newenglander13 Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Congrats to those who got it and good luck to those who didn't. It's really stochastic how these things go. Your reviewer might have had a bad day.
Dubblebubble898 Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Wait, I got VG/VG, E/E, E/VG for bioengineering undergrad senior, but I go no award or even honorable mention. But I heard that someone got worse reviews (4 VG and 2 E), was senior undergrad in bioengineering and got honorable mention. Isn't this unfair? Should I call them tomorrow?
mdog3000 Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Holy crap holy crap holy crap!!!! I GOT IT!!! Good thing I checked on here because the email went to my spam folder. Sorry to the guys who got good scores but no award. Happened to me last year. Also, $34,000!! Whoever predicted an increase was correct! Only one in my program to get it muahahahah. I took the "bold important lines" approach and my reviewers seemed to have a better time processing everything (or they were just better reviewers) IM: VG, E, E BI: E, E, E StatsML15 and Storyhill22 1 1
mdog3000 Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 At Dubblebubble, there are other parameters they score you on besides those given scores. Also, they wont give a crap
expandyourmind Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Wait, I got VG/VG, E/E, E/VG for bioengineering undergrad senior, but I go no award or even honorable mention. But I heard that someone got worse reviews (4 VG and 2 E), was senior undergrad in bioengineering and got honorable mention. Isn't this unfair? Should I call them tomorrow? i wouldn't go about it this way. you never know whats in an application. some may have had "worse" reviews than another one but gotten a fellowship. it's a crapshoot...
Dubblebubble898 Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 At Dubblebubble, there are other parameters they score you on besides those given scores. Also, they wont give a crap What other parameters do they score? I thought it was all based on the reviews. Yeah, they probably won't give a crap though :/
stmwap Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Sigh. VG/VG, VG/VG, VG/E. Nothing. All reviews are glowing with praise. At least there's that! This was my second and last year applying (I'll no longer be eligible). Last year I got VG/G, G/VG, G/G. Look how much I improved! Haha. Chemil5000 1
GABA-daba-doo Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 I got it! E/E, VG/VG, E/E I had a lower GPA, but multiple publications and excellent letters which was mentioned by all reviewers Good luck to everyone and thanks for all the encouragement and entertainment
rufusjbuttlicker Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Well, there's always that (astronomically low) potential that applicants will turn down and some of you may get awarded! I'm not banking on that myself, but its possible for some of us HM. My eyes are on NDSEG and NPSC ..
talkcherty2me Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 E/E, E/E, VG/VG --> Honorable Menthon. This seems like a total crapshoot. Was hoping for an award since I haven't heard back from 3 schools. Oh well. zorkiv 1
zorkiv Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 @DubbleBubble Probably also look at GPA, GRE, prestige of undergrad institution, current grad institution, etc, etc I feel your pain, brah. All Es except one VG, all glowing reviews. Not even an HM. Oh well!
Chemil5000 Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Sigh. VG/VG, VG/VG, VG/E. Nothing. All reviews are glowing with praise. At least there's that! This was my second and last year applying (I'll no longer be eligible). Last year I got VG/G, G/VG, G/G. Look how much I improved! Haha. BovaFett 1
unbrokenthread Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 E/E, G/VG, E/E Strong reviews. Damn it, reviewer 2! stmwap 1
commodork Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 So I'm pretty sure how it works is each group of reviewers has their own pool, and there can be a certain number of winners/HMs from each pool. So the review scores have no true objective value between review groups, it's your ranking within the group that determines whether you get it or not. Groups may vary in grader strictness and competition. Someone please correct me if I'm making all of this up; I think I read this on here a long time ago, but am having trouble finding it.
