NSF GRFP 2010-2011

[kdilks]

So, the NSF says we can use three years in a five year period of time, but it's unclear whether or not next year HAS to be one of them. Can I accept NSF and still use my last year of full funding from my department first?

Unless they've changed something in the last year, you can use NSF for any 3 out of the next 5 years. I deferred my first year of NSF because I had a similar fellowship from my graduate school (for 3 out of the next 5 years) that did require I use it in my first year.

[jendoly]

Unless they've changed something in the last year, you can use NSF for any 3 out of the next 5 years. I deferred my first year of NSF because I had a similar fellowship from my graduate school (for 3 out of the next 5 years) that did require I use it in my first year.

I know they changed it to say that you couldn't defer it in order to use another fellowship, but I don't see how they're preventing what you're suggesting... *crosses fingers*

[meankney]

Same here. Thought I had even less of a chance this year because I still didn't have any publications to my name. It did help to get to grad school and actually talk to people here who'd won it or gotten HMs, to hear what their ratings sheets said - learning mistakes to avoid definitely helped. Also, I think I had better reference letters this year instead of just professors who'd taught me once.

I thought I might be rejected, too, because I have yet to publish and I'm in my second year of grad school.

[DJLamar]

*sigh* after logging in and not getting the fellows page I tried to just go to bed, and when I went to fiddle around with my phone after an hour of not getting to sleep, I got the rejection email (not even an honorable mention). Too bad.

Congrats to everyone who got it. For the rest of us, time to wait on NDSEG now (even though that's supposed to be harder to get than the NSF fellowship...).

[jendoly]

*sigh* after logging in and not getting the fellows page I tried to just go to bed, and when I went to fiddle around with my phone after an hour of not getting to sleep, I got the rejection email (not even an honorable mention). Too bad.

Congrats to everyone who got it. For the rest of us, time to wait on NDSEG now (even though that's supposed to be harder to get than the NSF fellowship...).

Good luck! I'll be moving to that thread soon. They may offer less awards, but I think that it depends on what your research is whether or not the NDSEG or NSF would be more likely to get.

[husky]

Thank you God! Award Offered. I can't believe it. Congrats and best wishes everyone.

[Pavilion]

Got a rejection last year. This year is Honorable Mention.

Can I keep going up the ladder next year? Lol

Oh, and congrats to those who got the award

Edited April 5, 2011 by Pavilion

[antboy808]

so do fellows have until aprial 15th or may 1st to accept?

[jendoly]

1 May.

[Eigen]

I know they changed it to say that you couldn't defer it in order to use another fellowship, but I don't see how they're preventing what you're suggesting... *crosses fingers*

I'm interested to see how this works too.

I have a school fellowship (4 years), and I'd like to take the next year of funding on it, followed by the 3 years of NSF. I'll be going to talk to our program officer in the next couple of days, I'll see what he says.

[gnetophyte]

Just came back from my meeting with the Director of Graduate Studies. I've still got the NDSEG and an internal fellowship pending, but other than that, I'm screwed. My leading option right now is take a leave of absence and see if the money's better next year.

[blah0016]

I got honorable mention . I thought, that honorable mention meant that you were technically qualified, etc. but just didn't have enough broader impacts. However, my application was really heavy on broader impacts--I've done a ton of service work related to and not related to my project, education, development work abroad, leadership positions, working on undergrad education, etc. I really focused on the broader impacts criterion in my application.

so, is honorable mention not mainly just a 'not enough broader impacts' thing?

Edited April 5, 2011 by blah0016

[IRdreams]

I got honorable mention . I thought, that honorable mention meant that you were technically qualified, etc. but just didn't have enough broader impacts. However, my application was really heavy on broader impacts--I've done a ton of service work related to and not related to my project, education, development work abroad, leadership positions, working on undergrad education, etc. I really focused on the broader impacts criterion in my application.

so, is honorable mention not mainly just a 'not enough broader impacts' thing?

I gather that they rank (rather arbitrarially) the applications that they think are good on broader impacts and merit combined. They then give awards to the top of the list determined by how many awards there are in your field. Those a little bit lower down the ranked list then get HM. The rest get the modal response of rejection.

I would think of HM as a great accomplishment. You were considered very near the cream of your crop. Why you missed out may have nothing to do with broader impacts and every thing to do with what the rest of your pool looked like. The other issue is that even though we include something as a broader impact, the reviewer still has to all about it to score well so the process is inherently rather subjective.

[ChemistryGirl]

has anyone called doe to see if congress fixes themselves the fellowship will open this year? or are we most likely skipping a year

[t_ruth]

Did anyone ever answer the question as to whether you think the reviews will be out sooner than three days? I'd really love to see them!

[Diego M]

Hello all,

I have a question about the terms of the fellowship. I see that there is a 10,500 cost-of-education that they pay to the schools, but that the schools themselves must cover the rest of the costs if there are any. Does this mean that if my school has 14,000 a year in tutiotion and fees that the school will be responsible for the rest and I wont have to pay anything? Or will I have to pay it out of the 30k a year stipend?

Thanks for the help

[KineticKid]

I got the fellowship! I will be entering grad school this fall in physics. This was the first year I applied.

I can't wait to read the reviews when they come out in a few days...

