NSF GRFP

[Friar.Tuck]

Lo! I hath risen this fine morning, and there wert a courier messenger who wast awaiting me with tidings of a most joyous nature! I shalt now go and celebrate, in whatever manner I shalt find most befitting me. And for those wycked souls who won naught but supercomputing time, verily this dost show the anger of the LORD at thee for thine actions, which wouldst be by many called folly and foolishness! Lo, the hour is at hand!

[liatris]

Congrats to everyone that got the award. I am glad the wait is over!

Question for 2nd years who applied:

If you took time off before grad school (to do something in your field), were you actually told you were ineligible? The Director, Bill Hahn, told me that this time counts as grad school and I would not be eligible my second year. This review process is not very formal, so I am wondering if there is a way to get by this. Has anyone actually done this?

Thanks

I called my local program officer before I applied and he said I was still eligible. I worked for my major professor for a year in between my grad and undergrad so I was afraid I wouldn't be eligible, but I was.

[liatris]

Not a single award for Life Sciences - Conservation Biology! If I had known I would have picked a different sub-discipline, my research would have fit in several other categories.

[Dan334477]

I got honorable mention as well. I got Very good or excellent in everything except one reviewer gave me a poor for broader impacts. The criticism was that I did not sufficiently explain how I was going to disseminate my research among my discipline's community, and that I should have specified which conferences I would attend to present my research. That seems a bit specific to me, but it's a reasonable criticism. But is that much really worth knocking me down all the way to poor? The reviewer ignored all the other broader impact stuff in my application (which the other reviewers thought was substantial). I guess everyone interprets this broader impact stuff in his/her own way, and you just have to hope you get lucky.

And congrats to everyone who finally got an award!

Question for other board members: Hypothetically, if I were to change my intended PhD field of study before applying for NSF next year ( (I have not started a PhD program yet, nor will I by the time I apply again), would my chances get worse? I have a lot of undergraduate research experience and a few publications and presentations where I'm a secondary author, so I feel I have a pretty good evidence to show a strong aptitude for doing research. However, none of these UG research experiences are related to the field I'm thinking of switching into. Do you think my chances would get worse, and if so how much?

[Dead Skunk 2]

I figured out why I couldn't see my rating sheets. Apparently the URL changed. I was using the link from the website (which didn't work), but the one in the email did work.

Anyway, my three rating sheets were:

VG/E

G/VG (this one misspelled my name )

E/VG

[cleff]

I also got an HM.

What are the ratings some of the winners are getting on their sheets (# of excellent/very goods/etc)? I got 4 excellent and 2 very good, but the writing in the reviews doesn't seem to be too beneficial for retooling essays...

I somehow managed to get one...

VG/E

VG/E

VG/G

They seemed to have liked my variety of experience, though I've always thought of it as "Jack of all trades and master of none"... Very divergent opinions on my Broader Impacts too, huh.

[redeye]

I called my local program officer before I applied and he said I was still eligible. I worked for my major professor for a year in between my grad and undergrad so I was afraid I wouldn't be eligible, but I was.

Yup, I took 2 years off and worked in a lab (on a grant tied to what I'm doing now). I was eligible and I got an award.

[bachikarn]

I got an HM. It's good for it to be finally over, but it sucks when one person on the rating sheet said you did something good, and another said you needed to work on it. It'll make it a little confusing when I apply next year

Does anyone know how these rating sheets actually work? They tell us very good and what not, but is there actually a secret numerical score that is more specific. From my research before, it seemed like the third rating sheet was like the final decision. Is this not true? My break down was:

1) VG/VG

2) E/E

3) E/VG

I'm a little surprised I got so many excellent in Intellectual Merritt. I though if I had any chance it was for me to really promote my Broader Impacts

PS: Anyone else who got an HM scared they didn't get anything from the email title? I would have thought they still would have written "Congrats!" in the title if you got an HM, but it just said "NSF Notification." I was worried they just rejected me, haha.

[redeye]

Question for other board members: Hypothetically, if I were to change my intended PhD field of study before applying for NSF next year ( (I have not started a PhD program yet, nor will I by the time I apply again), would my chances get worse? I have a lot of undergraduate research experience and a few publications and presentations where I'm a secondary author, so I feel I have a pretty good evidence to show a strong aptitude for doing research. However, none of these UG research experiences are related to the field I'm thinking of switching into. Do you think my chances would get worse, and if so how much?

Have you read the essay advice from Philip Guo? It's an excellent resource, and he addresses your question:

http://www.stanford.edu/~pgbovine/fellowship-tips.htm

"I would strongly suggest writing a proposal that's somehow based on work that you have already done, so that you can tie it in with your Previous Research essay (cross-references!!!). In other words, don't just make up some cool topic out of thin air. If you're not that excited about your current work and desperately want to switch to something completely different once you start your Ph.D., now is not the time to express your discontent. It's dangerous to propose a research project that's not related to what you've already done because it dampens your credibility. Show, don't tell."

