NSF GRFP

[t_ruth]

anyone who won in a social science willing to help me out w/advice for next year? thanks!

[egosumliber]

I am in limbo, and it sucks. I guess I should be happy I didn't get rejected already, but being forced to wait who knows how long for the still-likely possibility of being rejected (or being given an HM, which would be cool, but still) does suck.

[zooooooz]

...and to the previous poster, I had an undergrad GPA of around a 3.0. Nobody gives a shit about grades, I got in to all the top schools.

[mtlve]

no luck for me this year. I am excited to read the reviews.

What I noticed: Half of the awards in my area went to UCSF. The others were at MIT, Harvard, etc. UCSF awards this year nearly doubled (17->30)

Conclusion: you dont have a shot from non top schools! No one in my ~top 10 program got far in the process this year (usually have a few).

NSF needs to start spreading the wealth! There our excellent people at excellent schools that are not named UCSF.

Just need to vent. Good luck to those waiting. I hope they give you some good news soon.

[Hekog]

I called NSF,

I know many people feel lke we shouldn't be calling but I was extremly polite and I didn't bother them for that long.

I just asked how many rejection notifications had been sent out, the lady said "I can't comment on exactly how many but there were a significant amount sent"

additionally, she said that the number of honorable mentions differs from year to year, that the number of awards already awarded in your specific area doesn't mean much (so for all of the people thinking the number allotted for their discipline have already been given out, have heart!). I forgot to ask for timeline but I'm sure someone has already done that. So although I'm trying not to get my hopes up, it seems that things are not looking too bleak for us limbo people yet. (I'm chosing to ignore the fact that if our applications had been that great we would already have one... I know my area isn't all that interesting or popular so I'm shocked that I'm still in the running even!)

This is pretty good info. Thanks!

[xanax.tonight]

To winners who have not received an email: have you checked you spam filter?

[goldeneagle1219]

They are spreading the wealth around in other areas. I got NSF and I'm in undergrad at the University of Southern Mississippi (which is your typical state school) and I am going to grad school in the joint University of Memphis/ University of Tennessee Health Science Center biomedical engineering program. UM-UT is a good program, but it is not one of the top programs and I still got NSF. So there is hope if you are not from one of the top schools. It probably helped that I'm from Mississippi though, I'm a woman in engineering, and I'm in polymer science in undergrad but will be in biomedical engineering in grad school. NSF does love interdisciplinary research. I really honestly didn't think I would get it though, so I am pleasantly surprised!

[BioMedSciMed]

the number of HMs each year is huge... ~1400. even if they picked another 200 people, that only gives us a 14% chance. overall, our odds are way worse than before, because the pool of applicants is more selective now.

So... I'm a shameless optimist so let me say; I agree with you that at this point there is a very good chance of an honorable mention or even nothing at all- but considering the fact that many people keep "honorable mention- NSF GRFP" on their CV for quite a long time, it IS something (or as my mom would say "it's better than a sharp stick in the eye"). Maybe I'm not looking at things in the correct way, but In my way of thinking; before we had a 10% chance of winning, now there are many fewer applicants remaining and even if they give out 1400 HM's and 200 more fellowships, you're right that we have a 14% chance... but that extra 4% boost sure is making me hopeful. regardless, I don't see how a change from a 10% chance to a 14% chance makes our odds "worse"... but again, I'm a biologist and not a mathematician for a reason.

Finally; When I was talking with the NSF lady I specifically asked "so.. you guys sent out a lot of rejections and no honorable mentions and there are still awards.. so... it seems like there will be a lot of rejections and a lot of honorable mentions still to go."

her response: "Again, I can't comment as to anyone's chances but not necessarily, the number of honorable mentions could change significantly and they're still waiting to know what the total number of fellowships given out will be"

so here's my SUPER optimistic idea; they reserved back enough of us to cushion for the possibility that they will get the max possible number of fellowships awarded this year. They told everybody already if they knew they definitely ARE (or are not :-( sorry guys) getting a fellowship and then out of us remaining people they'll give as many fellowships out as they can and then give HM's to as many people as they want and then the rest head home to drink.

[math123]

I agree, these people are biased toward the top schools. In my field, 60 per cent of the awards went to people from top schools. Although I managed to get into three of the top schools, despite nay-sayers who said it wasn't possible because I went to a "second-rate" school, I'm still quite bitter. Mathematicians, and especially those who sit on these panels, are elitist assholes.

[bachikarn]

For those of you who did not have "good" GPAs, could you tell us what you think the strengths of your application were? Publications, sick recommendation letters, etc? Just curious. Trying to figure out what I should highlight in my application next year if I don't get it this year (I'm in limbo). : ]

[nsfneedstohurryup]

Maybe I'm not looking at things in the correct way, but In my way of thinking; before we had a 10% chance of winning, now there are many fewer applicants remaining and even if they give out 1400 HM's and 200 more fellowships, you're right that we have a 14% chance... but that extra 4% boost sure is making me hopeful.

i'm all for optimism (i just like to prepare myself for rejection...), but before, we had greater than a 10% chance of winning, knowing that our applications were at least decent ( given that a ton of applications are terrible (ie people don't know how to address broader impacts, etc))

now, the applicants selected are more or less of the same caliber, so a given application receiving an award is likely to be much more random, and we probably have nearly equal chances of receiving the award

[xanax.tonight]

anyone else here in limbo and from (went to high school in) a state that typically doesn't produce a lot of recipients?

