crimsonengineer87 Posted January 21, 2011 Posted January 21, 2011 In "real" grants, you have to submit progress reports and such, and failing to meet the goals you stated will hurt your ability to get more funding. For these grants, you do have to tell NSF what you're up to, but they'll rubber-stamp it as long as you're still in basic science. If you're wrong, you do something else. I think most people do anyway - heck, I'm not even sure where I will end up for grad school, much less which lab and what project. That said, you're still going to have to convince people that your idea is plausible. But for better or worse, the disciplinary spread is pretty broad in these panels - and remember, they're reviewing the whole thing in 15 minutes, max. I'm not sure they'll catch subtle mistakes. I also said something rather stupid that I wish I could take back. There was a statement of the form "all known A have property B"...all but one, and I found that one. (Yes, there was some very late-night editing involved.) But unless I have the bad luck to find someone who remembers my poster on this better than I do, it probably won't matter. The argument holds - at least it did before I started deleting stuff - and it's a minor point anyhow. In general, I think most of the fellowships (NSF, NDSEG, DOE, EPA STAR) are looking to see that applicants can (1) write well, (2) clearly propose a research project, and (3) discuss why this research is innovative, important to society/science, and what are the broader impacts. I've heard time and time again that these agencies are really "funding the researcher". I mean, it's good to get the research done that you proposed, but not necessarily. Unless one of the rules is that you specifically turn out paper detailing the conclusions from what you stated in your proposed plan of research. For example, I had a prof who read essays for EPA STAR read my application (which at that time was not very good). He basically said he wouldn't fund me because he felt I didn't have enough background in the subject and he wasn't really a modeler (my research involved hydrologic modeling). BUT he said he may be swayed to give my essay points b/c of the clear and logical writing. He basically said my writing could be enough to make it through because I was able to convey the gist of what I was doing with everything else. I don't even know if what I'm saying connects to this thread. Lol. I'm just jabbering on. BUT I do wish we would find out about NSF!!! (I just heard from Fulbright, which was good, but there's MORE waiting!)
meankney Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Anyone else super anxious to hear back about this yet? I don't even care if my results are positive or negative at this point--I just want to know and get it over with! Too bad we'll probably be stuck waiting for another 2 months.
Krypton Posted January 28, 2011 Posted January 28, 2011 Too bad we'll probably be stuck waiting for another 2 months. Fixed.
t_ruth Posted January 30, 2011 Posted January 30, 2011 Two years ago I received my rejection on 4/9, and my rating sheets a month later. So yes, we have quite a wait still ahead of us...
BlueRose Posted January 31, 2011 Author Posted January 31, 2011 At least it will probably be early April, instead of dragging on into the summer. Unless Congress feels like extending the stimulus (yeah, we wish). I'm actually quite calm about it. Mainly because I have no idea how much it's going to matter. If I get in somewhere, then whatever; my field gives full funding to pretty much everyone, so the major benefit would be that I don't have to apply for fellowships again. (Okay, I admit the process was useful, but it was a non-trivial timesuck.) If I don't get in somewhere, however, winning the NSF would be my only hope. Last year I managed to get on a waitlist, of the "call us if you get a fellowship" variety; I hadn't even applied for fellowships, so that was that. I have no particular reason to believe that won't happen again. And I really don't want to be stuck in application purgatory for another year. Really, really do not want. But I won't know until probably a week or two before NSF results come out. Besides, stressing about the NSF would distract me from my new favorite pastime - stressing about interviews.
kateow Posted February 13, 2011 Posted February 13, 2011 Sorry to beat a dead horse, but the state thing? I went to high school, undergrad, and MA institution in IL, but I am living in VT and the address on my file is here. But I may be in a PhD program in NY or PA, or IL... How do they determine what state an applicant represents?
kdilks Posted February 13, 2011 Posted February 13, 2011 Sorry to beat a dead horse, but the state thing? I went to high school, undergrad, and MA institution in IL, but I am living in VT and the address on my file is here. But I may be in a PhD program in NY or PA, or IL... How do they determine what state an applicant represents? According to the 2009 thread, it is based on where you went to high school, which is why they ask where you went to high school on the application.
