sleepyface

Congrats to everyone who got the fellowship this year! And solidarity with those who did not. This was my third time applying to the predoc and second time receiving an Honorable Mention. The first time I applied to the Ford, I was also an alternate. I do not know how likely it is to be selected from the alternate list but I'm in the Humanities where there is a dearth of fellowships at this level so I figured someone would pretty much have to die in order to move on to the next person on the list. I'm curious if anyone has received HM more than once? Do you include the multiple attempts on your CV? Also, what is the weight that an HM carries? I am pretty salty about the results right now so a part of me just wants to erase anything related to the Ford from my CV entirely.

I ended up emailing them since there was nothing online and the only other person I knew who applied hadn't heard back either. They told me they hadn't met yet. I definitely think waiting two months makes a lot of sense though and will keep that in mind for the future if this happens again. Thanks for your reply!

I applied in early December to an international conference in May. I have not heard back and have no clue as to when I should expect to hear from the organizers considering they did not have a notification deadline. I am wondering if it would be appropriate for me to email the organizers for a notification date? I know it can take months for notification but I need to figure out my budget situation for the semester. To clarify, I would only ask for the notification deadline and not whether my proposal was accepted. Thank you!!

Thank you! I'm glad I asked. It's not specific to my field but at my previous job, we would send thank you cards for everything so the habit stuck. I think I'll hold off on communication for now and wait to see what happens. Thanks again!

I was recently offered a spot on the waitlist for one of the top programs in my field. I was sent a letter from the dean of the graduate school via the application portal where I was asked to fill out either yes or no to confirm my spot. Considering that it's one of the top programs, they might not take their waitlist seriously (I can't imagine someone turning them down). But I would still like to send a thank you card to someone and show that I am interested in getting in even though the chances are highly unlikely. Since the letter was so impersonal, does that mean that they prefer to not be contacted? If I do send a thank you card, should I send it to the Dean or the director of the program? Both? Should I wait a couple weeks to see if the department contacts me directly? I did not initiate contact prior to applying and have had no communication with anyone there so I was pretty surprised that my application made it that far at all.