NSF GRFP

[mtlve]

chuck_b: To the above who said they delay in reporting because of admissions.. What is your source for this? I don't think the date alone is suggestive of this.. they are probably just genuinely slow. =)

I agree that admissions is not the reason. Last year the director of the NSF GRFP told me that the minority of the applicants that apply/get the award are not currently graduate students. If this is true, it does not make since that they would delay notification due to a minority of the award applicants. If the purpose of the April notification was to not change admissions, then why would they not wait until after April15 to let people know? People are fairly deadlocked in so their fellowship decisions would be less of a factor. In the past few years they have notified people anywhere between Early/mid March and the first week of April. Based on all of this evidence, I just can't see admissions as being the whole factor for an early April notification. Having worked for the federal government for several years, I suspect that it has more to do with the administration/funding of the fellowship (or a combination of things that may or may not including not wanting to change admissions decisions).

[t_ruth]

In the past few years they have notified people anywhere between Early/mid March and the first week of April.

wow! Think there is any chance for a mid March notification this year?

[Falmouth]

I think they notify near April 1st so that Schools will have made their offers to most students and the students can then make their decisions based on this additional funding in the equation. This new information can affect funding offered by the schools.

[BioMedSciMed]

I hate to continue the speculation regarding the effect of the stimulus package on our possible fellowships but... I'm going to :-)

I don't know if anyone has pointed this out but I believe the 3billion was allotted to NSF on the condition that it be designated by sept 2010- which is good for us! but also that it be entirely disbursed within 2 years- Something that is definitely NOT good for us considering the payments last for 3 years.

So what do people think? and I misinterpreting the conditions here, I heard that the NIH's plan was to try to sort out funding proposals that they thought had the potential to be compressed into 2 years, and propose funding to the researchers on the condition that it fit into their timeline. Does anyone think the NSF might try this as well?

I know that the GRfellowship is to be dusbursed over the course of 3 years, to be used in a maximum of 5, so do we think that they could safely change the disbursement time to 2 years and just give more money each year, and still allow it to be spent throughout 5, or do people think they will alter the timeline of the fellowship and offer more people support for a shorter peroid of time (thereby entirely changing the spirit of the fellowship but staying within the constraints of the timeline), OR, worst possible scenario; do we think that NSF will decide to not used the stimulus package money for fellowships at all and just direct it to other proposals? (post-doc, PI etc...)

I also hate to be political but Obama is amazing... regardles of whether a penny of the NSF money goes to me or not.

[BioMedSciMed]

Additionally, if the stimulus package DOES affect the nuber of fellowships affected, do people think that it will affect the TYPE of fellowships that get funded- I mean does anybody think the % of successful/funded proposals within certain disciplines will shift due to the purpose & goals meant to be achieved with the money?

for example- I think that STEM sciences were mostly what was intended to benefit from the 3bil in NSF and 30 bil in NIH money, but as we all know a huge portion of NSF's fellowships go to other scientific fields as well... Do you think that when approving proposals they will be taking into consideration facts such as this? I don't mean to say that there will be any less funding within those areas, but perhaps that they would be funded at a constant rate while STEM disciplines might benefit more. does that make sense? maybe only to me..

This would be good for me (hopefully) but on the other hand, My research is on somthing that isn't such a huge problem in the US so if they consider the ideals behind what the stimulus packages was intended for, I probably wouldn't be considered anyway.

oh well.. I don't know. I just thought I'd see what people though since I'm going nuts just waiting...and waiting... and waiting.

[t_ruth]

anyone who applied in previous years trying to use your login to access your feedback forms? I thought they kept the same login so just curious if you are able to get in

[Chem09]

http://www.nsf.gov/recovery/

Weekly reports coming for those interested.

[even_it_up]

anyone who applied in previous years trying to use your login to access your feedback forms? I thought they kept the same login so just curious if you are able to get in

Sorry to admit, that yes (in my desperation) I have tried this. But it only tells me that the ratings sheet website is temporary unavailable. So no luck.

The days are dragging by ....

[snowcapk]

Biomed,

Personally my feeling is that graduate research fellowships would be a poor use of the stimulus. However difficult it is to find decent graduate funding in your field, I'm sure you'll agree that finding gainful employment after grad school will be even harder. (Well, maybe not if you're an engineer or an economist...) In the basic sciences there is no dearth of interested students, and essentially no positions in academia for graduates. I think the stimulus money is better spent on creating jobs/careers in the sciences by funding research (at the PI level). That way we alleviate (as much as a one-time burst of funding can) the current problem of producing too many PhDs with nowhere to go.

[BioMedSciMed]

Ech. As much as at pains me, I have to agree. Secretly I'd love to imagine that a good amount of the 3bil is going to us but realistically I know you're right. My area is biomedical engineering and unless I go into pharm, the situation is exactly as you describe; "too many PhD's, nowhere to go". So yeah... I'm sure they're thinking along similar lines.