AKJen Posted February 13, 2011 Posted February 13, 2011 Sorry to beat a dead horse, but the state thing? I went to high school, undergrad, and MA institution in IL, but I am living in VT and the address on my file is here. But I may be in a PhD program in NY or PA, or IL... How do they determine what state an applicant represents? Your state would be IL because you went to high school there.
anthro.fish Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 Does anyone know details about the fellows abroad program for the GRFP? I read the official program solicitation, and it alludes to Fellows being allowed to study at foreign universities during their GRFP tenure - through an "affiliated U.S. institution". I'm wondering if it's possible to avoid the "only tenable at U.S. institutions" part of the fellowship and end up getting a degree at, say, Oxford or Cambridge.
Krypton Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 (edited) Fellowships that are awarded, starting this year, can be used only at U.S. institutions. I imagine that means, at most, you can be an exchange graduate student abroad but cannot receive your degree solely from an abroad institution. Edited February 17, 2011 by Krypton
t_ruth Posted February 18, 2011 Posted February 18, 2011 ugh, the last week or so this has really been on my mind!
gotasya Posted February 20, 2011 Posted February 20, 2011 ugh, the last week or so this has really been on my mind! Me too!! I'm so anxious to hear back from them!!
anotherflunky Posted February 20, 2011 Posted February 20, 2011 Does anyone know the specific notification dates for the past few years? I hope it's always before April 15th, at least.
anotherflunky Posted February 20, 2011 Posted February 20, 2011 In last year's thread, some people were talking about the "first wave" and "second wave"? What does this refer to? Sorry, I didn't want to read all the 200 or something pages!
olive81 Posted February 21, 2011 Posted February 21, 2011 In last year's thread, some people were talking about the "first wave" and "second wave"? What does this refer to? Sorry, I didn't want to read all the 200 or something pages! To be honest, I have no clue. I applied last year and got HM, but I received my notification on the same day some of my friends who got an award got their notification. They only send out notifications on one day.
anotherflunky Posted February 21, 2011 Posted February 21, 2011 Oh, that was actually 2009, not last year. Looks like the something happened with the budget and they gave out more fellowships/HM's in May. The wait must've been killer for those guys. I hope we all hear by April 10th at worst. My grad school choice may depend on this.
kdilks Posted February 22, 2011 Posted February 22, 2011 That was during the big stimulus package. NSF couldn't award the Fellowships that were being covered by stimulus money until the stimulus package made it through Congress. So in early April they gave awards to the top tier like they normally would have, rejected the bottom tier, and left people that were at least getting Honorable Mention in limbo until they found out how many additional fellowships they had. It was good that I eventually got the fellowship, but it kind of sucked that I didn't find out early enough to potentially get off the waitlist at the one school I wasn't accepted to.
BioBio Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 What's the procedure with accepting the award? Do you ever actually meet any people affiliated with NSF or is it all through the mail/email contacts?
kdilks Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 What's the procedure with accepting the award? Do you ever actually meet any people affiliated with NSF or is it all through the mail/email contacts? It's all done through Fastlane. You technically don't even e-mail anybody, you just fill out the forms on the website.
anotherflunky Posted February 23, 2011 Posted February 23, 2011 Does anyone know of any successes using the "alternate" research proposal approach: If you have not formulated a research plan, your statement should include a description of a topic that interests you and how you would propose to conduct research on that topic. Is this actually viable for seniors?
Falconidae11 Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 Call it paranoia due to my having submitted the NSF down to a minute before the deadline, but does everyone's application status on Fastlane still say "submitted?" I feel like at this point it should say something like "under review" rather than "submitted"...
riceandbeans Posted February 24, 2011 Posted February 24, 2011 You're fine. It will continue to say submitted until it says whether or not you got it (or at least that's what has happened the past couple of years). In other news, you can't access previous years' rating sheets anymore!
BlueRose Posted February 25, 2011 Author Posted February 25, 2011 (edited) Does anyone know of any successes using the "alternate" research proposal approach: If you have not formulated a research plan, your statement should include a description of a topic that interests you and how you would propose to conduct research on that topic. Is this actually viable for seniors? From what I've heard, no. There are enough people (even seniors) who have gone through the trouble of thinking up a research plan; they don't need to take the person who wrote an essay on "Why quantum computing is fun". Granted, as a senior, your plan is going to be a tasty brew of bull manure and educated guesswork, and/or a rehash of your undergrad lab's research. (Yes, mine is too.) But there's no real reason why a senior can't put together a research plan of some sort...if nothing else, it shows that you put in the effort. Edited February 25, 2011 by BlueRose
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now