AnnzPB

Wait, so the rating sheets aren't uploaded at the same time as the winners are announced? Gahhhhhh that's so annoying.

Even if NSF hotline folks were around after business hours, I doubt they'd still be answering phone calls.

Plus, why would they post something about scheduled maintenance for April 1st BEFORE they post something about scheduled maintenance on March 29-30th? Ugh this is fruitless, we all just need to reign it in--we find out when we find out, right?! fjdkl;ajfldkajkf;da 03/29/12 - FastLane will be unavailable from 11:00 PM ET Thursday March 29th - 5:00 AM ET Friday March 30th for scheduled maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience. 03/28/12 - FastLane will be unavailable from 12:01 AM to 8:00 AM ET Sunday April 1st for scheduled maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience.

I'm inclined to be skeptical simply because of NSF's Facebook message saying that it'd be early April. Yes, they said "around early April", but that seems grasping for straws to me. Who knows though, here's to hoping I'm wrong.

honestly, i would avoid risky questions like that during the interview phase and concentrate on getting the offer first. remember, EVERYTHING during the interview is evaluated by interviews, and anyone can have input (from the janitors to the dean). get the offer in hand first and then you can worry about asking the candid questions. schools always like to tout the whole "you're interviewing us just as much as we're interviewing you" junk, and that's a load of you-know-what. i've heard several horror stories about interviewers noting the most random, insignificant things about interviewees as basis for rejection. just not worth it at this stage. get the offer first and then ask all the questions you want.

Thanks for the info, Parklanduberalles. In any case, is there anyone else out there who may have interviewed at / heard about UT Southwestern's clinical psychology PhD program? My interview is this Friday/Saturday, so any information you may have about UTSW's clinical psych PhD program (not their hospital affiliate; I am already aware of those issues) would be greatly appreciated.

Uh oh, that doesn't sound good. Any sense for whether the delay is going to push the date for notifications out to after April 15th? This is critical for me in my situation, as I have to make a decision about what grad school to attend by April 15th. Argh!

<I posted this in another forum but thought I might get a response here> I got invited to interview for the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. This program is one of my top choices for admission, and so I wanted to ask you lovely folks out there if anyone has interviewed for this program before...? Most of the other clinical psychology Ph.D. programs I applied to are research-based, and so I am hoping to get some advice on how to prepare to interview for this program, since it is a more practice-based Ph.D. program (but still has research). For all the other schools I applied to, you had to express an interest to work/research with a specific professor (typical stuff for academic Ph.D. programs). However, UT Southwestern doesn't operate on the mentor-based model, and so applicants are interviewing to be accepted into the program at large. I'm just looking for any advice anyone may have on how to prepare for this type of program since the typical stuff around researching individual professors' research doesn't really apply here. Thanks so much, everyone!

what are the 4 tiers, as opposed to the 3 tiers that folks have discussed on this thread so far?

Jimbo2, do you have a sense for whether the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 breakdown of awardees is correct (as in the fellowships going evenly to those, at the time of application, not yet in grad school, 1st year grad students, and 2nd year grad students)? I ask because I applied this year as someone not yet in grad school (I have gotten a couple of offers for 2012 though, yay!), and thus far from the dozens of NSF awardees I've talked to, I have yet to meet anyone who received the fellowship as someone who was not yet in grad school at the time of applying. Thanks so much for the inside info!

have these awardees been notified, or just the decisions been made about them??

I got invited to interview for the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. This program is one of my top choices for admission, and so I wanted to ask you lovely folks out there if anyone has interviewed for this program before...? Most of the other clinical psychology Ph.D. programs I applied to are research-based, and so I am hoping to get some advice on how to prepare to interview for this program, since it is a practice-based Ph.D. program. For all the other schools I applied to, you had to express an interest to work/research with a specific professor (typical stuff for academic Ph.D. programs). However, UT Southwestern doesn't operate on the mentor-based model, and so applicants are interviewing to be accepted into the program at large. I'm just looking for any advice anyone may have on how to prepare for this type of program since the typical stuff around researching individual professors' research doesn't really apply here. Thanks so much, everyone!

