NDSEG 2009

[krastina]

I went through the trouble of finding this, so I'll post it in case anyone else is interested in the chances that some of the American Recovery Act money might trickle down to the NDSEG alternates:

"The Recovery Act supplements NSF fiscal year 2009 funding by $3.0 billion. NSF currently has many highly rated proposals that it has not been able to fund. For this reason, NSF is planning to use the majority of the $2 billion available in Research and Related Activities for proposals that are already in house and will be reviewed and/or awarded prior to September 30, 2009. In most cases, review arrangements (including establishment of panels, where appropriate) have already been made. Thus, the Foundation does not anticipate a substantial increase in proposal submissions or requests to review proposals beyond what has already been put in place for FY 2009. NSF does not expect to have any of this Recovery Act funding available in Research and Related Activities for expenditure on FY 2010 awards."

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09038/n ... .jsp#atspf

[weninger]

for those who did win, what was the subject of the email?

Mine said: "2009 NDSEG Fellowship Award"

[egosumliber]

I got one, and I'm kind of floating in the clouds at the moment.

My research area is in combustion, so it has direct applications to the military (particularly air force) - this most likely helped a lot.

I'm a first year grad student, undergrad GPA 4.0, GRE Q790, forget my V (~600?), W5.0, i had two secondary author conference posters, research experience in undergrad (and some graduate work), intern at NASA.

Thanks to everyone for advice/help/worrying together

[bachikarn]

Well I got the award. And I am no grad school stud. I got a 730Q/580V have a 4.0 GPA, never took the CS Subject GRE. I did have a Top Secret Clearance and several publications.

See http://www.cis.ksu.edu/~weninger if you are interested. I can post my essays if anyone is interested.

Good luck to you all.

Could you post your essays? I didn't really put that much time into my application this year, so I wasn't really surprised I didn't get it. But I definitely want to reapply next year and put more time into it. Thanks!

[weninger]

Could you post your essays?

Yup, I just put them up on my research page on my web site:

http://people.cis.ksu.edu/~weninger/research.html

The links are at the bottom of the page.

Enjoy. And let me know if you have any critiques or suggestions.

[Abraham]

Got an email at 1:06pm Eastern time letting me know I got the award.

Congrats to all the others who have.

[bachikarn]

Yup, I just put them up on my research page on my web site:

http://people.cis.ksu.edu/~weninger/research.html

The links are at the bottom of the page.

Enjoy. And let me know if you have any critiques or suggestions.

Do you have the NDSEG Research essay by any chance? That was one I had the most problem with because of the 3000 character limit (I believe). It seemed very restrictive. Thanks, and congrats again!

[blah2009]

This sucks. Yea, I know i shouldn't be bitching that I got "waitlisted". But whatever, its a rejection, and one I'll move on from.

Stats:

1st year graduate student

Undergrad: Top 15 Private

GPA: 3.7

Grad: Stanford Civil Engineering

GRE: 800 Math 660 Verbal

2 first author publications and several co author publications...blah, blah, blah.

Congrats to those who got it!

[drewc]

Stats:

1st year graduate student

Undergrad: Top 15 Private

GPA: 3.7

Grad: Stanford Civil Engineering

GRE: 800 Math 660 Verbal

2 first author publications and several co author publications.

Eek, that sounds better than me, and I got an award sponsored by AFRL/AFOSR. For those curious, here are my stats:

1st year graduate student

Undergrad: Georgia Tech, GPA: 3.93

Grad: Stanford Electrical Engineering (specializing in electromagnetics)

GRE: 800 Math 530 Verbal

1 first author conference paper and 1 co-inventor on patent.

My essay can be found here.

Sorry to those who did not get it this year, and good luck to those applying again next year! I hope this will help.

[hsiying]

I was sponsored by AFRL/AFOSR as well, I had a pretty strong defense background so IMO it made up for my weak GPA. My GPA actually went further down this last semester so good thing I didn't have to reapply...

University of Michigan Senior, 3 year graduate

EE Digital Signal Processing/Communications

3.76/4.00 Overall GPA || 3.84/4.00 Major GPA

800 Math / 720 Verbal / 5.5 Writing GRE

2 Research Internships [Air Force Research Lab, MRLets (Signal Processing Startup)]

2 Corporate Internship [McKinsey & Company, Business Analyst; Capital One, Business Analyst]

1 IEEE Published Conference Paper First Author

1 International Journal Paper First Author

1 International Journal Paper First Author Submission/In Review

2 U.S. Patent Applications Submissions/In Review Co-Author

[mechemems]

does anyone know about past info on alternates getting in? I haven't been able to find anything in all my google-ing

[weninger]

Do you have the NDSEG Research essay by any chance? That was one I had the most problem with because of the 3000 character limit (I believe). It seemed very restrictive.

