prospective_ecology

If you win another fellowship that pays more, e.g. the NSF GRFP.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if there's no funding available, it means you have to have an external fellowship or take out loans.

Heard back from UCSD (pending funding). I know UCs tend to run late though. Already heard back from San Jose, but that was through Professor correspondence and not an official notice from the department.

Last year my email arrived at 1:29 am Friday morning.

A lot of schools will do two rounds. For example, top applicants will be taken in the first round, e.g. decisions that you hear about in February. As people start declining these offers, another round of admits will be accepted until the total amount that will be admitted are admitted. I don't know if this is the case for UCI, but it is the case for a good number of schools.

Yup, we're staying at 2000 awards this year. A colleague of mine emailed the NSF and posted this screenshot to reddit earlier today. Its basically a response to their email inquiring about the number of awards. https://imgur.com/a/mDyQe

And that is not to say that they won't award more, only that they requested 1000. I'm also unsure as to how old that document is and what effect all the legislative fury of February had on it. Right now, I'm looking at it as 1000 awards and pleasantly surprised if its 2000. Of course, all that means nothing to me if I'm not awarded though I'll be happy for everyone who does get it.

Fiscal year 2018 begins in Oct 2017.

Definitely weird. I set it .5" all around last year on accident and had it rejected off the bat for incorrect formatting, no chance for appeal.

I didn't want it to be true, but according to this document, NSF is only requesting 1000 rewards.

Was last year the last year that current grad students could apply twice, e.g. they were allowed to apply a second time as a grad student because they had applied once before the new rules had taken effect/they were grandfathered in? If it is, I could see it the same way bayesian sees it. Less applicants = faster turnaround.

Got a decision today. Admitted no funding, so it'll be a no for me

They review MS/MA applications during the entire month of February. Realistically, this week would be the first week I would expect to hear from them. I honestly don't expect to hear anything until mid-March. While its probably too late to do anything about it now, applying to only one school is definitely a risky strategy and hope that you get in.

I agree with Sanskriti. I had no acceptances first try, directly out of undergrad. In my second try, I've gotten a few offers already, and waiting on the other universities before making my final decision. Is your family member applying directly out of undergrad? Taking a year off isn't going to hurt them. I've always been told by professors not to take an unfunded position. While it is a debt thing, my professors were also of the opinion that the department didn't think highly enough of me to admit me if all they could offer was an unfunded position. While opinions may vary around the reasons why you don't take an unfunded position, its almost universal that you shouldn't accept an unfunded offer.

Whats the snow like here? Miami is on my short list of schools and wondering if I would need to get AWD/4WD for the winters.