I applied last year and was in the extra round with Draper and Sandia labs. Apparently draper req's its interns to be enrolled at a neighboring university.
Last year though, GEM failed to communicate the Associate/University Fellow options with the school I intended to go to and thus they had not budgeted for it. At the end of April 2014 they knew nothing about it. Then I found out that the notice had been sent to the school also in April. Then I was asked what I was going to do now without having the funding, and encouraged to take out loans (which would be in excess of 50k).
So I ended up deferring enrollment and rolling over my application to this year. I was very frustrated to find out I was still req'd to apply to 3 schools (more app/score fees) again despite their error and me having already gotten into the school of my choice. Applied early consideration again this year, reached out to companies early, got responses from a couple right away, a couple after they'd already made selections (some are extraordinarily rude in their interactions with students), and I also applied for co-ops on my own. Last week I received the letter saying I wasn't matched.
I swear I remember seeing last year that if you found an employer on your own you could still get some level of fellowship. As a matter of fact i know of 2 people who did this. I have definitely experienced getting completely different information depending on who answers the phone when you call.
All in all, I'm beyond disappointed and frustrated with what appears to be a lot of disorganization in this process. Needless to say I will not be reapplying. At this point I'm really wondering if this Master's is worth it.
Congrats to everyone who has been selected and best of luck to everyone still in the race!