NSF GRFP 2019-2020

[SFS]

Thread for this year’s GRFP application! Is it any different than last year's? I haven't read the solicitation.

 

Edited August 20, 2019 by SFS

[nexttosomewhatnormal]

Hey! I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to apply this year or wait until next year. As far as I know, not much has changed since last year, but then again, I didn't really look at it much last year. 

[EED]

Also trying to decide if I should apply this year, realistically I don't think I'll be able to dramatically alter my CV in one year so I may just go for it.

[letssee]

Hi! I’m a 2nd year PhD student, I held off on applying last fall and I’m glad I did because I have a much stronger CV and research plan this time around. My biggest question is in regards to choosing the primary field. Is it true that some fields are more/less competitive than others? My proposal could probably fall into either the IO psychology or STEM education bucket, and I’m not sure which would be a better choice. 

[Uchuuko]

I'm scared about this right now. I told two of my recommenders at least a week ago that I wanted them to submit references for me, but I initially gave them the wrong date of November 1st to have their references submitted. I did message them correcting myself though. I hope it isn't too much trouble for them to have them sent in sooner. But the sad thing is that I totally forgot about the due date being in October... I need to have my draft statements ready to be reviews asap. 

[weidcm]

On 9/27/2019 at 6:24 PM, Uchuuko said:

I'm scared about this right now. I told two of my recommenders at least a week ago that I wanted them to submit references for me, but I initially gave them the wrong date of November 1st to have their references submitted. I did message them correcting myself though. I hope it isn't too much trouble for them to have them sent in sooner. But the sad thing is that I totally forgot about the due date being in October... I need to have my draft statements ready to be reviews asap. 

Isn't the reference deadline November 1?

[Uchuuko]

On 9/29/2019 at 1:57 PM, weidcm said:

Isn't the reference deadline November 1?

It is (I ended up checking what you said, and it turns out I was right the first time; thank you so much). I will tell my references this right away. Now I feel less worried, but I still have so much to finish. I haven't finished my proposal yet. ?

[AcademicJAS]

Anybody else suffering from painfully-present writer's block? ??

Edited October 9, 2019 by AcademicJAS

[Rebecca_]

I've started filling out the application, and I'm confused about the education/work experiences section. It says to include any relevant experiences, but they don't need to be academic. Should we include info on all activities that relate to our research/ broader impacts in the field? What about less related volunteer/outreach activities?

[renaissaneelaine]

I have a question about formatting requirements... so I just submitted my app... I realized aftwerwards that I had submitted a version of my research statement with my name and "Research Statement" in the header as Calibri font. I know this goes against the formatting requirements, but it is not part of the content of the essay and it is an entirely optional component. They also have no font requirements for the references section in the footer. So I'm convincing myself that it may not be returned without review. Am I royally screwed? 

[jnewcomb08]

9 hours ago, renaissaneelaine said:

I have a question about formatting requirements... so I just submitted my app... I realized aftwerwards that I had submitted a version of my research statement with my name and "Research Statement" in the header as Calibri font. I know this goes against the formatting requirements, but it is not part of the content of the essay and it is an entirely optional component. They also have no font requirements for the references section in the footer. So I'm convincing myself that it may not be returned without review. Am I royally screwed? 

Tough call.  You would hope that it would still be reviewed.  I'm not sure how harsh they are with these things.  

[jmillar]

21 hours ago, renaissaneelaine said:

I have a question about formatting requirements... so I just submitted my app... I realized aftwerwards that I had submitted a version of my research statement with my name and "Research Statement" in the header as Calibri font. I know this goes against the formatting requirements, but it is not part of the content of the essay and it is an entirely optional component. They also have no font requirements for the references section in the footer. So I'm convincing myself that it may not be returned without review. Am I royally screwed? 

