SlickMcFavorite

Well, for all of you who submitted your applications, MAKE SURE TO ADD ALL nsf.gov EMAIL ADDRESSES TO YOUR WHITE LIST

Can anyone tell me how to see the reviews for a previous application? I applied last year (didn't get it), but never got reviewer comments -- do I have to look at them online? If so, WHERE on the fastlane site do I look!?

I still haven't heard back since the initial "You're still being considered" email. Also, I am not currently able to log in to the NDSEG site -- anyone else having problems? PS: If you're accepted for the NDSEG, are you obliged to do the research you describe in your proposal? I may be joining a lab that doesn't have much to do with my original proposal...

Has anyone actually heard back about a final decision re NDSEG

When do people who were not accepted sent the reviews of their applications?

I prefer the Ampad 22-157 model, but have only been able to find the Ampad 25-451 recently. Wire bound, cardstock cover, 4x4 1inch grid. She is a thing of beauty.

Seconded: You want to provide a brief overview of why you're into them and give them enough info that they'll be able to figure out if they're interested in you. You DON'T want to send them a block of imposing text because they likely won't read it -- your email should take, at most, a couple of minutes to read.

Make sure your emails to profs are personal -- boilerplate emails will likely be ignored. Do some research on a prof's interests and then mention areas of interest you and the professor share. Showing that you have the ability to think and talk about research will be a major plus.

First check out: Why are those the schools you'd like to go to? When you're being accepted to a PhD program, they want to know that you're capable of doing the work BUT (and this is just as, if not more, important) they also need to know that you're someone they can work WITH. Find and contact faculty members whose research you like. Make sure your personal statement lets them know about your personality and not just your credentials. You don't appear to have any dealbreakers in your raw stats -- it's the intangibles that will make or break you.

Agreed -- you should include anything that will make you look good. Having a manuscript almost ready to go is not something everyone can claim...ergo you should claim it.

I am in my first year of graduate study, currently doing rotations. The research I'm doing at my first rotation is pretty cool and I think it's certainly possible that I might end up in the lab. That being said, I'm not SURE that I want to stay in this lab and certainly want to do at least one or two more rotations. My questions: If my current rotation PI writes one of my three letters of reference for the NSF GRFP and I'm awarded the fellowship, am I kind of obliged to stay in her lab? I understand that there are no rules saying that I HAVE to stay -- I'm more interested in your opinions regarding if this is good form or not. Thanks!

I talked to my payroll dept and they would give me zero information as well. As far as I can tell, you are NOT a 1099 contractor while you're on fellowship nor are you a W-2 employee. The income might be exempt from certain taxes, though, as was indicated by TakeruK. Also, don't forget that you also get the "standard deduction" (unless you're married) of just under $6000 that you can subtract from your taxable income. So you'll only be taxed on (30-8.7-6) 15,300 of your income at the federal level. I'm not sure what the rates are in California, but probably similar.

This is the first clear answer I've found to this question! Thank you very much. No one at my school seems to know the answer to this question either. The payroll people just kept saying "We are not legally authorized to give personal tax advice"

Great thank you! As it turns out (I should have known this), the school just took a little while longer to process her financial aid info than it took to let her know she was admitted. Still, it's lame that there are no subsidies for graduate loans. I certainly don't want to be heavily invested in the student loan industry when this bubble bursts!

For life-science related labs, you can search the NIH database: http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm Also, many labs will list some/all of their grants on their webpage. Finally, if you want to do some research, you can look up some papers from the lab and count how many different grants are mentioned.