Livestrong1188

Waitlisted. Says if I don't hear from them in a month, it means that I'm not getting one and my name will be moved to Honorable Mention list. Congrats to those who got one, although my letter says they only offered 40 predoctoral fellowships this year. Jeez, that's hardly anything!

Sorry to hear that still haven't heard anything, but I guess any minute now.

Is there a firm release date set for those rankings?

Okay I got sick of waiting so I called again! The lady said, "Okay, hopefully you should be receiving it today around 5pm Eastern Standard Time by e-mail. They are working on it right now. But if not today definitely Monday."

Jeez, someone just call! I did it last time, so now it's your turn!

Sorry, I didn't ask... I just asked when results would come out. I'm assuming it would be done through e-mail but who knows? This year NSF refused to send anything other than an e-mail. I even asked them to send me a hard copy letter so that I had a document that shows proof of income, and they refused. So hopefully, these folks will also be using e-mail! You should call if we don't hear anything in a few hours-- just ask. They were very nice when I talked to them a few days ago.

Yes everything is finalized. And also, I feel like I have a lot of things to do as well, which is why it's so weird that I feel so restless!

Yes, sorry, I was incorrectly remembering the stipend amount. The stipend and the "award in lieu of fees and tuition" are separate. So 20k to you, 2k to school, and generally the school waives the remainder of your tuition/fees. If you need more than 20k to survive on (for housing, food, etc), which is likely in a big city, you either have to work that out with your school or get loans or whatever.

Hi Despair, Generally speaking, the fellowship pays the university 2,000 dollars towards tuition with the understanding that the university waives the remainder of your tuition/fees. Most universities will, in fact, do that. (NSF fellowships give 10,000 towards tuition/fees, and universities waive the rest.) In regards to the stipend... where I'm going, it costs a LOT more to live there than 18,000 a year, so my program will supplement that stipend so that it's the same as it would be if I were using the university's stipend. Of course, it all depends on your financial package to begin with. Does that answer your question?

I got into one of my top choices, found out today that I received and NSF fellowship, and am obviously very happy/excited about all of this. But I've been so consumed by the application process for so long now, that I found the end of the process to be rather anticlimactic. Sure, celebrate when you get in/get an award... but then what? I don't start grad school until August, and I find that I'm still just constantly checking my e-mail, as though I'm still waiting to find out if I got accepted anywhere. It's a weird feeling... restlessness, I guess.

I just called! This is what the lady said: "Okay, notifications are scheduled to go out on Friday [April 9], but if they don't for some reason, then early next week." Good luck everyone!

Did they say when we should expect the announcement? Has anyone called them? I got an NSF but am still curious about my Ford app.

Yes, but not through the website.. i had to use the link they sent me in the e-mail to access them. My packet was reviewed by three different people.

I GOT A FELLOWHIP!!! I GOT ONE~!!

I was wondering if there are any other future grad students out there who, in addition to the stress of making academic decisions and waiting for fellowship responses, are seriously considering purchasing a house during or prior to their first year. Right now there is an 8,000 dollar federal tax credit for first time home buyers. I'm moving to California, where there is an additional 10,000 dollar tax credit for first time home buyers. I'm looking at this as a five year investment, where I'm buying while the market is at a low and saving money that would otherwise go down the drain if I were renting. But sometimes I wonder if it is worth it to add all this extra stress at a time that is already supposed to be very stressful... =/