What is the point of a NSF graduate fellowship?

[egFace]

I will be entering CUNY Graduate Center's Animal Behavior PhD program this Fall, and I was wondering: What does an NSF graduate fellowship do? What does it pay for? Also, when do most grad students typically apply?

[Dedi]

Another animal behavior enthusiast? Woo (:

 

I believe NSF covers tuition and gives a stipend. I don't believe that it pays for the research, but I don't honestly know. Students can apply their senior year of college, 1st year of grad school and 2nd year of grad school (I think).

 

I'm not planning to apply for NSF because I'm applying to Canadian grad schools, but that's what I know.

[bsharpe269]

It is basically like a typical grad package but a bit more money. It pays tuition and and a 30k stipend. Most people who get it are more excited about the reputation it brings than anything else I think. Having the NSF on your resume is is sort of like having harvard or MIT next to your phd. It just jumps out.It also relieves teaching duties for your first few years, giving you more time for research which could (and probably will) lead to more publications than if you didnt get it, helping you secure a great postdoc as well.

 

you can apply during the last year of undergrad or first 2 years of grad school. I'll be applying this fall!

[Eigen]

NSF is now a 32k stipend, and might go up a bit. 

 

It's a very good thing to have on your CV moving into future positions, gets you out of required teaching duties (you can still find ways to teach if you want), and gives you a bit more control over your funding and potentially your research. 

[Crucial BBQ]

I will be entering CUNY Graduate Center's Animal Behavior PhD program this Fall, and I was wondering: What does an NSF graduate fellowship do? What does it pay for? Also, when do most grad students typically apply?

The particular one you are referencing awards $32K as stipend and $12K for tuition/school for a grand total of $44K for a total of three years.  Supposedly the fellowship claims " freedom to conduct their own research at any accredited U.S. institution of graduate education they choose" .  I am not sure if that means you can just walk up to MIT and say Yo!  See this NSF Graduate Research Fellowship I got here?  Yeah?  Well, okay.  Let me in.  There are at least two users of gradcafe who have won.  

 

I applied two years ago and if I remember correctly the deadline is in November.  The NSF does other graduate/research grants/fellowships too.  

 

http://www.nsfgrfp.org/about_the_program

Edited May 3, 2014 by Crucial BBQ

[Eigen]

There are quite a few users on GradCafe with NSF fellowships. 

 

You can't just walk into a school, they have to accept you. To most schools, it can cost quite a bit even with the fellowship- 12k doesn't come close to covering tuition & fees at most schools. 

 

Sometimes a fellowship will get a school to change their mind about you, sometimes it won't. 

 

The NSF fellowship funds 3 years (as mentioned) but lasts 5 years- you get other access to resources the other years, and you choose which of the 5 years are funded. Computing resources (teragrid) and other funding opportunities that are only available to NSF fellows (international research experiences, etc). 

 

Billing it as $44k is a bit misleading, unless you're at a very unusual school, you'll never see more than the $32k stipend. 

[juilletmercredi]

Yeah, there are more than 2 people who had one - I think Eigen and I both had one, and there were a lot of people on the NSF thread this year who got one.  I think awardees might be evenly distributed across the three eligibility years.  I personally think it's easier to apply for it when you are already in graduate school, since you have a better idea of your projects and what's possible at your institution.  As a 2nd year doctoral student, I was able to get recommendation letters from my two advisors and another graduate professor who'd taught me in class.  The deadline is in early to mid November, although the exact day depends on your field.

 

I didn't find any of the other resources NSF offered very useful.  I'm a social scientist, so I didn't need the computing resources they offered.  When I first received the scholarship, you could apply for up to a $1,000 international travel grant to do research or present work abroad.  I was gearing up to apply for it to present my work at the International AIDS conference, when they abruptly changed it to a $1,000 award to do polar or Nordic research (it was either or both, I can't remember).  Since my work has absolutely nothing to do with that...yeah.  LOL.

 

Still, the money and prestige by itself are great!  And yes, I did have a lot more control over how I spent my time, including who my advisor(s) was/were and what research I did.  If I had taken departmental funds I would've been assigned a mentor, and since my primary mentor at the time was a newish assistant professor, he had no money.  I got the opportunity to work with him because of NSF (and the NIH training grant I was on my first two years).

