zarniwoop3

5 stages of... whatever: Denial - "I'm sure there's a good reason they're so late this year." "I heard that... " "well I heard this..." Anger - "Stupid NSF... stringing everyone out on the line like this... those jerks need to get their act together." "hey [other forum user], you're a jerk. shutup" Bargaining - "Can I modify the code on the webpage to see the results?" "If I promise to send pizza to the call center, will that help?" Depression - "...this just means I didn't get the award. plain and simple. my app just sucked, therefore, I suck." Acceptance - "You know what, what happens, happens. I'm going to be a kickass grad student regardless of what the NSF says about my app." Where are you?

If it really is a call center, then yes, I suppose it is their job to deal with people who call incessantly. But isn't it ridiculous that they have to have a GRFP call center in the first place? Basically, the NSF got so fed up with crazed applicants calling them day after day, that they decided it would be easier to fork out thousands of dollars in cash and benefits to hire people just do deal with you (you know who you are). And for those who are calling, are you satisfied knowing that you are the reason the NSF is paying people to tell you exactly what they've posted online? Wouldn't you rather have that money going towards funding more applicants?

Hey, imagine that... CALLING DOESN'T HELP. Lesson learned? STOP CALLING AND LET THEM DO THEIR WORK. How many times do I have to explain this? Science requires patience... calling the NSF office everyday just to ask "is it up yet?" is the exact opposite of patience. Knowing the results will be posted on any given day won't change the fact that you won't know the results until that day.

No, no, no, no, NO! Quit calling these people! Calling won't make them post it any faster! What did you learn from your phone call? A) results are not ready/posted yet. they will "hopefully" be posted before april 15th, and C) they will be posted as soon as they are available... possibly before the 15th. The only thing you learned from you phone call that can't be deduced from the announcement posted on the Fastlane website, is that THE RESULTS WILL NOT BE POSTED TODAY. Is that tidbit of uninformative information really going to help you in some way? Think of this as a birthday present... and get excited for the surprise. It'll be posted when they have it done, and that's all there is to it. Don't let your neuroticism bog down the staff who are trying to get this mess sorted out.

I've followed this forum for the same reasons as everyone else, and for a while, it was mildly amusing. But now I must throw in my two cents. CALM DOWN, and QUIT CALLING FASTLANE/NSF. Some of you seem to think that you'll be the first to know the results if you call their offices repeatedly. There are others who think that they'll have success calling the office where so many others have not... maybe you've got a really sexy phone voice... I don't know. But if you're applying for an NSF grant, you've got to be reasonably educated... so chew on this: Did it ever occur to you (you know who you are) that every minute the office staff spends taking your neurotic phone calls is a minute NOT spent towards finalizing the awardee lists? If you had a job to do, would YOU like to answer the phone every 2 minutes? Do you somehow think that making their phone ring off the hook will make them move faster? Trust me when i tell you this... THEY WANT TO GET THE RESULTS PUBLISHED AS QUICKLY AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE, if for no other reason that to placate all you crazies who call them day after day after day. For all those who are depending on this notification to aid their grad school decision (or other equally important decision) I feel for you. It sucks. Been there, done that. But you're all educated people, so think about it... freaking out won't change the reality of the situation. So suck it up, act like that adults you are, roll with the punches, and BE PATIENT. Don't let your crazy bleed over to the NSF staff... let them do their job. That said, best of luck to you all. Maybe sometime before the semester ends we'll find out if we're gonna be funded.