Graduate Award Competition (GAC)

• There are no restrictions to time in program unless specified in the award terms of reference as per the Graduate Award Database

• No, visiting students are not eligible. Students must be registered in a thesis-based graduate degree program to be eligible.

• The GAC follows Graduate Program Admission document requirements 
• Transcripts must be
  • Up-to-date (dated or issued in the fall session of the year of application (if currently registered) or after the last term completed (if not currently registered)).
  • Issued by the institution’s registrar’s office (either in paper or electronic format) either to the student or UCalgary staff. Paper transcripts may be opened and scanned by the student.
• Transcripts from other sources (printed from the student's personal school account) are not accepted.
• Scans must:
  • Be high quality and easily legible by reviewers
  • Contain Grading Scales for each institution
  • Be rotated so text is upright and reads from left to right
  • May be in colour or black/white

• The GAC competition does not have a minimum GPA requirement however, individual awards may. See the individual award terms of reference in Graduate Award Database for details.
• Grades are calculated using the scale provided by the issuing institution. They are not converted to a 4.0 scale. 

• Deadlines vary by program. Once the Applicant information task of the application is complete, the deadline will populate on the Student Awards Application landing page.
• Contact your Graduate Program Office should you require clarification.

• You may create one application per competition each year.
• If an application is incorrectly cancelled, you must contact the graduate program through which you are applying and request the application be reactivated. 

• Contact your Graduate Program Office requesting the start term of the program be opened up for you. This normally occurs when a student defers their admission to a term that is not a typical admission term for the program.

The system will only permit one GAC application. Please send one email to gsaward@ucalgary.ca and all programs to which you are applying.

• Identify which program you are selecting in your GAC application

and

• all the programs you wish to be considered for with your GAC application

This will ensure that if the initial program does not offer you admission, your GAC application will be considered by the other programs.

• It depends on both the value of the external scholarship and the specific GAC award. Review the terms of reference carefully for the GAC awards which you intend to apply for in order to determine eligibility.
• All UCalgary awards are administered according to the Graduate scholarship and award regulation

• Eligibility statements are used to confirm eligibility for specific awards after ranking is complete (post adjudication). Some terms of the award do not require a statement and eligibility will be determined based on other criteria.
• For awards that require Statements of Eligibility be aware that this will be a determining factor when selecting the successful recipient(s). The details required vary depending on the award.
• Indicate as clearly and precisely as possible why you are eligible for the selected award, use the language of the award description itself and highlight aspects of your research that show it addressing the award’s eligibility requirement.
• Do not copy and paste statements, tailor each one to the specific award.
• The word count is a maximum - some statements may require only a few words, whereas others may require close to the word count limit.

• Relevant circumstances might include administrative responsibilities, maternity or parental leave, child-rearing, illness, disability, cultural or community responsibilities, socio-economic context, trauma and loss, family responsibilities or a pandemic.
• Specify the dates for any delays or interruptions and provide a brief, non-intrusive, statement but that is substantial enough to address the need to include an “Allowable Inclusions statement.”

• Each task must be complete (indicated by a green check mark in the Task Details list) to in before you can access the submission page. Find the incomplete task and click the large yellow SAVE button at the bottom of the page to complete the task.
• Please note submission of the application is separate from submission of the references. This application can be submitted before references have been completed.

The cafes are set 30-minute sessions with mentors paired in the breakout rooms. The drop-in sessions are first-come-first served.

Contact the Graduate Leaders Circle (GLC) for all questions regarding the workshops, cafés, and drop-in sessions

• You cannot apply for these awards. The Entrance awards have been cancelled effective 2024 and the Distinguished Doctoral Recruitment Scholarships are awarded through your program.
  
  Please reach out to your program with regards to this award.

• All applicants must have applied for admission to a Graduate Program in order to access the awards tab in the Student Centre. The system updates overnight.
• Wait at least one day following submission of your admission application before creating the GAC application.

• Alberta Innovates is a provincial funder and funds research that impacts Alberta. When selecting the award, you are required to Detail how your research can produce potential environmental, health, economic, social and other impacts in Alberta. Applicants who do not adequately address this will be considered ineligible.

