bolani

Ok. I have NSF. I read this very carefully too before I got it(was considering delaying grad school for a year). Fact is: 1) You can ONLY defer for a year if you are a) a full time studuent getting other funding at the time, b)military service, or c) some special special situation, like family problems or something. They will not let you frolic the world, take a job, do something else, etc with your deferment. You can do this deferment for 2 years during a 5 year period. I am currently deferring because I'm on a "first year" PHD fellowship at my school, so I figured why not take the money? 2) You most likely will be able to beg a school(not ANY school, however) to take you. Some schools frankly don't care if you have your own funding. Obviously, it helps with regards to "keeping" you after you are trying to pass qualifying...why would they fail out a free student that shows a small amount of potential, but in my experience, it doesn't help you to get in to certain schools. They have their own criteria, and may not have simple things like space to have you there. So feel free to ask, but it will be ok. 3) If you get the NSF, it means you are a kickass writer(on some level). This means that you will write decent personal statements. So you'll get in somewhere (99% confidence). Moral of the story: if you get NSF and don't go to grad school, you, by default, forfeit the NSF. Even if you intend to go within one year. This is clearly stated on the fastweb FAQ section.

I turned down UMich. Good luck to those on waitlist!

I will make my decision this weekend...one of my options is IOE. So if I don't choose it hopefully you'll get an admit!

I'm guessing it's complete. If you log in, you can see if you have been awarded it b/c your screen now says "welcome fellow".

Does anyone know when rating sheets will be posted?

https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/grfp/AwardeeList.do?method=loadAwardeeList Click on the excel link at the bottom of the page.

I GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What? My page is back up...doesn't do anything though.

I think we should all take turns calling once an hour to see what kind of new info they give us. :-)

its still there... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-DC/National-Science-Foundation-Graduate-Research-Fellowship-Program/71182286186

Does anyone else go to their status page(showing dates they received items) and their items were received AFTER the deadline? Like...transcripts and GRE scores. I saw a few months ago that they didn't have my GRE scores and thought "WTF"...so emailed them. Then they told me that they just hadn't retrieved them from the GRE people yet....the next day it showed up in the system, but as "Received Jan 29th". I guess that isn't my fault, so not a big deal, but what do you guys think? Also, my transcript is shown as "received on December 4th" even though I called them 2 days before the deadline and verified that they had my transcript. The woman I talked to ( I didn't tell her what school I sent it) said " Yes, We have a trancript on file from School X". Is this just a "we didn't put it into the system until that date" type of thing/does this happen to other people? Thanks!

You would have to read the contract that you sign. I would look up the school's policies... but since it is a master's degree w/o funding they can't apply those rules to you. Even students under the April 15th policy can accept and change their mind as long as it is before April 15, so I'm guessing you can do the same.

Yeah, the bad thing about the April 15th thing is that it is pretty much for PhDs and it ONLY is for people who got aid. It doesn't reply for situations with no aid.... bummer.

I mean, you don't really have to say anything. I think what I said to one school was "Thanks so much! I'm really excited to receive an offer from SchoolX! " and since I got an invite I said "I'm looking forward to getting to meet you and members of your department. "

ok....well technically you can do that, as long as you finish "switching" between schools by April 15th. According to their resolution thing, if it belongs to that group of schools, you can do that. It's your right...the good schools will recognize that and shouldn't really put you in a bad position like that to begin with. http://www.cgsnet.org/portals/0/pdf/CGS_Resolution.pdf

I got admitted about 2 weeks ago(my friend did too) on the same day. A lot of people got visit offers but no admits yet though. You might be on waitlist b/c a lot of people got rejected during that same week. Good luck!

LOL.... I DID not apply to schools based on rankings. And no, this isn't the first time I've looked into its methodology. But this is the first time I've gone on their website and read their process in detail. I ACTUALLY was prompted to look it up the other day because someone @ thegradcafe seemed to be basing decisions off of rankings, and I thought it was silly. Part of my decision process, prompted by my advisors, was that I went to conferences and spoke/met with professors at all of the schools I applied to. I am currently in email conversations with professors and students at schools that I am heavily considering. My MAIN point of posting this was to let people know that this is what rankings for specific disciplines were based off of. :-) also, @ bgav, I agree. that's what I was trying to say too...just that the general rankings were, if anything, slightly more credible than the specialty rankings. It's common knowledge, for example, that my field's rankings are skewed and the #1 and # 2 schools, while good, are not necc the "best" schools you could choose...especially when you factor in what you want to do after you get your phd.