I asked this last night, but again does anyone know if there are statistics on recipients from previous years by state?

[BioMedSciMed]

i'm all for optimism (i just like to prepare myself for rejection...), but before, we had greater than a 10% chance of winning, knowing that our applications were at least decent ( given that a ton of applications are terrible (ie people don't know how to address broader impacts, etc))

now, the applicants selected are more or less of the same caliber, so a given application receiving an award is likely to be much more random, and we probably have nearly equal chances of receiving the award

Ah HA!! that's exactly it! don't you SEEEEE??? your application is IN that final pack. that's what I'm saying!! meaning the people in charge of giving out tons of money looked at your app and said "man... they should get it too... " not " definitely NO."

I don't naturally have a ton of confidence and I don't go to carnegie-mellon or harvard or MIT... in fact, I turned down University of Chicago to go to Ohio State (- a decision I'm sort of questioning now that I see the preponderance of elite private schools in the awards list... )

my point is, if our applications are still there, it means we've got to be pretty close to just a good as anyone else still in limbo, so just the fact that they didn't laugh my application out of the running for going to Ohio State is something to me.

[mtlve]

I agree, these people are biased toward the top schools. In my field, 60 per cent of the awards went to people from top schools. Although I managed to get into three of the top schools, despite nay-sayers who said it wasn't possible because I went to a "second-rate" school, I'm still quite bitter. Mathematicians, and especially those who sit on these panels, are elitist assholes.

Yeah. In the past it has usually been mostly top schools and maybe a couple of the average schools. This year they did not even give the mid-level schools a look in my panal. On top of that they did not even spread the awards out amongst the top5 school, since 1/2 of them went to UCSF. I seriously wonder if a big chuck of my panal was from UCSF or something. It just seems really strange that there is not a distribution at all (even amongst the top5 schools). It will be interesting to see where the HMs come from.

To the prior poster, several people from my school applied with minority status (ethnic, geographic, and 1st generation student). Their apps were well written and addressed broader impacts. Everyone got a rejection and no one is in limbo now. Either the quality of the students at my top 10 school are declining or there was some major bias on panals in the life sciences this year. I am inclined to believe it is the latter since a lot of my classmates turned down acceptances at multiple other top10 schools.

[sabana15]

I got it and I went to a small LAC that is completely unknown and that rarely sends students to grad school. I think it just depends.

[chickenandwaffles]

I got it and I went to a small LAC that is completely unknown and that rarely sends students to grad school. I think it just depends.

my 0.02, i believe there is a relationship between research (as measured by publications and funding) and "big name" schools (and their respective departments). so it isn't surprising to me that "big name" schools get a lot of grants. they have research many consider "cutting edge," and many faculty working in these "cutting edge" areas work help their students on the applications. to me, it makes plenty of sense.

now, as to whether or publications and/or funding (endowment, external grants, etc) are representative of "good research" is another entirely different question.

and i would think this differs across disciplines. something purely quantitative, (ie, mathematics), I imagine, would suffer less from the "eliteness" effect, compared to, something heavy in technology/industry (ie, chemistry, physics). IMO, at least.

[zooooooz]

To winners who have not received an email: have you checked you spam filter?

Yes, I checked. And I personally know another winner who also has definitely not received an e-mail. I'm not sure what the deal is. Some friends who won last year say it took them 3-4 days before they got their e-mail after the NSF publicly posted the list and a note about e-mails being sent. Unclear if they are as bad about sending rejection e-mails.

[math123]

and i would think this differs across disciplines. something purely quantitative, (ie, mathematics), I imagine, would suffer less from the "eliteness" effect, compared to, something heavy in technology/industry (ie, chemistry, physics). IMO, at least.

Nope. Mathematicians are as elitist as they come--something, as a mathematician, I find very off-putting.

[Neurone]

Just talked to a representative there and it seems that all the rejections have been sent out. Just check your spam filters and make sure your mailbox isn't full so that it bounced or something.

[blah2009]

I'm just wondering if we can call or otherwise confirm if we are on the rejected list for those of us who didn't get an email.

[Hekog]

As an aside, I've found chemists to be pretty non-elitist. There's lots of highly regarded work from professors at lower ranked schools. They get grants, they get awards, they get invited to seminars at highly ranked schools, etc. As mentioned earlier though, I'm pretty naive still.

[Hekog]

I'm just wondering if we can call or otherwise confirm if we are on the rejected list for those of us who didn't get an email.

I think my heart rate would go up to like 200bpm if I made that phone call. I think I'll just take the slow route and wait so that I may prevent an aneurysm.

[blah2009]

Dont be scared. I just called, and she confirmed I'm in the second batch of people who are being reviewed for an honorable mention or award. She said that those in limbo should have received a limbo notice and that we'll get an update by the end of next week.....

[chickenandwaffles]

Dont be scared. I just called, and she confirmed I'm in the second batch of people who are being reviewed for an honorable mention or award. She said that those in limbo should have received a limbo award and that we'll get an update by the end of next week.....

does that mean you got an email that said you were "in limbo?"

[blah2009]

Supposedly we were to be sent a limbo notice, not award (horrid typo)...lol. But you can call and confirm. They are pretty nice on the phone.