NSF GRFP 2016

[Neist]

1 minute ago, kafcat said:

Alright lads lets stay strongggggg!!!

 

I shall become the NSF thread keeper of the memes.

[qazster]

11 minutes ago, Neist said:

Brownie points if someone knows which movie this is from.

 

snowpiecer, right? great movie that I need to see again

[Neist]

1 minute ago, qazster said:

snowpiecer, right? great movie that I need to see again

Yup. 

I own it on Amazon. I should watch it tonight to pass the hours.

[Humulus_lupulus]

7 minutes ago, doomination said:

We can't be certain, but this same thing happened last year, and the predictions were accurate. I'd bet the results will be out tonight/tomorrow morning.

I'd like to statistically support your claim. P<0.05

[chaparral]

I almost made a graph of the previous years' timing and ran the statistics, but I restrained myself...

 

[Neist]

1 minute ago, chaparral said:

I almost made a graph of the previous years' timing and ran the statistics, but I restrained myself...

Awwww...

That could have been fun.  

[sierra918]

2 minutes ago, chaparral said:

I almost made a graph of the previous years' timing and ran the statistics, but I restrained myself...

 

Haha! I'm glad I'm not the only one looking at this from all angles ?

[chaparral]

Just now, Neist said:

Awwww...

That could have been fun.  

It would have been. I might still do it, but I have some real statistics to run first.  

[pali123]

25 minutes ago, kafcat said:

Alright lads lets stay strongggggg!!!

and ladies!

[pterosaur]

I'm guessing that part of the reason for the 2-3 am release (Probably the primary reason) is that it spreads out the load on their servers. 16,000 people won't be checking as soon as the results are posted. A few hardcore people will be, but it'll be staggered as people wake up and check their emails. A change in the timing may reflect a change in the way they're handling their servers.

[CreamyDog69]

Application season is over and GRFP results will be posted soon! What am I supposed to worry about now??? Grades? What do I do?

[mobilehobo]

I just don't know how to keep my mind off of it until I finally know for sure. I'm a first year PhD not in a top graduate program. I went to a local public university and my undergrad GPA was low (3.4), but I was working full time to support my family. I have tons of REU research experience, but no publications to show for it. My application was read by anyone I could get to look at it and it seems to be the best I could have put out. My proposal was realistic and supported by preliminary data, but I could have communicated the applications better. It will probably come down to my letters of rec, but I have no idea what they say.

 

I think I need to find someone to hold my hand when that email goes out!

 

[talkcherty2me]

6 minutes ago, Ignis said:

Application season is over and GRFP results will be posted soon! What am I supposed to worry about now??? Grades? What do I do?

Enjoy your freedom and go do fun things that you didn't have time for throughout application season

[mobilehobo]

7 minutes ago, Ignis said:

Application season is over and GRFP results will be posted soon! What am I supposed to worry about now??? Grades? What do I do?

Start planning your move :)! Once you finalize your grad program, find housing, find roommates... start reading about all the fun you'll have in your new city (assuming it's new to you!).

[cwr]

16 minutes ago, Ignis said:

Application season is over and GRFP results will be posted soon! What am I supposed to worry about now??? Grades? What do I do?

I heard that there's this thing called "real life" and "graduate school" that come after applications, but I seriously doubt the veracity of these claims. 

[Humulus_lupulus]

8 minutes ago, mobilehobo said:

I just don't know how to keep my mind off of it until I finally know for sure. I'm a first year PhD not in a top graduate program. I went to a local public university and my undergrad GPA was low (3.4), but I was working full time to support my family. I have tons of REU research experience, but no publications to show for it. My application was read by anyone I could get to look at it and it seems to be the best I could have put out. My proposal was realistic and supported by preliminary data, but I could have communicated the applications better. It will probably come down to my letters of rec, but I have no idea what they say.

 

I think I need to find someone to hold my hand when that email goes out!

 

Welcome to the 3.4 GPA club! I had a 3.4 coming out of undergrad and the first year I applied, I got honorable mention. Don't let the GPA get you down, and remember, you've got a lot more life experience than we do, so you're already a winner!

[cwr]

2 hours ago, Eillac said:

Of those that applied as undergraduates/no graduate study, will getting the GRFP change where you choose to go to graduate school? 

I am deciding between two places, but the funding and moving considerations are definitely better at one. If I got the GRFP, I may choose the other university. 

I think that this – deciding where you will go based (at least partially) on the GRFP – is relatively normal. I've heard of others doing this, even going so far as writing schools that rejected them to ask to be reconsidered following winning the GRFP (though I have been advised against this for what seem like good reasons). Overall, I think factoring in the impact of the GRFP on your finances and potentially altering your graduate plans makes sense. The freedom it offers is one of the best things about the GRFP, after all, so I think you've got it exactly right. 

