sgaw10

Not even an honorable mention. This sucks.

Just bombed a math exam, hoping this isn't how tomorrow morning goes...

Two of my letter writers wrote for my graduate applications, which was a year ago. I gifted them handwritten cards containing photos I took around the campus/city (I do casual photography in my free time) as well as a mug from the university I chose for graduate studies. I think the handwritten notes are essential. I plan to purchase cards and mail them out as thanks again, even for my third letter writer who will be my thesis mentor.

AHHHHH IT'S HAPPENING

I remember hearing somewhere that NSF is especially eager to award senior undergraduates, but take that with a grain of salt. Crossing fingers for results this week...

Also worried about receiving honorable mention (or nothing at all) because my undergraduate GPA was trash (at a tough institution, to be fair) and will likely yield negative comments. Also no pubs, but I'm not sure how much of a red flag this is as a first year. Hoping my letters of rec and research proposal gave me a fair chance... In general, I think it's a good idea to have your letter writers write about different aspects of you/your application. While that advice applies to many awards, I feel it's especially true since NSF makes very clear which categories they evaluate.

First year PhD student applying for the first time in Biomedical Engineering.

I've never heard of early access to results

Hoping yet also not hoping that it's tomorrow, hahaha.

Thanks for the clarifications. I suppose I am nervous nevertheless. Maybe releasing decisions next week?

It's my first time logging back on here in awhile, but I am anxiously awaiting this result now like many of you. I'm a first year graduate student, and while I have a spot in my desired lab, earning this would be huge for me. Is it true that fewer fellowships are being awarded this year? It's been a wacky couple of years as it is, between last year's government shutdown and now the pandemic...

Haha, I am the infamous complainer! Thank you for the words though. I'm grappling with some guilt but also with wanting to assert my autonomy. Hope the new program works out well for you.

My mom and I don't get along. She told me a couple weeks ago that she spontaneously booked a trip to my new city. Never even asked me. This is the first week of grad school for me, and I'm already incredibly busy. Even after I insisted I did not want money, she demands that I make time for her to give me some after she criticized how my salary will not go very far. She also feels that my new school is lesser than my undergrad institution and does not hesitate to express that. She doesn't understand what I'm doing, which is fine, but she doesn't try understanding. My mom lashed out at me via text a couple months ago because she thought I misread and actually had to take more money from my family for tuition, which is not true. Unrelated but strange to mention is that she has a crude Twitter account with tens of thousands of followers, where I suspect she may be cheating on my dad in some sort of virtual relationship. My parents are trying to guilt me into hanging out with her, but this is something I really don't want to do. I'm not sure how I should go about it. I don't understand why it's my responsibility to entertain her on a whim. /endrant

Well, this it. First day of grad school starts tomorrow. Excited!

Quarters are so much better because you can take so many more classes. And yeah, in undergrad I liked not having any homework to do over breaks. Plus if you hate a topic in class, it does not drag on like it would in a semester. Oh well. I think it's mostly nostalgia for undergrad overall for me, though.