NDSEG 2019-2020

[BCHGang]

Just now, whyndsegwhy said:

this is my 2nd try now

Same here. Mechanical Engineering, ARO. Last update 12/24

[Imakephotonsdothings]

I just wanna say, this is the most grad cafe thread a grad cafe thread can be. There's more investigating going on here than in the Mueller Report + Jefferey Epstein Inquiry combined. 

[groovyalchemist]

My application date hasn't been updated since the day I submitted (12/6) to ARO. Any speculation to what this means?

 

[surface4]

Until the fellowships are actually announced, I can comfort myself with the knowledge that I'm the only one on this forum who applied under Geosciences or under the ERDC BAA, so maybe whoever is evaluating my application is just very late compared to the other subjects/BAAs. (almost certainly wishful thinking, but whatever...)

[BCHGang]

Just now, surface4 said:

Geosciences or under the ERDC BAA

I think I was the only one with MechE on this thread. Dec update bros unite !

[samplingbias]

Mine's been saying last update Dec 23 for...several months now. Great sorrow.

[GradNt]

11 minutes ago, BCHGang said:

I think I was the only one with MechE on this thread. Dec update bros unite !

@BCHGang I feel that. One minor source of frustration for me: it seems like if you don’t make it past the first round, your research proposal doesn’t actually get read? If that’s the case, that’s such an awful system because that’s what I put the most effort into.

[urmum]

So are we agreeing that a Dec update means you didn't get past the initial screening? I'm honestly v surprised I didn't; I have a good GPA/test scores/whatever, and I got GRFP so I would think my application would go past the first round at least. Meh.

[BCHGang]

SFS: Physics, 02/28 -> 4/3 -> 4/6

fishandfreckles: Biosceinces 2/28 (Navy) -> 4/3 -> 4/6

OhTheStress: Combustion, 2/28 (AFOSR) -> 4/3 -> 4/6

Porhypet: Physics, 2/28 (ARO) -> 4/3 -> 4/6

************************************************

Curie 2020: MatSci 02/28/20 -> 4/3

Thel: Cog., Neural, Behavioral, 02/28 -> 4/3

SomethingSimple: Bio Sciences, 02/28 (ARO) -> 4/3

3st3rb: Electrical Eng, 02/28 (ARO) -> 4/3

hopefulstudent1997: Electrical Engineering, 2/28 (ARO) -> 4/3

Social_psych123: Cognitive, Neural, And Behavioral Sciences, 4/3 (ARO)

whatdothedatesmean: 2/28 (AFOSR) -> 4/3

fl1989: Bioengineering, 2/28 (ARO) -> 4/3

************************************************

Scavanaugh: Civil & Environmental Eng., 2/28 (ARO)

StPolarBear: 02/19 (ONR)

Redox9797: ChemE, 01/27

Momo1111: 02/26 (ARO)

GIIC: Biosciences 2/28

vernigan: 2/28 (ONR) 

ChemEGod: Chemical Engineering, 2/27 (ARFL)

***************************************************

Surface4: Geosciences 12/6

PhysicsIsPhysics: Physics, 12/24 (AFRL)

ScienceGeek: Comp. Sci., 12/6, (ARO)

BCHgang: MechE, 12/24 (ARO)

UrMum: Comp. Sci., 12/23 (AFRL) [won GRFP]

CellBioGal: 12/20 (ARO)

Cri3Times: Physics, 12/20 (AFRL)

clb21565: Life & Bio Sciences, 12/6

GradNT: Computer and Computational Sciences, 12/23 (AFOSR)

GradNT's friend: Computer and Computational Sciences, 12/23 (AFOSR) [won GRFP]

HamiltonianSandwich: Physics, 12/24 (AFRL)

justanothergradstudent: Neurosciences, 12/23 (ARO) [ 3.86 GPA with a double major, 99%ile GRE, 1 first author publication, 4 middle author publications]

pchemp: 12/05 (AFRL)

8008jsmith: 12/20 (ARO)

zamboni_driver: 12/20 [claimed not strong]

aayd183: 12/18 (AFRL)

jasli238: 12/18  Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering (including Space Physics) [3.9 GPA, ~20 publications, and DoD experience.]

Edited April 6, 2020 by BCHGang

[BCHGang]

1 hour ago, urmum said:

So are we agreeing that a Dec update means you didn't get past the initial screening? I'm honestly v surprised I didn't; I have a good GPA/test scores/whatever, and I got GRFP so I would think my application would go past the first round at least. Meh.

