cogdiss

Has anyone heard results about the Florence Geis Memorial Award, administered by APA division 35 (Psychology of Women)? They were going to notify "in June," and I haven't heard anything either way. I'm trying to decide if I should go on the job market this fall, and knowing if they've already awarded it would really help. Thanks!

I can NOT believe you guys are finding out this way. This seems beyond the beyond. FYI, the MOST RECENT posted "congratulations" letter matches the text of my acceptance letter last year...just to confirm that it's legit (if the semi-list wasn't enough). Good luck to everyone. Stay strong!

Unfortunately, the GRF is that short of fellowship, because the terms stipulate that you can't have outside jobs or internships (even if they're unpaid!) because they supposedly take attention away from your research. I think they more or less see the 30k/year as the purchase price of your brain, which they then own, and can direct towards research. I'm (partly) kidding... With the GRF you can apply for short-term work exceptions (such as summer teaching), and usually get them. Also, they let me finish out the contract of a consulting job that ran a few months into my fellowship tenure. But I doubt they'd approve a full-time summer internship, unless you could make the case that it would directly stimulate your research. Also, they don't dock my pay if I win other awards, so that's one upside.

Believe me, I'm not trying to hate on the GRF. Like I said in my post, I remain extremely grateful. I just don't think that it effortlessly opens every career door. For example: I have friends on the market this year with GRFs and tons of pubs who still didn't get jobs due to the total shit storm that is the economy (hiring freezes galore). I was just trying to reassure people that their life (and research) won't stop if they get a HM or a "no." I was so obsessed with waiting to hear about the award that I didn't think realistically about what would happen after the award. Either way, life goes on.

Except for one thing..."he" is a "she."

Hi guys, I started the NSF GRFP thread last year, and from time to time I've been checking in on this forum to see how you guys are doing. I applied three times (and my academic future was really contingent on the award), so believe me when I say that I empathize with you guys, and know how mind-numbingly awful the waiting can be. Let's just say I developed quite the "anxious drinking" habit around this time last year:) I can't believe 1. how big your thread is, and 2. that they haven't released the results and put you out of your misery yet. To help pass the time, I thought I'd share some information that might be helpful/interesting. More than anything, I just want to say that I am wishing you all luck and hoping that you get good news soon. 1. I was one of the people who found out about the award by logging in and seeing the "congratulations" letter last year. I nearly passed out and then IMMEDIATELY printed a copy of the award letter, "just in case they try to take it back" (said my adviser). You guys have been a lot more sophisticated about various hack-type techniques this year (out of necessity/insanity, I'm sure) so I'm surprised they didn't put results out there after a few people saw their scores. Then again, wtf am I saying, this is NSF and nothing should surprise me. All this to say: keep trying. I (like many of you) think it's more likely that you'll find out initially through a website issue than an official notice. 2. They aren't requiring current fellows to declare our fellowship tenure for next year until May 1, so the hold-up isn't related to them waiting to hear how many people will want to keep using their award money next year (but, I submitted mine early anyway, just in case:) ). 3. I'm going to preface this by saying that it's about fourth or fifth-hand information, but I'll share it anyway in case it's useful. My adviser is involved in an NSF granting panel, and he says the delay is definitely related to adding more awards due to the stimulus package. According to him, they are really fighting to offer fellowships to as many people as possible, because they feel that this is the most promising way to "stimulate" future science. Apparently it's incredibly complicated to get a large number of new awards organized and approved at this late date, resulting in the "total shit show" going on at NSF right now (again, his words:) ). There are a couple of people in my department anxiously waiting to get results, and he was telling them he heard that NSF was actually calling reviewers to have them re-evaluate people who were slated for HMs, and even provide third reviews for those who had strong proposals but didn't get a third review the first time around. So, if that information is accurate (and again, I really can't check it), even if you did manage to log in and only had two reviews, it doesn't necessarily mean your chances are shot this year (especially if the reviews were positive). Either way, it may be easier to manage the waiting knowing that it's maybe related to NSF going to bat for you money-wise rather than them sitting on their hands gleefully postponing and eeking out tantalizing bits of information on Fastlane. Although, if someone had said that to me last year at this time, I probably would have slapped them in the neck, so I'll understand if you don't feel glowingly appreciative of NSF right now:) 4. Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly grateful for my fellowship, and it has helped me to get a lot done that I wouldn't have had time for otherwise. BUT: I think I had unrealistically high expectations for how much it would change my research, my career, my love life, world peace, etc. My department was excited, and then moved on (most Profs have now completely forgotten about it). I felt briefly energized, and then everything just kind of...normalized. I do not mean this to say that I'm ungrateful, or that the GRFP isn't a wonderful opportunity. I just think, as many on this thread have mentioned, that there are a lot of ways to be a wonderful scientist without it. People in my cohort who didn't win or got HMs have had incredible accomplishments this year as well, many dwarfing my own. I just want to remind everyone that as much as not winning the award can make you want to throw up for a while (two years in a row, for me), your life and work goes on, and contrary to what I had hoped (and what some people on here have been mentioning), it does NOT open all future career and granting doors down the road (ugh). There are lots of ways to move forward and have an amazing career, and a GRFP is just one possible piece. Mostly I just hope you all get good news soon, and can stop haunting this forum and return to your lives. GOOD LUCK! PS if anyone has any questions or what not I'd be more than happy to answer. Let me know if there's anything I can do to be helpful.

