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NSF GRFP 2016


sierra918

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I've been waiting on revisions for over a week! I could have submitted by now if only I didn't need assurance from a bunch of other people!

Gonna have flashbacks to grad school app season while waiting... though it won't be quite as bad.

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I heard that NSF's funding got slashed this year and they will be funding significantly fewer applicants than previously thought. Though this was all through the grapevine not a legitimate source. Anyone else hear this? 

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Does anyone know if your reference writers get an e-mail from the NSF with instructions as soon as you submit your application? My writers still have not heard anything

Nevermind, I didn't see the references home section and the 'action' that says send e-mail. 

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I heard that NSF's funding got slashed this year and they will be funding significantly fewer applicants than previously thought. Though this was all through the grapevine not a legitimate source. Anyone else hear this? 

The NSF is a complex organization, with lots of different divisions. Funding for certain divisions (most notably social and behavioral sciences, where most of the social sciences are housed) was on chopping block earlier this year in the house version of the commerce/justice/science appropriations bill. 

A FINAL bill (reconciling the house and senate versions) that would fund the NSF for 2016 still has not been passed. So it's impossible to say that NSF's budget for next year has been "slashed," at least at this point in time. You can track the NSF funding bill's progress in congress here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2578

COSSA did a really straightforward analysis of the house and senate's proposed FY 2016 NSF budgets in this document: http://www.cossa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/FY-2016-Senate-CJS-Analysis-June-2015.pd "Slashed" is maybe dramatic, but at least in the senate version of the bill, funding would be down $50 million for NSF next year (about 5% of the overall budget). Money going to research and things like GRFP would be down slightly too, around 4% from last year. Fortunately for social scientists, in the senate version proposed cuts wouldn't affect any one division/directorate more than another. We'll see what the final bill ends up looking like when its passed.

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The NSF is a complex organization, with lots of different divisions. Funding for certain divisions (most notably social and behavioral sciences, where most of the social sciences are housed) was on chopping block earlier this year in the house version of the commerce/justice/science appropriations bill. 

A FINAL bill (reconciling the house and senate versions) that would fund the NSF for 2016 still has not been passed. So it's impossible to say that NSF's budget for next year has been "slashed," at least at this point in time. You can track the NSF funding bill's progress in congress here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2578

COSSA did a really straightforward analysis of the house and senate's proposed FY 2016 NSF budgets in this document: http://www.cossa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/FY-2016-Senate-CJS-Analysis-June-2015.pd "Slashed" is maybe dramatic, but at least in the senate version of the bill, funding would be down $50 million for NSF next year (about 5% of the overall budget). Money going to research and things like GRFP would be down slightly too, around 4% from last year. Fortunately for social scientists, in the senate version proposed cuts wouldn't affect any one division/directorate more than another. We'll see what the final bill ends up looking like when its passed.

Thanks for the in depth response farflung! That's good to know. Now I just have to wait 6 months to find out results. Hopefully that will be enough time to get my hopes down! Lol

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Submitted mine yesterday after my PI suggested I revise it with ~1hr until the deadline! Best of luck to all the applicants this year.

My PI wanted major changes the day of the deadline. I did (most of) them. He thinks it improved the app, I'm not so sure. Alas, it's over. Now we have months to forget about all the work we did. 

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Hey all, quick question

So I submitted late (8:05 for 8pm deadline)

I've accepted that it most likely won't be reviewed, but I just want to double check if this is 100% true. Only because if so, I don't want to make my advisor write a rec he doesn't need to write

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All submitted! It only took 2.5 months for me to hear back about grad school apps, and that was hard for me. Hopefully these 5 months aren't too much torture. Good luck, everyone! Even if we don't win, we at least have some really cool ideas for research (I'm actually so excited about mine!)

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submitted for the social science grant (political science)...here's to 5 long months. now on to the ford fellowship..anyone else applying??

I just submitted by NSF application for political science yesterday! Also applying for the Ford Fellowship. 

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Hey everyone. I just submitted my app but now I have decide which letters I want to use and I was looking for some advice. I've asked four people and I'm pretty sure they will all get them in on time, so now I have to decide how I want to rank my letters. For sure I'm going to use my current research advisor and a professor from a summer REU, but I'm not sure who to choose between my last two writers.

Letter writer A is a postdoc who was in charge of my project at the REU over the summer. This research was similar to what I wrote about for my research proposal. Letter writer B is an assistant professor I took a class from (though the class does correlate to what my research will be on). Both know me well and I think both will have nice things to say, but the content will be different (A will talk about research and B will talk about my classroom performance). So, my dilemma is, should I use A's letter, which focuses on research, but may be redundant since I already have a letter from that REU? Or should I use B's letter, which only comments on my academic ability? Also, does postdoc vs professor make any sort of difference??

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Is anyone else not reading their statement and proposal after submitting? I'm terrified I will find mistakes or find a phrase that could have been better said. It's very out of character for me to care.. but I suppose funding is on the line. Maybe I'll stumble across it after a few drinks ^_^

Edited by yolk
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I just submitted by NSF application for political science yesterday! Also applying for the Ford Fellowship. 

good luck !!!!!!!!!!! Have you found any ford fellowship sample essays? How are you going about it? I'm thinking of re-adjusting the nsf app for the ford but its kind of challenging without seeing what a winning statement looks like. 

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@Infinito - I'm planning to apply for NDSEG (haven't decided about SMART - learned about it recently and not sure yet about the service requirement). I'm not sure @Infinito - I'm planning to apply for NDSEG (haven't decided about SMART - learned about it recently and not sure yet about the service requirement). I'm also not sure about what the NDSEG essay should look like, but now that the NSF is submitted I can actually start looking at it. Do you know any good resources or examples?

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@Infinito - I'm planning to apply for NDSEG (haven't decided about SMART - learned about it recently and not sure yet about the service requirement). I'm not sure @Infinito - I'm planning to apply for NDSEG (haven't decided about SMART - learned about it recently and not sure yet about the service requirement). I'm also not sure about what the NDSEG essay should look like, but now that the NSF is submitted I can actually start looking at it. Do you know any good resources or examples?

@pterosaur - Haha, I'm in the same boat right now. The best example of an awarded NDSEG I found was from HERE.

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