Based on the new data I compiled, yes. There were 35 people in total, of which 4 people got most recent update. That's about 12%. The acceptance rate is about 5%. Given this is GradCafe, this would be much higher, maybe twice? So yeah. If you have a December update (me included), take the black pill. You didn't get the fellowship. 16/35 people had a December update. That's a little less than 50%. But a significant portion. And they don't tell you why you didn't make it past the first cut.

Edited April 6, 2020 by BCHGang

[thel]

2 minutes ago, BCHGang said:

SFS: Physics, 02/28 -> 4/3 -> 4/6

fishandfreckles: Biosceinces 2/28 (Navy) -> 4/3 -> 4/6

OhTheStress: Combustion, 2/28 (AFOSR) -> 4/3 -> 4/6

Porhypet: Physics, 2/28 (ARO) -> 4/3 -> 4/6

************************************************

Curie 2020: MatSci 02/28/20 -> 4/3

Thel: Cog., Neural, Behavioral, 02/28 -> 4/3

SomethingSimple: Bio Sciences, 02/28 (ARO) -> 4/3

3st3rb: Electrical Eng, 02/28 (ARO) -> 4/3

hopefulstudent1997: Electrical Engineering, 2/28 (ARO) -> 4/3

Social_psych123: Cognitive, Neural, And Behavioral Sciences, 4/3 (ARO)

whatdothedatesmean: 2/28 (AFOSR) -> 4/3

fl1989: Bioengineering, 2/28 (ARO) -> 4/3

************************************************

Scavanaugh: Civil & Environmental Eng., 2/28 (ARO)

StPolarBear: 02/19 (ONR)

Redox9797: ChemE, 01/27

Momo1111: 02/26 (ARO)

GIIC: Biosciences 2/28

vernigan: 2/28 (ONR) 

ChemEGod: Chemical Engineering, 2/27 (ARFL)

***************************************************

Surface4: Geosciences 12/6

PhysicsIsPhysics: Physics, 12/24 (AFRL)

ScienceGeek: Comp. Sci., 12/6, (ARO)

BCHgang: MechE, 12/24 (ARO)

UrMum: Comp. Sci., 12/23 (AFRL) [won GRFP]

CellBioGal: 12/20 (ARO)

Cri3Times: Physics, 12/20 (AFRL)

clb21565: Life & Bio Sciences, 12/6

GradNT: Computer and Computational Sciences, 12/23 (AFOSR)

GradNT's friend: Computer and Computational Sciences, 12/23 (AFOSR) [won GRFP]

HamiltonianSandwich: Physics, 12/24 (AFRL)

justanothergradstudent: Neurosciences, 12/23 (ARO)

pchemp: 12/05 (AFRL)

8008jsmith: 12/20 (ARO)

zamboni_driver: 12/20 [claimed not strong]

aayd183: 12/18 (AFRL)

Doing the lord's work

[bdanubius]

Hi all, just to contribute my 2c: I applied for the fellowship, and currently have last update 12/1. Since then, my letter writers have been pinged on 12/5 and 1/26 to resubmit letters. So there have been clear updates to my app that aren't reflected in the last update time. Either this means sysplus completely lost my application and its components (totally possible), or that the dates are not much to worry about.  Absent true decisions, I think that's the most concrete we'll get on these dates. I applied Army, Biomathematics. 

[Physicsisphysics]

Oh wow, that's nuts! Sorry to hear, these contractors suck...

 

I reached out to the contact person for my subfield in my BAA, and I hope they have some information on when we should expect to hear back. If you haven't, perhaps contact them. They could have some useful information, since Sysplus has not said anything very concrete.

[justanothergradstudent]

So i have 12/23 Neuro ARO. I know I'm not the perfect applicant, and I really don't mean to stress people out at all but here's a reference of my stats and why I'm a little confused about why I'd be cut first round.

3.86 GPA with a double major at a USNews top 10 undergrad. 99%ile GRE. 1 first author publication, 4 middle author publications (1 is a review) (not in great journals or anything though). 

I'm really hoping the dates truly are arbitrary, or they at least tell us how far we got.