[cleff]

I got an HM. It's good for it to be finally over, but it sucks when one person on the rating sheet said you did something good, and another said you needed to work on it. It'll make it a little confusing when I apply next year

Does anyone know how these rating sheets actually work? They tell us very good and what not, but is there actually a secret numerical score that is more specific. From my research before, it seemed like the third rating sheet was like the final decision. Is this not true? My break down was:

1) VG/VG

2) E/E

3) E/VG

I'm a little surprised I got so many excellent in Intellectual Merritt. I though if I had any chance it was for me to really promote my Broader Impacts

PS: Anyone else who got an HM scared they didn't get anything from the email title? I would have thought they still would have written "Congrats!" in the title if you got an HM, but it just said "NSF Notification." I was worried they just rejected me, haha.

A secret numerical score is likely, because I saw my "estimated percentile rank" when I went to my rating sheets, which wouldn't make sense just based on the 3-level ratings.

[weninger]

Got it!

Congrats to all of the others fellows and honorees.

[sheherazade]

For comparison, I got an HM with E/G, VG/VG, and E/E.

[mechEgirl]

I got HM with E/VG, E/VG, G/VG. The person that gave me a good contradicted everything the two excellents said making for yet another HM and no useful feedback.

[Higgins_the_Brave]

I got it with

E/E

E/E

E/VG

My comments were also weird and nonsensical. I think my discipline was just favored.

[denidzo]

Congrats to everyone that got the award. I am glad the wait is over!

Question for 2nd years who applied:

If you took time off before grad school (to do something in your field), were you actually told you were ineligible? The Director, Bill Hahn, told me that this time counts as grad school and I would not be eligible my second year. This review process is not very formal, so I am wondering if there is a way to get by this. Has anyone actually done this?

Thanks

I actually got an HM, this was the first year I applied and the last I was eligible. I am a second year, and in my exception essay I explained why I took time off between. The reason I got HM was not because I was a second year, but because my methodological portions need some polishing, and I agree with that assessment. So I was considered even though I was a second year with time off.

[denidzo]

They seemed to have liked my variety of experience, though I've always thought of it as "Jack of all trades and master of none"... Very divergent opinions on my Broader Impacts too, huh.

I got several goods on my ratings sheets, nowhere near the "E" and "VG" count others with an HM got. But they loved the diversity of experience I had and my research experience, so it elevated my app to eligible. Jack of all trades kind of describes it, yes. If I were eligible to apply next year I would broaden my methodological information. But I'm happy with the HM.

[denidzo]

Lo! I hath risen this fine morning, and there wert a courier messenger who wast awaiting me with tidings of a most joyous nature! I shalt now go and celebrate, in whatever manner I shalt find most befitting me. And for those wycked souls who won naught but supercomputing time, verily this dost show the anger of the LORD at thee for thine actions, which wouldst be by many called folly and foolishness! Lo, the hour is at hand!

Yeah, whatever.

[gregoryfbrown]

I got an HM and am pretty disappointed by this. However, one weird thing is I got 4 rating sheets and it seems like everyone else got three. Mine were:

E/VG

E/VG

VG/G

G/F

[BioChemGod]

Ok, folks, no kidding this time, sorry about the last post, I just wanted to hit 200.

Anyway, I got my rating sheets back, and they were:

G/VG

G/G

G/VG

And I won with that! Don't ever let anyone tell you that being an African-American isn't awesome, even if you're only 1/8. It is, and this proves it!

[PSi_light]

I got it with

E/E

E/E

E/VG

My comments were also weird and nonsensical. I think my discipline was just favored.

That's what I got! Talking to a friend who got it first round, she was being chewed up! (I don't know what exact ratings she got though). I wonder why we weren't first round. For my I think it might be because I am probably the first person ever from my undergrad to get the award and I probably could have chosen a better/more appropriate division to be in.

[GraduateSchoolNut]

Does anyone know what the hell this means?:

XYZ's academic background is a little less competitive.

I have a 3.9 GPA and 40% of my grades were A+'s, which did not factor into my GPA.

Very confused about this one. That person offered less constructive criticism as well and wrote less.

[self-assemble]

Does anyone know what the hell this means?:

XYZ's academic background is a little less competitive.

I have a 3.9 GPA and 40% of my grades were A+'s, which did not factor into my GPA.

Very confused about this one. That person offered less constructive criticism as well and wrote less.

You cannot use reason to comprehend processes emanating from the NSF. Try black magic, voodoo, or something of the like.

[skinkididoo]

A secret numerical score is likely, because I saw my "estimated percentile rank" when I went to my rating sheets, which wouldn't make sense just based on the 3-level ratings.

I agree. I won with VG/VG, VG/VG, and VG/E, although all the reviewers said I had an interesting and relevant project, a strong background, and strong broader impacts. (my E reviewer called my personal statement "heart warming" haha)

Then again, I'm also geosciences, and we did get more new awards than other disciplines.

[math123]

Anyway, I got my rating sheets back, and they were:

G/VG

G/G

G/VG

And I won with that! Don't ever let anyone tell you that being an African-American isn't awesome, even if you're only 1/8. It is, and this proves it!

People like you make me sick. You totally used the black card to get ahead. I got e/e, and vg/g and received shit.

[blah2009]

Did anyone reuse their essay from year's past? Or tweaked it very slightly? It seems like my research proposal is the only thing that needs broader impacts improvement. Everything else got good comments.