[KineticKid]

For everyone in this situation: I had the same result last year, and this year I got a fellowship. Don't give up and don't forget the pages and pages of posts here that speak to how arbitrary this process can be. I would say the thing that helped me improve the most was attending an NSF workshop at my school about applying for the GRFP. They gave out packets with examples of winning essays and had a lot of great advice.

To some degree it's arbitrary, but not entirely.

When I was crafting my proposal, I really STUDIED the successful proposals to see just what worked. And when I was fine-tuning my essays, I made sure emphasize broader impacts, etc., explicitly. I was very methodical about the whole process, and it worked (and this was the first year I applied!).

[Steven]

To some degree it's arbitrary, but not entirely.

When I was crafting my proposal, I really STUDIED the successful proposals to see just what worked. And when I was fine-tuning my essays, I made sure emphasize broader impacts, etc., explicitly. I was very methodical about the whole process, and it worked (and this was the first year I applied!).

Congratulations on your win. I did just as you did, spent countless hours reading every sample I could find, every bit of advice from every school, and putting it all into the application. It was reviewed at every step by four different faculty members, and I even set up an interview with the dean of our college who had been a GRFP panel member to get his input. I spent at least 60 hours fine tuning every single word last year, and closer to 40 this year (since I already had something to work with).

Last year I got E/VG VG/G with glowing comments, especially about my broader impacts, but no HM, no award, not even a third review. What mild criticism I did get, much of which I had to read between the lines, I addressed very carefully this year. I also STUDIED again for the second time, after a year of contemplation fine tuned everything, added better letter writers, etc. 4.0 GPA both grad and undergrad, 1570 GRE (last year when it mattered), yes, only one publication, but half a dozen conference presentations. Once again, no HM, no award, no nothing. So yeah, I'm going to have to say there's some arbitrariness, at least to preserve what little self-esteem I have left today.

I'm totally sincere when I say that the winners are deserving and totally qualified, but to suggest that those of us who didn't win didn't do our homework is just adding insult to injury.

Edited April 6, 2011 by Steven

[Cicero]

Last year I got E/VG VG/G with glowing comments, especially about my broader impacts, but no HM, no award, not even a third review.

I've noticed several references in the past to people getting two or three reviews.

What does it mean if you get only two reviews as opposed to three?

[Steven]

Hello all,

I have a question about the terms of the fellowship. I see that there is a 10,500 cost-of-education that they pay to the schools, but that the schools themselves must cover the rest of the costs if there are any. Does this mean that if my school has 14,000 a year in tutiotion and fees that the school will be responsible for the rest and I wont have to pay anything? Or will I have to pay it out of the 30k a year stipend?

Thanks for the help

You will not have to pay anything, the school is required to pick up the difference.

[uksawfly]

I've noticed several references in the past to people getting two or three reviews.

What does it mean if you get only two reviews as opposed to three?

Everybody gets at least two reviews. After two reviews, you are ranked, and the top tier of applications, as well as any applications with scores that are very different, are reviewed by a third person. If you have two reviews it just means your application didn't get to that third read part. I think there's a post earlier in this thread (like somewhere in the page 20s) that outlines it more specifically if you'd like greater detail.

[Krypton]

I'm totally sincere when I say that the winners are deserving and totally qualified, but to suggest that those of us who didn't win didn't do our homework is just adding insult to injury.

Absolutely. Last year, I received an HM for essays that I wrote with no feedback. This year, I had professors and previous awardees galore provide advice and suggest improvements to my application. In addition, I addressed all the shortcomings mentioned in my reviews. This time, I did not receive even HM status.

[scyrus]

I did just as you did, spent countless hours reading every sample I could find, every bit of advice from every school, and putting it all into the application. It was reviewed at every step by four different faculty members, and I even set up an interview with the dean of our college who had been a GRFP panel member to get his input. I spent at least 60 hours fine tuning every single word last year, and closer to 40 this year (since I already had something to work with).

Last year I got E/VG VG/G with glowing comments, especially about my broader impacts, but no HM, no award, not even a third review. What mild criticism I did get, much of which I had to read between the lines, I addressed very carefully this year. I also STUDIED again for the second time, after a year of contemplation fine tuned everything, added better letter writers, etc. 4.0 GPA both grad and undergrad, 1570 GRE (last year when it mattered), yes, only one publication, but half a dozen conference presentations. Once again, no HM, no award, no nothing. So yeah, I'm going to have to say there's some arbitrariness, at least to preserve what little self-esteem I have left today.

Absolutely. Last year, I received an HM for essays that I wrote with no feedback. This year, I had professors and previous awardees galore provide advice and suggest improvements to my application. In addition, I addressed all the shortcomings mentioned in my reviews. This time, I did not receive even HM status.

Very depressing. Makes me wonder if I should bother fine-tuning my application next year.

[Tsujiru]

Zilch. I'm guessing a lot of us rejectees might be feeling not so hot about ourselves right now, but that is just ridiculous. The fact that we get paid to do what is most likely our passion anyway is amazing. I'm good at what I do and people in general like me, so in my book I've already won. (Oh, and did I mention that I'm incredibly humble too... ). Goodnight all and see a bunch of you here next year.