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I'm about to start the second year of my neuroscience PhD, and as I work on my NSF GRFP application I'm trying to decide what primary field best fits my research. My proposed project will relate to human EEG/fMRI activity during working memory tasks, which sounds like it would fit best in the Psychology - Cognitive Neuroscience category. However, my neuroscience PhD is under the biomedical sciences umbrella at my university, so my program would likely match Life Sciences - Neuroscience better. Prior forums have mentioned that some fields have more funding or are more competitive than others, so I was wondering if there was any advantage/disadvantage to applying under either category. I looked for lists of approved project proposals online in each category to try to get a better feel for which field matches my experience/research better, but was unable to find anything besides the list of awardee names and institutions on the GRFP website. I've spoken with people in my lab, and they were also unsure, so I would appreciate any insight you may have.

Hey everyone, sorry if this exists...couldn’t find it via phone search. Maybe mobile is just bad. Thread for this year’s GRFP application!

I'm enrolled in a joint BS/MS program but, due to university policy, I receive my B.S. degree this semester, and then my M.S. next year (called "Masters PlusOne" on my transcript). How does this effect my eligibility for the NSF GRFP? I see on the FAQ that there are different rules for BS/MS programs but I'm a bit confused by them. Should I wait until I'm enrolled in a PhD program to apply, since it seems like I only have 1 shot? And, if I'm not eligible to apply, I've seen some alternatives--like the NDSEG and the Hertz fellowships. Does anyone have a more comprehensive (or at least longer) list of alternative fellowships somewhere? First time posting, so please let me know if this isn't the right place! Thanks!

TL;DR: How do I write a NSF GRFP application in 3 weeks? How detailed are the research proposals supposed to be? Background - just your average bay area engineer: Graduated in 2016 from joint BS/MS program in Bioengineering Worked at a start up as an R&D engineer from 2016 to March of 2018 So I've been out of academic research for 2 years (no pubs, posters, PIs, etc since 2016). I always intended to do a PhD, and recent events have shown me that now is my time! But then I got more info: I thought that I only had one more chance to apply and that I could chose to either apply this fall along with my grad school apps or next fall after having entered a PhD program Turns out I'm wrong and that I can apply for both. Found this out literally yesterday. ? I had already planned an intense budget vacation for August and September. I can't cancel it and won't cancel it. This leaves me about 3 weeks to write my NSF GRFP application (October 1 - 23) Activate panic mode: what do I do!? Questions Have any of you written a successful (or almost successful) GRFP application in 3 weeks? How do you select a research proposal topic? I know people often go with the continuation of their undergrad studies, but I've been away from them for so long! I didn't go to a big research school, so my undergrad research project was a bit slow moving and dated to start with, now two years later, it seems that a lot of the problems in my field have been solved. I don't even know where to start a lit review now. Where to start in terms of scope? How in depth and detailed should the proposals be? I feel totally stupid and inadequate when reading sample proposals. Folks seem to have detailed and amazing proposal that go something like this (including instructions for each step!): Build bioreactor from scrap metal and found objects as described in figure 1. Engineer a special enzyme to do site directed mutagensis 10,000x faster. Develop a new engineered cell line of invincible cardiomyocytes using humming bird DNA Put magic enzymes and invincible cardiomyocytes into upcycled bioreactor and grow a human heart Broader impacts: cure all heart diseases for less than $150 I just feel like I'm not smart enough for this right now! Where do I start? Any suggested timelines or tips?

I’m one of the lucky folks who was awarded an NSF grad research fellowship this spring. One thing I’m still unsure about is the use of the stipend—are there any restrictions on what fellows can use it for? For instance, could I use the the stipend to travel to a domestic conference? Or purchase lab equipment? Or pay for lab analyses? I’d ask the program directly, but they gave me a few incorrect answers when I reached out with a different question earlier this year. Any info from the forum would be appreciated!

Has anyone taken an internship related to your research while on tenure status? I am currently on reserve and had planned to switch to tenure status in the fall. However, my coordinating official said that because my summer internship is directly related to my research (even though it is a private sector internship), I could start using the NSF funding over the summer. Has anyone done this? I trust my CO, but I don't want to do anything that could accidentally mess up my funding.

I submitted my application to the NSF GRFP a week ago and have been really kicking myself every day since. I'll try my best to give a logical explanation of what happened, and my general question is: will this cause my application to be returned without review? After pouring dozens of hours into the application materials, I came to the page asking me to select which option applied to my current situation (i.e. senior undergraduate, final year of BS/MS program or a first year graduate student). My university offers a 5-yr BS/MS program, to which I have been accepted, and I am currently in the 5th year (my B.S. was conferred in June 2017, at the end of the fourth year, and my MS will be conferred in June 2018, at the end of the fifth year). So I selected that I was in the final year of a BS/MS program, because that is honest to god what I thought was true. A day or two passes and I decided to check all of this with the NSF GRFP help line. What they told me was that the fact that I am enrolled in a BS/MS program needs to be stated on my attached transcripts, and if it wasn't I should have attached a letter from my university registrar, to confirm it that way. So I looked at the transcript I attached, and saw that it showed me as a student in the MS program, not the BS/MS program, which initially caused me to freak out a bit. After talking with the registrar more directly I found out that I was only enrolled in the BS/MS program while I was an undergraduate so that I could take graduate level coursework, and that when my BS was conferred I was moved into a full time, purely MS program. So I called NSF back and explained my mistake, knowing that there was no way I could rectify this retroactively, and just wanted them to tell me if this would cause my application to be returned without review. Frustratingly, they just told me they couldn't tell me for certain if that was the case, just that it was possible it could disqualify me, and also possible that the review committee would decide to still look at my application just as a first year graduate student instead of a BS/MS student. Can anyone on here shed some light on this/give me there opinion of whether or not my application will be reviewed. If it's going to be disqualified I'd like to withdraw my application so that I can apply again next year, but if there's a decent chance it still gets reviewed I might decide to leave it. Thanks.