[spanglish]

I called them, and they said that everyone would be notified by email on the same day in early April, and that results would be available online afterwards. As far as why it's taking so long, this is the government we're talking about, they're never efficient. Just my 2 cents.

[t_ruth]

I called them, and they said that everyone would be notified by email on the same day in early April, and that results would be available online afterwards. As far as why it's taking so long, this is the government we're talking about, they're never efficient. Just my 2 cents.

early April!?! ugh. I really needed to know by 4/1

[alh126]

I thought I remembered reading that people who did not get an award/honorable mention would be notified "as soon as possible." I took that to mean that people would be notified that they didn't get it earlier than those who won. Am I wrong? Do we all find out at the same time?

[spanglish]

I thought I remembered reading that people who did not get an award/honorable mention would be notified "as soon as possible." I took that to mean that people would be notified that they didn't get it earlier than those who won. Am I wrong? Do we all find out at the same time?

I never saw that anywhere, but the guy on their hotline told me that we'd all find out on the same day, unless we were ineligible, in which case we'd have already found out last month.

[t_ruth]

I never saw that anywhere, but the guy on their hotline told me that we'd all find out on the same day, unless we were ineligible, in which case we'd have already found out last month.

oh that's good to know! I was worried I'd be ineligible!

[mtlve]

I thought I remembered reading that people who did not get an award/honorable mention would be notified "as soon as possible." I took that to mean that people would be notified that they didn't get it earlier than those who won. Am I wrong? Do we all find out at the same time?

From what I picked up from last years thread, there is no order in which they send email notifications. It did seem like they sent the positives for a particular area before the negative (not completely sure of this). Amongst all of the areas, people were posting positives and negatives pretty much simultaneously for several hours (initial few were all positives).

They said that emails were going to be sent out last year before the list was published, but I received my email (a negative) after the list was published. People did hack into the system before it was published so lists of HMs were floating around online before that list was published, and that was probably why it was published before the emails went out. People also figured out that they won when they logged into the application system and there was a page for NSF Fellows. People that have their review codes from the prior year could also access their reviews. If you had three reviews, there was a chance that you may have got the award (2 means you did not make the initial cut). I do not know if any of these tricks will hold for this year. They might have fixed the glitches!

[t_ruth]

ooh! The screen I got when I tried to log on to the rating sheets changed!

[l'autodidacte]

How do you log onto the ratings sheets? If it's your first application, can you log on, or do you have to wait until they've posted all of them?

[t_ruth]

How do you log onto the ratings sheets? If it's your first application, can you log on, or do you have to wait until they've posted all of them?

It's my first time, so I won't get to see any until they send me the user name and password, but past applicants supposedly can use their old login info. When I tried my fastlane login before today I got a page error. Today I got a username/password error.

[even_it_up]

It's my first time, so I won't get to see any until they send me the user name and password, but past applicants supposedly can use their old login info. When I tried my fastlane login before today I got a page error. Today I got a username/password error.

It is letting you login to see rating sheets, but all you can see are previous years' reviews.

[t_ruth]

That's a change from 2 days ago, isn't it? At least we know there is some progress, lol.

[snowcapk]

It is letting you login to see rating sheets, but all you can see are previous years' reviews.

Yep. My applicant ID (which matches the review sheet lookup user ID) is different this year, so that's not surprising. I noticed that the password from last year is nine characters, same as the applicant ID. Do you think they randomly assign passwords or use the applicant ID to seed a password generator? How many ID/password pairs would we need to assess this?

Okay, everyone send me your old IDs/passwords so I can read your sheets^H^16 *ahem* unlock the code with my M4d H4X0R 5K1lLZ 8)

[snmack02]

I'm so anxious. Waiting really is the most part. I'd hate to ask this...but, let's say hypothetically that the rest of my application was good...but in my research proposal, I made few careless errors that I didn't realize until I hit submit. Errors, as in, some sentences were left...unfinished. Ugh. Do you guys think I basically have screwed up my chances?

[t_ruth]

I have no idea the accepted proposals I've seen before have been very polished (but those might just be the people who are willing to share theirs!).

[alh126]

VII. AWARD ADMINISTRATION INFORMATION

A. Notification of the Award

Notification of the fellowship award is made to the applicant by the Division of Graduate Education. Applicants whose applications are not selected for fellowship award will be advised as promptly as possible.

that's where I found the info that I thought meant people who didn't get it would know sooner. But it seems like in the past this hasn't been how it's worked? I don't know; this is my first year applying. I was hoping that every day that went by that I was NOT notified was a good sign. But I guess not? Eh, I'm just really tired of waiting...