flagler20

The deadline is around the corner and I couldn't find any previous related threads so I thought I'd start a new one. I was just wondering if anyone else has applied for this before? I have a budget related question. It seems the budget is restricted to only travel expenses, "special equipment", and participation costs. That doesn't allow for much. I emailed someone in the program my questions but thought I'd ask here too in case anyone has experience. Although it excludes "cost-of-living" support, do you think it makes any difference if the research is at a field site abroad? I mean it would make sense to exclude living costs if a student is conducting the research while at their university in the US, but if the sole purpose of travelling and living abroad is data collection then I could potentially see an exception to that rule. Also, in the solicitation is this line: "The Economics program supports research designed to improve the understanding of the processes and institutions of the U.S. economy and of the world system of which it is a part." It makes it sound as if the program emphasizes research specifically related to US interests (including the world system but only to the extent that it has implications for the U.S.), and not economics and economic theory in general. Otherwise, why explicitly refer to the U.S. economy? My research has more to do with development in poor countries and I'm wondering if it's not exactly appropriate for this DDRIG.

I haven't had much success at all with research funding but because I almost never get feedback I'm left wondering if its the research proposal itself, or some other factor that spoiled my chances. For my last proposal, which recently got rejected, the funding was up to $10,000 per successful applicant, but it was out of a pot of funding with some fixed amount, meaning theoretically they could fund any number of applicants up until the funding ran out. When I did up my budget for the application though, I had to report existing funding, which would be about $5,000 of the $5,800 that I needed. So my question is do selection committees typically favor applicants with greater need even if there isn't a limited number of awards to give out, only a limited amount of funding? Perhaps considering the "additionality" factor of the award? I'm just frustrated with the number of times I've had my proposal rejected with ambiguity over the cause for rejection.

How many reviewers did you get comments from? From my report I got comments from "reviewer #2" and "reviewer #3" but there was no reviewer #1. Also, my suspicions were confirmed. If you're not using a local language you have no chance. My average score was an 86 out of 110, but if I was to use a local language it would have been a 103.

But the points for field are contingent on meeting the language preference. If your research is in one of the listed fields but you aren't using a listed language then you don't get any of the points for field. And yes, I will describe the kind of feedback I get, but I am doubtful at this point that any feedback is coming. I don't think any comments were left for me but I will confirm Monday when my email to my coordinator is responded to.

I looked at the rubric again and it isn't so clear cut. Out of a total of 110 points I lost 7 points off the bat for not using a foreign language (out of 10 for meeting area and language preferences of the State Department). Then there is another 15 points for "proficiency in language to be used or measures to be taken to overcome language barriers" and I had intended to use a translator for the one part of the study in which I wouldn't be using English and that probably didn't merit the full 15 points, but I don't know how many I lost there. So if your friend got the full points (100 or 110?) I think it's pretty clear that if you aren't going to be using a foreign language then your chances of getting the Fulbright-Hays are very slim. By the way, how did your friend know how many points they got? Is that only disclosed to the winners?

Also, does anyone know how to view the comments the reviewers left? I got a follow up email shortly after I was rejected which had a link to the "workspace" and below it said this: "The proposal referenced above has been withdrawn or funding has been denied with the following comments: Click the link above to access the proposal workspace." Does that mean there were no reviewer comments left for me, or is the "comments" referred to above not the same thing as reviewer comments and I should wait for those, or are the comments hidden somewhere in the workspace?

Got word that I was rejected. I really wish there was somewhere to get non-generic advice on writing a Fulbright-Hays proposal. I think my major mistake was being too honest. Even though I can speak an obscure local language in my study area I don't really have a need to speak it for the purpose of my research so I was automatically docked something like 13 points. I should have just worked it in somehow. If anyone has any insights into the scoring, what is the average score of a winning proposal? edit: The two awardees from my University are both anthropology students and I've noticed a lot of example proposal essays are from anthropology. Obviously a greater proportion of anthropology students probably apply for the F-H than students from other departments, but is the F-H also biased towards anthropology?

Thanks for that reply. Very helpful advice.