Ahhhh I submitted! I spent two hours like a crazy person reading all my essays/information over and over. Now I just need to veg out and watch mindless TV for a while to recuperate.

Mmmm, I don't know about that. I don't think the system is set up to be locked out given that they have staggered deadlines for different fields. I would call them tomorrow to make sure / beg if necessary. I can't imagine them not making an exception for that, but it's always better to make sure than assume.

Got a little down to the wire there, but it is submitted. *fingers crossed!*

Only 3 letters are considered based on the priority you assign to them. They recommend having more than 3 recommenders down so that if one of your recommenders misses the deadline on the 29th for some reason, you are still hedged in having your application be eligible for review, since it won't be if it doesn't have 3 LORs. I don't recall seeing anything when I was reading about changing/not changing your recommender list once you submit for the initial deadline.

Got an urgent question for you all about filling out the Proposed Graduate Program section of the NSF application on FastLane: Under this section, you list your proposed university/college from a drop-down menu and then right under that you put the proposed program. Since I have a psychology application, I assume that "<insert appropriate adjective for your subfield> Psychology" is the best answer for me to put for this required field (screenshot below): BUT!!!! Right under this area, there's another required field called "Graduate Program" (screenshot below; sorry for my hilariously shoddy paintbrush skills there...). What the heck am I supposed to put for that??? What is the difference (if any) between "Proposed Program" and "Graduate Program"?? There's no instructions for what they want for the latter free-response field, and since it's required, I don't think it's there only if you have an "Other" field of study picked or something. THOUGHTS??

Thanks for that input, BlueRose. Yes, I definitely agree that there's no way to know what order reviewers will look at ALL of the materials, but I think what we're all most concerned about is the order in which reviewers will likely read the essays. I just can't imagine that there would be any logical order to reading the essays other than 1) personal statement 2) previous research 3) research proposal, right?? I've definitely taken the "hit 'em over the head over and over" approach throughout all my essays, but still, it would be nice to know from a narrative perspective that they stick to the most logical reading order. Thoughts?

Yes, I have the same question! I would imagine that it's 1) personal statement 2) previous research 3) research proposal, but I don't to assume!

No one has started this thread yet, and since the deadline's in like a week, figured I'd start one off with a question: Does anyone have any information on how to put references into the proposed study statement? They want all of the statements to be two pages, 12-point Times New Roman double-spaced, but does this apply to however we format the references as well, or can we make those single-spaced and smaller font without worrying about getting disqualified...?? Thanks so much for the help, as always!

Thanks for the advice, IRdreams. How do we get in contact with "program officers"? Would we just go through the General Inquiries phone number on the NSF GRFP Contact Us page (http://www.nsfgrfp.org/contact_us) and ask for a... program officer? Sorry, I know my question sounds really dumb, but the help is much appreciated.

human mating human mating + sexual response...

Yet another question for you generous folks - my background and proposed research is in Evolutionary Psychology, but this is not an option among the Primary Field of Study. The closest thing that I can think of picking is Personality and Individual Differences. Are there any concerns/risks that I take in either of these options? 1) Choosing "Other" for the Primary Field of Study and then writing in "Evolutionary Psychology - or - 2) Picking "Psychology - Personality and Individual Differences" Also, for additional context on option 1, when I put in "Other" and then write in "Evolutionary Psychology", it tells me to do the following (shown in the picture below).

Does anyone here have a sense for when in April that NSF notifying applicants regarding decisions? Has it usually before or after April 15th? I ask because I'm a psychology applicant who is applying to grad school at the same time, and APA's deadline for admission decisions for both schools and applicants is April 15th--which could be a problem for me since some schools I'm applying to may not accept me unless I am able to bring my own funding.

Thank you for responding Eigen. Do you mind clarifying what 3 groups you're referring to when you say 1/3 1/3 and 1/3? I just understand there to be two "groups" based on my post - people who are applying while in grad school and people who are not yet in grad school. Thanks so much!