Applying to grad school a year after winning NSF fellowship.

[jonah1]

This is sort of a hypothetical question. Suppose I win the 2013 NSF fellowship, can I take advantage of NSF's 2 year reserve policy ie hold on to it for a year (getting my non-thesis masters or doing research in some lab) and apply for PhD admissions for fall 2014? Will that open doors that would remain shut if I apply this year? Has anyone done something like that or knows about someone who has done it? b/w I'm a senior doing electrical engineering in a relatively unknown state school.

[Usmivka]

From the NSF GRFP program solicitation:

"Acceptance of a Fellowship award is an explicit acceptance of this commitment and assurance that the Fellow will be duly enrolled in an NSF-approved graduate degree program consistent with the field of study indicated in their application by the beginning of the following academic year."

So you must be in a degree-granting US grad program (see all other requirements here) starting in the fall after you accept the award. You cannot use reserve status to "hold" the award, unless you clear this explicitly with the NSF program office under the special/extenuating circumstances clause.

If you accept the award, you could certainly go back to a school you were previously rejected from and ask if the award would cause the admissions committee to reconsider its decision.

[Eigen]

Just a little extra insight here-

When you get awarded and accept an NSF Fellowship, you are then assigned to the NSF program officer at your institution, who manages yearly status reports, reserve vs active requests, and any other issues. Basically, the NSF-GRFP acts as a grant on which the institutions NSF program officer is listed as the PI.

So as mentioned above, you can't really use your "reserve" years to go to one institution, and then "active" years at another. You still have to turn in yearly progress reports while on reserve, as well as be working towards your stated degree.

[jonah1]

@Usmivka, Like Eigen said its possible to reserve but will still have to turn in the yearly progress reports and that requires one to do some productive work either as a masters student or some other way. My question is will it open doors at the very top grad schools when applying the following fall ? or do they just base their decisions independent of funding status.

[Jema]

My NSF fellowship is currently on reserve and this is my second year on reserve status. My masters is funded by a GK-12 fellowship. So its possible to keep the fellowship on reserve. Will it be helpful when I apply for fall 2013? I dont know! will let you know after april next yr.

[Usmivka]

@Usmivka, Like Eigen said its possible to reserve but will still have to turn in the yearly progress reports and that requires one to do some productive work either as a masters student or some other way. My question is will it open doors at the very top grad schools when applying the following fall ? or do they just base their decisions independent of funding status.

You said "getting my non-thesis masters or doing research in some lab." The above was to point out that you can't use reserve status if you don't enroll in grad school, which is what I took away from your statement about "doing research in some lab" as an alternative to working on an MS. I'm sure everyone on this thread agrees with me and the NSF that it is not possible to use reserve status to hold a fellowship if you are not enrolled in a graduate program. Regardless of that whole clarification to follow, the only way you are able to use the reserve is if you meet the NSF's eligibility requirements for the GRFP, which I linked in the first post.

Next:

I'd reread the specifics of Eigen's post, their comment suggested that reserving might not work in your situation. They correctly point out that using your reserve years at one institution and your active years at another could present a problem. As I recall you need to get approval from the GRFP office to switch home institutions...when I went through this process it was pretty straightforward, but I hadn't actually started my program yet, so your case might take a bit more work. Deactivating my fellowship was pretty straightforward too, so if you activate and then realize you can't meet the requirements, you can drop out without trouble.

What Jema is attempting above is a slightly different scenario, since she is already on a NSF traineeship (which is specifically allowed to be used while on reserve as a GRFP fellow) and GK-12 programs are not offered at every institution. Given the limitations posed by the traineeship, I suspect a request on her part to swap institutions for her active fellowship would be quickly approved once her GK-12 commitment is completed.

Edited October 18, 2012 by Usmivka

[jonah1]

@Usmivka, I guess I read Eigen's comment wrong and also wrong about just doing research in some lab. But the following is from the link in your first post.

Between Fellowship Years

Continuing Fellows who wish to transfer between GRFP Institutions between Fellowship Years

must submit a Change Request, via the GRFP FastLane Module, during the Tenure Declaration

window. This action should be completed by May 1. If a Fellow wishes to change GRFP

Institutions after submitting the annual Tenure Declaration and before starting the new

Fellowship Year, a Tenure Change Request must be submitted to NSF for approval. COs at both

the current and proposed GRFP Institutions and NSF must approve the request.

So it should be possible to be enrolled in a graduate program (masters) > reserve the fellowship > apply for a PhD program the following year > transfer into it by submitting a change request via the GRFP FastLane Module, during the Tenure Declaration window.

I have the opportunity to continue as an MS student at my institution (combined BS/MS). I'm also quite sure that I would be offered an RA position by my research advisor in his lab. So it would satisfy NSF's condition of being enrolled in a graduate program and also the criteria for reserving the fellowship.

What is Reserve Status?

Reserve Status ensures that Fellows have the flexibility of incorporating professional development opportunities (e.g., research assistantships, teaching assistantships, internships, etc.) into their graduate programs.

Edited October 18, 2012 by jonah1

[InquilineKea]

Is there a general way for me to find my NSF program officer at my own institution?

[guttata]

IIRC

Is there a general way for me to find my NSF program officer at my own institution?

https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/grfp/CoList.do

[juilletmercredi]

You have to be enrolled in an ELIGIBLE master's program for this to even begin to work. A non-thesis master's is typically not a research-based master's, so it's not eligible. Also, since you'd be in a BS/MS program and still technically an undergraduate student at the majority of institutions that do BS/MS programs, you might not even be eligible for the award that way.

The reserve status clause for flexibility is intended for graduate students in research-focused programs (primarily PhDs, might I add) to do RAships that pay and save their NSF monies for when those RAships dry up, not for people to go off and do something different and come back to their graduate program. You still have to be enrolled in the program itself and progressing towards completion.

If you want to do the BS/MS at your institution, do it, then apply for the NSF next year when you apply for graduate programs.

[Eigen]

Yeah, I would be almost positive a 4+1 BS/MS program wouldn't count. I know our school doesn't even really consider those graduate programs, so I doubt they'd meed the NSF criteria for an eligible masters program.

On the other issue, transferring, here's what the NSF has to say about it:

TENURE BEYOND MASTER’S DEGREE COMPLETION

GRFP Fellows who have not completed their five-year Fellowship Period and are completing a Master’s degree have the option of continuing their original Fellowship by enrolling in an NSF- approved doctoral degree program. To remain a Fellow:

1. the Fellow must be accepted into a doctoral program upon completion of the Master’s degree;

2. the transition period between degree programs generally may not exceed three months; and

3. the Fellow must request NSF approval and complete any required actions.

During the transition period, Tenure (on Tenure Fellows) or Reserve (on Reserve Fellows) months are forfeited. Requests with supporting documentation should be sent to grfp@nsf.gov.