bluesand

Mine were variable too: 80, 81, 95. The one reviewer really liked the proposal. Most of my points off were due to a lack of management tie-in. I knew this was lacking, but it was definitely useful to see the review sheets to see what they were specifically looking for (it was better laid out than our guidelines). I also got 5 points off from one of the reviewers for my recommenders not specifically ranking me among my peers -- I think things like this are useful for letter writers to know too. The application has totally changed for next year, but hopefully these will be useful for that process too...

Where did you see that 3 were given? Did I miss that in the letter? I just checked the website and only 2 are posted! NOAA had problems with other funding this year too.

Wow, FINALLY got an official rejection letter...

Well, the grant is officially gone from my grants.gov account, which means they are done...I can't believe that they didn't send any sort of notice. =P

Do you think they have all been announced and schools are just slow to report the awards (news reports last continued through Feb. '11), or do you think they had budget issues and only announced a couple awards and hope to announce more? It is weird that rejections haven't been sent if awards were 1) sent out and 2) have passed the date for official announcements. (and I am not getting email notifications either)

Apparently the awards have been announced?? http://news.csumb.edu/news/2011/jul/26/grad-student-lands-prestigious-scholarship

Interesting that they have next year's application dates posted and have returned to a February due date: http://www.oesd.noaa.gov/scholarships_opps.html

I haven't heard anything.

So I thought it was a little weird that he keeps saying to check our grants.gov account because I have never been notified about anything from the site; it has only been a way to submit. So I went back and read a few things on the website and this is what grants.gov says: "A status of "Agency Tracking Number Assigned" indicates that the agency has assigned an internal tracking number to your application. This is the last status that Grants.gov tracks. Updates beyond this must be checked with the agency directly." That makes it sound like anything we hear should come from the agency directly. It makes me wonder if he just doesn't know how that system works, or if it was an attempt to deflect all the questions. Sigh, mostly I just don't feel like waiting until June 22 (or later) again. =P

I was wondering if they might use this as a cost-saving measure since they were so late in notifications...but I didn't think we would still be waiting. I checked my status and it still says tracking number assigned, but I have a feeling this won't change for awhile (i.e. awardees will still probably get real emails and then the rejections will be sent to grants.gov).

Grants.gov will change when they do the official acceptance/rejection. That is what I read/how I interpreted it. They send all those at one time, which I think is part of the reason 1) it takes so long and 2) it is unofficial until those are sent (I don't know why it has to be that way though).

This is my thought too...I can see individuals having to keep it quiet, but it seems silly to lie about whether emails have been sent (we know they are sent before June). If there really is a confidentiality clause about saying *anything* he should just say that he can't answer those questions.

Wow, they really can drag this out until the last minute...I had assumed they had been sent and was moving it off my list of things to think about...

Well, we do only have a sample size of about 4 (+ any lurkers)...so it is hard to tell whether people have been notified. =/ I have low hopes for this scholarship though...I am never quite sure what they are looking for. The first time I applied to NF, it was a totally different process than last year and this year. Last year's winners seemed to all have some conservation/management focus, although this isn't a specific requirement (this makes sense with NOAA's goals, but I don't know how much to tailor my proposal to that focus).

Yes, it was an email response. And it sounded like they had just sent ~214 for internal review, so I am guessing the ~150 awards won't be announced until the May 30th date. I have no idea how the rejections are being sent for the different FON's, but it sounds like certain groups haven't heard anything yet. (My labmate is K1 and hasn't received anything yet)