NSF GRFP

[pom]

he's a man of broad impacts.

[bioangele]

he's a man of broad impacts.

more like hard impacts

[blah2009]

Hm...just got turned down by NDSEG as an alternate. One more rejection to go!..=).

[margot]

yea, this nsf page estimates 2 more weeksof waiting: http://www.nsfgrfp.org/

i also got confirmation of pending status, almost immediately after i sent the request via email here is a copy of the email:

Dear XXX,

Thank you for your interest in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP).

At this time, your application status is still pending. All applicants whose status is currently pending will receive either an honorable mention, or if additional awards are available, may receive one of the additional awards.

Unfortunately, we regret that we do not have a specific timeframe for the final decisions about how many awards can be made. We will, however, notify applicants as soon as possible when a decision has been made. We sincerely appreciate your patience.

If you have any further questions, please contact this office toll-free at (866) 673-4737, via postal mail at the address below, or via email at info@nsfgrfp.org

Sincerely,

GRF Operations Center

1818 N Street NW

Suite T-50

Washington, DC 20036-2479

Website:

http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/grfp/

http://www.nsfgrfp.org

What email address did you send the email to? Thanks.

[dingaling]

What email address did you send the email to? Thanks.

info@nsfgradfellows.org. good luck!

[MrHippo]

Hm...just got turned down by NDSEG as an alternate. One more rejection to go!..=).

hmm i am still waiting as an ndseg alternate myself. (but i already got nsf reject). sorry to hear you got turned down. i didn't think they would notify this early. has this happened to anyone else?

[mechemems]

hmm i am still waiting as an ndseg alternate myself. (but i already got nsf reject). sorry to hear you got turned down. i didn't think they would notify this early. has this happened to anyone else?

I'm alternate NDSEG and limbo NSF....anyone know if alternate NDSEG could get stimulus money? there is much less available info on NDSEG than NSF.....

[egosumliber]

NDSEG is funded by the various military branch research offices - I don't think these were affected by the stimulus.

[e_sac]

So I got in contact with the director. Good news, everyone is at least HM (we all knew that). But more importantly, they are definitely deciding how much of the 3 billion stimulus is to be used for NSF GRFP. Good luck folks.

Hey Blah2009, it appears that you have the inside scoop from the director. Would you mind updating us all when you hear what they approve in the way of additional funding for the GRFP? Right now there's a lot of speculation, but I would say it's all too up in the air until they approve the budget. I figure they'll also know at least a week before we know (knowing how things have been going thus far), which would help all the nervous folks here on the forum.

Good luck to all with NSF and hitting the enter button on college acceptances (for those not already in grad school).

[blah2009]

I called ASEE. Lady said no NDSEG alternates are being accepted this year.

[mechemems]

I called ASEE. Lady said no NDSEG alternates are being accepted this year.

I wonder when the rest of the letters letting us know will come be sent

[blah2009]

i never received a letter. You'll get one on monday.

[blah2009]

I think people are confused as to what happened with the NDSEG. I never received a rejection email. I called up ASEE asking them about NDSEG alternates. She checked the list of awardees and people who had accepted, and said it looks like no alternates got it this year. Whether you got in as an alternate is not based on stimulus funding, but solely on the person ahead of you turning NDSEG down. She also told me update letters will still be sent on the 20th.

[MrHippo]

I think people are confused as to what happened with the NDSEG. I never received a rejection email. I called up ASEE asking them about NDSEG alternates. She checked the list of awardees and people who had accepted, and said it looks like no alternates got it this year. Whether you got in as an alternate is not based on stimulus funding, but solely on the person ahead of you turning NDSEG down. She also told me update letters will still be sent on the 20th.

that's odd. why then would one person get a rejection and the rest of us, not?

[MrHippo]

that's odd. why then would one person get a rejection and the rest of us, not?

actually, someone just posted that they were accepted today off the waitlist for ndseg. i guess one of you is giving incorrect information.

[blah2009]

call ASEE tomorrow at (202) 331-3516 to find out your status, if you don't believe me.

[greentallica]

I'm in limbo and I sent an email to info@nsfgradfellows.org asking for an update on my application earlier today and haven't received a reply. I think this is odd in light of other poster's info that they got back a reply pretty much right after sending their email. Anyone else on the same boat?

