ktrae1006

Oh, I meant the deadline to accept graduate school offers. Because having good funding can play such a big role in that decision. Thank you for the clarification though!

I think you're probably right on it being no earlier than Friday but more likely next week. I'm just hoping it's this week so that we have enough time to figure out/finalize plans before the April 15th acceptance deadline. Also, good luck to everyone on this feed! It's been really helpful to have a community to check in with while waiting!

I would have to agree with @perpetualalligator. I was also told you should never pay for graduate school. You would be doing work in someone's lab and supporting their research objectives as much as they would be supporting your education. And going further into debt to advance in your career just doesn't seem like a great idea. NSF results should be out in the next couple weeks, so hopefully you'll have more information then. But I think waiting for a good fit with good funding would be worth it in the long run, both for financial security and professional development.

So here's the situation: I've been in contact with a potential advisor since fall 2018 who made it clear from the beginning that he would be willing to work with me but does not have funding to support my research interests. I applied for the NSF GRFP, but my hopes are fairly low as my proposed project was pretty small in scope and I am still finishing up my undergraduate degree. But I scheduled an informal visit to the lab because my family lives close to the university, and he took the time to meet with me and show me around the facility. He has also been very communicative about the application process since then and encouraged me to apply in case I do secure funding. My application is essentially on hold at the university because there is no funding to support a position (so no formal acceptance or rejection--just a waiting game). I've recently been offered a funded position in a program I would be more excited to attend. So even if I did receive NSF funding, I'm no longer interested in working with this potential advisor for a graduate degree. But it is a small field where everyone seems to know each other, and I don't want to burn any bridges at this early stage in my career. Should I wait until the NSF results come out (so if I don't receive funding I can use that as an excuse) or reach out now to inform him that I have decided to accept a position elsewhere (even though I haven't fully decided between two other programs at this point)? Thank you in advance for any insights or advice you can offer!

That's awesome! Congratulations! Where are you headed? The prevalence of advertised positions definitely seems different than other fields. I applied for a PhD through ECOLOG that they ended up offering to someone else but then they encouraged me to apply to the university anyways. And I'm applying for primarily PhD programs and then one master's. I've got four applications submitted at this point with two dependent on funding and one invitation for an interview (that I leave for tomorrow actually!).

Hi there! I would totally agree that it seems like a weird field for applications! I'm applying for fisheries programs (and ecology programs where the PI would be open to fisheries research). I haven't actually been rejected from any schools yet, but my applications are all in limbo waiting to hear back on funding (whether from the PI or from the NSF GRFP). So the waiting game just continues. Have you had any luck?

Do you know when they extended the deadline to?