My adviser is great and I have no complaints about my committee (which is very small by typical PhD standards), but none of my committee members are experts in a certain set of methods I want to use. I have identified a professor from a different University (in the foreign country where my research will be based) who is an expert in the methods, and has actually applied them in the same area where I will conduct my research. I would very much like to reach out to this professor and pick his brain and hopefully get some good guidance, but I don't know what would be in it for him. I don't want to repeat his work exactly, but rather build on it and use similar methods to answer what I think are some very interesting questions that he has neglected. I've never talked to the guy before and I'm afraid that if I sat down and discussed my research with him and asked him for advice he might take some of my ideas. On the other hand he could potentially be very valuable in helping me with data collection and analysis. So I was wondering what incentive he would have to help me, and specifically whether an invitation to serve on my committee as an external member would be seen as an attractive offer. I suppose he might see it as securing co-authorship on a resulting paper, which I wouldn't mind. Does anybody have experience with anything similar? How would I reach out to him initially?

When I checked the status of my proposal I was given the following message: Our records indicate that the following Final Project Report(s) are due or overdue for the Award(s) listed below. Please submit the report(s) as soon as possible using the Project Reports System within FastLane. The report(s) will be considered overdue if not submitted by the Report Overdue Date mentioned for each report. Having an Overdue project report will affect/delay NSF actions on any other award related to the PI/Co-PI: It then gives the award number and says that the final report is overdue (was due back in 2013). This was for an award my adviser received and when I spoke to him about it he said basically it's not his fault because the co-PI was supposed to submit the report, or something to that effect. Does anybody know if this will undermine my chances with the NSF DDIG, or will this just delay the award if otherwise my proposal is approved?

I'm wondering what the average score is for those offered the award. It's nice that there's a rubric outlined in the application instructions, but I have no idea what a competitive score is. I am worried because my research will not require the use of a foreign language, though the proposal should be strong on all other accounts.

I created my own thread on this forum to ask a fulbright related question but no one has responded, so I'll ask it in this thread. I was wondering who to go to for one of my references for the Fulbright-Hays fellowship. Note that this is somewhat different from the normal Fulbright fellowship. Is it important for the reference to know about your past research experience abroad, or is it more important for them to be able to speak to the merits of your current research project? Apparently there is a form that they fill out and specific questions that they answer, so it's not just a standard reference letter that they write. But I have not seen this form so I don't know what they're asked.

I can't find any information on what the reference form looks like or what specifically the referee should be able to comment on about me so that means I'm not sure who would be best to ask to fill out a form on my behalf. Should the person I ask for a recommendation from be able to speak to my past research experience abroad? Or should they be more familiar with what it is I plan to do with my current research, the feasibility of it and its intellectual merits? If the former I would go with my adviser for my masters program for one recommendation, but he has no idea what I'm currently researching. If the latter I will just stick with my current PhD committee members who know somewhat about what I've done in the past, and I suppose could comment more on that if i gave them my CV, but they wouldn't immediately be able to speak to those qualities. Anybody have any advice?

T The problem with numerical references is that you trade-off upfront brevity for back-end length because then you have no choice but to include full citations at the end. Using in-text citations with author names allows you to omit a full reference section at the end, but takes up words in the body of the proposal. But I don't really have a choice and will probably have to go with numerical references anyways because the citations I would be using are not for foundational papers which would be recognized with just the author and year.

Ok, thanks for the advice. The thing is though that it's a word limit, not a page limit. So then the question becomes, do I save words at the end for references, or do I not worry about going over the word count with references? Unfortunately I don't have time to ask anyone. I had written the proposal without references and it is ready to submit, but I'm having last minute doubts. I guess I shouldn't expect any definitive answers on here. So I'll just use 2-3 references and include them in the word count. Also, all of my research will be done abroad so all of my expenses are travel expenses.

I'm writing a proposal for a small grant ($5,000) with a limit of 750 words in the project description. There is no mention of a references cited section on the proposal application. Does that mean I should not include one? Or is it expected that it will follow the description? One would think it would be specified in the application if that were the case. Also, a related question. For these small grants that are applied towards a dissertation project, given that it would fund only a small portion of my activities is it better to focus on one aspect of my dissertation or describe the whole thing? There is no budget requirement so how the money is spent is totally at the discretion of the award winner after the money is received, so I would tend to think it's better to describe the entirety of my dissertation project, but on the other hand it's probably easier to make a persuasive case in only 750 words by going into more depth on just one or two studies/chapters.

