Over next two years (MSc), I will undertake…..I hope to continue with PhD studies with someone like Dr. X from…
Over next 5 years (PhD), I will undertake.. ..I hope to continue with post-doctoral studies with someone like Dr. X from.. And then develop an independent research career focused on..
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In your training expectation, you can tell of any
related experiences. I did a 4th year directed study
which involved reviewing the literature and this led
to my interest in graduate studies…..In one of my 4th
year courses, I had opportunity to study….and
developed a passion for this field and received the
highest mark. I acted as a teaching assistant and
assisted in integrating research concepts within the
classroom…I worked in the area of .. And it was
evident that there our decisions were not based on
research or evidence and this led me to … I worked
as a worklearn student in a research lab where I
learned…
What if you have minimal research
experiences?
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References/Sponsors
Used to judge characteristics and abilities of the candidate
Often a large weighting of a Master application
Helps to corroborate your points on leadership and research impact
Typically free-form letter or letter and ratings
Get instructions for referee letter so you know what info to feed your referees
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Sample Reference Requirements
To help explain your ratings, provide specific examples of the
candidate's behaviour with respect to each characteristic in Part
A: Critical thinking; Independence; Perseverance; Originality;
Organizational skills; Interest in discovery; Research ability; and
Leadership ability.
A CV is not sufficient to answer these questions
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Selecting your referees
Select sponsors carefully
Need to describe you well, provide them with CV
Provide them with text summarizing accomplishments and examples to match what is asked for (if you have energy, then make 3 slightly different versions)
Give 6 weeks time to complete – Manage your referees!
Honest appraisal
Comments must match ratings
Ratings should be consistent
Examples are a must
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Leadership and community outreach
Typically this is extracted from the CV and referee report
Leadership activity is weighted much higher than participation activity
Activity can be work experience, project management, volunteerism
Describe and clarify your role
You helped at a foodbank- Did you help serve food or did you organize three volunteers as a team
You helped with highschool science career events – Did you develop the content, did you approach the school?
You are on the Chemistry Graduate Student Executive –Do you organize a conference or orientation events
Ideal if some of the reference letters corroborate these activities
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Leadership and community outreach
Leadership activity is weighted much higher if it is sustained and recent (last 3 years)
Prefer you regularly help at a foodbank, rather than a one-time event
You have helped a program about science careers twice a year for 2 years in a row
Leadership is weighted higher if there are activities from different aspects of life – e.g. leadership related to school (sit on committee or helped organized a student-led conference); leadership in the community (mentor in your church; volunteer coach for elementary school track team)
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CV and Common CV Tips
Common CV: Input data online for some CVs,
including some NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR
competitions, UBC Affiliated Awards, Vaniers
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Minimize redundancy and enhance clarity
Although you can put the same item in multiple places in a CV, especially the Common CV, this really irritates the reviewers
Select one category to put it in
Ensure all items have appropriate dates associated with it (list the date or duration of an award or leadership activity)
Ensure you preview the Common CV file as it may exclude items
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Reasonable interruptions and delays are taken
into consideration
Maternity/parental leave
Family illness
Relocation
Switch from teaching to research role
Gained experience in industry/hospital/real-life
Administration role
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CV Productivity
If they allow, and if there is space…
Define your role (either globally or for each paper)
“As the first author, I conceptualized the paper, collected and analyzed
the data, wrote the first draft with input from my supervisory committee
(80% contribution).”
“I took existing data, but developed the methodology for the paper, wrote
the first draft and completed the 2 major revisions required by the journal
we submitted to (60%).”
“As 3rd author, I contributed to the data collection and provided input into
the final draft (10%).”
Cite impact factor of journal or rank of journal if relevant to your field and
it helps your case
Emphasize importance of productivity if you think the reviewers might not
know to value it “In my field of XX, conference proceedings (..sole author
book chapter) are highly valued…
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Awards: Provide details
Tell them what the award was for
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Supervision versus Mentorship
It is rare in Canada that graduate students are allowed to “supervise” graduate students in their Masters or PhD
However, I have seen this allowed in European universities and the professor confirmed in their reference letter that the PhD student was truly on a Masters thesis committee
Usually supervision of undergraduate or mentorship of Masters students should go in the Mentoring section, not Supervision section of the common cv
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Activities
Ensure activities have sufficient title, details and dates to
convey the duration of your activity and level of
participation/initiative/leadership
Use each activity to convey leadership and initiative if relevant
For example, for a teaching assistant experience documented in
the teaching activities section, communicate if you helped revise
or implement new curriculum