NIH NRSA (F31) Questions

[eevee]

Hi gang, can I ask some questions about the F31 NRSA application process? I just got my impact score back and am kind of confused about how paylines work and google was not super helpful.
Basically I know there’s different paylines for different NIH institutes, but are there also different paylines for types of grants? I would assume there would be different ones for F31s than, like, R01s but maybe not. Also, how do you know if your application is actually going to be funded or is it just a guessing game based on the payline?
I’m just confused because my impact score seems to be marginal (i.e. not clear-cut very below or very above the average payline) and I don’t know how to interpret it. Thanks!!!

[kingspeech]

On 7/5/2020 at 12:17 AM, eevee said:

Basically I know there’s different paylines for different NIH institutes, but are there also different paylines for types of grants?

Yes. Fs and Rs have different processes. For the IC I am funded through, and a number of others, they do not percentile fellowship application scores so there is no firm payline. There are separate study sections who review fellowships, and the second stage of review (funding decisions) is not Council, but a separate group that decides on fellowships only for that application period.

On 7/5/2020 at 12:17 AM, eevee said:

Also, how do you know if your application is actually going to be funded or is it just a guessing game based on the payline?

It's an...educated guessing game. I've been trying to link report.nih.gov for you for a few days, but it's down. There, you can pull up success rates by IC and funding mechanism. The data do not link success rates to scores. My score was marginal, and my advisor had me email my PO to ask about next steps and if I should be preparing to resubmit. The PO can't make any promises until you get a NOA, but they were able to give me general feedback about whether they've funded proposals with similar scores in the past and told me approximately when the funding decision would be made so I could plan for possible resubmission.

[eevee]

On 7/8/2020 at 10:39 AM, kingspeech said:

my advisor had me email my PO to ask about next steps and if I should be preparing to resubmit

Okay, thanks. I think I'll wait for the summary statement before emailing. It's somewhat disappointing that the institute I applied to (NIAAA) appears to be particularly opaque, as I was able to find FY2020 impact score paylines (even for Fs) for some other institutes like NIAID... but alas. If you wouldn't mind sharing, what IC are you funded through and what was your score? Were you funded A0 or A1?

[kingspeech]

Yep, the first thing the PO said was "wait for the summary statement." I PMed you the rest.