NSF GRFP

[hardboiledegg]

gah! mine is meeting today - 15th. I would me utterly surprised if I even got honorable mention. I keep praying to the sociology gods.

[belowthree]

My panel finished today! Why do they have to wait another month and a half to tell us? Ugh.

Ugh, you should see the process for full grant proposals. It takes 6 months between submission and panel review and that's only the target panel review date, sometimes it takes longer. Then after the panel reviews it, the funding decisions are made a month or so later by a slightly different body that takes into account the panel's recommendations but isn't just a rubber stamp. Grants definitely sometimes get recommended for funding by the panel and then not get funded. Frustrating!

And then there's the actual process where the NSF does decide to award you money, at which point they then go through another round of negotiations about exactly how *much* you might get. This means that budget you so carefully allocated gets slashed and burned and distilled down the even more barebones than you thought was possible. This process can take some time too. Remember, this is what happens for a wildly successful grant proposal. (NSF's funding rates are not high, if you get to the point that you are negotiating over the amount of the budget your proposal was a resounding success.)

So actually... in comparison the GRFP process is quite fast and friendly! I'm not sure if this makes you feel better, but maybe it'll help!

To say nothing of the differences in writing a full grant proposal and writing a thing for the GRFP.

[t_ruth]

exciting exciting! but we won't have news until the end of March, right?

[hardboiledegg]

Nothing until end of March. Last year they didn't tell some people until the beginning of April. GAH! Isn't it nuts that the decision is just floating out there?

[kdilks]

My only problem with them waiting so long is that getting an NSF fellowship can potentially change somebody's decision, and it really prevents those people from making a final decision and opening up a spot for somebody else until about 2 weeks before the April 15th deadline. If you're on the fence between a school with a generous financial offer and a better school where you'd just barely be scraping by as a TA, getting an NSF fellowship would really tip the scale.

[sabana15]

My only problem with them waiting so long is that getting an NSF fellowship can potentially change somebody's decision, and it really prevents those people from making a final decision and opening up a spot for somebody else until about 2 weeks before the April 15th deadline. If you're on the fence between a school with a generous financial offer and a better school where you'd just barely be scraping by as a TA, getting an NSF fellowship would really tip the scale.

From what I understand, I think the point is for the awards to be announced after everyone has made their decisions.

You might benefit more from speaking with the TA school and discussing your offer at fellowship school, rather than waiting for NSF funding.

[hardboiledegg]

apparently, NSF got a big bump from the stimulus. So they are not going to skimp on funding this year!! yay!

[math123]

apparently, NSF got a big bump from the stimulus. So they are not going to skimp on funding this year!! yay!

As potential grad students, citations are probably best ;-)

[hardboiledegg]

citations as to where I heard this?

Two faculty at my institution were on review panels this last weekend. They both told me this and that the reviewers were thrilled that they could offer more awards this year.

Is that a good enough citation?

[math123]

I'd like to believe you (and your sources) but I'm skeptical unless it's in writing. Needless to say, a generic boost in funding toward NSF is in no way a guarantee of increased number of graduate fellowships, this year, or in the future. But again, I hope you are right!

[even_it_up]

This suggests that maybe there is increased funding for GRF's this year. We can hope anyway...

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?c ... &from=news

[Falmouth]

This also. Funding for 700 more fellows. But don't know how many more per year. Also, this is the request. Actual funding for 09 not posted yet. Good luck to all.

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?c ... &from=news

[510bones]

against all reason i check fastlane daily.

ok, sometimes twice a day.

[t_ruth]

against all reason i check fastlane daily.

ok, sometimes twice a day.

I do every other day or maybe twice a week. I'm also waiting for NDSEG. Anyone else?

[mtlve]

For those checking fastlane, they do not post the results on fastlane. You have to wait until they post the results on the website or get an email (or if you have the review codes from last year-unlike me). If remember correctly, fellows were able to log into fastlane and get a fellows page before they received email notification. I do not know whether this was all of them or a fraction of them. Here is to a couple more weeks of waiting. I too am waiting for NSF and NDSEG.

