strawberrykat

Hi all! I was shocked to find out I was awarded the pre-doctoral fellowship yesterday. ? I'm in Environmental Engineering. I was reviewed by 5 reviewers and had 4/5 leave substantial comments with marks ranging from Excellent to Good. For those who were not awarded the fellowship, I empathize and know how frustrating it can be. This was my 2nd time applying-- my first year I got an honorable mention for Ford and the NSF GRFP. I think what helped me this year was reaching out to a previous Ford fellow and my peers to get feedback on my application. Based on last years experience, I felt that my PhD advisor was not as well suited to provide input on this application. Keep at it and don't give up! Also definitely list honorable mentions on your CV because one of my reviewers commented positively on that. Si se puede!

First of all, congrats! Just my two cents here, I think it depends on 2 things: 1) your financial situation and 2) your personality. 1) Both are great programs. Even though you can afford the $18k, it doesn't always mean you should. $18k is on the lower end of graduate school price tags, but that's still a good chunk of money. Long-term, how will this affect you/your financial stability? I reckon that either way you will have a great return on investment but just keep that in mind. 2) Are you a go-getter/competitive individual or do you prefer a more collegial environment? It sounds like there is more opportunity to do what you would like to do at Harvard, but you would need to be actively seeking and pursuing those opportunities the whole time. Perhaps reflect on the size of the college you attended and how you felt about that. On the flip-side, there are more people at Harvard, but there are also more opportunities to go around (I doubt *everyone* in the program is interested in human rights policy). Plus, you have the chance to study alongside people who are interested in the same thing and learn from them--that's pretty awesome. Personally, especially if you are not planning to do any further schooling, I would lean towards Harvard for the opportunities and the alignment of interests. It sounds like an awesome chance to get your foot in the door of whatever it is that you want to do. Good luck!

Are you looking to go into industry afterwards?

NASEM is private, though they do get some indirect funding from federal gov so it's unclear.

@kiki_2_4 Glad to hear it! I was stressed on your behalf haha

@aspiringscientist I looked into this last week and I believe the decisions may be delayed. See the "review process" section on this page where it mentions the GRF review site will not be available: https://www.nsf.gov/shutdown/grantees.jsp.

@kiki_2_4 If it's the day of and they agreed to do it, I think it's ok to be persistent. Don't hesitate to call them, send persistent emails, or if you're in the same place, visit their office.

Yep! Currently finishing mine up.

@CulturalCriminal I can't speak to the Trans-friendliness of Tallahassee but as far as Poc friendly it's like 3/5. It's better on campus at FSU and FAMU than off campus imo. And even then, there are exceptions at FSU. FAMU is largely Poc so there's that

Most likely

@DiscoTech so you think the environment outweighs the advisor and research?

Hello, I am in search of last minute advice. For context, my field is engineering. And please don't just say Stanford without reading Stanford Pros: strength of program, diversity, wealth of opportunity, name recognition, interesting faculty although no particular connection with any one. Funding! Generally funding for the MS degree is really hard to come by but I somehow managed to get tuition covered as well as a good stipend per quarter, probably not including summers (I have to TA for this stipend though 20 hrs/wk in addition to trying to find a research advisor) Cons: there is no direct PhD program (trying to do PhD) and not everyone is able to find an advisor to do one, advisors do not or take forever to respond to my emails and contact (including the guy I would want to work with), not leaving with a PhD would put me back at square one (here), cost of living Virginia Tech Pros: the advisor I want to work with is amazing and super responsive despite being super busy, and I'm super passionate about the research (like this is what I got into this field to do). Opportunity to start my research immediately and get involved in teaching if I want, low cost of living, best funding package by far Cons: not as well respected, lack of diversity, big football school, not as competitive (I want to be pushed by my peers to some extent)

In the same boat, interested in feedback

I agree with the statement above. The POI at SIU should understand that most students apply to more than one school and if she has looked at your application, she should know. You can call or email, just let her know you that you're still waiting to hear back from LSU (i.e. "I appreciate your support however, I'm still waiting to hear back from one more school before I make my decision"). Also, don't be afraid to contact the director yourself. They may not respond but it might be worth a try.

Thank you for satisfying my curiosity! Yeah it's actually insane. When they mentioned stretching that masters out to two years, I cringed...