scienceteacher7

I received the same ratings as you in the same area (Life Sciences - Ecology) and received hm for the second year in a row!!!! The fellowships gods don't like me. My respect for this award and it's process is now gone.

I got an HM for the second year (after correcting what they told me to correct last year). My ratings were VG/VG, VG/E, and E/E...higher than my ratings last year but no award They gave out more awards, but I didn't get one. I emailed a bunch of my friends how sad I was and, to make matters worse, one told me to be careful who I complained to because science was small and I would get labeled as crazy, bitter, or resentful and then wouldn't get anything ever and my career would be over before it started, etc. etc. I propose that we all make some resolutions if we ever get into a position of power... 1. thou shalt not take an additional 6 weeks to publish results of the NSF 2. thou shalt not give an award to one applicant with a lower rating, whilst giving an HM to an applicant with a higher rating, thus confusing all applicants 3. thou shalt retain dignity, fairness, transparency, and honesty thoughout thine academic career 4. thou shalt remember to behave once thou acquires power

I CANNOT AGREE WITH YOU MORE. RIGHT ON THE MONEY. THIS IS WHY I DON'T AUTOMATICALLY RESPECT TITLES...I JUDGE SOMEONE BASED ON WHAT THEY DID AND WHAT THEY DO, NOT WHO GAVE THEM AN AWARD.

By the end of this week?????? I was hoping it would be over today or tomorrow. This is eating a hole in my stomach. I was already an HM last year and I fixed the things that they commented on...reapplied...got put in this limbo and have been checking more and more...probably only to get an HM again like last year. I'm not in school right now and I will be a TA in the fall (I was a teacher so I like teaching)...but, I would love to get one fancy award once instead of being this HM/finalist/alternate thing and never ever getting bumped up. Actually, I think the non-ivory tower world is pretty rough. I worked the last three years and I think that the non-academic world isn't so easy either.

Ah, yes, Python takes up space any time...I am having academic nightmares...

I'll take some more space.... "right, who threw that..." the stoning sketch

Yes, yes, yes...this is the spirit we need... I'm watching the Hermit sketch now... "Is not the miracle of the juniper berries enough?"

I haven't posted much, but I've checked this forum from overseas sometimes several times a day in hopes for some news. I have really appreciated everyone...the characters writing in old English style were silly, but I did not like the ones who faked the emails saying "results were coming in." Mean people. Yeah, this is eating at me everyday...I am tired of always being alternate, finalist, or hm...I would love to get it sometime! This reminds me of my favorite Monty Python song...The Galaxy Song (and people...we know that the numbers aren't all right on...bbc looked at 'em a while ago see http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2163133 but let us appreciate Monty Python in all their glory without academic commentary...we're probably all a little tired of that thing at the moment). For Video: http://pythonline.com/node/18116711 Lyrics: And I paraphrase the intro line after the organ donation skit... "Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown, And things seem hard or tough, And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft, And you feel that you've had quite eno-o-o-o-o-ough, [sING ALONG EVERYONE IN LIMBO 2009] Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour. That's orbiting at ninety miles a second, so it's reckoned, A sun that is the source of all our power. The sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see, Are moving at a million miles a day, In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour, Of a galaxy we call the Milky Way. Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars; It's a hundred thousand light-years side to side; It bulges in the middle sixteen thousand light-years thick, But out by us it's just three thousand light-years wide. We're thirty thousand light-years from Galactic Central Point, We go 'round every two hundred million years; And our galaxy itself is only one of millions of billions In this amazing and expanding universe. The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding, In all of the directions it can whiz; As fast as it can go, the speed of light, you know, Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is. So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure, How amazingly unlikely is your birth; heya And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space, 'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!" -Eric Idle, The Meaning of Life, pasted from http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/ ... B10006DCBC Other Python classics at.... http://pythonline.com/archive-utube Let's get to 200 quoting Python...I'll get you started on a couple sketches and let's see who can quote them best without referring to scripts....The fact that I know these so well probably says a little about why I never win these things!! "The norwegian blue, beautiful plumage isn't it...." or "In Mercia?" or "Mein hovercraft is full of eels..." or "I wanted to be...a lumberjack..." or "That's a capricorn is it?..." or "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition...That is our chief weapon surprise...surprise and..." or my favorite skit... "You could say 'Dennis.....'"

What is a URM????? I have no clue, but I am curious to know. Re broader impacts: since I volunteered in another country and then taught science in the inner city for 3 years, I think it is important to do things because your heart is in them....NOT because that's what NSF wants. I already know two other recipients from past years...I read their applications and about their volunteer work and promises...as far as I can tell, both were just saying what reviewers wanted to hear...I never noticed them to care too much about "broader impact" type causes. So, it makes me angry to know that people do volunteer work just for a fellowship. It's a bit insulting for those of us who give years of our lives to help others simply because we want to do good. Yeah, I had nightmares about academia last night.