I've heard before that everyone gets two reviews, and people in the top chunk (however "chunk" is defined) are sure to get either an HM or an award. They send those people on for a third review to decide which one it will be. So I think that anyone with an HM or award should have 3 reviews, but who knows. On what they look for: I don't mean to be cynical at all here, but I really do think that a huge portion of it is luck. I have mediocre GRES (low 1300s), a good GPA (3.9), and a handful (5) of pubs, but none of them first-author. I did work my tail off this year to get a few more publications, and I was fortunate to have letter writers who are strong names in the field. But honestly, not that much changed from last year to this year. One thing I really focused on that I think helped was speaking directly to the broader impacts question in each essay. I went back and reworked them so that the research was really grounded in a real-world context, and I tried to always reference potential societal impact or what have you. Most of the successful examples I saw really stressed that, and I think it's helpful. But in the end, not that much changed. I do think a lot of it is luck and circumstance--for example, last year, there were 4 or so awards in my field, and this year, there are closer to 10. That must have helped. People have speculated on here before about the breakdown of awards by field, and I don't know how all of that gets decided...I think all you can do is try to position yourself as well as possible, write your ass off, and cross your fingers. It's frustrating but worth a shot.

Yes, my name is on there. Also, the NSF page takes me to 2008 as a default as well, although it doesn't SAY 2008 on the drop-down menu. Seriously, what is wrong with them? I just wish they could let people know in a straightforward way.

Oh my god! This is seriously ridiculous. If it helps the credibility--my name is not on there. What is wrong with them? And I wonder how that person hacked it? I don't see an award year in the URL for any of them...

Wow. Honestly, I am in shock. So I guess it's ok to call my adviser now? I really hope they get their shit together soon. And thanks for all of the support--I mean it. It sounds a little crazy but I don't know what I would have done without this forum.

You should apply, even if you think the odds are slim. It's harder to win once you've completed a year of grad school--they give out fewer to those people. At the very least, you get the good experience of going through the process, and you can use your reviews to revise your proposal for the following year, when it will really count. Who knows--odds are so slim that you might as well just give it a shot. I applied for the NSF GRFP three times, and it looks like I just got one. I almost didn't even apply this year. You should give it a shot!

I don't think so. Like I said, the woman I spoke to sounded like she genuinely had no idea, and told me not to "count on anything" yet. I think someone else should call and see if we can figure out wtf is going on. Also, no honorable mentions seem to be posted, and I haven't heard of anyone from MANY fields that have heard yet...I have a feeling they are still in-progress. But someone else should try calling! This is just beyond...whatever.

Ok, I just called, and they said that it could actually be a glitch, and they're not sure what's going on. If it turns out not to be true, I don't even know. I accepted while I still have the chance

Congrats! PS: This is craziness.

I'm psychology, too. It could totally be by discipline.