LurkingFor3000Posts

I will add to the frustrated posts by people who got an HM: My rating sheets were pretty good: E/E E/VG VG/G But not as good as some. There were a total of 14 awards in my discipline. The thing that frustrates me most is my undergrad PI was on the review committee for my discipline, and he told me that my scores put me in the top 10 applicants in my field, but I was evidently leapfrogged by several people with lower rated applications. I evidently didn't fit the demographic criteria or something... It would be nice if these awards were actually given based on merit, or at least primarily on merit. If I am a top 10 applicant in a field with 14 awardees, it seems like I should get an award...

I'm one of those poor saps who has been watching this forum for nearly 2 months now, and I finally decided to participate in the madness. I had no idea that so many graduate students were so ridiculously under-funded! I was lucky enough to get a number of great offers, and my psychology Ph. D stipend at my present institution is slightly above the 30k/year of the NSF (and my institution is not in a high cost-of-living place like NYC), and my funding is guaranteed for 5 years. I only applied for the NSF to hopefully boost my resume. I just wanted to post to support all of the limboers that need this fellowship to continue their studies. I believe that great research is immensely important, and many of you seem to be the exact types of people we need as researchers. I will be disappointed if I am not given a fellowship, but it will make me feel a lot better if I come on and see people like Higgins got the fellowship. I want the award, but some of you guys need the award. I really hope you guys get it.