NDSEG Fellowship 2012-2013

[olorwen]

I'm mechanical engineering, and I got the "still being considered" email, too.

[anacron]

Got the waitlist email. Computer science and currently attending.

[dgnd13]

Waitlist e-mail, electrical engineering and currently attending.

[FrankForum]

Awarded the Fellowship!  I'm in atmospheric science (applied through geosciences).

Congratulations Banana!

[theoretician]

Wait list email as well. I'm in chemistry and will start phd in the fall.

[Osiander]

Well it looks like there have been a couple rejections in biosciences according to the results page. So I guess "still being considered" doesn't mean nothing.

[FrankForum]

Well it looks like there have been a couple rejections in biosciences according to the results page. So I guess "still being considered" doesn't mean nothing.

Agreed!  Waiting to hear does mean something!!!!!  Sorry it took some rejections for us to know that.  Really noticeable maybe, I haven't seen a single bioscience acceptance...

[InquilineKea]

I hate how they start the waitlist e-mail with 'We are pleased to inform you...'

 

Buildin' me up just to break me down.

 

I know. I screamed on Facebook

 

Not getting the NSF almost destroyed my entire life.

 

Still, I'm not sure if I can be optimistic. There seem to be almost as many waitlists as offers here. Ugh - has this ever happened last year?

 

What is the rough ratio of acceptances, rejections, and waitlists so far?

 

Also, what are one's chances of getting the award in one's 2nd year of graduate study as compared to one's first year?

 

(shortlisted; planetary atmospheres; applied through geosciences)

 

==

 

Is anyone else unable to log into their account? I keep on trying the password reset emails and none of them are working...

Edited April 3, 2013 by InquilineKea

[FrankForum]

I know. I screamed on Facebook

 

Not getting the NSF almost destroyed my entire life.

 

Still, I'm not sure if I can be optimistic. There seem to be almost as many waitlists as offers here. Ugh - has this ever happened last year?

 

What is the rough ratio of acceptances, rejections, and waitlists so far?

 

Also, what are one's chances of getting the award in one's 2nd year of graduate study as compared to one's first year?

 

(shortlisted; planetary atmospheres; applied through geosciences)

Reviewing the past five years this has never happened that I see.  In the past applicants complained that the info came past the April 15th deadline.  Perhaps they are trying to get info out sooner even if many of us are in limbo.

 

Lots of wait lists, few acceptance, quite a few rejections.

 

The work you do in the first year on the program can help you when you reapply.  They will see more grades, more publications, research projects, etc... so there is no inherent benefit of being a 2nd applicant, but if you used the year productively it can help a lot!

 

good lucck

[InquilineKea]

Thanks!

 

At the moment, I wonder if the shortlist simply means that they've identified their strongest candidates and are waiting to pair up candidates with a branch of the military willing to fund them...

 

So maybe the next round of the application cycle has to do with "fit" rather than strength. Though I'm in a very theoretical field so I'm not sure if I can be optimistic.

[obot]

Awarded the fellowship, in biosciences (Bioinformatics, single cell genomics)

 

So there's hope for biology!!

[Wolverine]

I called and talked to the nice lady.

 

Some categories of the 200 awards from particular type of applications have not been decided.

 

So, it would be helpful if we list what type of award we applied for.  I got the "Still be considered" e-mail and I applied for biosciences.

 

I don't think it means anything to my chances of success to get the E-mail.  I expect everyone who applied for biosciences got the same E-mail I did.

 

My only small hope is that NDSEG recommended 200 awards to DOD who then had each applicable division basically rubberstamp the award.  Biosciences "rubber stamping" hasn't come back yet, but other fields had so they wanted to go ahead and release what they could.  So maybe those of us with "congratulations you are still being considered" will be getting rewards.

 

So those of you that got results in any of the 3 categories (yes, no, and still waiting), what was your field you applied for?

 

I think FrankForum has it right.

 

I applied in Naval Architecture and know people in my discipline that have been given rejection letters. I received the email stating that I am still being considered.

 

They must be waiting for the rubber stamp of approval from each department to release the final awards. Seeing as they have already released rejections within the same field this makes sense.

