OhTheStress

No idea, one way or another. I have no idea what goes on in the selection panels. That's why I'd like to know after the fallout settles.

One thing I'd be interested to know is what percentage of winners/alts vs rejects had prior DoD connections. It seems that at least some of us here have already done some work for the DoD in one way or another, and that may or may not be a point in favor.

Poor Rob. I really do think he deserves a huge round of applause and some kind of thank-you gift for putting up with our crap and the DoD's crap. Does anyone still have fax machines anymore? My old job had one and the only thing it was ever used for was getting fax spam (which is apparently a thing).

Speaking from experience with SysPlus (the administer the SFFP program as well, which I've worked on) - they do pay on time and accurately. I never had any problems with that. They have other problems, sure (although here it sounds like it's not necessarily entirely on them), but their payroll department seemed to have their shit together pretty well.

I just got an email and the subject line started with "Accepted". I had a glorious nanosecond of hope, crushed by the immediate realization that it was just a meeting acceptance from my colleague in Saudi Arabia.

I'm with you on this - I'm kind of running low on hope that they'll tell us soon. Admittedly, if it pushes people to commit to the GRFP or some other fellowship before hearing about this, that's good for those of us who didn't get the GRFP, and doesn't really hurt people who did - both are well-paying, prestigious fellowships.

They do have an incentive - it's called getting us to stop emailing them ?

5:30 in Maryland again. Another COB gone. Time to break out the stress beer instead of the celebration beer.

Honestly, at this point even I'm not sure what's going on in this thread.

Gotta apologize, y'all. I put my special occasion beer in the fridge to chill yesterday, just in case, and that clearly jinxed this whole damn thing. My bad ?

I can't speak for everyone, but I'm not worried anymore - I just find some perverse enjoyment in coming up with ever more ridiculous explanations for them with the full acknowledgement that I have no basis for doing so.

If they're having IT problems, maybe the dates just mean they're dicking around in applications trying to fix broken things

What? Systems Plus having IT issues? You mean the same company that has unsecured source code on their website and managed to accidentally wipe one of their servers for the SFFP program? Surely you jest.

This is just part of the grant application. Right? Right?

That's actually good to know - no need to check the portal repeatedly then. Thanks for digging on this.

I vote for torches and pitchforks if they don't.

I'm gonna miss the camaraderie of this thread. I sure as hell won't miss the stress of the waiting.

*starts obsessively hitting Send/Receive*

Eh, I kinda felt that way at first, but it also really depends on your field. I do combustion, and the NSF really doesn't fund combustion work nearly as much as the Air Force does, so I feel like that hobbled my application a little compared to what I could put in the NDSEG proposal.

Pretty sure SysPlus would frown on us actually editing their website.

I'm not sure whether to find this comforting or additionally stressful right now.

At first, I applied to undergrad and thought "Man, this sucks" Then, I applied for jobs and thought "Wow, this really sucks" Then, I applied for grad school and thought "Okay, this is really as bad as it gets" And then, I applied for fellowships...

There is no prevailing theory, really. #DecemberGang may not have survived initial review, but the consensus is we have no idea.

As far as I can tell, yes. I'd donate an upvote but I hit my quota for the day (again). Well done!