External funding apps when I don't know where I'll study for award year?

[gubidal092]

So I am currently in a PhD program, that I will complete a masters-in-passing in at the end of this Spring, and as I am not funded I am also sending out applications to other schools that I might complete my PhD at instead. I might stay at my current university, I might not depending on the responses I get. 

 

So I am also applying for funding, via various grants and fellowships (NSF GRFP, Ford Foundation, etc.). I know people apply for funding at the same time they are doing applications, but the applications seem oriented towards people who already know where they are going to be attending (i.e., my specific research will vary depending on where I go, so am I very, very general and non-specific, or do I lay out different propositions for research? etc.). So, how do I express the fact that I don't know where I'll be attending for the award year or precisely what I will be researching in these applications? 

 

I'd appreciate any advice with this; this is my first year doing external funding applications. 

[loginofpscl]

Be very specific. Choose to write about a program where you have the most concrete ideas for, in general it does not help for you to be vague because it doesn't say anything about your ability to generate ideas. Anyone can say 'I wanna do science' but it takes a bit of thinking to be able to say 'I wanna do x science using y methods to answer question z. Here are expectations a, b, and c and these methods d, e, and f are how I will quantify success."

 

In brief, be very familiar with a specific professor's work at a certain target institution, and develop your ideas for that line of work.