[even_it_up]

against all reason i check fastlane daily.

ok, sometimes twice a day.

I was too, until I noticed that this (Please note: Award notifications are expected to be sent out in Early April) was recently posted at nsfgrfp.org

The wait continues....

[510bones]

argh.

[mtlve]

I was too, until I noticed that this (Please note: Award notifications are expected to be sent out in Early April) was recently posted at nsfgrfp.org

The wait continues....

Maybe they are delaying it because they got lots more money and they need to decide who else to give awards too!- I know this is wishful thinking.

[kdilks]

Nope, they just don't wants schools to be able to factor the scholarship into their admissions process.

[DarlinClementine]

against all reason i check fastlane daily.

ok, sometimes twice a day.

Despite knowing that I won't find out anything, I keep checking as well.

I started to do okay until my former boss emailed me asking if I'd heard anything yet. He's one of the reviewers for the thing (note: this is fully disclosed so any ethical violation is unlikely). But I did think he might have the scoop!

My heart lept when I saw the email subject (NSF), and quickly plummeted when I read the note... Now I'm back to checking NSF, this forum, and anything else I can think of to maybe come across some indication of my results.

*sigh*

[Nardo]

what's up with getting your advisor to check on my behalf as well?

[DarlinClementine]

what's up with getting your advisor to check on my behalf as well?

You got it, dude!

"...So this friend of mine was wondering if you've heard anything on their grant. The name is Nardo...its all one word."

[chuck_b]

Hey, so I didn't even know this thread existed till now!! lol

I'm happy I found it, because I too log into Fastlane every couple of days hoping something pops up either way. I just want the decision to be over with already. For some reason its even harder than waiting for college acceptances. I guess its because there is no "fixed" date to look forward to.

Anyways, a quick question ...

I unrealistically put down MIT as the school I'd like to attend (I dont know if you remember this question on the app but they asked you to put down a school). Now, I was rejected from MIT already ... do you think that this would play a factor in their decision? I always wondered if they waited this long so that they can see which schools the applicants got into or what kdilks said about them not wanting schools to factor it in ... I dunno.

Also, I didn't take the GRE before November 30 - I took it a day after on Dec 1st, so I never submitted my scores. Do you think that this too would affect the decision somewhat?

Thanks!

[finest_engineering]

chuck_b: If you did well on the GRE you probably should have submitted your scores anyways and just called them about it. They don't require GRE scores though. You want to know whether not submitting GRE scores will hurt you...

Last year, when I applied to the GRFP, I had submitted GRE scores. However, ETS (the GRE people) screwed up my record and by the time they fixed the issue the NSF had already reviewed my application. I was a little upset about it because I did well on the GRE. I don't think it would have mattered though. My application was reviewed by two people ( although I understand it is supposed to be three, sort of weird ) and one gave me a 4 for intellectual merit and a 4 for broader impacts, and the other gave me a 5 for intellectual merit and a 2 for broader impacts. I don't think any GRE score would have alleviated the broader impacts '2' that most certainly killed my chances.

Anyhow, I don't think the GRE matters much, if you are extremely borderline then they might take it into account, but it is all about the essays.

As for not getting into MIT, the NSF doesn't know you didn't get in and if you get the fellowship you can use it wherever you did get in.

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. =)

[chicagocat]

To weigh in: a fellow research assistant decided to not apply to grad school this year, although he had already submitted the NSF. He spend ages on the phone with the NSF people, because it's complicated to withdraw apparently. Anyway, he asked them why so late, and the Director of the NSF said it was purposefully delayed as to not influence admissions (although he admitted it did change admissions sometimes, as people got moved off the waitlist or accepted into a different place because they had funding, but at least everyone's on the same playing field to get in).