[NSF GRFP]

I don't think they want to create a "real winners" pool and a "second winners (cuz we got extra cash) pool." It would probably hurt the "prestige" of the award.

To tell you the truth, the prestige is what I want the most. GRFP is on the top of your cv for your entire career. It is like being pre-vetted for any position, grant, etc.

This still isn't the most historically late that it has ever been announced.

What is the most historically late?

And by the way, April 15 is only a deadline if you've been notified before April 15. After April 15 you have two weeks to decide yay or nay. I think next week is just going to be a very difficult week for you all with what decisions you have to make... but it could be worse.

[NSF GRFP]

Like I've already said, I don't care that much about me winning. I'm on a waitlist, and it's getting close to the point where even if I get accepted, I won't have enough time to visit said school and will have to turn them down. If the reason I don't get a final decision until so late is because the people ahead of me are waiting on NSF, I think it's appropriate for me to be pissed at NSF for not having their shit together.

Seriously dude, shit happens. It's not about you. I really don't understand why most of you are so upset about the awards being presented a few days to a week past when applicants were notified last year. Quite frankly, with the state of the current economy and all of the loops that NSF administrators have been pulling around about probably getting a huge budget cut (before the stimulus package) and then a budget surprlus (rather recently, with a time limit on when the money has to be spent on), why would you expect anything else but for them to not have their shit together? They have to figure out, VERY rapidly, how to spend an extra $3 billion dollars. Who decides where that money needs to go? The same people who are deciding how many awardees there are for the NSF GRFP! But how much money of that goes to the GRFP, the Dissertation improvement grants, the OTHER grants NSF funds, ON TOP OF the normal amount of work NSF program directors have (which, I have talked to some, it's ridiculous).

This situation is completely unprecedented, and I know it's frustrating- I'm impatient also, but another poster informed us that they are waiting on a final amount of awardees available. If they announce the awardees sooner, it will probably mean a more conservative number than if they are sure they can fund more. Being a little more understanding of these administrators would probably be helpful to them.

Actually, on second thought, they don't care. So you are wasting your own energy being pissed.

[NSF GRFP]

Is Arkansas the new North Dakota? On a scale where 10 is educated yuppieville and 1 is bumble---k, I would have given it at least a 4. Why no love for Arkansas?

It is only by high school location and not by permanent residence or school address.

I'm pretty sure it's by high school location.

[NSF GRFP]

I just wanted to clue some of you in on how the NSF awards are decided.

All honorable mentions are awards NSF thinks are worth funding. However, they don't have enough money to fund them all. So be proud of yourself if you get an HM.

In addition, NSF is federally funded. So what does that mean? Once all awards are scored, a computer program designates who will and will not get funding, based on a number of factors, including your home state and an approximation of how many awards your discipline should get. But what it really means is that someone from Arkansas is more likely to get funding than someone from California with equal quality of application. This is because a smaller percentage of the state population of Arkansas end up applying to NSF as compared with a percentage from California. Federal tax money goes to pay for NSF- state senators will be pissed if all awards go to people who live on the coasts.

Didn't you wonder why you had to input where you went to high school?

As a last note- I was just at a conference for my field this weekend. Contrary to what other people have said, my impression was that President Obama earmarked some of the NSF stimulus funding to go to graduate students because he wants to have a trained set of scientists for the next generation. Because the stimulus money must be spent by a certain time, it's my understanding that some of this money will go to the GRFP in addition to the dissertation improvement grants.