kjc

Does anyone know what will happen if Federal budgets get slashed in the future what happens to the 3 years of funding for NSF fellows? Like what if you were to get awarded a GRFP this year, it would probably be fine because budgets are set, but what about year 2 and 3 where the Trump administration may have gutted NSF? Thoughts? Ideas?

When did you hear?

VG/E, E/VG, E,VG HM I feel... weird.

Yeah I had them at first, but then a prof and another student told me I didn't need them. I took them out cuz they seemed clunky and after a quick skim of the solicitation I didn't see it as a requirement... like two days after I submitted I looked again and found that sentence. Sigh....

It actually did ask for separate heading: "Therefore, applicants must include separate statements on Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts in their written statements in order to provide reviewers with the information necessary to evaluate the application with respect to both Criteria as detailed below. Applicants should include headings for Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts in their statements." I pulled this quote from part VI of the solicitation. I also did not do headings :/ I'm hoping that it won't hurt me too much because it seems like a lot of people did not do them and it is a newer requirement. We shall see soon...

I think my research proposal was quite good... but my personal history/relevant background statement was horrendous. I absolutely cannot write about myself. Oh well!

After some thought, I think I'm going to do my best to sleep through it. Though I am on the west coast so if I happen to wake up at 3am to pee... I just might have to check!

I can't decide if I want to stay up or not. On the one hand- the anticipation is killing me. On the other- do I want to ruin a night's sleep for something with a high probability of disappointment? Ugh.

Ditto

I don't KNOW this, but I would imagine it to be fairly unlikely that your application would go to the same reviewers as your lab mate's application. With so many applications there are likely quite a few reviewers even for sub-categories (unless you have a really unique area of study). Even then, the reviewers would have to remember your PI specifically, which could maybe happen but for all of those things to line up seems very unlikely to me. So I think while it is certainly possible (though also not super likely) for a person to be biased against (or toward) a certain lab, I don't think there is a very high chance of everything happening the way it would have to for that to happen. If anything you have a better chance because clearly your PI knows how to groom people the way NSF likes them.

One time as a graduate student AND one time as an undergrad. But if you applied as a first year grad student this year (2015) you are still allowed to apply again next year.

I've managed to stay pretty realistic about the fact that I probably will not get an award, but recent unexpected expenses have been drawing my mind to this more and more. I keep thinking "how nice would it be to be able to build back up a savings account?" and "I could fix my car without putting it on a credit card!" ... I'm dreaming big which means there is a possibility of a big let down. Le sigh. I wish I could be put out of my misery already.

Feeling pretty... dumb... today. I feel like my advisor has to hold my hand through things much too often. If a scientist is supposed to be a thinker, why can't I think? I guess that begs the question of, why am I a scientist? Ugh.

Thanks for the really great insight @Cat_Robutt! Relationships can certainly be complicated, and I am still working out how to navigate this, but I think you make some excellent points. In particular, I like the above tip... it might be a little more fruitful than my usual tactic of trying to find a dog or cat to pet at the party! Lol.

UGH. Gave a presentation yesterday where I talked about an idea for a paper. Prof wants me to refine idea, sends me a "new" paper to read... I talked about that very paper explicitly in my presentation. To top it off, from the synopsis the prof gave they clearly don't understand the paper/didn't actually read it... I'm not sure how to respond to that. "Ummm dear xxxx, I suggest you actually look at the methods of that paper." or maybe I should just respond with "LOL" I'm just kidding, of course. I will respond in a mature and professional manner. But I will be a little snarky in my head.