The advantage though in using numerical in-text citations is that it takes up far less space. You hardly lose any lines due to citations. And if you tend to add in-text citations only after you're done writing then there's no problem with judging how much room you need to leave to avoid going over the page limit.

Minor question. There is nothing as far as I can tell in either the program specific guidelines or the NSF guidelines that indicates what referencing or in-text citation format to use. I would like to be able to use numerical in-text citations and put the references in the order that they appear in the text but I'm not sure if that's allowed.

How common is it to be funded for the academic year but have to pay for your summer research credits? This is a little embarrassing, but I am on an academic year fellowship, and have been all but guaranteed a second year on the same academic year fellowship, as well as funding for my 3rd and 4th academic years. Feeling secure about my funding I gave nary a thought to how my summer credits will be paid for. If I'm not funded then of course I wouldn't be required to take courses, but summer is when I will be in the field, doing the research, and thus it makes sense to register for research credits in the summer term. I would also meet my credit requirements earlier by doing so. So how common is it to be funded for the actual research undertaken over the summer, but the tuition for the research credits coming from out of pocket? Is it more common to register those research credits in the fall and spring semesters for which your tuition is waived?

A short answer will do. I met a couple girls from the UK who honestly weren't very bright, but one was entering a masters program and the other a phd program-both in ecology. I didn't get to ask them much about their intended programs of study, and am not able to talk to them anymore, but what struck me as very odd was that the girl entering the masters program was trying to figure out on what and where she could spend about 2 weeks doing field research before she even arrives at the university. She explained that that's how it works and that she had already been accepted (I don't remember where) but wasn't to begin the program formally until around August or some such date. She was going to formulate an hypothesis and conduct her brief research (2 weeks!), and only afterwards would she start taking classes, or do whatever it is that UK grad students do when they get to campus. The other girl was starting a phd program, but when I asked where, she gave me the name of a research organization in Namibia. When I looked it up later I learned that it was a non-profit research NGO that runs a research station, but certainly not an academic institution. Regardless of whether or not she's enrolled at an actual university somewhere (I didn't ask), I know for a fact she has not attended anything such as a class and is literally beginning her phd program by conducting research at the station. For any grad students in the UK reading this now, can you please tell me all of this sounds absolutely absurd to you? It would restore my faith in the competency of you people.

Why does ordering GRE scores from ETS have to be so imprecise? I want to specify an address, not blindly send a report to the general university at large. Two of the recipients, for example, are fellowship offices. They allow unofficial photocopies of score reports to be sent, but I don't have my copy anymore. How would ETS know how to send a copy to them if I can only give departmental codes? I've already emailed ETS and am awaiting their response, but thought I might be able to get answers here sooner. And what if I can't find a departmental code from their search feature? Should I assume that the grad school would forward my scores to the department?

Trying this again. I would prefer to exchange my SOP with someone else so that I can be sure you have put just as much thought into the job as I have, but if you are in the field of natural resource geography or environmental studies I'd appreciate a review even without an exchange. PM me. Thank you.

Another update: one of the professors I hadn't heard from after 2 emails said over the phone he never saw my emails, and the other professor who never responded to my 2 emails said he thought he did respond. I have now lost all confidence in the reliability of email.

I don't know if not having a close relationship should make any difference. In fact, if that's the case then it should be even easier to decline to write a letter, saying something like "I don't feel like I can do you justice...someone who knows you better might be a better choice". Anything's better than a non-response. But to speak more generally to your point, having close relationships with professors is more of a personality trait. Many of us are excellent students with a keen interest in our respective fields, but just aren't the extroverted type to become ingratiated among a community of faculty.

I think there's two issues here though. Some people are talking about professors being dangerously tardy with completion of the actual letter, while others are complaining about not getting any reply whatsoever. There's no excuse for the latter. Unless the professor is uncomfortable with writing the letter but wants to stew it over for a bit before committing to the job then it takes literally seconds to reply "sure, no problem, I'm a bit busy though so it may take a couple months...". But even if they are uncomfortable it's better for everyone if they are just honest about it.