liatris

Did my undergrad there. It has its high points.... I still crave burritos from Alto Cinco. Try one, it makes the snow shoveling well worth it.

Could backfire....look at how much time we are wasting. That being said.... anyone good at using R? I am trying to figure out how to run a slightly complicated Monte Carlo and I've never done anything similar to what I need to do before. This is a fun little puzzle, might make the time pass faster?

Since they tend to say "two weeks" when they mean six, maybe they keep saying 900-1600 fellowships, but they mean three times that. It fits the pattern. So here's to more waiting!

The last few times this happened I almost threw up. Not this time. I'm jaded. And caffeinated.

I totally agree with you.

It is my wish (this is number 2 on the list, you can all guess what number one is) that since the budget has been approved, they would change the estimated date on the website and say something to the effect of, "The budget has been approved and we are finalizing the number of fellowships we will be offering. Announcements will me made soon." To me this is more in keeping with the "you'll know when we know" mantra we keep hearing. But I'd settle for wish number one instead.

Haha. Here is one from me!

Our graduate coordinator told his students not to bother applying! I wonder if we are at the same school.

I am the only student in my department applying for this fellowship and possibly the only one from my university, which is sad because I go to a big public school. I wish that the university pushed everyone to apply. Friends at other schools have applied and received the fellowship, just like everyone else in their department. Having a system of other grad students that have won the fellowship and a network of faculty familiar with the process is a HUGE advantage. I think it is a brilliant idea to match students with a charity and push them to apply. If you were in charge wouldn't you?

Every time I try to crush all hope....

The honorable mention list is "one applicant", but it is just a bunch of asterisks acting as a place holder. And I am looking at DDIG too!

BioMedSciMed, This is my first time applying for the GRF and the last year I am eligible. So I will offer you some advice because hindsight is 50:50. You may ignore it if it is not helpful to you. Wait until everything falls into place. If you get the GRF congrats and go to your first choice lab. If not wait until next year. This probably seems awful because all of your friends are going to grad school or have a life plan or whatever, but so what? One year of the freedom to do what you want isn't as terrifying as it sounds (I have no data to support this, in fact it may be exactly as terrifying as it sounds). BUT 5 years spending 70+ hours a week on something that you are not totally committed to is much worse. If you cannot get excited about joining one of the other labs, don't. It looks like next year there will be a lot more money for science (thanks Obama!) and the labs you apply to might have better funding and the GRF might have more funding too. So if funding (or lack of) makes going to your first choice lab infeasible, take the time to have fun, travel, visit friends or family, and all that other stuff you won't have time to do once you're in grad school Best of luck!

Self-assemble, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but not this year. Go to page 174 of this thread and read Higgins_the_Brave's post.

Which is worse? Swine flu or waiting to hear from NSF?

Higgins, I say you are indeed very brave. Way to live up to your name!

Boo to already being in year two!

Barista, can I second this motion? I think the comments are really inappropriate, offensive, and should go.

Thank yous are ALWAYS appropriate, especially if your letter writers are up for tenure or promotions, evidence that they do things for students are really helpful. That being said, one of my committee members reviews EPA star fellowships and he says that the most important thing is the proposal b/c that what scientist reviewers are used to and comfortable reviewing. He also says that everyone has glowing recommendations, so it doesn't really set anyone apart. Are recommendations really that huge for NSF?

It's like you've been spying on me!

Okay, so maybe this isn't so bad (lunch has fueled optimism). No NEW information about the time frame means that the old "within 2 weeks" posted on the 10th of April still holds. That is this Friday. So someone still thinks that we can be notified by Friday, or else they'd make an announcement that the expected time frame has changed. That is not to say that they can't decide on Thursday evening that Friday is an impossible deadline to meet and change the timeframe (maybe I should have had a bigger lunch).

I like your take better, so let's go with it!

2 weeks after we defend our dissertations

I think this is probably bad news. If NSF knew they had all that money and were going to spend it on GRF wouldn't they have done it all at once? I sure hope not...

My lab-mate's DDIG just got funded, I'm taking it as a good sign!