The NSF GROW - what to expect and when to expect it?

[acevedod]

Anyone going to Ireland? 

 

Got the email from Rick in May but not too much info from Ireland. 

[Queen of Kale]

Hey guys, I have a GROW related question and I thought you guys might be the best resource for answering it since there's not much info about GROW online.  I'm interested in applying for the coming cycle (japan) and my potential host and I are at the point o trying to determine how long of a duration is ideal.

 

What length of GROW did you apply for?  How did you decide & what factors went into your decision?

 

Thanks for any and all feedback.  Congrats to everyone who got the GROW last year and good luck to those looking to apply. 

[Vader Was Framed]

I have a similar question related to Queen of Kale's. 

 

For those who have participated in GROW, did you begin your travel immediately that first summer upon receiving the award in the spring? Or did you wait until Fall, or even the following summer? I may be interested in doing two separate, 1-2 month stays at the host institution. 

[achill]

Hi all,

New to GradCafe. I plan on applying to NSF GROW this year to study at ETH in Switzerland starting next June/July. Just wondering if you all have any advice and/or are willing to share tips for a successful proposal. Further, wondering if any of you might have an idea of how large/competitive the applicant pool is(?)

Thank you!

[closetgeek]

I have a similar question related to Queen of Kale's. 

 

For those who have participated in GROW, did you begin your travel immediately that first summer upon receiving the award in the spring? Or did you wait until Fall, or even the following summer? I may be interested in doing two separate, 1-2 month stays at the host institution. 

I started as soon as I was allowed to. I'm not sure you can wait until the next summer to start. I think the last month you can begin is in March or something (I could be wrong). 

[closetgeek]

Hi all,

New to GradCafe. I plan on applying to NSF GROW this year to study at ETH in Switzerland starting next June/July. Just wondering if you all have any advice and/or are willing to share tips for a successful proposal. Further, wondering if any of you might have an idea of how large/competitive the applicant pool is(?)

Thank you!

I don't think it is very competitive at all. I've actually been told that not enough students are applying for it. When Rick gave a talk at my school he said over 80% of students had gotten it in the previous year. He said he expected that to increase to close to 100% since they increased the acceptances to around 400. I did hear that one year one country was unable to accept as many students as they were expecting to. I vaguely recall it being Switzerland. But I still would not worry too much.

[husky]

Hey guys, I have a GROW related question and I thought you guys might be the best resource for answering it since there's not much info about GROW online.  I'm interested in applying for the coming cycle (japan) and my potential host and I are at the point o trying to determine how long of a duration is ideal.

 

What length of GROW did you apply for?  How did you decide & what factors went into your decision?

 

Thanks for any and all feedback.  Congrats to everyone who got the GROW last year and good luck to those looking to apply. 

So my story is odd. I applied for a 6 month stay in Norway and was supposed to leave in June of this year. However, I got my acceptance so late (less than a month before my travel date), I had to delay my trip. Ultimately, I decided to shorten it to 3 months since I needed to be back before the end of the year. But keep in mind that depending on where you go, there are minimum limits. I think Austria has a 6 month minimum stay requirement.

I chose 6 months initially because that's about how long it takes for me to complete a typical project and write a good paper. So most likely, since this is now a 3 month stay, I will probably submit a conference paper instead of a journal article. Basically, what you want to do there will determine how long you stay.

I have a similar question related to Queen of Kale's. 

 

For those who have participated in GROW, did you begin your travel immediately that first summer upon receiving the award in the spring? Or did you wait until Fall, or even the following summer? I may be interested in doing two separate, 1-2 month stays at the host institution. 

That was the plan. But I moved my travel to the following September. I don't think the following summer would have worked for me. You have to complete your stay by the August the following year. So I guess if you have a 2 month stay you could go the following June/July. But for a longer stay, that would not work. Separate stays are allowed, I believe. You just have explain in your proposal why you need to do that.

Hi all,

New to GradCafe. I plan on applying to NSF GROW this year to study at ETH in Switzerland starting next June/July. Just wondering if you all have any advice and/or are willing to share tips for a successful proposal. Further, wondering if any of you might have an idea of how large/competitive the applicant pool is(?)

Thank you!

I almost applied to Switzerland. :-) I heard that they accepted all their applicants for 2012/2013, but for 2013/2014 there was an unusually large and unexpected number of applicants to Switzerland and the country had not allocated enough funds to accommodate them. So the acceptance was really low (like 30% if I'm not mistaken). It's my understanding that there are not many students that take advantage of this opportunity - far less than the 400 student maximum. The vast majority of students that are not accepted are because they did not complete the application correctly. In general, the acceptance rate is high and Switzerland last year was a fluke. 

The proposal won't be any more difficult that the one you wrote for the GRFP. But there are instructions on what to include in the application (and the proposal). My advice is to read the instructions carefully. (broader impact and intellectual merit still need to be in there!)

