NSF GRFP 2013-14

[MrRoots]

While I was hopeful it would get pushed back there isn't really much justification for it for most applicants.  Unless someone is living in some remote part of the world with little internet access (like I was last year) I can't really see why they would as all of the resources were still available we just weren't able to upload anything. There are always exceptions but it still seems pretty reasonable to me.  Now, if the date for submission is the same but the award notification date got pushed back that would sour me quite a bit!

[clandry]

since i haven't seen any annoucement for the deadline...the deadline won't be pushed back then? : (

I emailed and called them and they told me "it is not likely to extend the dealdine."

[ScienceGiraffe]

me sad....oh well...

[cfree14]

Does anyone know if you can defer the NSF-GRFP for two years? Alternatively, are you allowed to hold two federal fellowships concurrently? I have NOAA funding for the next three years and was wondering if it was worth applying for the NSF-GRFP this year.

[MrRoots]

If you read the solicitation it will give you the details but I know that you can't hold two at once and I believe you may defer for a year but don't quote that.

 

Good luck.

[guttata]

You are not permitted to hold two federal fellowships simultaneously, including the deferral years. 

 

 

The GRFP fellowship cannot be accepted concurrently with another Federal fellowship.

 

You have 5 years to utilize the awarded 3 years of support, giving you up to two years to defer.

[clandry]

Is there a certain citation format they want? This probably depends on your field, but even within a field, there's a bunch of different options.

Also, can you reduce the font for citations? 

[wwellington]

 

Also, can you reduce the font for citations? 

Unless they've changed it, yes.

[clandry]

Unless they've changed it, yes.

Thanks. How about just putting it in the footer? 

 

Typically, this is not done in my field, but I see some citations that leave a little footmark in the body of a paragraph which refers to something in the footer. I forget what those kind of citations are called. 

Edited October 24, 2013 by doubled

[guttata]

Thanks. How about just putting it in the footer? 

 

Typically, this is not done in my field, but I see some citations that leave a little footmark in the body of a paragraph which refers to something in the footer. I forget what those kind of citations are called. 

Citations can be put in 10 pt font, but not in the footer as that puts you outside the 1-in margins. I have a post on the previous page that details my citation format, and I'd be impressed if there's a format that gets any shorter.

[clandry]

Citations can be put in 10 pt font, but not in the footer as that puts you outside the 1-in margins. I have a post on the previous page that details my citation format, and I'd be impressed if there's a format that gets any shorter.

Thanks I will check that out. 

 

I remember in my writing classes, the header and footer did not count as violations of the 1" margin rule. It's different for the GRFP? 

I'm struggling to fit under the 2pg limit. My title&keywords are also taking up like 5 lines. I suppose I don't need them in my actual proposal, but I feel like it gives it the "full" look when I include it. 

[Pitangus]

Does anyone know if you can defer the NSF-GRFP for two years? Alternatively, are you allowed to hold two federal fellowships concurrently? I have NOAA funding for the next three years and was wondering if it was worth applying for the NSF-GRFP this year.

 

Similar to what others have said, you can be on "Reserve" status for up to two years out of the five year award period that starts when you win the award. To "defer" according to the NSF means to push back your five year award period, which is only allowed in special cases (e.g. military service and medical issues).

I believe you cannot hold another federal fellowship at the same time as the NSF GRF, even if you are on a reserve year. 

 

More info:

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12062/nsf12062.pdf

Question 5: "Reserve years" versus "deferral"

Question 141: Having another federal fellowship

 

Thanks I will check that out. 

 

I remember in my writing classes, the header and footer did not count as violations of the 1" margin rule. It's different for the GRFP? 

I'm struggling to fit under the 2pg limit. My title&keywords are also taking up like 5 lines. I suppose I don't need them in my actual proposal, but I feel like it gives it the "full" look when I include it. 

 

I remember someone posted last year or the year before saying that they were disqualified for having an "artifact" in the margin of one of their essays. For that reason I would try to avoid footers and anything that could mess with the margins. I think it would be better to just use a very brief citation format and 10 pt font like guttata suggests. Just be consistent and it shouldn't matter if it's not a standard citation format.

 

Edit: Meant to say "footers" rather than "footnotes"

Edited October 24, 2013 by Pitangus

[Monochrome Spring]

I thought we had to use 12pt font?

[Pitangus]

I thought we had to use 12pt font?

 

Unless the rules have changed since I applied (2011), references may be in 10 pt font.

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2011/nsf11582/nsf11582.htm

[MrRoots]

References and ONLY references at the end of the document can be 10pt.

[guttata]

References and ONLY references at the end of the document can be 10pt.

Figure captions may be as well IIRC but I've yet to see a proposal that included one.

[gellert]

Is there a general consensus on including data analysis plans in the proposal? Or would you just advise to include if space, omit if not?

