Joesh

If your computer is working fine for what you need it to do a cheaper alternative may just be to buy a new battery.

Got the NSF Fellowship

My advice to first year Graduate Students: Change your mind and turn around. Don't go to grad school!

you think the DoD cares if you have a plan to disarm atomic bombs in the ocean? maybe... but my guess is, not really. i'll repeat again, the dod is just like every other fellowship, in that it funds strong (basic or applied) research in a related field. the keyword is 'strong' (but you can go with 'nuclear' if you want)

anyway, i would elaborate, but i need to go select a fellowship from the 4 i was awarded, k thx g2g bye

"Dear Mr. XXxxxXXX
On behalf of the the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship Committee we would like to congratulate you on being awarded the 2011 NDSEG fellowship in Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering. The Department of Defense (DoD) is committed to increasing the number and quality of our nation's scientists and engineers, and towards this end, has awarded approximately 3,200 NDSEG fellowships since the program's inception 22 years ago. We are proud to have you as one of our nation's scientists. The NDSEG Fellowship is sponsored by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research(AFOSR), the Army Research Office (ARO), the High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCM), and the Office of Naval Research (ONR), under the direction of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering (DDR&E). We would further like to extend our humblest request that you do all within your power to take pity on those who were unfortunate enough not to receive one of our awards. We ask that you share a bit of your awesomeness amongst them, so that they may remain on the true path of scientific virtue. Unlike past years, where an individual recipient receives a single award, we have decided to make an exception. Due to your amazing intellectual prowess, boyish charm, and quite frankly, blindingly handsome physique, we have opt to award you 100% of the available funding in your field of specialization. Stay awesome Mr. XXxxxxXXx - you will receive your hooker limousine party shorty."

JUST CAME IN I GOT IT I GOT IT YEESSSSSS!!!!!!!


jk.

Please keep the insincere comments to yourself. Such a comment from someone who just won an award doesn't really make those who didn't feel that great...

Eastern time zone here. I'm staying up until the awards are announced. Don't care about being tired for classes tomorrow.

If anything I am just happy I have 2 more years to try again if I don't get it this year. I should be able to improve my application in many ways!

Hi all,

As you may know, recently there was a nuclear reactor accident in Japan. While being very happy to be admitted to Stanford, I started to have some concerns about California after this event. Do you think this should be taken into account while deciding the graduate school? There are numerous schools in california, would we expect a decrease in the rate students accept offers from these schools?

The above was based on the Results stream. I think the forums are more reliable.

I finally managed to dig up the relevant parts of the previous years' forum threads:

2007:
---> Friday, March 23, 11:40 PM ET : List goes up online

2008:
---> Monday, March 31, 2:00 PM ET : Some people see "congrats, fellow" when they log into Fastlane, other eventual awardees do not. Others hack the website to deliver the spreadsheet even though it's not linked yet. In other words, NSF screwed up.
---> Tuesday, April 1, 8:00 AM ET: NSF posts full list online

2009: (1st batch) / (2nd batch)
---> Friday, April 10, 1:00 AM ET : First batch of awards only, no HMs, ~900 awards (HMs and the rest of the awards given in mid-May). Rejection letters also sent to those not in limbo waiting on the final award number. Fastlane went down for scheduled maintenance at Thursday, April 9, 11:00 PM ET previous to the list going up.
---> Tuesday, May 19, 1:00AM ET : Second batch of awards goes up. Fastlane went down for scheduled maintenance a couple hours before, at Monday, May 18, 11:00PM ET.

2010:
---> Tuesday, April 6, 12:50 AM ET : List goes up on Fastlane. Fastlane went down for scheduled maintenance at Monday, April 5, 11:00 PM ET previous to this.

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In regards to 2009, when they only awarded the first batch, this was what the NSF said at the time:
"Due to the complexity of the current budget situation, the 2009 GRFP awards will be announced in installments based on fields of study and other factors. The first installment is now available on FastLane. Awardees, as well as Applicants not recommended for funding, have been notified by email. Recipients of Honorable Mention and any additional Fellowship award offers will be forthcoming. Applicant ratings sheets will be available after all award announcements have been made. We thank you for your patience. "

I think it's entirely feasible that they will do something similar early this week, unfortunately, and that some of us will be stuck in limbo afterwards. I hope not.

At any rate, I think this rules out any chance we'll hear before the middle of the night between Monday and Tuesday! And apparently what we're looking for is Fastlane going down at 11PM ET, with emails and the list showing up at around 1AM following, unless they decide to depart from the last couple years' pattern.

Also, I really hope next year when people are obsessing about this, someone stumbles upon this post so they don't have to recreate the legwork I just did. That way I'll feel like I didn't just avoid all the things I should be doing for nothing.... ;-)

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EDIT: Updated to include the 2nd batch of awards in 2009, which also were a late-Monday/early-Tuesday, just like the 2010 awards. Hmm...Monday night, then?

I have a very quick question for the board: Is it super bad if I signed my admissions letter in RED INK?

Thanks!

(the reason I'm asking is because I was just given a small lecture about this from someone close to me)