@cellbiogal I got an update on 11/13 - I don't know what any of this means. I won't be coming to this site anymore and can't respond to more questions, but all the best to this year's NDSEG applicants!
They do say this - "In the Graduate section of the application, if this is the first semester of graduate school, place a "0.0" for the GPA and upload your coursework or acceptance letter for the transcript." It's just very easy to miss. I am sure a lot of people did not send it, and yet I observe that they do not point out that this is a common error and tell folks not to worry about it...
I somehow overlooked the part of the FAQ that said I should include my grad school course schedule or acceptance letter if I am a first-year grad student (I read it as put your gpa as 0.0 OR attach the documents). I submitted my app without doing this sent an NDSEG an email with an acceptance letter and asked if they could append it to my application. I'm feeling very cross right now. I have been working on this application non-stop since June.