I just posted my entire app on http://www.cis.ksu.edu/~weninger/research

I hope that will suffice.

[Cosette]

Is there anyone else who has been offered the NDSEG and is still waiting to hear about NSF? Since it seems rather unlikely the results for NSF will be posted before Tuesday, what are you guys planning to do? Obviously it would be stupid not to accept the NDSEG without even knowing about NSF, but on the other hand it would be nice to know about both before I have to make a decision!

[kdilks]

You can use both of them, so what decision is there to make?

[mtlve]

Is there anyone else who has been offered the NDSEG and is still waiting to hear about NSF? Since it seems rather unlikely the results for NSF will be posted before Tuesday, what are you guys planning to do? Obviously it would be stupid not to accept the NDSEG without even knowing about NSF, but on the other hand it would be nice to know about both before I have to make a decision!

NDSEG did not honor their own notification date, so how can they expect you to? Can you guys call them? Most of the awardees are probably waiting for NSF, so they might be able to delay the notification deadline. It cant hurt to try.

[blah2009]

I don't get it. What does getting NSF have anything to do with the NDSEG? You can hold both and can just defer the NSF for the remaining 2 years. If you are in your 2-3 final years, the NDSEG is a no brainer.

[Cosette]

I don't get it. What does getting NSF have anything to do with the NDSEG? You can hold both and can just defer the NSF for the remaining 2 years. If you are in your 2-3 final years, the NDSEG is a no brainer.

Yeah, you're right, I'm probably overthinking this. I was just thinking a little too hard about one person's response to learning I had been offered the NDSEG, which was to say, 'Oh. Well NSF is more prestigious."

[t_ruth]

Yeah, you're right, I'm probably overthinking this. I was just thinking a little too hard about one person's response to learning I had been offered the NDSEG, which was to say, 'Oh. Well NSF is more prestigious."

wow! what a jerk!

In an ideal world you would actually not win the NSF until after your first year on the NDSEG so you could take full advantage of both:

year 1: on NDSEG, apply for and win NSF

year 2: on NDSEG, defer NSF

year 3: on NDSEG, defer NSF

year 4-6: on NSF

though everyone would hate you for being that unbelievably flush.

[Abraham]

NDSEG did not honor their own notification date, so how can they expect you to?

In situations like this, I usually follow "he who has the money, makes the rules." We don't have to like it, but it's true for this case. I'd recommend responding on time.

In the Conditions of Appointment they give, the NDSEG states "This offer cannot be deferred." Anyone know if that is definitive, or is it flexible?

[mechemems]

In situations like this, I usually follow "he who has the money, makes the rules." We don't have to like it, but it's true for this case. I'd recommend responding on time.

In the Conditions of Appointment they give, the NDSEG states "This offer cannot be deferred." Anyone know if that is definitive, or is it flexible?

this is definite. they changed the rules of NSF so you can defer that one so people could use both NSF and NDSEG but you must defer NSF not NDSEG

[pi1ehf]

I was sponsored by AFRL/AFOSR as well, I had a pretty strong defense background so IMO it made up for my weak GPA. My GPA actually went further down this last semester so good thing I didn't have to reapply...

How do you know which office sponsored you?

[egosumliber]

It specifies in the email you get which office (2nd sentence of the first big paragraph).

[drewc]

I already accepted my NDSEG and am waiting on an NSF. I don't think I will get the NSF because I think my essays were not very well written, but if I do, I plan to defer the NSF for 2 years while I get NDSEG, forfeit one year of NSF during my third year of NDSEG, and then ride out the remaining 2 years of NSF. If I do not get NSF this year, I will apply next year and instead of forfeiting a year, the NSF will be able to pick up right where the NDSEG left off.

[Abraham]

Well, good news. I got both.

Just to confirm, here's the best plan I've heard:

first year: Defer NSF. Get NDSEG.

second year: Defer NSF. Get NDSEG.

third year: forfeit NSF. Get NDSEG.

fourth year: Get NSF.

fifth year: get NSF.

I'm guessing you have to be on the NSF term to use the 1,000 travel stipend, so would have to do that in the final 2 years?

[MrHippo]

On behalf of the ndseg wait listers and nsf rejects, i express my utmost jealousy.