SensLu

Thanks for reminding me! Haven't recieved mine either. I'm sure they'll be innundated with emails about this so I'll send an email out tomorrow.

I think 2 days after Thanksgiving is an awkward time to have letters due since I imagined work is already piled up for the professor when they return to work. All my letters are submitted for the NSF and EPA grants but here's an example of what I did and how sometimes it's out of your control even if you are responsible. - I sent a letter of recs announcement 2mo in advance. - everyone submitted letters instead of that one professor who already wrote me a letter of rec in the past. My mentor told me his daughter got married recently and to send another reminder because he was in the office that day (I sent the 4th reminder day before Thanksgiving break) no response even though he responded positively to all my previous emails. - Unfortunately for the NSF GRFP I had to contact another professor a week before the deadline. He had no problem submitting a letter of rec before thanksgiving break. - Another example is for the EPA STAR fellowship this year I asked a potential advisor from a different state, who barely knows me, except what my mentor told him about me. I asked him politely to send a letter only 2 weeks in advance of todays' deadline and he submitted a letter within a week. Which I was surprised cause everytime I emailed him it'd take at least 2 weeks to get a response. -Then to make up for the fact that, THAT one professor still didn't submit a letter within the a week of the deadline for the EPA STAR, I asked another person if they'd submit a letter and they submitted it Today! It is only our responsibility to give reminders and notification of deadlines so we'll have 3 letters of recommendation. It makes it really difficult when a professor says they're going to write one and never does. And based on my experience, the fact that all the people that did end up submitting letters are super busy and in cases where I essentially gave last minute notices, I find it hard to believe there's much excuse for THAT one professor who I gave 2 months notice too. Unfortunately not every has a lot of back up writers. And this is especially tricky for the EPA STAR fellowship because of the way letter of recs are submitted.

yes, definitely remind them. Also, I'm having the same issue with one professor but I got another professor to write me a letter as a backup under a 4th priority. You could do that as well still

Yea I sent him all my essays and reminded him 3 times already via email. He responded to every email except this most recent one I sent last thursday. I'm thinking maybe Monday I'll resend the email? I'm iffy about sending email on Friday cause I figured it might get lost with the weekend junk mail.

Yea I have a professor who is being flaky as well, that's why I added a fourth recommendation. Honestly, I don't understand, gave him over a months notice. My other letter writers including my mentor had no problem and the weird part is he wrote me a letter of recommendation before, he could just use the same letter!

The EPA star grant does the same thing except they send the email to the applicant and the applicant has to send link with ID code and all to the applicant. My guess is they probably realize people can send in fake letters and they probably verify the references in some way. From my understanding, letter writers have to go through the process of getting a new password via the NSF website after they sign on using an initial password. All this could be made easy if using the same system as online grad applications and just having a 'resend email' option

I called NSF today after I added a reference, I didn't get CC'd on the email. They said they aren't cc'ing applicants anymore. If you want to send reminders you have to delete the reference and re-enter the email address.

I think it varies based on subject. Based on the solicitation, you don't have to have a detailed proposal, you could just proposed an 'idea' of the research you want to do. In that case, I can imagine using the word 'Aims' would be appropriate. I put 'introduction & problem' together with my objectives at the end of that section. Then I have hypothesis, methods, significance & expected results, broader impacts, and aspirations. I honestly don't think the headings make a difference as long as you're addressing the points. I've heard heading help to make your point, but I've seen essays that have no heading and they still won.

I used 'I' a lot for independent research, but when I talked about 'assisting' on other projects, I used 'we'. Honestly, I think it's already assumed that you're doing research in a lab where your research is specific to the professors/lab's interest. It's your project, so why wouldn't you use 'I'?

I'm actually really excited about my whole application. Even if I don't win, at least I have a proposal ready and set to go. I knew one guy who lost the NSF GRFP but used his proposal to propose his project to professors. Ended up having a professor submit funding for his project and now he's in grad school. I think no matter what, you should keep a positive attitude about it...especially if you know you put forth a great application. I think no matter how stellar other proposals are, the chances are really against everyone considering the amount of people who apply. : Now I'm just worried about how I gave my references plenty of time to submit letters and two are still absent makes me really nervous. Though my experience with one professor is that he submits letters of recs close to the deadline...I haaate that.

