NSF Fellowships

[Guest dave]

How can you say that the odds are better? (unless that was sarcasm) Looking at previous years there are between 15 and 25 econ nsf fellowships a year. There are way more than 15-25 spots available for domestic applicants at the top few schools. Roughly 40% of the class is domestic at the top few schools and just approximating and saying they have 20 students in a class, that is 8 domestic students per school, so even if you're just looking at the top 5 schools, there are still about 40 spots (probably a little more) for domestic applicants, which is more than the number of NSF fellowships, even on a high year.

I was being partially facetious. They give out 1000 a year, about 10000 apply = ~ 1/10 chance. Obviously it depends on your field.

[Guest guest]

I take it Dave was joking a bit - perhaps the odds of winning the NSF fellowship are equivalent to getting into one particular graduate program (in my field 5-10%), not into any graduate school to which you've applied (even any top graduate school). It's a decent analogy, especially as we're all aware what a crap shoot admissions at any one school can be.

[Guest Guest]

You guys are all forgetting that you can apply to NSF as a first year graduate student. So in essence you are competing against way more people for less spots for the NSF. The odds of getting an NSF are nowhere near as good as getting into a top program.

[Guest dave]

Apparently, the NSF goes to great pains to ensure that the population of applications is reflected in the fellowships - e.g. if %6 of the people applying are entering econ students, then

All of this is a complete crap shoot, ESPECIALLY this. 3 people(if you make it that far) glance at your application for about 30 seconds, check a few boxes and move to the next one. You could have the most earth shattering idea and if you didn't present it correctly, had a typo that irritated someone or you were at the bottom of the pile and the reviewer was thinking about hitting the bar - anything - you might not get it.

I know super smart people that have been passed over(even for honorable mentions) and one person who is about as competent as a stick get it. Just cross your fingers and pray to your diety of choice

[Guest guest]

I called the office today, and the gentleman who answered told me that we will know "at the end of the month." Vague, like the website.

I've read two things on other sites, and I'm not which, if either, is correct. One person said that we receive comments with our rejection emails. The other said that after a certain date, we can write to NSF and request comments. Have any of you applied before and know how this works?

[Guest dave]

I called the office today, and the gentleman who answered told me that we will know "at the end of the month." Vague, like the website.

I've read two things on other sites, and I'm not which, if either, is correct. One person said that we receive comments with our rejection emails. The other said that after a certain date, we can write to NSF and request comments. Have any of you applied before and know how this works?

No, but i know poeple that have. After a bit the score cards are posted at https://www.nsfgradfellows.org/status/login.cfm. Apparently may 1st the cards come.

my friend's score card was extremely unhelpful - there are like 8 checkboxes where you get ranked 1-5 on your various things. No comments or anything.

[Guest guest]

my reviews had comments...

not overly helpful, but more so than i'd imagine 8 checkboxes would be.

the reviews last year had two check boxes (merit and broader impacts) i think the scale was basically poor --> great (4 or 5 options), and then there was a space for comments on the ratings.

to be honest, i don't understand how they make their decisions.

one reviewer gave me a poor for broader impacts, and nothing spectacular for merit.

the other reviewers hovered around good (with maybe one saying excellent merit), and yet i got honorable mention.

who knows...

good luck to all!

[Guest guest]

Congratulations on your honorable mention last year (yeah, I know it would have been nice to get the cash but still . . . . ).

Thanks for the inside scoop re: helpfulness/content of comments. What field, if you don't mind answering?

[Guest tellmesoon]

Everyone, let us know when you do hear back! I'm wondering if responses may be staggered, just like the deadlines were staggered, by field.

[Guest dave]

Everyone, let us know when you do hear back! I'm wondering if responses may be staggered, just like the deadlines were staggered, by field.