• The Izaak Walton Killam Doctoral Scholarship is only available to students registered in the first three years of study. 4th year students will only be considered under exceptional circumstances.
• Contact your Graduate Program Office and request to be considered for this category. If selected as the program’s nominee, the Graduate Program Office will work directly with FGS to ensure your application is forwarded to the university competition.

• In order to attach the harmonized form, you must first complete and submit the application.
• Once the application is submitted, the Supporting Documents link will populate on the Student Awards Application landing page.

• The reference task items auto populate when you access the application.
• If the application deadline has not passed, please cancel the application.
• If the deadline has passed, disregard them. They will be removed from your task list later in the year.

• In the reference task, click the “add a referee” button. Any eligible admissions references will be displayed for selection. Once you select the admissions reference, the system will automatically sync the submitted admission reference to the GAC application. The referee will not receive another notification nor will they need to submit a separate reference.
• If you are selecting an admission reference not yet completed (in flight), this must be submitted by the awards deadline, regardless of the deadline for your admissions application. It is the applicant’s responsibility to follow up with the referee and ensure that the reference is submitted by the deadline.
• If possible, request references specific to the GAC application rather than use an admission reference. Admission references speak to different criteria and will not refer to the GAC Selection Criteria. Update references as much as possible.

• Please ask the referee to access the link again. If they can, it has not been submitted. They must try to submit again. Once submitted they will be presented with the option to print/save a copy. They, and the applicant, will receive an email once this is complete.
• At times, some users experience data cache issues when accessing the system, particularly if they are submitting a reference for more than one applicant. Ask the referee to clear their data cache, then access the link again.  If that does not work, try a different browser. 
• Contact your Graduate Program Office for further assistance as they may be able to provide a fillable PDF to the referee. 

• You selected referee from admissions:

  When you select an admission reference, they do not receive an email notification nor do they need to complete another reference. The reference submitted for your admissions application will be linked to your GAC application the day after it is completed.

• You selected a new referee:

  Ask the referee to check their junk/spam folder. If not received:

  • Application is “In Progress”: Access the reference task within your GAC application, delete the request, then re-enter the email address, and notify.
    
    This will send a new email and link to the referee cancelling any previous links provided. Often a small typo in the email address is the cause here.

  • Application is “Submitted”: contact your Graduate Program Office for assistance

• Your referee needs to be able to speak to your academic background and training, research ability and record, communication and language ability, and reliability and personal aptitude. If your employer can speak to these four criteria, then yes.
• References from relatives, friends or colleagues are not accepted.

• Yes, they can be from anywhere – whoever can best speak to the four selection criteria: Academic background and training, research ability and record, communication and language ability, and reliability and personal aptitude.

• No. the system will accept all email addresses however, it will provide a warning for any generic email address such as hotmail, gmail etc.

Review this information to increase your chances of receiving a strong reference

• Contact the student's Graduate Program Office and request they delete the reference received. The student then needs to access the application, delete the original request, and resend.

• All GAC References should be submitted using the online reference form generated by the student’s application. If you are unable to complete the form using the link sent to you, please contact the student’s Graduate Program Office.

• It is possible that one of the reviewers will have no research experience in your area. Frame your proposal for a broad audience.

• Yes, you may pull components from other applications as long as you ensure you continue to meet the requirements of this application.

• If they are under review, make it very clear that is the stage that publication is at.
• Have your supervisor comment in the letter of reference about the article and confirm that it is in review.

• You should use the format used by your Research Area. Contact your supervisor or Graduate Program Office for guidance.

• The system only allows plain text formatting. When rich text characters are copied and pasted in to the field, they are converted to plain text.
• You have two options:
  • Copy and paste the text in to a plain text app such as Notepad. Then copy and paste it in to the application field
    or
  • Review and edit the (¿) characters as required
• We do advise reviewers of this known issue and ask they do not view this negatively in their review.

Bullet points with activity and an explanation of the impact is recommended