Here2vent

Right there with you. I applied as undergrad in 2017 and got very positive comments. I got mostly VG/E for IM and F/G for broad impacts which each reviewer said to focus on to have a strong application. Come 2018 and I take the lead to volunteer at an outreach, teach elementary students and formulate outreach plans for the years to come. Currently working with high school students. What do my 2019 reviews say? "Limited prior experience with outreach, though he claims plans to engage more in future" and graded Fair which is complete BS. The other (of 2 reviewers) said VG broad impacts but could be improved (semi BS). On IM both reviewers noted how I have 4 f*n publications by year 1 BUT my grades are A and B (only had 2 classes first year as mandated by program) which is apparently a failure to them. I took 5 years off between undergrad and grad school so I didnt feel the need to explain a B as I get back into the groove of things, but fml. Both gave contradicting statements about what my proposal entails, I dont think the first reviewer even read it properly. "...nor in how these prior experiences relate to his current work. Research topic was not well justified, and hypothesis seemed rather speculative." so overall they were a few sentences each and highly disappointing and subjective. Happy I'm working towards industry to escape this BS system.