I've talked with a professor very close to me who served read graduate student essays for the star grant which I would imagine is more professional than the nsf grant. He didn't mention anything negative about my bold headlines and I've seen many examples with bold headlines. While disscussin the process that they go through when deciding winners, which is similar to the NSF grant, they read a lot of essays and important statments should stand out and headlines are helpful. They take it very seriously and will go back and study each essay, headlines will remind them if the appropriate points were covered in each essay. I don't think headlines would hurt in any of the essays. Also, I was told to try to be as personal as possible without whining. He told me that believe it or not, cheesy personal statements about people overcoming some great adveristy in their life really works. But he said that everyone usually has a story like that but you have to stand out in your essay and make it memorable. Coming off very stiff in your essays wont help at all. I tried to touch on it in my personal statement but I honestly have no great issue (no family issues, no hospital emergencies in my life) but all my letters of rec do a way better job at explaining what may be view as negatives than I ever could. Also, humor is accept but make sure a professor reads it. I made a really funny joke, which I knew would likely be unnacceptable but let my professors read it first...and I was right...it was Lol

I have a dilemma. I earned a degree at one university, then I re-enrolled at that same univeristy under a different undergrad program and took 2 classes to boost my GPA and learn new software but I'm not planning on finishing the program as I only wanted to take those 2 classes and currently not enrolled. The application states, 'If you earned more than one degree or majored in multiple subjects at the same institution, add additional degrees or majors by clicking the Add New button and entering the same institution information while selecting a different degree or major.' I'm wondering if I should just add the same institution twice or not? My transcript states that I earned a B.S. last year and my current program is in GIS and gives me one GPA. The NSF hotline representative did not seem sure about this, I'm thinking of calling back in hopes that I get someone new on the phone but I would some suggestion here.

I have a question regarding acknowledgements in papers. I have been in the acknowledgements section of a few publications that I assited on as an undergraduate before I started my own projects. I would never list them on a CV because that seems a bit over-reaching. However, for the purposes of the previous research essay, is it appropriate to say something to the effect of 'I assited on projects that went to publication such as 'title of publication'...'?

Yeah, in the old app you posted, they have the same fields as this years application to include titles in long and short form but under the description of the format, they explicitly state to include title and keywords and this years application doesn't. I recently saw this site (http://grfpessayinsights.missouri.edu/resources.php) noted that there are changes compared to previous years and in their example format, it doesn't include a title or keywords. I agree that it is just better to play it safe, save space and omitt the title.

I have a question the format of the essays. I was planning to put my project title and keywords on the proposed research plan document but under format guidelines, title and keywords aren't included, however, there are seperate fields on the application that allow you to enter the project title in long and short form as well as keywords. I'm also under the impression that formatting rules have change since previous years.

Really annoying, haven't heard back from one letter writer. I was already a bit worried about asking because she only has a master's degree yet was my supervisor on a major project and that was my latest employment experience outside of my undergraduate university. I also am not sure she's even reliable as a reference because the nature of her job isn't a typical 9-5 in the office or stable like a professor. Is it better to have people with Master's degrees or all professors who wrote strong letters of recs in the past? I have a feeling that with my lower GPA that having all professors that know me extremely well and know my GPA isn't indicative of what I can do in grad school might be the better option anyways. I just don't want to raise any flags by not having a letter writer from my most recent research experience.

What about outreach of the form of working in a lab and helping, mentoring undergraduates? That's obviously a form of teaching though not as explicit as literally going out to the schools but it's a form of teaching nonetheless. Leading projects where you have lead undergrads may be something to through in there. I agree, loaning textbooks and simply saying you've suggested people should apply to grad programs or take classes would be a stretch and if it was me, I wouldn't even feel comfortable saying that in an essay where you probably have other skills that are better worth explaining. Honestly, there has to be something other that loaning textbooks and suggesting courses that you've done.

Yes and chances of getting it is so small too... I wanted to apply for the EPA star grant as well but running out of time.

Thanks again, I assumed all the Life Science applications would be lumped together. And I remember reading somewhere to assume that your audience is not from your field. But that could have been just been a tip for writing proposals so we don't get hung up on jargon.

Thanks for the advice. I feel reallly constrained by time right, currently focusing on proposed plan. I've always knew what I wanted to propose, I know it's creative and will fill gaps in research on my topic, I'm wondering if it's important enough to be worthy of an award. Though I think ecological issues are important, I wonder how the panel who could be from any discipline would think of it. Like how much of their bias as to whether a topic is relevant or not plays into who gets the award...

I am really curious about if anyone was able to overcome getting this award with a low GPA at around 3.0 or below and if they explained a low GPA in their personal statement. My guess is no one with a low GPA would bother applying. However, I plan to apply anyways for the experience and the fact that I don't feel as bad since I have a lot of experience leading research projects, presentations at top conferences, doing outreach, excellent letters of recommendation and according to comments made about this award in the past, demographics seem to be on my side.