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My fastlane looks the same as it has for the past several weeks - same PO, review date, and proposal status. No idea what your changes mean (if anything).

According to my Fastlane account, the NSF DDIG/DDRI external panel review started yesterday for Sociology. I'm wondering whether people that applied for a sociology award in previous years have any insight into how long it took them to be notified of their results? From previous threads, it seems like people in anthropology usually got notifications about 3-6 weeks after the panel met. But I haven't seen much discussion about the sociology awards...

First, these lists are amazing! But I wish I didn't know they existed, as I can't stop refreshing them! Last night around 11 pm eastern time, there were 690 honorable mentions and 43 awardees. This morning at 7 am eastern time, there are 689 honorable mentions and 46 awardees. Thus, two of the awardees that were added last night did not come from the honorable mention list (although one did). From that, I would guess that if your name is on the HM list you still might get bumped to an awardee. And for those not on the HM list, you still might get the award. So basically there is still hope for us all until they fill up the awardee list completely.

To the OP, I was accepted into several top programs in both Sociology and Communication with nearly identical scores. My understanding is that with a top score and an above average score, the GRE typically would not hold you back from being accepted into any programs. So I would recommend refraining from retaking it. The only possible exception I would see is if you are applying to stats heavy programs and are portraying yourself as having a ton of stats experience (e.g. that stats is already your specialty). I haven't heard of the 300 rule of thumb, and I would question its accuracy. According to ETS, a 150 on each score would be in the 44th percentile for Verbal and 41st for Quantitative: http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_guide_table1a.pdf But I could be wrong, and as is often the case it depends on what type of programs you are planning on applying to.

This is a useful website. I am glad somebody is putting it together for students to compare, as it has been so difficult to find this information when deciding where to apply. Thanks for pointing it out.

Tuition is waived by the department as long as you RA/TA for somebody in the department. In the social sciences, for programs that give full funding, I think that is the norm since we do not typically become involved in multi-year projects with their own funding. Thus, who my advisor is or who I RA for does not have any impact on my tuition. I didn't realize that it is different in the STEM fields, I guess?

My experience has been different. I'm at an Ivy school that doesn't need the money. I'm the first in my department to win the award (at least as far as people can remember). Since previous students were always able to stack their external fellowships with our internal funding, I was allowed to as well--even though the NSF Fellowship is substantially larger than the other cases. Additionally, I lobbied that I should be able to access some of the educational funds as I was going to continue being an RA (in the social sciences being an RA is a pretty important way to start working on new projects/meet faculty). Therefore, the school isn't "losing anything" by letting me keep a portion of the educational allowance. I pointed out two universities that allow students to keep some of the educational allowance for research/insurance purposes. After some discussion, it was decided that a third of the educational allowance each year would go towards my research expenses. Thus, 4k goes into a research account for me, but the school still gets 8k even though nothing changed from their perspective, as I am still RAing. http://gradschool.oregonstate.edu/finance/nsf-fellows http://www.ndsu.edu/gradschool/prospective_students/nsf_incentives/ Part of the reason I wanted to make this poll is to see how much these types of arrangements vary by university/programs.

The types of arrangements NSF GRFP Fellows have with their programs is pretty vague. It is difficult to know how common it is for students to stack their fellowships on top of their RA/TA funding or whether students are able to access any of their educational allowance funds. I hope that the poll below will help shed a little bit of light on these questions.

I don't think the OP became defensive. He/she seemed open to ideas and asked for help about how to go about improving the score after many people said that the GRE was important, but was candidly saying that he/she was frustrated because they didn't think the GRE is indicative of his/her potential. Hopefully, the discussion was helpful for him/her.

To the OP: Despite this advice, I think there are far more people that will point out that the GRE limited their prospects than people that "overcome" low GRE scores, so to speak. You don't want to feel lucky to get into a program--you want to feel like you are an asset that any school would be lucky to have. Unfortunately, I am basically positive that any faculty member, member of an admissions committee, or doctoral student at a "decent" program recognizes that the GRE is a necessary but insufficient requirement--a good score doesn't get you in, but a bad score almost always keeps you out. There may be a few exceptions to the rule (people that attend the same university as they did in undergrad, legacy kids, an amazing lifestory, etc). But I think it is common knowledge in doctoral programs that schools have either formal or informal cutoffs for the GRE. So if a student has time to prepare, investing resources into a GRE prep courses is a great investment. There a ton of testimonies of students that increase their GRE scores significantly (including on here at gradcafe). Rather than hoping that you are the exception to the rule and get into a decent program with low GRE scores, I think the general advise here is: why not try and be one of many students that "beats" the gre through test prep? Then you won't have to hope that a school is willing to "take a chance" or "overlook" your GRE scores--you can be confident that your entire application illustrates your potential to succeed in a doctoral program. And then its just a question of research fit instead of chance. It sounds like you have time to research the best study program for you, and it may seem overwhelming at first, but i'd encourage you to read some of the accounts from students that also improved their scores significantly. It is possible, and given your hard work to get to where you are at now, I bet you could improve the scores Best of luck.

