Fisherer

Thanks everyone for posting your results and info about what your reviewers said, regardless of whether you got the award or not. Looking at other people's reviews and not just my own is helping to paint a clearer picture for exactly what they are looking for. I have a question: I was not recommended for an award this year, as I said in my earlier post. My research is time-sensitive and must be conducted next spring. If I muster up the courage to take out a loan and go to school, and I conduct my research from March-June of 2015, am I still eligible to apply for the GRFP this coming fall? Even though my research will have already begun before decisions come out? Obviously the grant will no longer be able to help me out as far as funding research costs, but the cost of living stipend and tuition stipend would still be much appreciated the following academic year.

G/VG, G/G, E/E- Not recommended. I am pretty disappointed. I honestly though I had a stronger application. 2/3 reviewers were hung up on the fact that I don't have any publications or presentations. I am not currently a student, and while the research I am helping to conduct is resulting in publications, I have had no opportunities to be a part of that process. I'm pretty sure one reviewer didn't reach much of my application, given that for the "broader impacts" section they just spat out (with many grammar errors) one of my many research experiences, not even the focal experience. Now I am forced with the reality that I simply cannot afford to attend graduate school. I live in and was planning to attend school and conduct research in an area with one of the highest costs of living in the lower 48 (can't really move elsewhere due to the nature of the research), and I make peanuts and barely scrape by as it is. Reduce my employment to part-time, take away health benefits, and add a 100-mile roundtrip commute between my university and my place of employment/research, and I'll be drowning in debt. And with the field I am in (wildlife biology), I am unlikely to ever make enough money to pay off that debt in the near future. Sigh. Is anyone else in the same boat and feeling completely discouraged? Congratulations, of course, to all of those who received an award or an honorable mention.