Dubblebubble898 Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 ugh, i'm just being pissy. Hopefully NDSEG or CSGF give me good news. Sorry to be annoying if I was!
commodork Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 ugh, i'm just being pissy. Hopefully NDSEG or CSGF give me good news. Sorry to be annoying if I was! Not at all! Sorry about the bad news :/ Good luck on the rest! Your strong scores for NSF bode well for your other apps, despite NSF's weird flukes
heatherkh Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 (edited) Been lurking long enough, thought I would share. E/E, VG/E, E/E, E/E - awarded. First time applying/first year grad student. I'm completely stunned, but very grateful. I had a high undergrad GPA and quite a bit of service that would qualify as "broader impacts", so I think that's what clinched it. No pubs, but a few "in progress" plus 3 presentations. I was worried my proposal was better suited for NIH, but it worked out. Congrats to the other fellows, and heartfelt sympathy for those of you who didn't get it this time. Edited March 31, 2015 by heatherkh
katsharki3 Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Just as a note to everyone: if you want to save the pdf of your reviewer comments, you can't just save it as a PDF for some reason (it is as a .do file, whatever that is). Or at least I can't. Simple fix: Just Print-->Save to PDF ...This may seem like common sense to a lot of people (sorry if so), but i just wanted to put this out there in case anyone else was confused but wanted to save a copy of their comments.
Burr Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 (edited) @DubbleBubble Probably also look at GPA, GRE, prestige of undergrad institution, current grad institution, etc, etc I feel your pain, brah. All Es except one VG, all glowing reviews. Not even an HM. Oh well! Something I want to share, from talking with a prof who did reviews for the GRFP for a long time, is that they actually keep quotas. All the clear top picks get chosen, all the clear losers get sorted out, then the rest are sent to a third party agency* who ensures that the quotas are followed. These quotas include your standard ethnicity, gender, etc., but also institutions. They want to ensure that the awardee list is not overwhelmed by applicants from Ivies and the UC system. My prof was generally predisposed against quotas, emphasizing merit of proposal, but there's only so much one can do. Of course, this is hearsay, but I have a feeling some of you might have heard similar stories. * Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the applications, reviews, and/or reviewer rankings are sent to a third party within the NSF who are not the reviewers. I stand by the overall message re: quotas though, and I don't think things have changed in recent years. In fact, I expect that the quotas have gotten more strict. Edited March 31, 2015 by Burr
Burr Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Is honorable mention CV worthy? Definitely. At least until your "Honors and Awards" section grows to a point where you've got something much more impressive to replace it. unbrokenthread 1
commodork Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Is honorable mention CV worthy? I'll probably put it on mine, especially since I still have 2 more application rounds left.
littlemoondragon Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Something I want to share, from talking with a prof who did reviews for the GRFP for a long time, is that they actually keep quotas. All the clear top picks get chosen, all the clear losers get sorted out, then the rest are sent to a third party agency* who ensures that the quotas are followed. These quotas include your standard ethnicity, gender, etc., but also institutions. They want to ensure that the awardee list is not overwhelmed by applicants from Ivies and the UC system. My prof was generally predisposed against quotas, emphasizing merit of proposal, but there's only so much one can do. Of course, this is hearsay, but I have a feeling some of you might have heard similar stories. * Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the applications, reviews, and/or reviewer rankings are sent to a third party within the NSF who are not the reviewers. I stand by the overall message re: quotas though, and I don't think things have changed in recent years. In fact, I expect that the quotas have gotten more strict. This information agrees with what I have learned from my boss. I work for the Grants and Fellowship Office for my university and trained in helping students apply for the NSF GRFP (I was also applying too). There was only so much my boss could say without breaching privacy, but NSF mission statement is to provide opportunities for minorities (ethnic, gender, veterans, etc.). Is honorable mention CV worthy? Yes. HM is considered a NSF GRFP winner that isn't funded.
Owlet Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Congrats to all who have received it! I didn't get it this year (G/F VG/F VG/G). I'm applying as a senior undergrad, so I will very likely apply again next year, and I hope to learn from this year's experience. I was wondering if anyone has suggestions about how to improve the "Broader Impacts" part? For example, what are they looking for? Is it based on the graduate research proposal, or the personal, relevant background and future goals statement, or both? Thanks for sharing!
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now