I think the question is: what do you mean by a "decent program"? For some students, that really want to teach at a research institution, that means entering a fully funded doctoral program that is at least ranked in the top 30ish programs. I think with your current GRE scores you would not be able to get admitted to these doctoral programs. For others, a "decent program" is a doctoral program at a respected state university. Their graduates might teach at a community college or another state college. I think there is nothing wrong with this path but you do have to be realistic about the job prospects. The first job of a graduate is rarely at a program ranked higher than their doctoral program. So if you start at a low-ranked (or unranked) program, you are limiting your job prospects. And i'd point out that what was once considered less prestigious jobs like professorships at community colleges and state colleges are now highly competitive. You should discuss these issues with your advisor and identify what type of job you want when you graduate from a doctoral program, what type of school you need to graduate from to be competitive for that type of job, and then you can figure out what the average GRE scores are for those types of doctoral programs. I would be not compare yourself to students that were admitted into masters programs with low GRE scores. Masters programs are completely different from doctoral programs (masters programs prepare people to work in industry or government jobs and schools make money from them in terms of tuition; doctoral programs are more like investments, with the school investing x amount of money and time to prepare students to enter the job market and increase the prestige of the school). Doctoral programs are much more challenging to get into. If they weren't, masters students could just get admitted into the doctoral program and get free tuition and a living stipend.

Many of these types of questions (why some students got further/were awarded despite lower scores) may be explained by the z scores of reviewers. Essentially, the z score is meant to take into consideration that some reviewers may be "tougher" graders that give out fewer excellent scores than other reviewers. Or, some reviewers may be "easier" graders that give out more excellent scores than other reviewers. To try and take this type of subjectivity into account, a few years ago (I believe) NSF started calculating z scores. From http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~whitmir/Whitmire_Research_Group/NSF_Graduate_Research_Fellowship_Notes_files/NSF%20GRFP%20Presentation.pdf Each application is read by two panelists. As an example, there have been on the order of 250 - 300 applications for the Chemistry 1 panel for the each of the past five years. • Each panelist gives an application two scores based upon (1) intellectual merit and (2) broader impacts, with the total rating adding to 50. • The mean and standard deviation for the scores given by each panelist are computed to correct for differences in the way panelists rate proposals. The raw scores are converted to Z values and the averages of the Z values are calculated for each applicant. • After 2 reads, the applications are ranked by average Z score, and the bottom is triaged (about 60% usually - number is set by NSF based upon how many applications they are likely to fund or award an honorable mention) • After triage, each application that is left in the pool receives a third read. Sorry your application didn't proceed further. I was fortunate to win the award--but it took a fourth reviewer to resolve a discrepancy as my third reviewer only gave me an F/F. I think that shows how subjective this process can be, as I had 3 reviewers who loved the application and one who clearly disliked it. If that third reviewer had been my second, I probably wouldn't have made it to a third review.

Does anyone know any other departments that allow students to utilize the education allowance to pay for insurance and/or research expenses? I am at an ivy league university that may allow me to do so, but I need precedents to make my case. Any info or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I also had a fourth review, and managed to be offered the award. Does anyone know when they give a fourth review? 1. E/E 2. VG/E 3. F/F 4. E/E I applied from a small field, with the second reviewer noting that "people in his field" seem to like the proposal. The third reviewer hated it and I imagine was not in my field either. The other three seemed to have read it carefully and given thoughtful comments. Extremely lucky that my application wasn't ended by the F/F. Shows how random this process can be, unfortunately.

While this only confirms what we already expected, I called Fastlane and was informed that the helpline has been told that results will be released this week or next but were given no other details. Guessing it will be this Friday or next Tuesday (but fingers crossed for sooner!).