Edited April 3, 2013 by Wolverine

[Osiander]

Okay, so under "Evaluation and Selections" on the website it says this:

 

"An evaluation panel in each discipline reviews all complete and eligible applications. Each application is evaluated by a panel whose expertise is in the science or engineering discipline of the applicant's proposed doctoral degree program.

 

The evaluation of applicants is based on review of their entire online application, including academic records, personal statements, recommendations, and GRE scores. The top applications that are ranked by the evaluation panel are then forwarded on to the Department of Defense.

 

The DoD then selects applicants to receive NDSEG Fellowships based on an assessment of the applicants’ academic ability in fields of interest to the DoD. Selection of awardees is made by the Army Research Office, Office of Naval Research, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the High Performance Computing Modernization Program. Each agency directly monitors the awards conferred to fellows in discipline areas closely related to its mission"

 

Perhaps this means that people who were sent "still being considered" emails made it past the evaluation panel and are currently in the process of being considered by the DoD.

[InquilineKea]

Does it also mean that it still depends on how much funding is allocated to the DoD?

[olorwen]

We should probably remember that the posters to this topic are self-selecting. I'd assume that more people who got a confusing email would post here, trying to discern what it means, than would people who got a clear-cut award or rejection. This may be wishful thinking, of course, as I'm just hoping that people who are "still being considered" are overrepresented in our sample.

[chriskeraly]

Two members of my research that applied got rejections, I got the 'still being considered' treatment. I'm in Electrical Engineering.

[Osiander]

We should probably remember that the posters to this topic are self-selecting. I'd assume that more people who got a confusing email would post here, trying to discern what it means, than would people who got a clear-cut award or rejection. This may be wishful thinking, of course, as I'm just hoping that people who are "still being considered" are overrepresented in our sample.

 

You are definitely right about that. The first thing I did after I received the email was check GradCafe. I wouldn't have done that if I were accepted or rejected. Or at least, I wouldn't post anything about it.

 

Does it also mean that it still depends on how much funding is allocated to the DoD?

 

I doubt it. I think we're looking at 200 awards as usual. Of course, I only base that on the lack of evidence to the contrary. I think some of the DoD agencies must still be deliberating, whereas others are more on the ball.

[InquilineKea]

Yeah - I refused to check GradCafe until I got the NDSEG shortlist. I would have continued to refuse to check it if I got rejected.

 

I just wonder what portion of the 200 awardees are going to post their award statuses on gradcafe...

Edited April 3, 2013 by InquilineKea

[lizziek]

I think that likely a lot of these shortlist emails were sent out. Already I have found out that myself and 3 other graduate students in my program (biosciences) received the shortlist e-mail, and one person from my program was rejected. And this is only out of the handful of people that I happened to see during the day today. Last year only 1 student from my program received this award. 

[InquilineKea]

So I guess most of our chances, on average, are still less than 50%. Maybe 20%?

[olorwen]

Well, the NDSEG site says,

 

 

On average, 10% of reviewed applicants are selected to receive awards each year.

 

So it's (probably) at least higher than that.

[sandyo]

Well, the NDSEG site says,

 

 

 

So it's (probably) at least higher than that.

 

It depends on your field. There used to be a table that listed the historical award rate based on discipline but I can't find it now (maybe they took it down this year). Things like oceanography were super high award rates and then biosciences was low, something like 5%.

[sinclair35]

I also got the wait list email - oceanography, already attending.

[InquilineKea]

It depends on your field. There used to be a table that listed the historical award rate based on discipline but I can't find it now (maybe they took it down this year). Things like oceanography were super high award rates and then biosciences was low, something like 5%.

omg oceanography :D

 

i know what i'm going to try next year.

[curiousgeorgie]

It depends on your field. There used to be a table that listed the historical award rate based on discipline but I can't find it now (maybe they took it down this year). Things like oceanography were super high award rates and then biosciences was low, something like 5%.

 

Yeah, I saw that last year. Cognitive, neural and behavioral science was 4% whereas Aeronautical Engineering was something like 18%. I don't remember the rest, and I couldn't find the list this year either.

 

 

Oh, and I got the "still being considered" email, for cog/neur/behav science, currently a 2nd year.

Edited April 3, 2013 by curiousgeorgie