bathingintheneon

My advisor's grant funding is spotty right now, but I am guaranteed TA funding in my program. However, it sucks not knowing from quarter to quarter whether I'll be an RA or TA (although I can't really complain, since I know some grad students aren't funded at all). Mainly, I'd want the NSF for the time and freedom it will give me to do my research. The stipend increase is also nice, but not necessary (especially since I'm living in Seattle, where the cost of living can be ridiculous).

There's no place to upload a CV. You need to list everything in the entry fields. I applied last year (before getting into grad school). I just picked my top school to put in the "Proposed University" field. It won't make a difference whether you get the grant, but they will list it on the website if you get the award/HM. I named all of my professors, especially those who were going to write me letters. I figured it would help reviewers connect my research experiences to those LOR. I didn't put the names of the specific labs though (not enough room!).

I have several conference abstracts under review for presentation in March and April. You bet I'm putting them all down! You can write (forthcoming, 2015) or (under review, 2015) or something similar instead of the date.

This is so funny/true.

Hi everyone! I've been away from the boards since I got my disappointing "not funded" decision from NSF last April. Solid reviews (all VG), but not quite good enough, I guess. All the reviewers mentioned my lack of first-author publications, even though I wasn't in graduate school yet. I, along with my advisors. thought this was really bizarre. BUT I currently have a first-author manuscript under review, so I'm definitely writing about it in my statement! Hopefully they won't come after me for that this year, and I can get more helpful reviews on other aspects of my proposal. The good thing about this year is that I moved from the east coast to the west coast, so I only have to stay up until 12-1AM to find out the results in April

I slept on it, thinking that I would be less angry in the morning... nope. Still can't get over that my reviewers said that I lacked the publications to be competitive in this years pool. Many of them recognized that I'm not in graduate school yet, so I know they weren't misinterpreting my year. I had listed that I had two pubs in prep (now it's four, with three as first author), but I guess they wanted more? Even so, a second year grad student in my lab got HM and she doesn't have any pubs yet. Wtf. I think this was the thing that stopped me from getting Es in IM, because I know it wasn't my GPA, lack of awards/presentations, etc. Guess the only thing I can do is write like a madwoman for the next seven months and get out these pubs. I feel like I also need to be doing more outreach, even though I did a ridiculous amount of tutoring as an undergrad. Maybe that isn't relevant to BI? I don't know anymore.

VG/VG VG/VG VG/VG Not recommended Reviewers seemed to take issue withe my lack of publications. I graduated undergrad less than a year ago and I'm not currently in grad school, so this hasn't really been feasible yet. Reviewers seem to think I'll be competitive in future cycles, once I have publications. There were also some comments about my broader impacts not being strong enough. Overall, pretty constructive reviews, although one reviewer said I was duplicating my advisors work (my advisors don't even do the research I'm doing, so I'm not sure how this is the case).

Energy drinks + sleep deprivation + anxiety = ugh.

Up to 600 viewers now. That was quick.

Over 500 viewers on the thread! This is crazy!

I might stick with the same thing. It would be feasible to do with my new graduate school advisor. But I could just as easily see myself doing something completely different, since her research is slightly different than what I wrote in my proposal. I proposed a cross-cultural study using funds from the NSF GROW program to collect data in Japan, so my proposal would really be contingent on me getting access to those funds.

Eastern time here, but I'll try to stay awake! I already bought a few energy drinks in preparation. I figure I can last until 2AM.

1) Analyzing data. 2) Ate, slept, wrote, exercised. 3) http://whatshouldwecallgradschool.tumblr.com/post/67978317193/grant-accepted

So now that we have to wait a little longer for the results, what are people thinking about their chances of getting an award? I've been told very conflicting things by my advisors and peers about the likelihood of me receiving an award. One of my advisors told me that students who apply before they're in graduate school have the least likely chance of getting funded (which, from what I understand, is untrue). My other advisor acted like I was a competitive applicant in an uncompetitive field (developmental psychology), and that I shouldn't get my hopes up because my field is rarely funded (which also isn't entirely true, because we have a funded developmental psych graduate student in our department now, and one of my friends got an HM last year). My peers seem to flip-flop about whether or not I'll be funded. Add this to the comments I've heard about the review process (e.g., reviewers misreading/not reading essays), and I'm not really sure what to think. I've gone back and re-read my essays, and they seem to be okay. If worse comes to worse, I still have two more years to reapply, and my future graduate advisor has offered to help me revise my study if need be. I think I have a shot at being funded this time around, but I also wouldn't be shocked if I wasn't. Any other thoughts? I doubt anyone is absolutely certain they'll receive an award, but is anyone hopeful?

Could be next Tuesday morning.

Makes me feel a little better that developmental psychology is relatively high. Not as high as engineering, but there's a decent number of awards.

If you check out the awards search (http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/simpleSearchResult?queryText=grfp&ActiveAwards=true) you can see that quite a lot of money was given to schools on 4/1/2013 (last year). So maybe the awards will come out tonight.

Of course there is. Forgive me for being dramatic. However, most of the graduate students I know weren't required to TA their first year, and even having to TA in their second and third years has put them under a lot of extra stress. The GRFP is nice in that it frees up time for you to concentrate on your research, instead of having to TA. In fact, most professors I've talked to have said that TAing essentially does nothing for you in terms of getting post-docs or faculty positions. Therefore, the less TAing you do, the more time you can spend on research, going to conferences, and publishing: the things that will help you secure future jobs. I know that "need" was a strong word, since I don't need any outside funding to stay in my program, but I may "need" funding in order to be competitive for the jobs I want. And of course I'll TA if I don't get the GRFP. But after witnessing several graduate students struggle with balancing everything, a part of me is just nervous that I won't be able to successfully take on being a TA, taking classes, and conducting research all at the same time.

Also, I just accepted an offer at UW, but they're only giving me TA funding for my first year. So now, I'm freaking out because no part of me wants to TA for my first year in graduate school, so I NEED this fellowship.

Be still, my beating heart.

I just accepted my offer to UW yesterday! I'm going to be moving from NC, so I'm trying to figure out how that's going to work logistically. I have really nice furniture that I don't want to lose : (

I know that UC San Diego will give you up to $43,000. To do this, you need to get an outside fellowship/grant (like the $32,000 NSF GRFP), and UCSD will give you the extra $11,000 to get you to their cap amount of $43,000. Their stipend is usually around $23,000, so they will give you up that that much money.

I'm bumping this thread. I've decided to move from NC to Seattle, WA, and I have absolutely no idea what to do. I have some really nice furniture that I don't want to part with, but would it just be easier/less expensive to leave it behind. I mainly just need to move my clothes and various other small items. Also, any thoughts on doing grad housing for the first year and then trying to find an apt? I think it might be easier that way.

Thanks! I officially accepted my offer yesterday. OH MY GOD I'M DONE. Now I just have to wait to hear about my NSF GRFP......

I totally agree with the "best/worst three months" piece. On the good side, I got to travel around the country (for free!) and had great conversations with people in my field. On the bad side, I was rejected from four schools (3 post-interview), and even though I really didn't want to go to any of them (well, three of them), it still stings a little. But I got on amazing acceptance from UW, the DAY after my interview, so they must have really liked me or something. I'm just waiting for my official offer and funding so I can accept and finally end this process.