coffee_grad

Good luck to all!

I am in the E1 category and have not heard anything. Update: Spoke 15 minutes too soon. Just received by rejection in E1. Good luck to all.

Great! So glad to hear that you had a similar positive experience.

Songbird, If you can't find an example online, try looking at last years recipients in your field and emailing a few directly. Perhaps explain what you're doing and ask them to share as little or as much as they wish. In my experience, people are more than happy to share something.

DavidB144, I have a letter from an industry professional. I think if your work experience is both relevant and highlights your desire to pursue graduate study, then it is a valid consideration. I worked for one year full-time (through a co-op program during my UG) with a city planning office directly related to my research field, and I highlight that work experience in my personal statement as evidence for my continued interest in the field and use it as support in my career goal claims. That being said, this GRFP is not an ordinary LOR. I wrote up a kindly-worded email to this person stating the criteria that NSF is looking for in the LOR, and gave resources such as the NSF guide to letter writers (http://www.nsfgrfp.org/reference_writers) and opened line of communication between this person and my academic adviser so that question could be asked if needed. Good luck!

This almost seems silly to say, but I recommend that you select to request LOR from those who actually know you well. There is a big difference in the type of letter someone (presumably very busy) will write for you whether you were some random lab rat working on a project on which they were the PI, or someone you worked with collaboratively and had honest dialogue about personal, academic, and research endeavors. I see a lot of students trying to get a letter from someone whose name looks very nice on a piece of paper, but NSF wants to know more about who you are as a person and how you have the tools to be successful. For the record, my LOR come from: 1) UG mentor, professor, and research PI: Someone who knows my academic achievements, research capability, and personal life 2) Program director/boss that I worked with for 1 year through co-op program in UG: Someone who works in an industry related to my research goals, who knows my work ethic and personality, and who can support my claims of career goals 3) My graduate adviser, professor, and research PI: Someone who knows my current interests, discipline, research goals, career goals, and personal life

At the same link I post above, you can view the current EPA STAR Fellowship Handbook. CTRL-F "defer" and you'll find some info. I'm not sure how that applies to this odd timing (i.e. everyone's tuition should already be paid for the term, and likely has a stipend source for the term), but it's a place to start looking.

I just noticed an update on the main NCER page (http://www.epa.gov/ncer/fellowships/)which says awards are to be announced late September for late October funding. Late October funding makes no sense whatsoever, and might as well be for the spring semester at that point, but whatever. Again, best of luck.

So I don't think it really matters what happened in previous years, but for those who are curious, I looked up award numbers and application numbers for the past few years (awarded/applied) 2015: 55/1400 anticipated 2013: 105/1396 2012: 87/1501 2011: 109/1475 2010: 137/1362 Looks like we were all wrong to assume the applicant pool would be considerably smaller. Good luck again to everyone! Thanks to all who post helpful updates.

I don't see the updates to number of applications on the closed announcements page. When I go to this page, the last update is from 6/22. OH so idk why this happened, but it seems chrome was accessing an old page? Opening up the same link in incognito mode worked, just in case this also happens to someone else. Thanks for the update!

I honestly can't imagine any institution granting a tuition waiver. My tuition is fully covered so I'm not worried about it, but it is a weird place for EPA to assert that it is an option.

I'm a little confused by this statement: "Review and evaluation will take approximately 6 months" if they indeed are trying to get these back anytime soon. Does anyone else find that odd?

grrrr haven't received my receipt email yet UPDATE: alas, the elusive email. More waiting...

I sent an email over the weekend and it didn't get kicked back either. I think the fellowshipsrfa email at least exists now! Not that its existence seems to change much, but still nice to know it is open so we can attempt to follow directions.

Womp womp. Thanks for the news coyote_wrangler. Also note that EPA's FY ends Sept 30, so if we don't hear in Sept, then that would be bad news. Seems like they're pushing the boundary based on that email.