To the OP: presumably you've developed close relationships with your undergraduate advisors. If it was me, I'd have a frank discussion with them in regards to what program is most likely to help you reach your career goals. If you trust them, and they say they believe they are the best fit, than I wouldn't overthink it in regards to attending the same institution for undergrad and grad school. I imagine their hiring process is as competitive as any other, so they would know better than anyone whether a job applicant attending a top program for UG and grad school is stigmatized. As for professional networks, my assumption is that established academics at top programs know academics all over, especially within their subfields. So I dont think you'd be limited by any means. That being said, the greater breadth of your networks the better, so attending another program would help. But ultimately, I think the strength of your ties will be more important than the breadth. Meaning, I'd rather have strong but more limited ties to a top program than weak ties at two top programs (I think your under grad advisors will be good for personal networking but they wouldn't be the ones writing rec letters for you down the road--so they'd become relatively weak professionally). And ultimately, grad school is about preparing you to get a job as an academic. Among top programs, I figure students should go where they think they will publish the most--which means fit, program culture, and not disliking your cohort and city are all important. If your UG program ends up being where you think you will be most productive, and your advisors assure you that their isn't much of a stigma to attending the same program (which I really doubt--if you come out of a top program with pubs and strong recs from giants in the field I can't imagine hiring committees dwelling on your UG institution) I'd stay there. But that's mostly speculation based on my convos/visits with professors/programs. One last point though--if you stay at your program your probably less likely to change your main area of focus (since you would presumably keep working with the same professors). That is something I'd think about...some people would love that and others would dislike it (ie is it rewarding to have that continuity or is going to grow stale). Good luck with your decision.

Anybody to claim the second admittance? Since the program called this person, I am curious about their experience. In any case, congrats to those who have been accepted!

Graduate programs should have a list of job placements from their schools. For example, at Emory (a program ranked 36 by US News): http://www.sociology.emory.edu/pid/16/32/ Be mindful of the fact that programs typically do not list students who were unable to get a job. A general rule of thumb is that graduates typically teach at programs a tier below where they graduate (thus a graduate from a second tier school would teach at a third tier program). Put another way, it is extremely difficult for a graduate's first job to be at a program ranked higher or even equal to his (of course top programs are an exception). If you attend a program outside of the top 30 or so, I would be prepared to aim for jobs at liberal arts/teaching colleges, at mentioned above. But those jobs are still extremely competitive so I would not take them for granted.

I'm likely going to relocate to Philly to attend UPenn in June. I will be bringing 3 dogs and my wife will be a recent law school graduate looking for a job at a law firm. Does anybody have suggestions for property management realty companies that rent houses? Or would you suggest just going through an individual on craigslist? We are just looking for a small house (2 bedrooms is fine) with a small backyard (like those found behind a row house). We will primarily be walking our dogs but would like to have a small backyard in a safe and affordable neighborhood. Does anybody have suggestions? I will be relocating from Texas and i've never been to Philly so any info would be appreciated. Thanks!

I wouldn't assume it means a rejection. Acceptances take longer to go out when they are via phone call instead of via email. I wouldn't be surprised if he called people Monday and possibly Tuesday as well. But that is pure speculation on my part.

Does anybody have any insight into what the culture of the program at Wisconsin is like now that they have switched to smaller cohorts/guaranteed funding? I realize that in the past Wisconsin has been characterized as overly competitive since funding was not guaranteed. If they had not made the change, I would be wary of attending their program. However, since the change was recently instituted in the Fall of 2011, I'm not sure what to expect if I did enroll. Anybody have any insight or ideas about what to expect?

I received their basic package, which you quoted, but not an additional fellowship. Still, their basic funding is great!

I was not the first to post the acceptance to Vanderbilt. But I can say that I received a phone call in the late afternoon and that visit weekend is March 16th. The call itself was brief so I have no other details.

I bit the bullet yesterday and learned that decisions have not gone out but will in the "near future."

For what it's worth, 3 years ago I bombed the gre and realized I most likely wouldn't get into the type of program I want. I worked full time but also continued my research which became published and studied harder for the gre and improved my score by 100 points (the reformatting of the verbal for the gre helped too). And now my application is much stronger and I feel more prepared for graduate school. I think time off is what you make of it. You can always strengthen your writing sample, cv, and personal statement. But everybody's situation is different, good luck.