My guess is that results will be sent en masse

[Guest fdasd]

no, they'll all be late in the day either this friday or next friday...

at least, that's the way the trend of the past few years has been.

the decisions are probably all made -- they just enjoy torturing us

[Guest Gale]

a rejection from this isn't gonna hurt so much because you were rejected, per se, but because of how much time you have to put into the damn thing to even have a chance... ugh.

good luck, though :0

Thanks! I expected I would not get into the PhD program (yes, singular) I applied to unless I landed NSF funding. I'm not what you call an easy admit.

To my complete surprise, I've been admitted already anyway. Whoo. So if the NSF tells me to bugger off, I'll be unhappy (and unsurprised) but not crushed like a bug the way I first anticipated. I expect I won't get funding and will reapply next year. And next year I'll have more time to craft my application, with the experience from this year to understand what that entails.

Good luck, everyone!

[Guest dave]

Thanks! I expected I would not get into the PhD program (yes, singular) I applied to unless I landed NSF funding. I'm not what you call an easy admit.

To my complete surprise, I've been admitted already anyway. Whoo. So if the NSF tells me to bugger off, I'll be unhappy (and unsurprised) but not crushed like a bug the way I first anticipated. I expect I won't get funding and will reapply next year. And next year I'll have more time to craft my application, with the experience from this year to understand what that entails.

Good luck, everyone!

You've piqued my curiosity now - what field are you in?

[Guest asdf]

Has anyone called to confirm that notifications will be sent this Friday?

[Guest Guest]

Just chill out--the decisions will be sent out when the NSF is good and ready. Everyone is in the same boat as you, just be patient. I mean, we've waited for over 4 months already, what's another couple of days? Best of luck to everyone!!!!

[Guest scientist]

Is an honorable mention well respected, i.e. something one should write on his or her CV? Last year, 1,024 students were awarded fellowships, and 1,993 received honorable mentions. If ~10,000 apply, an honorable mention would put an applicant in the 70-90%ile.

Good luck, everyone.

[Guest guest]

you should definitely put an honorable mention on your CV.

[Guest dave]

Is an honorable mention well respected, i.e. something one should write on his or her CV? Last year, 1,024 students were awarded fellowships, and 1,993 received honorable mentions. If ~10,000 apply, an honorable mention would put an applicant in the 70-90%ile.

Good luck, everyone.

That's 70-90% of a very competitive pool, so yes.

[Guest Guest]

so if we happen to get an honorable mention instead of winning, should we feel at all good about that? do people in the academic world perceive that as a meaningful accomplishment? (aside from the whole "no money" factor) does it have any value at all?

[Guest Guest]

one of my profs actually said that it is an honor, or "a feather in your cap", as he put it. So definitey put it on your CV--if you got an honorable mention, you're officially awesome :-)

[Guest guest]

so if we happen to get an honorable mention instead of winning, should we feel at all good about that? do people in the academic world perceive that as a meaningful accomplishment? (aside from the whole "no money" factor) does it have any value at all?

YES!!!

[Guest guest]

i just called (curiosity kills the cat!) and they said notifications would be out either this week or next -- which was about as much as I already knew.

the guy i talked to on the phone sounded really annoyed at having people call him (i guess i would be to), so if any of you are thinking of giving them a ring, don't bother: they can't tell you anything specific to your application and won't confirm when notifications are going to be sent out... alas!

[Guest guest]

Ouch!!! I'm sure it must be annoying to them, but it's also kind of silly to wait to post the lists until the end of a week to minimize call volume (if that's really true) - just have an automatic message or something instead of dragging out the torture for us!

Well, it will soon be over, either tomorrow or in another week, but hopefully no longer than that, can't take it much longer (crazy obsessive brain)!

[Guest guestimator]

Will today be the big day?! Make sure to post here if you have heard anything!

[Guest tellmesoon]

Yes, definitely post as soon as you hear back (negative or positive!) Are decisions definitely sent via email? Is there anyone who, like me, is not entirely convinced that all decisions will go out the same day?