t_ruth

I know this is totally lame so, hopefully I'm not the only one, but has anyone else tried searching by name to see if their name might just show up?

is it me or does this award feel like a crap shot? too many deserving people, hard to compare applicants in many instances.

From what I've read, I agree. It seems to have at least something to do with who you get as a reviewer. If you get lucky and get folks who love your proposal, you're golden. But if you get someone that, for whatever reason, hates your project, you're out of luck.

Here's hoping they had really nice reviewers this year!

I swore up, down and sideways that I would not obsess about this silly fellowship. I thought I believed I had no chance: in fact when my advisor told me to apply, I outright laughed at him. Back in grad school after 5+ years, and at a masters college that has never had a GRFP fellow in CS. I do not believe I have a chance. I shouldn't.

But then WHY do I stalk this forum all the time??! Ugh. Hope can be so annoying. ;-)

I thought it was down earlier, but it seems to be back up..not sure what it could be...unless there are people who are constantly checking the site to slow it down, which of course none of us would ever do

I just like watching the chatter on here grow exponentially, reach a fever pitch and then die out in silence until 10 months later

I find the speculating about how much *extra* money we can earn or work we can do after winning the fellowship a bit too optimistic for my blood

Ditto on the interdisciplinary approach! My sense of this (based on very limited work experience in education research) is things are best kept "territorial." I have yet to meet a public policy researcher or economist in the field of education who does qualitative research for example. I have also seen some "mixed methods" studies where the analysis of qualitative data is constrained to supporting findings from quantitative data (I have not seen the reverse case but I am sure instances exist). I agree that collaboration across disciplines would be beneficial but the terrain has to change as well so that different disciplinary lenses and methodological approaches are given equal consideration.

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I agree. Don't sweat the undergrad GPA or the fact that your letters will come from your MA professors. Since it doesn't appear you have academic research experience (or experience really similar to academic research), you might want to highlight the elements of your polling and legislative experience that involved research-type skills.

As for school recommendations, what specifically are you interested in studying? Instead of picking schools by the name/reputation of the school, you should really be picking your schools based on advisor and research focus area. This will increase your odds (and your likelihood of being happy once you are in the program).