[Moxie]

I'm in limbo and I sent an email to info@nsfgradfellows.org asking for an update on my application earlier today and haven't received a reply. I think this is odd in light of other poster's info that they got back a reply pretty much right after sending their email. Anyone else on the same boat?

I e-mailed them a few days ago - no response. I called them today during the day and got someone to confirm my limbo status. Try calling during business hours tomorrow.

[Hekog]

I'm in limbo and I sent an email to info@nsfgradfellows.org asking for an update on my application earlier today and haven't received a reply. I think this is odd in light of other poster's info that they got back a reply pretty much right after sending their email. Anyone else on the same boat?

I sent an email at 2:30 and didn't get a reply after two hours. I got fairly nervous, so I just resent the same email and ended up getting a reply within 5 minutes. Luckily, I'm officially in limbo.

So yeah, assuming that you sent it some reasonable time before 6pm Eastern (this is when their offices close, I think?) then maybe just go ahead and send them another one for the morning.

[Higgins_the_Brave]

Holy Shit! As if the waiting weren't miserable enough...

NO DOLLHOUSE THIS WEEK!

What a pisser.

[dumbmatter]

i propose that we start calling it "purgatory" instead of "limbo" because purgatory sounds way cooler.

[Neurone]

C'mon, we'll never get into the National Academy of Science believing in purgatory!

[laura510]

C'mon, we'll never get into the National Academy of Science believing in purgatory!

We believe in it in an artsy way, you know, think Dante. Tortured souls that we are.

[PSi_light]

I'm in limbo and I sent an email to info@nsfgradfellows.org asking for an update on my application earlier today and haven't received a reply. I think this is odd in light of other poster's info that they got back a reply pretty much right after sending their email. Anyone else on the same boat?

Did you include your applicant ID number? I got a fast reply and had included mine in the email. I'd guess it makes it easier for them to find us on the system.

[PSi_light]

Taken straight from the wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo):

"In Roman Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin limbus, edge or boundary, referring to the "edge" of Hell) is an idea about the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the damned. Limbo is not an official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church or any other. Medieval theologians described the underworld ("hell", "hades", "infernum") as divided into four distinct parts: hell of the damned (which some call gehenna), purgatory, limbo of the fathers, and limbo of infants.

The Limbo of the Patriarchs or Limbo of the Fathers (Latin Limbus Patrum), also the Bosom of Abraham or Paradise, is seen as the temporary state of those who, in spite of the personal sins they may have committed, died in the friendship of God, but could not enter Heaven until redemption by Jesus Christ made it possible. The term "Limbo of the Fathers" was a medieval name for the part of the underworld (Hades) where the patriarchs of the Old Testament were believed to be kept until Christ's soul descended into it by his death[1] through crucifixion and freed them (see Harrowing of hell). The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes Christ's descent into "hell" as meaning primarily that "the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead." It adds: "But he descended there as Saviour, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there." It does not use the word "Limbo".[2]

The Limbo of Infants is a hypothesis about the permanent status of the unbaptized who die in infancy, too young to have committed personal sins, but not having been freed from original sin. Since at least the time of Augustine, theologians, considering baptism to be necessary for the salvation of those to whom it can be administered have debated the fate of unbaptized innocents, and the theory of the Limbo of Infants is one of the hypotheses that have been formulated as a proposed solution. Some who hold this theory regard the Limbo of Infants as a state of maximum natural happiness, others as one of "mildest punishment" consisting at least of privation of the beatific vision and of any hope of obtaining it. This theory, in any of its forms, has never been dogmatically defined by the Church, but it is permissible to hold it. Recent Catholic theological speculation tends to stress the hope that these infants may attain heaven instead of the supposed state of Limbo; however, the directly opposed theological opinion also exists, namely that there is no afterlife state intermediate between salvation and damnation, and that all the unbaptized are damned.[3]"

I kinda like the limbo term, especially now knowing there are two divisions of it. There are those of us who will be "lifted up" to a fellowship and those of us who will stay in Honorable Mention (which is a sort of limbo because most of us have no use for supercomputer time... and we'll always have to decide whether or not to include it in "awards earned" lists). Okay at the fear I already took this too far I'll end now. An no... I'm not trying to say NSF Fellowship = heaven, but it works for the metaphor.