closetgeek

I don't think it is very competitive at all. I've actually been told that not enough students are applying for it. When Rick gave a talk at my school he said over 80% of students had gotten it in the previous year. He said he expected that to increase to close to 100% since they increased the acceptances to around 400. I did hear that one year one country was unable to accept as many students as they were expecting to. I vaguely recall it being Switzerland. But I still would not worry too much.

I started as soon as I was allowed to. I'm not sure you can wait until the next summer to start. I think the last month you can begin is in March or something (I could be wrong).

Did anyone else out there apply for this?

Finally got the official email today! Japan, I hope you're ready for meeee

Just checked my account on fastlane it said 34Gs for the stipend used in 2014!

I emailed the partner organization to ask if they knew when the awards would be sent out. They told me not til mid-May and that I would be receiving one.

Congrats guys! I'm going to Japan ! A letter hasn't gone out yet, but I got unofficial word yesterday . Probably won't be completely satisfied til I get the letter though!

There are a lot of fellowships for minorities. But don't let that limit you. Go for the NSF GRFP and other top fellowships as well. One fellowship is UNCF/Merck, but I think that is mostly for people close to graduating: http://umsi.uncf.org/sif There is also the GEM fellowship: http://www.gemfellowship.org/students/gem-fellowship-program/ I don't know too much about any other fellowships for chemistry since it's not my field, but there are probably lists out there.

My CO said they think the stipend will be applied retroactively. Guess we'll find out soon enough!

Yep! It is pretty frustrating. I have an internship offer that I don't know what to do with because I haven't gotten a final approval from NSF

I applied to Japan. Mine also still says that it's awaiting approval. Good luck!

I received an email yesterday from NSF stating my application would be forwarded to the partner organization

Has anyone heard anything back yet? It sucks that it takes so long. I want to sublease my apartment but not til I know

I have a couple of friends that used to live at tivoli tenside. The place is awesome and it's definitely close enough to campus to bike. I don't know much about alexander on ponce, but I know where it is. I don't really like the area. Tenside feels pretty safe, although it is closer to home park, and I think there was a shooting there a few years ago. If you live on ponce you'll be closer to restaurants and bars and stuff, but tenside is near a few good places. Ormsbys is particularly awesome. But anyways, I may be biased since I've been to tenside often and have never been to alexander on ponce.

Okay, thanks for your help!