[Neuro_Guy]

Is there a general consensus on including data analysis plans in the proposal? Or would you just advise to include if space, omit if not?

 

I included a brief bit about analysis, just to show that I have a complete plan. My advice would be to do the same but keep it short (mine is 1-2 sentences). 

 

 

I remember someone posted last year or the year before saying that they were disqualified for having an "artifact" in the margin of one of their essays. For that reason I would try to avoid footers and anything that could mess with the margins. I think it would be better to just use a very brief citation format and 10 pt font like guttata suggests. Just be consistent and it shouldn't matter if it's not a standard citation format.

 

Edit: Meant to say "footers" rather than "footnotes"

 

Would that apply to headers as well? I have page headers with my name and the essay title (e.g. 'Research Proposal') on each page. Would that count as a similar type of 'artifact'?

[Pitangus]

I included a brief bit about analysis, just to show that I have a complete plan. My advice would be to do the same but keep it short (mine is 1-2 sentences). 

 

 

Would that apply to headers as well? I have page headers with my name and the essay title (e.g. 'Research Proposal') on each page. Would that count as a similar type of 'artifact'?

 

Looking at my essays, I did have headers with my name and the essay name as you described, so presumably it was ok the year I applied.

I would avoid putting any essay content in a header/footer though (including references).  I don't know much about why the other poster was disqualified other than that there was an "artifact" in one of the side margins, if I remember correctly. I would be hesitant to put anything in the margins now if that was the case. 

 

Edit: I'm still not sure what year the disqualification was mentioned. I'm thinking 2011-2012, but I haven't looked through the whole thread again.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Pitangus

[vertices]

Here's the post about the artifact:

The author never wrote back with more information.

 

I've seen essays with headers but I don't know if they were added after the fact when they were shared online. I wouldn't worry about not having headers with your name and the essay type on top. Plenty of people, myself included, didn't have those kind of headers (or any note which essay was which) and our application materials were understood. I'm sure they have a system for handling things that is pretty mature.

[loginofpscl]

Anyone know the rules on figure adaptations? I want to adapt a figure from a reference.

[clandry]

Is it bad to hardwire your proposal to a particular university?

[vertices]

Is it bad to hardwire your proposal to a particular university?

No. Roughly 2/3rds of applicants are already at their graduate university after all, it makes sense for them to hardwire. Addressing the availability of resources is a positive thing. In the past it has been part of the prompt and I've seen reviewers comment negatively if it is missing.

 

Even if you're coming from undergrad and don't know your graduate institution, it's fine to write with a particular lab in mind. Awardees have done this successfully in the past. Furthermore, the mantra is "fund the researcher, not the research" when it comes to GRFP -- they know applicants are early in their careers and things may change. Awardees can change their project as long as they stay in the same field. Reviewers are looking for a well-thought out, well-researched, well-written application is indicative of a future promoting science.

[juilletmercredi]

You also can’t defer in your first year, cfree14.  You have to take the NSF in the first year it’s offered to you unless you have a medical or military deferral.

 

If one is struggling to keep the proposal under 2 pages the first thing I would cut is the title and keywords.  It’s supposed to be formatted more like an essay and less like a grant proposal.  None of my essays had a title and I didn’t include any keywords for my proposal, so unless the rules have changed to require that I would leave them out.  I also wouldn’t put your name and the title in the header.  Pretty sure NSF finds a way to keep all of your documents together.  The only thing on my pages was the actual text of the essay, and 2-3 references for the essay.

 

I didn’t have a data analysis plan in my proposal.  In fact, IIRC only about two paragraphs of my proposed plan of research actually discussed the methods.

[okiedokie]

Hi all, I lurked last year and decided I would share my application experience for all you helpful folks.

 

Last year was my first time applying and I was in my first year of a PhD program.  I'm in biological sciences.  My reviews were terrible and I only had two reviewers, so I must have been near the bottom of the barrel.  Some highlights from my reviews that will hopefully be informative for you, some of which surprised me:

 

1. Only 1 of 2 reviewers made any comment on my proposal.  The one that did only wrote one sentence: that I should try to make the proposal more focused and on a centralized hypothesis.

 

2.  Both reviewers said I had an outstanding academic record.  However, reviewer #1 did not like the fact that I had two letters of references from professors I met in grad school and only one from undergrad.  I thought that this would actually make my application stronger, but I guess it backfired. The undergrad mentor was a PI I worked with for 3 years and did a conference poster for, so I thought that would be good enough but I guess not.  

 

3.  #1 also did not like that I had a "5th author publication" as an undergrad.  They seemed to think I did not explain very well what I contributed to the paper.  I did talk about this research, but I think I should have explicitly said "I did X and Y which led me to contributing to Z publication".

 

Hope that helps people avoid some of the mistakes I made!  I'm working to address these issues this year, but I'm not too confident I can go from a "2 reviewer" level application to a winning application.

Edited October 26, 2013 by okiedokie