Edit: Lol sorry i said GMAT not GRE. Clearly regretting a choice not to go to business school

Edited April 6, 2020 by justanothergradstudent

[3st3rb]

9 minutes ago, bdanubius said:

Hi all, just to contribute my 2c: I applied for the fellowship, and currently have last update 12/1. Since then, my letter writers have been pinged on 12/5 and 1/26 to resubmit letters. So there have been clear updates to my app that aren't reflected in the last update time. Either this means sysplus completely lost my application and its components (totally possible), or that the dates are not much to worry about.  Absent true decisions, I think that's the most concrete we'll get on these dates. I applied Army, Biomathematics. 

Yeah, honestly a lot of sketchy things happened right around submission. I had a friend's application be "unsubmitted" then they gave her a really small time window to resubmit which she missed because we were both super hosed that weekend not really keeping up with our email and then they were like well there's always next year! 

[3st3rb]

4 minutes ago, justanothergradstudent said:

So i have 12/23 Neuro ARO. I know I'm not the perfect applicant, and I really don't mean to stress people out at all but here's a reference of my stats and why I'm a little confused of why I'd be cut first round.

3.86 GPA with a double major at a USNEWS top 10 undergrad. 99%ile GMAT. 1 first author publication, 4 middle author publications (1 is a review) (not in great journals or anything though). 

I'm really hoping the dates truly are arbitrary, or they at least tell us how far we got.

In past years it seems like the status once all fellowships were awarded did say how far you got. So hopefully!

[thel]

11 minutes ago, bdanubius said:

Hi all, just to contribute my 2c: I applied for the fellowship, and currently have last update 12/1. Since then, my letter writers have been pinged on 12/5 and 1/26 to resubmit letters. So there have been clear updates to my app that aren't reflected in the last update time. Either this means sysplus completely lost my application and its components (totally possible), or that the dates are not much to worry about.  Absent true decisions, I think that's the most concrete we'll get on these dates. I applied Army, Biomathematics. 

Same, my letter writers were contacted the day I submitted to resubmit (even though they were all submitted originally in November) 

[jasli238]

another data point:

3.9 GPA, ~20 publications, and DoD experience.

I don't feel entitled to any fellowship, but I would be very disappointed to learn that I didn't make the first cut.

Discipline: Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering (including Space Physics)

Last Update:12/18/2019

Agency: AFOSR

[whyndsegwhy]

Just now, jasli238 said:

~20 publications

My lord. Way to blow my credentials out of the water lol 

[ScienceGeek]

6 minutes ago, jasli238 said:

3.9 GPA, ~20 publications, and DoD experience.

Wow, that's impressive, you should be very proud ☺️

[BCHGang]

10 minutes ago, jasli238 said:

another data point:

3.9 GPA, ~20 publications, and DoD experience.

I don't feel entitled to any fellowship, but I would be very disappointed to learn that I didn't make the first cut.

Discipline: Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering (including Space Physics)

Last Update:12/18/2019

Agency: AFOSR

If this guy doesn't get it, then it's a rigged game. I won't feel bad for getting rejected then.

Edited April 6, 2020 by BCHGang

[3st3rb]

7 minutes ago, whyndsegwhy said:

My lord. Way to blow my credentials out of the water lol 

LOL right? I'm kinda hopeful that they won't hold lack or low # of publications against us though. I've long operated in environments where a lot of my work is subject to export control and n foreign nationals may not work on it, and I can't even use external shops/labs if they don't meet certain criteria so you can't necessarily publish a lot or often.

[thel]

13 minutes ago, jasli238 said:

~20 publications

I was once told by a mentor that these kind of numbers for someone who is early career can be treated as a red flag by reviewers since it is hard to meaningfully contribute to that many works (obviously I have no idea what your situation is though)

[BCHGang]

Just now, thel said:

I was once told by a mentor that these kind of numbers for someone who is early career can be treated as a red flag by reviewers since it is hard to meaningfully contribute to that many works (obviously I have no idea what your situation is though)

He might be going back to school though after being in the industry/workforce for many years. And even if the publications were a red flag, he has a pretty high GPA. Not sure about his GRE scores however, but I'd imagine they were high as well.

[thel]

Just now, BCHGang said:

He might be going back to school though after being in the industry/workforce for many years. And even if the publications were a red flag, he has a pretty high GPA. Not sure about his GRE scores however, but I'd imagine they were high as well.

Yeah, if you get excluded on a first round it is much more likely to be some sort of a technicality (letter didn't go through, made a mistake on the form somewhere, etc.), than an actual deficiency in the application