guttata

No, which is why I haven't offered any wild speculations, but I am happy to sit back and debunk stupid ideas.

Wrong again, as you can find additional listings for similar deans at other schools for this year.

Not a possibility, as you must be attending or accepted to activate a fellowship even to defer. No acceptance, no fellowship.

So many dumb people... Lol.

No, he's right, this is a common maintenance message and the GRF message is a different time. You can look in last years thread for the specific wording that they've used for the last 2 years, but this is most certainly NOT the announcement.

Changing the proposed institution is no big deal at all - because it's a "proposed" institution. Changing your field is a bigger deal, but that refers to whole field (e.g. Biology - Physiology to Biology - Microbiology is probably no big deal, but Biology - Physiology to Computer Science may not be approved).

Seeing as you MUST be accepted (or already enrolled) in order to even accept the award... Congrats on meeting the minimum requirements.

Trophies for winners, participation ribbons for everyone?

Because of the direct quote that says it's for this year's competition: “Our initial request for 2014 was for something like 2500 [fellowships],” Marrett explains. “But when we looked more closely, we realized that it would be nearly impossible to sustain the program at that level. It’s just not workable under the current budget conditions. So we worked with [White House budget officials] to bring the size back down to 2000.”

Someone want to call them up and say we'll take the 2k less for the 5-700 more slots?

Just a reminder that there are a lot of different DDIG programs - could be helpful if people would note which directorate and/or subheading they're reporting. In Biological Sciences, it seems DEB has been announced in the past couple weeks. No news from IOS.

Rejection notices won't go out until official notification goes on Fastlane, which is likely to be weeks or even up to that 6 month deadline that Elena keeps repeating. Basically, if you see your country with announcements and haven't heard anything, no go.

Congrats on the postdoc - that's a bigger deal than EAPSI anyway! I emailed to ask about review sheets and yes, we will get them as we would for any NSF proposal. Seems to be quite the delay on them though, as they're sticking to that 6 month window they give themselves, so who knows when we'll get them.

With this info in hand, I lean toward punked. The eligibility essay is requested at the submission deadline, not months later, and it seems to be out of character for them to ask for more materials. Add to that the fact that no one posted after that initial grouping of 5 and no one ever came forward in the forums....

It does not say GRFP but it has an odd downtime of something like 1am-5am EST. The actual message is available in last year's thread around March 28th. Way too early, stop freaking out.

I'm IOS, and no one from my lab heard until, IIRC, early May last year. Too early to start thinking about it.

Govt snow day - no news today...

Awards have been announced around March 28-29 the last 2 years, well in advance of the official press release.

Also waiting for Oz. So far as I can tell it's been nothing but silence since they announced Japan Friday (1/31), which was a terrible, terrible thing to do.

I'm curious why you think this only applies to first-time applicants.

MFAs are a different beast that I don't know much about, as I'm in biology where full funding packages (tuition waiver + stipend) are the norm. I'm not sure what the standard is in degrees where you typically pay your own way (or if that's even true for MFAs). But yes, the FAFSA operates exactly the same way for private and state schools; I've been at both.

Shouldn't have any bearing on your admissions decision at all either way. Will not affect your stipend package. Might affect (as in, might offer you) work-study funds or loans. I haven't filed since my first year of undergrad, now in my 2nd year in a PhD program.

Well crap. I was hoping I had a few more weeks before I needed to start worrying about hearing back. Hopefully other countries aren't too far behind so we don't have to drag it out.

Nope, seems useful and seems to fall into my lock/questionable/hosed theory.

Some DQs have been sent out. At least one or two was reported in this thread - incomplete apps, technical DQs for not following the guidelines, etc. Hard to say for sure that all have been sent out at this point, but I suspect most have. My take is similar - extra pages are likely requested for bubble applications. If you didn't get one, you're probably already a lock or already hosed (but just my thoughts! Nothing for sure.)