Viva

Congratulations to everyone who received the fellowship or a honorable mention. I got the fellowship!!! I was absolutely shocked yesterday and I am still in disbelief today. This was my first time applying and I am in my last year of undergrad. Unfortunately, all of the universities I applied to rejected me. So now what? Hopefully I can secure a spot somewhere. Is anyone else in this same predicament? Again, congratulations!!!

Has anyone heard anything from SIO? The suspense is too much!!!

Has anyone heard anything from Scripps yet?

I have not heard anything yet from SIO. I checked the SIO admissions website this weekend and it stated that applicants are notified of admission in late March. I hope we both hear some good news soon.

Oh, I completely agree. But in my case (and I believe the earlier poster's case) we served as TAs for minority students not as their lab partners.

I am not sure exactly how NSF judges broader impacts, but I know what NSF fellows have told me and that is to lay broader impacts on thick. And if you have academic/community involvement with minorities or non-traditional students then you should by all means mention it no matter how shameless it might seem.

Hmm. Right now, I will say that I have started applications for 4 schools but I currently have a list of about 20 schools. I need to hear back from prospective advisors and hopefully after that I can narrow down the list. I am not an incredibly decisive person so I may apply to a number of programs (not 20 though!) and then make the big decision in the spring. But you are right, if after serious consideration, you would rather reapply than attend, a school should come off the list. I am definitely going to keep that in mind when I check over my list again. Thanks.

Well said. I was accepted to a UK as well as a Canadian university for undergrad. Unfortunately, when it came to making a decision, I was too anxious about moving to a foreign country by myself and decided to stay closer to home. I really regret that and wish I had overcome my fears then but at least now after traveling more, I know that I enjoy traveling to foreign countries and would be very enthusiastic about pursuing graduate studies abroad. Wow. Thank you so much for your detailed description of those cities. I am not sure yet if I want to live in a big city or not. My time in Vancouver was a bit of a whirlwind so hopefully, if UBC likes my application they might invite me for an interview and then I can explore the city a bit more. I have friends from Montreal who always say wonderful things about it but I am concerned I may run into trouble because I do not know any French (I took all Spanish language courses) although I am willing to learn. I have heard the tulip season there is remarkable. Thanks again for your help!

Nice. I wish I could narrow down my list to 6 schools. There is a neuroendocrinologist at JHU that I have contacted but until I hear back from him, I am not sure whether I will apply there or not. I applied to Scripps Institute of Oceanography which is affiliated with UCSD as well. I wish you the best as you apply to all of those great universities!

Really? It would raise eyebrows? Well, I am specifically interested in the neural and hormonal mechanisms of migratory behavior. I am particularly interested in working with species that spend a significant portion of time in the high latitudes. This is not a huge field and I have found that many researchers that share my interests reside in Canada (as well as Sweden, where I am not yet willing to travel to). So far I have found US researchers that use certain techniques I will have to learn but apply them to other behaviors that I am not as interested in or other US researchers that work with high latitude species but are focused more on ecology then mechanisms of behavior. So, in Canada (and Sweden), I have found researchers who are uniting my interests. Also, as a native Floridian and almost lifelong resident here, I am ready to leave and never look back. I love cold climates and have had some wonderful experiences in Canada so I am eager to return there.

Since our academic interests differ, I would like to ask more general questions. What is student life like in Vancouver? Is it relatively safe area around UBC? Is it very expensive to be a student in Vancouver? I visited Vancouver briefly last year and my initial impression was good but I was not there long enough to visit UBC.

Thanks for the post. Actually, I am pretty certain that I want to study neuroethology and neuroendocrinology but at these different universities, professors with similar interests to mine are sprinkled throughout different programs.

It sounds like you covered broader impacts very well. I struggle with doubt and worry as well though. No matter how many people say favorable things about my NSF essays, I still worry that they are inadequate in some way. I am just glad the worst part is over and it is out of my hands. By the way, your research sounds really interesting (I have read about it on your profile) and that may help you stand out from the crowd as well.

You sound like you would make a strong candidate. From what I have heard, the research proposal is crucial as well as emphasizing intellectual merits and broader impacts. I contacted a number of NSF graduate fellows for advice and help with my essays and I recall some having lower GPAs than yours so don't worry too much about that.

Good for you! I am applying to some neuroscience programs this year as well as general biology/zoology programs. Where will you be applying? What area of neuroscience are you interested in? I think it takes awhile to process the transcripts but November 12th is the deadline for transcripts, I believe. Keep checking for it. Two of my references have sent their LORs but the other two have not done so. Once they send their LORs in I will try to forget about the whole thing and hopefully be pleasantly surprised in March/April/May/whenever.