I am currently a first year Masters student in Psychological Research, and I want to apply to a PhD program in Quantitative Psychology next year. I recently heard about predoctoral graduate fellowships, and I am highly interested into applying for them (mainly Ford Foundation and NSF GRFP). However, I don't know very much information about the process (there has never been an applicant in my program), and it is unclear to me what information is accurate online. Does anyone have any advice for the application process (in psychology in particular)? Are there any great guides or websites I should be looking at? Is there a way to access past proposals that have been successful? Thanks for your help. Even basic information is helpful considering I just started looking at these today.

Is it possible to temporarily study in another institution to take classes or have access to facilities that are not available at your primary institution? Thx!

Hey everyone, I'm a second year grad student in neuroscience. I applied for the NSF GRFP last year and didn't get it and I plan to apply again this year. My question is as follows: I really like my essays from last year, and ideally I wouldn't want to change them very much, other than modifying them slightly to reflect how my graduate work has progressed over the first year (including achievements, etc.). For the research proposal essay I would still like to use the same proposal, and add a tiny bit about how I have already been working in the direction of that proposal. For last year's application, I got all good to excellent marks from whoever reviewed my application, so based on that feedback it seems like I just need to make it a bit better in order to serve a good chance at getting the fellowship (and I think adding my 1st year achievements and research might do the job). So, my question is: will reusing the majority of my essays from last year hurt my chances in any way? Tied into this question: I imagine a new set of reviewers will be assigned to read my essay; will they have any access to my essays from last year? I imagine that if they don't have any access to my last year's application, then my plan above would work just fine.... What do you guys think? Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone, I was fortunate enough to be awarded both awards. I'm not sure which to choose, however, as the two fellowships seem to be equal on several grounds. For example, each award has the same stipend amount over 3 years. I'll list some of the arguments I've heard for each one so far. Please let me know if you think of anything I have not considered or why you would recommend choosing one or the other! NSF More flexible in terms of what years the funding can be applied (i.e. the 3 years need not be back-to-back). NDSEG must be applied in the first 3 years. Not as significant as it seems, however, since apparently almost all students at my school use either fellowship in their first 3 years anyway. More "prestigious" in that it is more widely known - a professor pointed this out Has several nice ancillary programs (GRIP and GROW), but it doesn't seem like these programs are widely used after talking to current NSF fellows. NDSEG Pays for full tuition whereas GRFP pays $12k/yr. Significant since the school I will be attending is private and has high tuition, but really doesn't affect me (I've verified this with the grad coordinator for the school I'll be attending) since this would have been paid for in part by the school, department, and faculty adviser. So this would help out my department but not affect my stipend amount and not really affect me in terms of adviser selection. More "prestigious" in that it's more selective (200 awardees in STEM vs 2000 for NSF). The picture is not that simple, however, since not everyone applies for the NDSEG and some fields are in my opinion more difficult to be supported by this award (e.g. I think biological research is more amenable to the goals of NSF than DoD). Program coordinator pointed out that because this award pays tuition unconditionally, I would run into no issues if I happened to go over the 10-unit / quarter limit by taking extra classes (apparently surpassing this limit raises your tuition). Not sure if this would come up though since I would be focusing on research and not taking a lot of classes anyhow. A final note is that several professors have pointed out that I can list receiving both rewards on my CV (I'll list one as having declined the offer). So this alleviates some of the worry over which is "more prestigious." Thank you for helping me!

For those people who have been NSF awardees, do they contact you before announcing the awards in April? Do you get interviewed or any other confirmation?

I was wondering if any recipients of the NSF GRFP have taken advantage of the Nordic Research Opportunity offered by the NSF for graduate research fellows. The only information that I have been able to find on it is what the NSF provides. This information is fairly limited in terms of the actual experience. I would love to hear from you if you have participated or plan on participating. Thanks so much!

I was fortunate enough to receive an NSF GRFP. I also applied for the DOE SCGF, which I prefer based on the research stipend and the higher living stipend. However, I must accept or decline the GRFP before May 1, and the SCGF website says that notifications will go out in May. I'm not going to decline the GRFP in hopes of getting the SCGF, but it'd be unfortunate to accept the GRFP and find out that I would have been able to get substantially more money had I declined it. My questions: Has anyone heard from the SCGF about announcement dates? Will they really do it so late in the fellowship/grad school cycle as May? Is it possible to accept the GRFP and change my mind if I'm awarded the SCGF? If the SCGF really doesn't let applicants know until May, does anyone see another option other than accepting the GRFP and then hoping I don't get the SCGF because of the frustration it would ironically cause (ugh)?