I was appalled when I read this today. My friend told me about US News Ranking methodology a couple of weeks ago, for specific grad disciplines, and I didn't believe him. Basically, they just poll a bunch of department heads in that field and average the score. To me, that doesn't seem very well thought out at all, considering how much weight people tend to put on these rankings. Here is what it says (from US News Website) Specialty Rankings: These rankings are based solely on assessments by department heads in each specialty area. Department heads in their specialty area rated the other schools that offered a doctoral degree in the specialty on a 5-point scale. Those schools with the highest average scores appear here. Names of department heads and the names of their respective engineering schools that grant a doctoral degree in that specific area came from the American Society for Engineering Education. Specialty rankings were out of 55 schools with aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical engineering; 89 schools with bioengineering/biomedical engineering; 125 with chemical engineering; 143 with civil engineering; 142 with computer engineering; 170 with electrical/electronic/communications engineering; 94 with environmental/environmental health engineering; 73 with industrial manufacturing engineering; 90 with materials engineering; 164 with mechanical engineering; 25 with nuclear engineering; 26 with petroleum engineering. Link: ...scroll to the bottom. http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/best-graduate-schools/2009/04/22/engineering-program-rankings-methodology.html?s_cid=related-links:TOP What do you guys think of that? It makes me think that maybe this helps answer the question "how important are the rankings, other than to people applying or people who go to those 'top' schools?" If any rankings should be looked at and considered in depth, maybe it should be overall engineering college rankings for grad school? At least they weight different factors... Thoughts?

I tend to think of GATech (based on my friends who have gone there and talking to various people) as a PhD cranking machine. Lots in, lots out. It's pretty common understanding, from what i've gathered at IEOR conferences, that GATech's ranking in IE and engineering is overrated. They are #1 in IE, and have a broad range of research going on, mainly b/c of the size. I'm not sure about overall rankings. If I told my non engineering friends that I was going to GATech, they would probably say something like "oh....ok". Northwestern has a slightly better overall reputation(as far as the general perception among the average person ..including non engineers) as compared to Michigan, but not by much. UMich is widely respected for their fantastic medical school and engineering programs. The people who I've told that I've gotten into UMich have been pretty "impressed" as well. But as far as name value goes, NU is at the top of the schools I applied to. However, something else to consider is that while about 1/2 of NU IE grads go to industry, their program is specifically geared for preparing you for faculty positions. At least, that's what several professors in the dept told me before they even knew I was considering academia as a career. Yeah, I would never choose a school solely for the ranking, especially in the department. Someone told me the other day that specialty program rankings (like IE/OR, or ME, etc) are picked solely by department heads...lol. I didn't believe it so I just looked it up. AGH! Talk about "scientific". This came directly from USNews. At least with general "engineering" rankings(for an entire college) they consult more than department heads...averaging their scores together! "Specialty Rankings: These rankings are based solely on assessments by department heads in each specialty area. Department heads in their specialty area rated the other schools that offered a doctoral degree in the specialty on a 5-point scale. Those schools with the highest average scores appear here. Names of department heads and the names of their respective engineering schools that grant a doctoral degree in that specific area came from the American Society for Engineering Education.Specialty rankings were out of 55 schools with aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical engineering; 89 schools with bioengineering/biomedical engineering; 125 with chemical engineering; 143 with civil engineering; 142 with computer engineering; 170 with electrical/electronic/communications engineering; 94 with environmental/environmental health engineering; 73 with industrial manufacturing engineering; 90 with materials engineering; 164 with mechanical engineering; 25 with nuclear engineering; 26 with petroleum engineering."

I'm not sure...probably depends on the dept. I'm ORIE as well; our visit is on March 18. They admitted a small number of people before visits in our dept.

yes

So....I'll share my story. I have a school that i've been really excited about forever, and I got to meet my dream advisor 2 years ago at a conference. Turns out, he's the nicest person in the world....gave me his card. Well THEN i got to spend the summer up there. My current undergrad advisor had dinner with him @ another conference, told him I would be in the area. Dream advisor was excited that I would be coming up, and said to set up a time to meet with him. Of course I did! At that point, he spent 2 hours walking me through admissions, the first year experience, what classes we would take, and answered any questions I had. During the application semester I got to see him two times more(2 other conferences), where the first one, I found him and asked him some more questions, said I was super interested in the school, and he invited me to come to the "Dream School Meet and Greet" thing....because "i was a friend of their school" . Then at the second one, he found me and told me that "he was really looking foward to seeing my application". He gave me a lot of advice about other schools to apply to as well, what classes to take my senior year,etc. Never promised me admission. So I was a little nervous about getting my hopes up too much. But I don't regret making those connections at all....turns out he was selected to be on the adcomm that year so it couldn't have hurt! (btw...i got admitted!) Moral of my story: building a relationship BEFORE applying is really helpful...I did this with another professor at a school I got rejected to. This guy is insanely well known in my field, and he sent me a personal email telling me why I was rejected(it was very useful) and also wanting to stay in touch with me in the future,because he thinks I have a lot of potential. So now I have one more person in the professional world that might go to bat for me. :-)

For you personally or is your opinion of the program? And, regardless of the answer, why? Also, for those of you who applied to VT, posting are up apparently...you have to log into the website. Does anyone have an opinion on what a 9 or 12 month stipend should be for our discipline?

Oh ...well 1st of all- I was referring to PhD(sorry; didn't read fully what you wrote...the MS party anyway), and 2nd--they haven't sent out decisions yet officially.

Yes, you're right about the awkwardness. However, I would just give very positive indications (i'm very interested, but I would like to see the offer first; etc). Once they write you an offer they are legally binded to hold to it; I would do enough to 1) not lie and say you are going to accept it(just sound very positive, because you are...tell them that they are your first choice at this point,etc) and 2) GET the offer in your hands somehow. THEN you can say "yes " or "no". It might be risky to say "you guys aren't following the rules" unless you see the offer. Once you get the offer, THEN bring it up if you need more time.