[Eigen]

I've mentioned this in other similar threads, but even in the more restrictive research environment of a bench science (where all your research funding is supplied by an advisor, with some control over your projects) I've found the NSF as an external fellowship offers some benefit in flexibility. 

 

I'm not sure if it's that it's made me feel more like I can push for my ideas and time to work on them, or it's how my advisor sees it, or some of both- but he's willing to pay for side projects for me that he's not willing to risk with other grad students, and I think that's largely because he hasn't had to pay anything else for me, at all. 

 

I feel like it gives me the flexibility to define my project a lot more, as well as to take the time to explore interesting side projects that come up. 

[Pitangus]

I'm an ecology student with the NSF GRF, and I have found that it has given me quite a bit of freedom in choosing and pursuing my research topics. By applying for smaller grants for equipment and travel (I do field work pretty much exclusively), I've been able to fund my research almost entirely on my own so far, with only minimal support from my advisor's grants. And of course because I have the fellowship stipend instead of a RA, I can focus on my research all of the time (which is great, because what I am working on is a bit different than what my advisor has been working on previously). 

[egFace]

It is basically like a typical grad package but a bit more money. It pays tuition and and a 30k stipend. Most people who get it are more excited about the reputation it brings than anything else I think. Having the NSF on your resume is is sort of like having harvard or MIT next to your phd. It just jumps out.It also relieves teaching duties for your first few years, giving you more time for research which could (and probably will) lead to more publications than if you didnt get it, helping you secure a great postdoc as well.

you can apply during the last year of undergrad or first 2 years of grad school. I'll be applying this fall!

[egFace]

Thanks for the helpful response. But if I am guaranteed 5 years of funding from my institution (which I am), then is there any point to still applying? And is it still worth it?

[bsharpe269]

Thanks for the helpful response. But if I am guaranteed 5 years of funding from my institution (which I am), then is there any point to still applying? And is it still worth it?

 

Yes, in my opinion it is still worth it. The freedom + prestige are worth it. Its kind of like saying, Im guaranteed a place in my small state school for the phd program so is it still worth it to apply to Harvard? I at least definitely plan on applying for it in the fall. It is a pretty huge deal to be able to put it on your resume.

[TakeruK]

Thanks for the helpful response. But if I am guaranteed 5 years of funding from my institution (which I am), then is there any point to still applying? And is it still worth it?

 

Others above already already answered this. Yes, it is very helpful to show that you have been successful in getting funding in the past! It also means you cost less to your department/advisor and this might translate to extra benefits, such as your PI having more money to send you to international conferences, or buy you a nice computer (or other equipment). And it might mean a reduced teaching load (or no TA requirement at all) because your funding is external. This is all good even if your stipend doesn't change.

 

The answer to "should I apply to this prestigious external award?" is almost always "yes!!" unless you know for a fact that you have no chance at all. But the NSF is something that every good student has a shot at!

[Pitangus]

Most people who receive the NSF GRF have guaranteed funding from their department/advisor, so as TakeruK points out, getting external funding is good because it means your department/advisor has more money available because they aren't spending it on your stipend. 

 

And once again, the freedom of not having to be a TA or RA is a nice bonus, unless you want really to be a TA or want to work on exactly what your advisor is working on. 

[juilletmercredi]

And don't opine on whether you have a chance or not - let the selection committee rule you out.  I thought I had no shot at the NSF and I ended up getting it.

 

And even if you really want to TA, you can always take on TA responsibilities on your own even with the NSF.  Except now you get to decide exactly whether, when, and what you want to teach.

[egFace]

Great, so when is the application available?

[Gvh]

Sucks to be Canadian in this case :/ 

[fuzzylogician]

Sucks to be Canadian in this case :/ 

 

You can apply to SSHRC, which is similarly prestigious. FWIW, a few years down the line you will be eligible to apply for the NSF dissertation improvement grant, which is not limited to citizens only. 

[Gvh]

Good to know! Thanks Fuzzy!