 Good luck to all! 

Ahlmahz

[Queen of Kale]

I was wondering if anyone would be open to sharing their budget proposal with me?  Its the one aspect of the application where I am floundering a bit. Feel free to pm me if you don't want to post here.  Thanks!

[Mutualimpedancewaffle]

The GROW page currently says that a new Dear Colleague Letter will be released soon, the application deadline is expected to be about December 4, 2015 and that GROW with USAID is not offered in 2015-2016.

 

I was interested in GROW with USAID and now I'm kinda disappointed. Does anyone have an idea why it is not being offered this year? Funding maybe?

[farflung]

The GROW page currently says that a new Dear Colleague Letter will be released soon, the application deadline is expected to be about December 4, 2015 and that GROW with USAID is not offered in 2015-2016.

 

I was interested in GROW with USAID and now I'm kinda disappointed. Does anyone have an idea why it is not being offered this year? Funding maybe?

Thanks for drawing attention to this! I would guess funding ran out for the GROW with USAID, but I'm not sure. 

Does the NSF GRIP still exist? I contacted the program contacts a few weeks ago about when to expect a Dear Colleague Letter (if at all), and never heard back. 

[gellert]

I have a question that may be kind of obvious ... but I can't find it in the Dear Colleague letter or anywhere else, so here goes.

When they talk about the host institution paying a living stipend, who funds that?  Is it the professor/lab?  The institution?  A national fund set aside by the country's own version of the NSF in collaboration with NSF?  

Edit: I figured it out! It's from the host country's equivalent organization, for anyone else wondering.

Edited October 9, 2015 by gellert
figured it out

[TwistedCubic]

Would anyone be willing to share their NSF GROW application? I am going to be applying to Norway this coming year in the STEM Education division and wondering how to draft some of the pieces. Any help would be appreciated. 

 

[batcathat]

Hello all!

I would likewise be interested if anyone has a successful GROW application. I applied last year for Australia and was rejected with an email saying it was "non competitive". I reached out to Rick for details and got nothing, so I have no idea how to improve for this go around this year. 

Pretty please? With sugar on top???

[gellert]

edit! I don't think the answer is known.

Edited October 30, 2015 by gellert

[Queen of Kale]

First off, shout out the the awesome person who shared their budget proposal w/me.  That was super helpful. Also, I was wondering, is anyone else applying to both the GROW and the EAPSI programs for the same country? Did you find you could reuse much of the same application? My country has a pretty short minimum stay so most of my application remains the same - I am hoping there is no overlap in the review committees. 

[gellert]

On 11/18/2015, 10:01:52, Queen of Kale said:

First off, shout out the the awesome person who shared their budget proposal w/me.  That was super helpful. Also, I was wondering, is anyone else applying to both the GROW and the EAPSI programs for the same country? Did you find you could reuse much of the same application? My country has a pretty short minimum stay so most of my application remains the same - I am hoping there is no overlap in the review committees. 

Would whoever this was be willing to share with me too?  This is the last thing on my list and I'm having Issues. Thanks!

[CRJ]

I applied to both EAPSI and GROW (Japan) last year and was awarded both. My GROW project is an extension of the EAPSI project so the two proposals are similar.

For the budget just create a brief table stating what the funds will be used for (ie airfare, moving expenses, baggage fees, some research materials, etc). Also make up a separate budget for the living allowance that includes things like rent, food, insurance, etc.

If you have any other questions I'll be happy to try to answer them. 

[Queen of Kale]

I have ALL the questions CRJ. But first and foremost - what did you do about being awarded both awards? Did you decline one or accept both? How did you work that out logistically?

[CRJ]

I accepted both awards. As long as the awards don't overlap time wise NSF and JSPS are ok with awarding both. I.e. I spent this summer in Japan for EAPSI and going back tomorrow for GROW for 8 months.

Message me your email or Facebook. I'll be traveling the next couple of days and probably won't check this site too often. 

[gellert]

Does anyone's fastlane status say anything besides "Awaiting NSF approval" yet?

[brightup]

That is all mine says. Since the GRFP was released a few days early, maybe GROW will as well?

[bio0930]

I put in for Japan. Mine hasnt changed yet either. Looking at last year it sounds like we'll out towards the beginning of May.

[brightup]

@bio0930 @gellert Did either of you propose to leave early June? And, if so, how are you handling housing? Thanks!

[gellert]

10 hours ago, brightup said:

@bio0930 @gellert Did either of you propose to leave early June? And, if so, how are you handling housing? Thanks!

I proposed early September, partly because I saw how crazy last year's result releases were.  I really hope we find out soon, though -- it'd be nice to know before we have to submit the AAR.

[bio0930]

I proposed August, but I still may not be able to find housing in Japan as the university helps you find housing and it's very limited. Logistically I may not be able to go until September/October if I can't find a place to live.