Hi, I've been reading this a lot but I've only posted twice, so I'll do my bit to contribute to the 200 page goal. Yeah, I had an hm last year....and I don't want it again for a second year...that would make me a finalist/alternate/runner-up for a big fellowship for the 7th time and it would be nice to get one of them once...I know a guy who's had many of them and he's actually kind of an asshole...so I'm getting more skeptical of the reviewer decisions each year. Anyway, I've been reading this from Asia...paying almost every day to check my email and to get the info delayed and delayed...sometimes checking when I've had severe traveler's illness, just hoping to get something to brighten-up my mostly bed-ridden day! It just goes on and on and on and on and on.....like an amoeba...will we hear today? ever? can you really believe the one week when two weeks turned into 6 or 7? I've enjoyed hearing that others are in the same boat. Got to go...the creepy guy next to me in the internet cafe is watching questionable videos and that signals my time to exit! best

I wrote to NSF about any updates and this was the reply... Thank you for your interest in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). While we cannot give a specific number of applicants who have not been notified, we can say that in recent years there have been between around 1400-1800 honorable mentions, and the pool of applicants yet to be notified (i.e., this year's current honorable mention pool who may also be considered for additional awards) is a little higher than that. We will not be sending regular e-mail updates to applicants whose status is still pending. We will, however, update the main page at www.nsfgrfp.org once we have a realistic timeframe for notifications. As of now, however, we are still waiting for NSF to decide the final number of additional awards and how the awardees will be selected. Because the decision process involves multiple divisions and directorates at NSF, it is complicated and time-consuming. The 2009 GRFP program solicitation indicated that between 900-1600 awards will be given out. At this time, we are inclined to suspect that the final number will still be within that range. However, as no final decisions have been made, that is only our best guess right now. At this time, we don't expect to be able to send any notifications out within the next few days, as up to the time of writing this response we have received no indication of a final decision from NSF being imminent. We will, of course, notify applicants as soon as we can once the decision has been made. If you have any further questions, please contact this office toll-free at (866) 673-4737, via postal mail at the address below, or via email at info@nsfgrfp.org Sincerely, GRF Operations Center 1818 N Street NW Suite T-50 Washington, DC 20036-2479 Website: www.fastlane.nsf.gov/grfp/ www.nsfgrfp.org

I've been reading this board from overseas after I saw the ambiguous posting on the fastlane page and received no email (even after checking my other accounts and my junk-mail folder). If it makes any of you feel better...I think that a significant amount of this whole thing is luck and a person's ability to tell NSF what it wants to hear. I took a rather unusual path after undergrad...after being an alternate for a Fulbright and never getting bumped up, I joined Teach For America and spent the next three years of my life teaching science to mostly Latino kids in the inner-city . I received an honorable mention last year...my grades and GREs were good, I had done 3 NSF REU programs and some other research internships, and spent 3 years spending most of my waking hours trying to improve science education for under-served children. One of my reviewers said that an "excellent in the broader impacts category is a no-brainer" yet another gave me a "good." So, each reviewer can have very different opinions. All three said that I should have published already so they, therefore, doubted my commitment to science. My proposal probably wasn't so good. I improved the things the reviewers commented on, and still didn't get it this year. However, I know several people who have won NSFs and I read their applications. Several did small amounts of volunteer work or tutored in a school for a few days and then tried to turn that into a profound understanding of inner-city kids and to claim that they would be role-models. So, many people actually lie or bend the truth greatly to say what the NSF wants to hear. One of these people won the NSF plus several other large prestigous national fellowships...he's actually kind of an asshole but he's really smooth in writing what people want to hear. Also these groups often tend to award people awards if they already have a big award -like a goldwater or something similar. I talked to several professors who sat on NSF GRF committees and *they* even told me that awards were often a bit random...one said that the NSF depends on how much money you have and the universities and GRE prep programs that that money allows you to take...another said that some committee members have a bias towards their alma matter (spelling?) or they give more awards to small liberal arts school students because they think they have had less opportunities for research...another told me that the NSF dissertation improvement grants depended on the merit of the research and she really didn't think that the GRFP was based on merit as much as other factors. I'm not trying to insult the merit of anyone who won the award - you were probably more qualified than me. However, I have been told these things by very successful scientists, one of whom was the graduate dean of a very prestigious university. Some universities have a staff member who is paid to help applicants write and re-write national fellowship applications...the people are coached heavily and they gain an unfair advantage. So, don't let not getting the NSF ruin your life. I had a couple of margaritas, complained to my friends and family, and went swimming. I wish everyone the best of luck. Also, consider doing something non-academic for a few years...you will discover that the rest of the working world doesn't really care what program you went to, what your GREs were, or what fellowships you got...these are the obsessions of academia...and 95% of our country doesn't know what an NSF is Knowing all of this, I just try to console myself by saying that "sure, I didn't get any of these things...only alternate or honorable mention, but at least I have been honest, kept my dignity, and worked hard...if the fellowship gods don't shine their light on me, I'll keep going and take a more winding path." I have met many successful scientists who also did not win the NSF or the other big awards...and they still turned out ok...they might have had to TA a lot or live cheaply, but they still became successful. Best wishes