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Whether or not you can access that is up to the university.  At mine, I'm covered by a school-wide fellowship, but since I have the NSF GRFP, they use the educational expense portion in place of the institutional fellowship.  You'll have to negotiate; if it's a large R1, they probably have procedures in place for this.  

A bit.  But given that they're international, they may not have access to professors and peers who really know how to help them.  I am willing to bet they just have no idea where to start.
 
lakshimprasanna - I agree with the suggestion that you should do some google searching to try and give yourself an idea of how to get started with applying to US schools.  You might be able to find some resources specific to students from your country.  DO check with your current professors and advisors - I could be wrong, maybe they know quite a bit about this process.  As heartshapedcookie said, when you have more specific questions, come back here and ask.  You may also consider reading/checking out the international student subforum here: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/22-ihog-international-house-of-grads/

I'm sure you realize this, but the fellowship goes beyond the scope of having a perfect GPA and tons of publications. I also held a position at USGS for 2 years, completed a NSF REU, worked in my field as an undergrad for 4 years...everyone has a different story. I think that in my case having them to corroborate my IM was very beneficial, but for most it probably just isn't enough by itself to make you stand out. I also think it's acceptable to have a lower GPA in my field. I actually merely listed my conference proceedings/pubs at the end of my essay with citations. I focused more on what I learned from each experience rather than the fact that I had presented at several conferences, published papers...I did find a way to tie them into my personal statement, just was never the focus of any portion of my essay.

My BI section was "the most remarkable portion of my application". Based on my reviews, they take it very seriously.

Higher education is mostly about teaching yourself; pursuing a doctoral degree means doing RESEARCH. Why don't you do some research first (aka Google, consulting your profs and peers...) and come back with some concrete questions? 
 
 
This sounds like complete laziness. You agree?

What broader impact does the researcher herself/himself ("personal attributes") have to "bring to society" other than bringing diversity to the scientific community ? The white/privileged was meant to say that I don't bring diversity, and that seems to be a problem that the reviewer had with my BI.

^^ One of my BI reviews. Does anyone else get the impression that certain parts of the review like "broader impact the applicant has to society as a researcher and other personal attributes" means "is privileged and white" ? This BI review seems really harsh against me, even perhaps unfair, when I mentioned communication of results and tutoring efforts(thought not specifically to underprivileged groups). Does anyone have any comments or thoughts?

I was awarded!!
 
E/E
E/E
E/E
 
I was surprised because I had a big 0 publications. I did have 7 presentations though (some even award winning). 
I also had a 4.0 GPA from undergrad and a lot of "broader impact" activities (mentoring underprivileged kids, mentoring freshman, mentoring minority students in the Summer Bridge program, serving on graduate panels, helping recruit students into the sciences, outreach activities). I think that helped a lot. Also, my recommendations were apparently outstanding, even though I have never seen them. 
 
Anyways, I'm so excited! It's been quite a journey with you guys the past few weeks. I just need a nap right now. 

I WON I WON I WON I WON!!!!
 
VG/VG
E/E
VG/E
 
TWOOOOOO FELLOWSHIPS (NAT'L + PRIVATE) = FULLY FUNDED GRAD STUDENT = MY LIFE IS OFFICIALLY AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

E/E E/E E/VG

VG/VG E/E E/E => awarded
 
Last year I had the same scores & very similar application and received an HM.  In fact, a good friend in the same field had lower scores than me last year and was awarded.  So yes, the process is slightly random but I am also reeaaallly really happy that the odds inexplicably fell in my favor this time & wish good luck to those of you with additional years of availability.
 
Don't lose heart!

Not recommended. Senior undergrad at Princeton. 3.9 GPA. Hertz finalist.

E/VG E/VG VG/VG

I don't understand how I didn't even get HM lol. Comments were strange and contradictory. One guy said "stellar letters of recommendation" while another said "letters were not strongly supportive." What?
One guy said "lack of publications." I'm a undergrad with a first author journal paper in a high impact factor journal. can you expect more than this from an undergrad?
This last one was so strange "lack of research experience, but excellent outreach." He must've gotten that backwards or he's trolling me or he's just a dumbass.
I got nailed for formatting by all 3, which was legit. Didn't know they cared about that.
Some positive comments:
"Impeccable academic and research record from Princeton."
"Stellar letters from members of the national academies"
"Excellent outreach" lol'ed hard at this. I didn't talk about outreach at all since I didn't have any consistent experience with this. Idk who's ass he pulled this out of


Some other negative comments
"Letters were not strongly supportive" lol this guy...troll?
"Organization lacks in appeal" apologies, I've never been known for fashion.
"Lack of research experience" I don't even fucking....bertstare.jpg

I will not be applying again after reading these comments. I'm more disappointed in that they appeared to not have looked at my app based on the very peculiar and contradictory comments than not receiving the aWard.


Also can I file complaints about reviewers? I honestly don't care about the reward since my offers at schools are bigger than NSFs but I do want to find out how some incompetent guy managed to review my app.


Congrats to everyone else.

Nope. Didn't get it. Fuck you all. I'm done. The whole system is an unfair and ridiculous clusterfuck.