As for me, I actually realized just a few days ago that the GRFP decision won't impact my funding either way at the university I will (likely) attend, aside from making my advisor really happy because he'd be saving ~$100k, of course. 

[mobilehobo]

5 minutes ago, Humulus_lupulus said:

Welcome to the 3.4 GPA club! I had a 3.4 coming out of undergrad and the first year I applied, I got honorable mention. Don't let the GPA get you down, and remember, you've got a lot more life experience than we do, so you're already a winner!

wow, what a sweet way to put it, thanks!

[shim12]

1 minute ago, cwr said:

I think that this – deciding where you will go based (at least partially) on the GRFP – is relatively normal. I've heard of others doing this, even going so far as writing schools that rejected them to ask to be reconsidered following winning the GRFP (though I have been advised against this for what seem like good reasons). Overall, I think factoring in the impact of the GRFP on your finances and potentially altering your graduate plans makes sense. The freedom it offers is one of the best things about the GRFP, after all, so I think you've got it exactly right. 

As for me, I actually realized just a few days ago that the GRFP decision won't impact my funding either way at the university I will (likely) attend, aside from making my advisor really happy because he'd be saving ~$100k, of course. 

What reasons, if you don't mind me asking?

[mobilehobo]

1 minute ago, shim12 said:

What reasons, if you don't mind me asking?

Not the OP of that, but I do know that programs with the ability to reverse decisions based on GRFP will contact you. I do know of someone who got into their dream school this way, but it's probably not something every program does. Personally, I wouldn't see why emailing them is bad. Just let them know your application has changed, and you now can come in with three years of GRFP funding, just in case that has any effect on the decision already made. The worse you'd get is that it doesn't change anything.

[CreamyDog69]

8 minutes ago, shim12 said:

What reasons, if you don't mind me asking?

Also not OP, but I have a fellowship from the University already and it's more than the GRFP, so my program would just add a bit of extra money to my GRFP to bring it up. 

 

14 minutes ago, cwr said:

I heard that there's this thing called "real life" and "graduate school" that come after applications, but I seriously doubt the veracity of these claims. 

I too have heard the legends... 

Edited March 28, 2016 by Ignis

[commodork]

22 minutes ago, mobilehobo said:

I just don't know how to keep my mind off of it until I finally know for sure. I'm a first year PhD not in a top graduate program. I went to a local public university and my undergrad GPA was low (3.4), but I was working full time to support my family. I have tons of REU research experience, but no publications to show for it. My application was read by anyone I could get to look at it and it seems to be the best I could have put out. My proposal was realistic and supported by preliminary data, but I could have communicated the applications better. It will probably come down to my letters of rec, but I have no idea what they say.

 

I think I need to find someone to hold my hand when that email goes out!

 

GPA matters way way less than you'd think, especially if you have solid research experience (which it sounds like you do). I applied as an undergrad last year with a GPA that wasn't much higher (~3.5) and got HM, so it's not like they have hard cutoffs or anything like that. If they can point to your research experience and say "yeah. his/her grades could have been better, but look at all this cool stuff they were doing" then it certainly won't break you. 

[paleoatmo]

2 minutes ago, commodork said:

GPA matters way way less than you'd think, especially if you have solid research experience (which it sounds like you do). I applied as an undergrad last year with a GPA that wasn't much higher (~3.5) and got HM, so it's not like they have hard cutoffs or anything like that. If they can point to your research experience and say "yeah. his/her grades could have been better, but look at all this cool stuff they were doing" then it certainly won't break you. 

Last year when I applied, a reviewer wrote that my undergraduate GPA was not competitive enough (I had a 3.3) among the other applicants. I felt really bummed out because there is nothing I can change about my undergrad GPA. I did have REU experience + undergrad experience with a publication too, but I guess my C's in physics were noticeable. 

[chaparral]

6 minutes ago, paleoatmo said:

Last year when I applied, a reviewer wrote that my undergraduate GPA was not competitive enough (I had a 3.3) among the other applicants. I felt really bummed out because there is nothing I can change about my undergrad GPA. I did have REU experience + undergrad experience with a publication too, but I guess my C's in physics were noticeable. 

See I have a 4.0 undergrad GPA but no publications, and I think that may keep me from getting it. I would much rather be in your position! I think you are much more competitive this year than I am.

[mobilehobo]

5 minutes ago, paleoatmo said:

Last year when I applied, a reviewer wrote that my undergraduate GPA was not competitive enough (I had a 3.3) among the other applicants. I felt really bummed out because there is nothing I can change about my undergrad GPA. I did have REU experience + undergrad experience with a publication too, but I guess my C's in physics were noticeable. 

I've talked to many others in the same boat. I'm just hoping they take into account my personal story. I've also read applications where this goes great, and where it totally alienates the reviewer.

I know grad GPAs don't mean anything, but hopefully keeping that high will prove enough we're all academically prepared for graduate school.