It's possible it will be sent back. There are font requirements for the references section in the footer:

"References, footnotes, and figure captions must be no less than 10-point Times New Roman."

https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2019/nsf19081/nsf19081.jsp#q50

[guckymeister]

Yikes, I made the mistake of rereading my application after it was submitted and I discovered I used an abbreviated term in my research proposal without actually saying what it stands for. I know I can't go back and fix it now, but I'm getting pretty anxious from it. Do you think that it will be a major consideration for me not to get the award?

Edited October 29, 2019 by guckymeister

[physmatician]

Applied this year.  Will be watching this forum.  

It was tough to condense my written statements down to the maximum pages, and I was able to procure 4 reference letters. 

I'll report back if I learn anything. 

[ChemEBear]

Patiently waiting for March/April!

[Brynamakowka]

What happens if one gets a returned proposal? Do you think one would be given the opportunity to make corrections and re-submit? I haven't heard anything back yet but I looked on fastlane NSF website and saw the status of "reurned" just that word two days after it was submitted.  Now I am waiting until they are back after the holiday to call the Project Director. The one on call during the holiday didn't have any info on my status and he said I will get a email with full response. I'm pretty upset, could use some hope here. I still haven't gotten a proper notice from NSF so I am just speculating but feel pretty bad. Must be a formatting issue. 

Edited January 3, 2020 by Brynamakowka

[kwisco]

18 hours ago, Brynamakowka said:

What happens if one gets a returned proposal? Do you think one would be given the opportunity to make corrections and re-submit? I haven't heard anything back yet but I looked on fastlane NSF website and saw the status of "reurned" just that word two days after it was submitted.  Now I am waiting until they are back after the holiday to call the Project Director. The one on call during the holiday didn't have any info on my status and he said I will get a email with full response. I'm pretty upset, could use some hope here. I still haven't gotten a proper notice from NSF so I am just speculating but feel pretty bad. Must be a formatting issue. 

Bad news: I'm so sorry, I know how frustrating that is because it happened to me as a 1st year grad student. You put so much time, energy, and hope into your application that it super stinks when something as small as formatting causes your application to get kicked back. I was not allowed to resubmit that year.

Good news: When mine was returned without review it did not count as a submission so I was allowed to submit again as a 2nd year grad student. In my case, I think my application was even better and my overall packet much stronger- and I happened to be awarded the fellowship last year!

My advice is to be mad/sad/whatever ya gotta do and then keep on keeping on! You made a mistake and that stinks but I took it as a (painful) learning experience moving forward (and you better believe I triple check every single document margin lol). I hope you have another opportunity to submit in the future, good luck!!

[TheDefeater]

Has anybody heard about schools accepting previously rejected applicants after the release of the list of NSF awardees? I am really trying to find reasons to keep the hopes up for my top choices if anything happens.... (if I even get it anyway)...

[physmatician]

On 1/4/2020 at 7:33 PM, TheDefeater said:

Has anybody heard about schools accepting previously rejected applicants after the release of the list of NSF awardees? I am really trying to find reasons to keep the hopes up for my top choices if anything happens.... (if I even get it anyway)...

I am assuming you are referring to the idea that IF you are rejected from a school you want to go to, then IF you receive the NSF GRFP award the university will then convert you from rejected to admitted, IF they have room.  

 

Seems pretty late in the admission season but I would suggest that if you are rejected AND you receive the award that you reach out to those universities and inquire as to if any vacancies have opened up while somehow weaving into the email/conversation that you just found out you received the award.  It couldn’t hurt to try... worst that can happen is you stay in rejected status.. you really would have nothing to lose.  

 

Luckily the award will follow you wherever you go so as long as you get in somewhere you’ll have it to use... I haven’t read about receiving the award but being rejected from all grad programs.... that would be counterintuitive since one would suspect that if your profile is quality enough to receive an NSF fellowship then you should also be good enough for a grad school... unless you just had unreasonable expectations about where you applied and didnt apply to any safety schools. 

 

[edit] just saw you are accepted into some universities but I’m guessing you have your eye on Harvard and MIT???