You people, who are down-voting the successful applicants, are acting really pathetic. Perhaps its that sour attitude you have that somehow cost you this award (and likely many opportunities in life). I wholeheartedly believed that I wasn't going to win an award, and with that I was ready to congratulate my friends that did because this is a really important stepping stone in academia. Get it together;  it's shameful. 

GOT IT! now go crying, brb!
Okay back
its VG/E, E/E, E/E!!!!

GOT IT!!!!

GOT IT! now go crying, brb!
Okay back
its VG/E, E/E, E/E!!!!

GOT IT! now go crying, brb!
Okay back
its VG/E, E/E, E/E!!!!

GOT IT! now go crying, brb!
Okay back
its VG/E, E/E, E/E!!!!

I don't even know what I'm doing in this thread.... I got the award last year but I'm so excited for all the people I know applying this year. I just checked my email from way back, and I received an email from NSF at 2:45am on March 29th 2013. Funny story though, I got an HM and was bumped up to awardee in mid june. Good luck guys!

When I had a similar choice, I went with option B. It hasn't been the smoothest path, it was a leap out of my comfort zone, and there are always roadblocks in really new areas of research, but it keeps me engaged and interested, and I find that worthwhile. 
 
Also, I now have a CV full of varied and interesting things that I can do, and the confidence that I can teach myself how to do pretty much anything. 

Welcome to the FastLane Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP).
 
FastLane will be unavailable from 10:00 PM ET Monday March 31st - 2:00 AM ET Tuesday April 1st for scheduled maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience.

I went to two different middle schools: one where students' privacy was generally respected, and another where educators and administrators believed that total transparency of grades and demerits would motivate better student work. All grades were made public. Detentions and demerits were also made public; students who fucked up were often very obviously excluded from recreational activities). Both schools were basically the same in terms of racial and socioeconomic composition, but the second middle school was miserable for all involved. I don't think the tactics made anyone work harder or try to be smarter. It did, however, foster a great sense of enmity between students and faculty, and smart kids and not-so-smart kids. Fights broke out frequently. There would be verbal altercations between students and teachers. Lots of slamming around and flying off the handle ... things that made it difficult for any of us to learn. One time there was even a fucking mutiny with some of the poor-performing boys using April Fool's Day to unleash all kinds of interesting things. 
 
When we all went to high school, the students from my middle school performed far worse compared to students from the other "feeder schools" in the same area (schools with similar racial and economic make-up). The first middle school I went to produced a large number of NHS, NMS, and scholarship winners. The second one did not. I don't know if my classmates didn't perform well in high school because of the draconian tactics unleashed in our middle school (which often took away from learning), or if there was something else happening. I can't make that connection, just speculate about it. I also don't know if my anecdotal experience holds any water, but I'd be interested in seeing some studies that correlate grade transparency with student performance.
 
Honestly, I think it's bizarre to think that making grades public is somehow a sound pedagogical technique. I'm not sure what it accomplishes. Isn't it enough that you're simply honest with your students on the back of their paper? There's this assumption here that people could do better if they just tried harder, and that they'd try harder if everyone knew that they sucked. For some students, that's probably true. For others, not so much. There are some people who could work all day long and not get a C. As a teacher, I am hyper-aware that these students exist in my class, and I'm careful to respect their honest efforts. They are people, and many of them seem totally at sea with the somewhat challenging material. When they come to see me in conference, they often say, "I've never had a class like this before. I'm terrible at writing." And they sometimes are terrible. But oftentimes they're trying to get a little bit better. If I can move that person from a C- to a C+ or a B-, then that's good. But these students are probably never going to be A students (just as I wasn't an A student in certain subjects). I don't think that telling everyone their grade would light a fire under their ass and enable them to move that C- to an A.
 
I also have other students who are bright but clearly don't care about the class. I guess these are the people that we could supposedly motivate to "work harder" by publishing their grades. Again, I don't think so. Why would a slacker student turn things around because people in his composition class now know he's a slacker? If he's bothered by it, he'll probably just take his chips and bounce because this is college, and you can do what you want. If he doesn't care, then he doesn't care, and you could publish his grades all day long and it wouldn't matter.
 
And lest anyone think that I'm some softy huggy-bear with my students, believe me, I'm not. You should see my RMP page. I do indeed think that students are probably too coddled and entitled these days. But I don't know why publishing their grades for the world to see would serve as an antidote to the problem. Seems to me that we could start off just by treating people like adults and respecting their basic privacy. Give them the grades they earn. Give them constructive feedback. When they act in a shitty way, tell them you don't appreciate it. Enforce policies about late work or attendance. Again, these are adults, and in the adult world we respect privacy. Unless you're a public employee, your salary isn't available for the whole world to see. When people are evaluated at work, their evaluations are usually kept in the personnel files, not taped to the office walls.

@clandry
well u can give me an opinion atleast.
Thanx

@STAROFDAWN
i dont know which one is best for me... thts y i m asking..
i have asked some ppl for their opinions but i ma nt able to come to a conclusion. Politecnico di milano is damn cheap!!! bt after tht employment in italy can be a problem.   
thnx anyways