NSF GRFP - change to minor field of study - help!!!

[AnnzPB]

Has anyone on this thread ever dealt with making a change to their minor field of study once they were awarded? I have a question regarding this that I am very concerned about.

I applied as someone not yet in grad school and specified "psychology - other" as my minor field of study since my proposal and previous experiences didn't really fit neatly into any of the listed options for minor field of study. At the same time, I applied to clinical psychology Ph.D. programs for graduate school (my application was not clinically-oriented at all, hence why I was still able to be awarded). I also specified my undergraduate institution as my proposed graduate institution since that helped me make the strongest connection between my background and a potential research project, as well as the fact that my recommenders would be able to speak best to a project that already fit with what their specialties were.

I know several students (more than I can count) who have gotten the NSF even though they are enrolled in clinical psychology Ph.D. programs. They basically took the approach of making their application sound as "un-clinical" as possible, couching their previous experiences and proposed research in terms of basic science work. For example, several of them research ADD/ADHD, and so they wrote their applications under "cognitive psychology"; a few others I know who research marital and family clinical outcomes applied within "social psychology", etc etc.

In any case, now that I am making a decision on where to attend grad school, I am concerned about the fact that I will need to make a change to my minor field of study in order to accept the award since I am leaning towards a clinical psychology Ph.D. program that is 1) housed within a medical center, 2) very "clinically oriented" in terms of the types of research that it specializes in.

From what I gather, this is handled through the Coordinating Officer (CO) at the school that you'd wish to attend. Seems as if it is up to the CO's discretion as to whether they approve the change or not. Has anyone had to go through this before and run into an trouble? How much finagling/justifying do you think I would need to go through in order to iron everything out smoothly given my circumstances?

I know I will have more follow-up questions on this depending on what you all have to say, so I will just leave it at that for now. Y'alls input would be SOOOOOO appreciated. Thank you to you all. =)

[bblackshire]

Hello AnnzPB,

I am currently wondering about switching from Cancer biology to ecology (also a minor switch), did you end up having any troubles with the coordinating office?

 

bblackshire