 

You may want to look at if they will accept an NSF award as an enhancement to any financial package you have already received or if it will be in place of... and get it in writing/email so they cant go back on it if its an enhancement situation

Edited February 7, 2020 by physmatician

[TheDefeater]

On 2/7/2020 at 2:49 PM, physmatician said:

I am assuming you are referring to the idea that IF you are rejected from a school you want to go to, then IF you receive the NSF GRFP award the university will then convert you from rejected to admitted, IF they have room.  

 

Seems pretty late in the admission season but I would suggest that if you are rejected AND you receive the award that you reach out to those universities and inquire as to if any vacancies have opened up while somehow weaving into the email/conversation that you just found out you received the award.  It couldn’t hurt to try... worst that can happen is you stay in rejected status.. you really would have nothing to lose.  

 

Luckily the award will follow you wherever you go so as long as you get in somewhere you’ll have it to use... I haven’t read about receiving the award but being rejected from all grad programs.... that would be counterintuitive since one would suspect that if your profile is quality enough to receive an NSF fellowship then you should also be good enough for a grad school... unless you just had unreasonable expectations about where you applied and didnt apply to any safety schools. 

 

[edit] just saw you are accepted into some universities but I’m guessing you have your eye on Harvard and MIT???

 

You may want to look at if they will accept an NSF award as an enhancement to any financial package you have already received or if it will be in place of... and get it in writing/email so they cant go back on it if its an enhancement situation

Thanks for the info. At the time I posted this I hadn't received any acceptances, so I was just being super nervous as usual. Thankfully, I did end up receiving acceptances. I think the advice on asking for an enhancement is smart. I won't worry about that until I get it though lol

[physmatician]

On 2/9/2020 at 7:58 PM, TheDefeater said:

Thanks for the info. At the time I posted this I hadn't received any acceptances, so I was just being super nervous as usual. Thankfully, I did end up receiving acceptances. I think the advice on asking for an enhancement is smart. I won't worry about that until I get it though lol

Some places may or may not enhance their internal funding with an external funding source.  They may make sure you have at least the funding other students have but then may take your funding and award it to someone else, or just keep it in the department.  It is definitely something to inquire about.  I would suggest just putting out a feeler before hand and mention that you have applied for various external funding programs and you are curious how that works.  After all it is likely that grad students write grant proposals for extra funds quite often so it may just be a quick answer. 

[physmatician]

Not sure if this is new or not but I just wanted to see if anything has been updated anywhere and noticed this.  

[letssee]

1 hour ago, physmatician said:

Not sure if this is new or not but I just wanted to see if anything has been updated anywhere and noticed this.  

I saw that too! Based on last year’s thread, it looks like that pops up pretty far ahead of release dates. Definitely exciting though!

[Physicsisphysics]

Does anybody have any idea when we should hear back? I read at some point, and I'm unsure how accurate this is, that they only release results on Tuesday and Thursday. Is this true?

[jmillar]

On 3/7/2020 at 5:16 PM, Physicsisphysics said:

Does anybody have any idea when we should hear back? I read at some point, and I'm unsure how accurate this is, that they only release results on Tuesday and Thursday. Is this true?

2019: Tuesday, April 9
2018: Tuesday, April 3
2017: Friday, March 17
2016: Tuesday, March 29
2015: Tuesday, March 31
2014: Tuesday, April 1
2013: Friday, March 29
2012: Friday, March 20
2011: Tuesday, April 5
2010: Tuesday, April 6
2009: Friday, April 10 & Tuesday, May 19 (released in 2 batches)
2008: Tuesday, April 1
2007: Friday, March 23
2006: Thursday, March 30
2005: Saturday, April 9
2004: Thursday, March 18
2003: Friday, April 4
2002: Friday, March 15
2001: Tuesday, March 20

Pretty consistent Tuesday or Friday for the past 15 years. Usually near end of March / beginning of April.