csot

Has anyone heard back from the Horowitz Foundation yet? Their website says awards are announced by the end of May. I'm assuming I got rejected because it's so late, but it would be nice to have some closure.

Currently in a PhD program. I, along with 2 of my classmates, all went to the same institution for undergrad.

Yes, graduate students should fill out the FAFSA. It's possible that you may qualify for certain grants, and if necessary, be eligible for loans. You don't have to accept any money that you don't want/need.

To be completely honest, I would re-take the GRE if you can. At some schools, the GRE is the first thing admission committees see, and since most people do very well on the verbal section, a low quantitative score can often separate you from other applicants who have better quantitative scores. Applying to graduate school can be really expensive, so if you can invest some time into re-taking the GRE and perform better, your money will go a long(er) way, and I sincerely think that you will have a better shot at getting accepted.

I got flat out rejected. Not even an honorable mention. I'm bummed, but part of me was expecting it. I only had 2 reviewers. One seemed to really like my application and rated me with excellent/very good ratings. The other reviewer gave me good/fair ratings, but they were on things that I have little control over now (e.g., past employment history). I'm definitely willing to try and apply again next year, but I'll have to figure out how to make my application stronger. Congratulations to all the winners! I know y'all are going to do great things.

Don't worry. You're not alone. I've gone on old GradCafe threads, the academic jobs wiki, Reddit, College Confidential, Twitter, etc. I had a dream that I got flat out rejected, and in a subsequent one, I got Honorable Mention.

I feel like it's very strategic and unfortunate if they wait until Friday to get the results out. If they get an influx of emails or calls with questions about our award status or reviewer comments (which I'm sure they will), then it's possible that they won't respond to us until the following Monday. :/

Yes! I was having the same issue. Hopefully this means decisions are right around the corner.

Nice! I'm studying sociology. That's good to know. Hopefully this year, you'll hear better news, and it'll come sooner rather than later!

What general field/discipline are y'all in?

Also if someone is in the process of going to grad school, wins the fellowship, and decides they will no longer be attending, that's another reason why someone would decline the award. On an unrelated note, I really wish they would throw a plot twist at us and release the awards at night. But I guess we'll have to wait a few more days.

Applicants from past years also said that their application portal looked different as awards started to get sent out. They could no longer see their application (or something like that), so I'm wondering if the same thing will happen this year. My application portal looks exactly the same as of right now.

I emailed them to ask when we can expect to start hearing back, but they were vague and just said that we'd be notified by the end of the month. Same information that we already had.

You're right. Although, I don't think it will be as late as April since the Ford website says we'll hear back by the end of March. Over the past few years, winners have been notified on a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. So, this is just pure speculation, but if we don't start hearing back tomorrow, I figure we'll find out next week.

Gotcha. Hopefully this means that we'll start hearing back next week. You're right. I need to learn how to be more patient and optimistic like you. Thanks for keeping our spirits up.