GRFP Question

[nervousosteoblast]

Hi all, GRFP prospective applicant here. Before I invest all of this time and effort into the application materials, I wanted to get the opinion of gradcafe.

I'm currently in a PhD program, and everything about me as an applicant is great. Except my undergraduate gpa, which was an abysmal 2.8 because I came from an emotionally and physically abusive household where I wasn't allowed to socialize. Just study. So, when I got to school, I was so excited to forge relationships and have friends that I threw my courses to the wayside. I was pre-med, and hated it, but was threatened with being pulled out of school if I didn't take that route. long story short, I secretly switched my major my junior year and didn't do internships or join a lab like I should have (first gen college student with absolutely no guidance). But, I managed to get into a master's program fully funded and finished with a 3.78. 

Am I basically going to be tossed aside for my undergrad GPA? Or will they weigh my graduate GPA over undergraduate? 

Are there any of you who have been successful, or know someone who has been successful in getting the GRFP with a subpar undergraduate GPA? I would love to hear your story!

Frankly, I'm tired of feeling like this is going to be a hindrance, despite the fact that I have come so far since then. I don't know if this matters, but the undergrad gpa was at UMich. 

Edited April 4, 2019 by nervousosteoblast

[Teaching Faculty Wannabe]

@nervousosteoblast First off, I love the name because I feel the nervousness and I think bones are really cool. Second, I don't have experience with the particular situation you are in, but I do have some advice.

I applied to the NSF GRFP for the first time this season, so I have never gotten it or anything. But I had experience applying for it and advice from a winner as well as from a professor. I think GPA is important to them, but I have a feeling your Master's and PhD one might be more important since they are more recent. Secondly, NSF seem to care more about your research proposal, your research experiences, and the outreach you have done within STEM. Their main two things is broader impacts and intellectual merit. If you can prove to them that you have both of things, then I think you are a pretty competitive applicant. They want to see that you are able to write a proposal, have the right background for the research you talk in the proposal, and how the research in your proposal will affect others. With the other essay, you discuss your past, which also builds up on your intellectual merit and previous broader impacts on your community.

I hope this helps!

[urbanecologist]

I don't have advice for your specific questions, but I have bad news to deliver: it sounds like you're probably too far along in grad school to be eligible for the GRFP.  https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16588/nsf16588.htm  "Effective as of the 2017 competition (Fall 2016 deadlines), graduate students are limited to only one application to the GRFP, submitted either in the first year or in the second year of graduate school... Applicants who have completed more than twelve months of graduate study or have earned a previous graduate or professional degree are eligible only if they have had an interruption in graduate study of at least two consecutive years prior to November 1 of the year the application is submitted."

[nervousosteoblast]

On 4/4/2019 at 2:12 PM, IceCream & MatSci said:

@nervousosteoblast First off, I love the name because I feel the nervousness and I think bones are really cool. Second, I don't have experience with the particular situation you are in, but I do have some advice.

I applied to the NSF GRFP for the first time this season, so I have never gotten it or anything. But I had experience applying for it and advice from a winner as well as from a professor. I think GPA is important to them, but I have a feeling your Master's and PhD one might be more important since they are more recent. Secondly, NSF seem to care more about your research proposal, your research experiences, and the outreach you have done within STEM. Their main two things is broader impacts and intellectual merit. If you can prove to them that you have both of things, then I think you are a pretty competitive applicant. They want to see that you are able to write a proposal, have the right background for the research you talk in the proposal, and how the research in your proposal will affect others. With the other essay, you discuss your past, which also builds up on your intellectual merit and previous broader impacts on your community.

I hope this helps!

Thank you for your response, just talking to other people about the GRFP helps! I really think that I can present a strong case for those categories, so I think I'm going to submit an application! The worst they can say is no, and I would rather know that I tried, than not try at all. 

15 hours ago, urbanecologist said:

I don't have advice for your specific questions, but I have bad news to deliver: it sounds like you're probably too far along in grad school to be eligible for the GRFP.  https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16588/nsf16588.htm  "Effective as of the 2017 competition (Fall 2016 deadlines), graduate students are limited to only one application to the GRFP, submitted either in the first year or in the second year of graduate school... Applicants who have completed more than twelve months of graduate study or have earned a previous graduate or professional degree are eligible only if they have had an interruption in graduate study of at least two consecutive years prior to November 1 of the year the application is submitted."

You're absolutely right! I actually fall into the latter category, thank goodness  

[urbanecologist]

2 hours ago, nervousosteoblast said:

Thank you for your response, just talking to other people about the GRFP helps! I really think that I can present a strong case for those categories, so I think I'm going to submit an application! The worst they can say is no, and I would rather know that I tried, than not try at all. 

You're absolutely right! I actually fall into the latter category, thank goodness  

Yay, great news!

[Epigenetics]

That said I wouldn't completely freak out about undergraduate GPA. It matters less and less the further away you get as long as you have more recent success!

Edited April 9, 2019 by Epigenetics

[RemarkableComment]

On 4/8/2019 at 12:21 PM, nervousosteoblast said:

Thank you for your response, just talking to other people about the GRFP helps! I really think that I can present a strong case for those categories, so I think I'm going to submit an application! The worst they can say is no, and I would rather know that I tried, than not try at all. 

You're absolutely right! I actually fall into the latter category, thank goodness  

Hi there,

I am in a somewhat similar situation that you are in. I completed my master's in 2018 and have been working as a researcher since and plan to apply for the NSF-GRFP in fall 2020. I actually contacted the NSF and they also said the stuff about the two-year gap between master's and the grant submission date, but they also made it sound like it's geared toward people who are just starting or will start their grad careers and give higher preference to those people. I'm trying to look for people who have had success in winning the grant after completing their master and working for a few years.

[t_ruth]

From what I know, even if you have the two-year gap, you can't be CURRENTLY enrolled in a PhD program when you apply. So, if you get a Masters, take time off, and apply BEFORE you start your PhD you are eligible, but if you already started the PhD, you are not.
It also sounds like you would be in your second PhD year when you apply. In that case, if you have a Masters you are definitely NOT eligible

There are FAQ about these--they actually released them just a few weeks before the deadline last year, which meant a lot of people who were already working on their applications were hit with the bad news that they weren't eligible. It was not good.

[nervousosteoblast]

On 4/12/2019 at 8:35 PM, t_ruth said:

From what I know, even if you have the two-year gap, you can't be CURRENTLY enrolled in a PhD program when you apply. So, if you get a Masters, take time off, and apply BEFORE you start your PhD you are eligible, but if you already started the PhD, you are not.
It also sounds like you would be in your second PhD year when you apply. In that case, if you have a Masters you are definitely NOT eligible

There are FAQ about these--they actually released them just a few weeks before the deadline last year, which meant a lot of people who were already working on their applications were hit with the bad news that they weren't eligible. It was not good.

Oh wow, you're definitely right... Thank you! I'm glad I didn't have much invested into the process yet, but definitely bummed I can't even imagine what it was like for those who had already been working on their applications, that must have been horrible!