vice Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 To be fair, the call center also answers questions about the application itself. The call center could also answer questions about stacking funding, changing schools, etc. It isn't *just* for crazy applicants waiting on the results.
whease Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 It seems like the person who called may have annoyed the manager with those questions, but at least it explains the variety of answers people have been getting, and gives a more convincing argument than I've seen previously that it actually is pointless for us to call. And, if these people are just being paid by NSF to sit around and deal with our phone calls, it seems like NSF probably doesn't care how often we call or how rude we are to the employees there. My impression was that the caller just wanted to be direct and make sure they were clear in what they were asking - it doesn't seem like they intended to get any more information out of the people there, but rather just clarify where the information is coming from. (I could be wrong, but I thought "self-entitled smarmy prick" seemed a touch extreme). I appreciated reading this, as it has convinced me not to believe every rumor coming out of the call center. Of course I had tried not to believe it all, but this helps me resist the urge... Zarniwoop3 does make an excellent point about the absurdity of having a call center just for us... Hopefully most of those people have other responsibilities for most of the rest of the year. Maybe they get to eat pizza and drink beer while they're doing this, so working the call center is like mini-vacay. Maybe they wear Hawaiian shirts as well. (I don't know where I'm going with this, but the image popped into my head so I felt like sharing.) Good luck waiting to all! While I'm posting, I'll go ahead and say 1:47 PM Thursday, and... 103 pages.
superchuchubu Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 The call center has always existed, from the beginning of the whole application process, and for several years. It is not something that was created in response to all the calls right now. And yes, it is largely pointless since the answers we get are the same as what they post online, but it does relieve anxiety and gives hope that there might just be some clue as to when awards will be announced...
spanglish Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 To be fair, the call center also answers questions about the application itself. The call center could also answer questions about stacking funding, changing schools, etc. It isn't *just* for crazy applicants waiting on the results. I called back around the transcript deadline, and one of the people whom I talked to said something about handling my transcript himself, so I think that they also do that. I got the impression from something else I heard/saw (can't remember which, it was a while ago) that they do everything for the application process, aside from making the final decisions on the awards. Who knows? If you really want to know, you could call them and ask :roll: , although hopefully in a more polite fashion that that a1000 person. Regardless, we'll all know in a short while...
Neurone Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 This is a bit late ans slightly off topic at this point, but did anyone else have formatting issues for their publication lists?
mtlve Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 There was a little bit of movement on the NSF website today. I just checked and the rating sheet page is there again, but you still cant login. I have no idea how long that has been that way since I have not checked since like 8AM.
aofthe1000days Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 Did you actually word your questions like that? Are you really that much of a self-entitled smarmy prick? Pretty disgusting to say the least. Are you actually that much of a self-entitled smarmy prick to have your only post asking me this? Guess so. I suppose I'd forgotten how difficult it is to convey tone of voice over the internet, but clearly saying things like "ma'am" and "thank you" are considered the height of rudeness these days. And to everyone who thinks it's rude that I called: I know we're all on edge waiting for this thing, but if people feel the need to criticize the fact that I tried to find out more detailed information in a polite and perfectly acceptable fashion, please feel free to PM or email me. Thanks.
spanglish Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 a1000, your wording was, from the perspective of any civilized person, quite rude. It is written in an arrogant, self-centered fashion, and regardless of the tone of voice that you used, saying such things as "I see. So no one at this line has any actual knowledge of when the awards will be announced or the actual reason for a delay." is not considered acceptable. I may just be old fashioned, but that strikes me as being rude.
joefalk Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 Total side note: Does this whole process have a willy wanka and the chocolate factory feel to anyone else? Odds seem incredible however you have some faint glimmer of hope that it may work out
vannik Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 Everyone applied (for free) to a fellowship that will give them $100,000 of the tax payer's money. If you don't want to wait for your rejection letter (which will be the result for the vast majority of us either way) just go in and pull your application. No more waiting and no more being a douche to people for no reason who have to answer every person who calls them asking a rhetorical question. I'll save you the trouble . . . anything you need to ask them is summed up with "I have no clue. Please stop bothering me."
bioangele Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 Well, well, I think the fun just got sucked out of this one... We're all in this together, remember .
caezar86 Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 I know everyone is tense, but there is no need to turn on each other. We're all just doing our best to deal with the anxiety, and I'm sure arrogance or rudeness were not intended. Seriously, don't let it get to you!
mtlve Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 As there was a request: (What we really need to do is to get someone who has gotten it this year on here. And see if their log in page has changed, with a letter or accept/decline option posted.) Using the trick from this morning (going to .../ratingsheets, clicking "forgot password," etc.), I was sent to a page with the following message: I could then view my 3 rating sheets via links on the side, etc etc When I try to access things now, I get the same closed message that everyone else has, and it appears that nothing is different about fastlane for me. mathguy14 or anyone else that saw that they got the award (even people with 3 highly rated reviews), If you login into fastlane, do you see an award letter yet or anything else there of interest yet?
ddrum001 Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 I have to agree with Vannik, but if we don't know by the 15th, I'm gonna sharpen my pitchfork and start recruiting for the mob.
curiousD Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 mathguy14 or anyone else that saw that they got the award (even people with 3 highly rated reviews), If you login into fastlane, do you see an award letter yet or anything else there of interest yet? Dude, we don't even know if that kid was telling the truth!
mathguy14 Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 i was telling the truth! don't ask me why i'm still here though...
citywalk Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 Even if they are telling the truth, they got it by a glitch. Who knows if the announcement they saw was a glitch as well. In my situation, and many other people, I assume, getting this fellowship will affect your school choice, or you'll try to use it as a bargaining tool. If you don't find out the results officially, it's extremely dangerous to make a decision or even use the results as a bargaining tool. I know the wait is killing everyone, but it seems best that we just wait it out.
curiousD Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 i was telling the truth! don't ask me why i'm still here though... Haha okay. Well, for your sake I hope that they weren't just testing scripts or something and that you were one of the finalized winners who thus got to see it. I can't decide whether or not it's a good thing I didn't get to see my review sheets yet (I missed the whole fiasco). I guess it's probably better.
mathguy14 Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 I certainly assume (= hope) that it wasn't a glitch (now THAT would be an odd one, eh? Unless they're using this extra time to remove awards rather than add to them...) But of course, I couldn't imagine acting on this "glitch-given" information, as the previous poster said.
blah2009 Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 mathguy, did you get asked to change your password on fastlane at all? Thanks. And you need to stick around! Since you're amnog the few whose fastlane log in page might actually change.
curiousD Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 It's incredible how many "guests" constantly watch this page.
JavaJawa Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 Mathguy, I'm afraid I have a bone to pick with you. Now, I don't think you're lying, hallucinating, evil, or Satan, as others on this board no doubt believe you to be. But I do blame you for being the cause of much misfortune on my part, for I have now spent the last several days since I heard of your "glitch" repeatedly clicking "reload" in the hopes it would happen again to me. This wouldn't have happened if it weren't for you. Now I'm off to reload my NSF page.
mathguy14 Posted April 7, 2009 Posted April 7, 2009 I wasn't the only one who it happened to! I'm sorry for such misfortune though!! I want to say that I "assume" no such glitch would reoccur, but of course I have no idea...
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