They are spreading the wealth around in other areas. I got NSF and I'm in undergrad at the University of Southern Mississippi (which is your typical state school) and I am going to grad school in the joint University of Memphis/ University of Tennessee Health Science Center biomedical engineering program. UM-UT is a good program, but it is not one of the top programs and I still got NSF. So there is hope if you are not from one of the top schools. It probably helped that I'm from Mississippi though, I'm a woman in engineering, and I'm in polymer science in undergrad but will be in biomedical engineering in grad school. NSF does love interdisciplinary research. I really honestly didn't think I would get it though, so I am pleasantly surprised!
