caulfieldh

Any news? Did anyone call to ask what's going on? I already have NSF but an extra 10k never hurts.

I've applied and won under math. Even though my research falls more specifically under applied math, I didn't not make any sort of implication that the success of my research will directly help "world saving" efforts as you call them. Instead, I explained how my research activities (and not the research itself) including maybe working with undergrads or publishing in local newspapers will encourage inclusion of underrepresented groups etc etc. If you read the NSF broader impact guidelines you can see that nowhere do they imply that your research itself must lead to making life better for anyone (cure diseases or whatnot), just that your research activities should have a social impact. Use your personal statement to explain your passion for social impact and the activities toward those passions that you have undertaken and will undertake as part of conducting your research. You can include some of this in your research proposal too, perhaps mentioning what parts of the research could include working with undergrads or involving the public through blogs/newspapers. Keeping all this in mind, remember that academic merit still counts for half your score. Good luck.

Same here. I received my rejection today, but in fact already accepted my NSF knowing that DoE was going to reject me after calling them. I'm extremely thankful for the generous NSF fellowship, but I'm a bit annoyed at the office of science (which is a bit arrogant of me so I really shouldn't be). I wonder if it's maybe because the office of science preferred to award fellowships in more energy-oriented fields/proposals, where my research proposal was pure numerical analysis (though applied math and computational sciences are both under their list of disciplines of interest). Congratulations to everyone who got this fellowship!

Instead of waiting to be called, I called them. They said I wasn't selected and that I will either be rejected or waitlisted when I get a formal decision in a week or two. I'm rather disappointed. I got the NSF but this is 10k more (5k clean + 5k research) and that's a lot of money. I guess I'll apply again.

A rising grad first year, I received the fellowship. My ratings were (IM, BI): 1. Very Good, Very Good 2. Excellent, Very Good 3. Excellent, Excellent Is it correct to presume that the first two are the original reviewers and the third is a reviewer called in to determine the end result? Does anyone know anything about deferral of the award when the student defers entering his/her future program as approved by the program? It seems, according to the program announcements, that the only way is medical withdrawal (a status which I might pursue if needed), but maybe someone has had a different experience or know of one?

I think you're right that MIT is a bigger name in OR than is Princeton. MIT's program is much older, for one. But I'm just wondering, why do you think so few people apply to MIT ORC compared with other OR programs? Even on this thread, not too many are applying there. More are applying to Cornell and GTech etc. If MIT is so big wouldn't it attract more applicants? Do you think it's a case of very high self-selection?

I don't think detailing my "stats" in specifics would really shed light on my acceptance. My GPA and GRE are high and I come from a big research university, but I believe my acceptance has more to do with my recommenders--what makes my application special--one of whom is world-renowned (like, really) and another is an upcoming researcher in OR-related topics with connections at these schools. That, and my success and interest in relevant graduate courses and some previous research experience. So, I'm still wondering, in shallow terms, which program's name is bigger, MIT ORC or Princeton ORFE? I know some specifics about faculty but I'm just wondering about overall reputation.

I got into PhD at MIT ORC and Princeton ORFE. I already have a lot of information about faculty research and I will visit the schools soon. However, I'm interested in knowing what is the general opinion on each school? Like, name of the program, overall fame of the body of researchers, and such. Where would you choose and why? For me, I think it will boil down to fit in terms of research interests. It seems like ORC is more focused on strictly classical OR problems where as ORFE is more varied in its research. Would you agree?