NSF GRFP 2009-2010

[apathetic]

Can people still access their rating sheets? I just woke up to find it's a 404 still. I am not even given the chance to login. It cannot be my cache because it 404's in both firefox and chrome.

Edited April 6, 2010 by apathetic

[Ben5504]

Honorable Mention

Intellectual Merit:

Excellent

Very Good

Excellent

Broader Impacts:

Very Good

Excellent

Fair

I think I got unlucky with the third reviewer: "The applicant did not address the broader impacts criterion. The applicant did talk about having done some outreach while an undergraduate, the physics circus. It would be good for the applicant to talk about integrating his current research with education."

The other reviewers gave me much more credit for my broader impacts, and while I didn't explicitly discuss the effect my research will have on education, the impact in other fields is far from insignificant.

Gah, frustrating...

Edited April 6, 2010 by Ben5504

[Hekog]

Can people still access their rating sheets? I just woke up to find it's a 404 still. I am not even given the chance to login. It cannot be my cache because it 404's in both firefox and chrome.

You have to follow the link in the email. The one on the website doesn't work.

[mmm35]

I didn't believe people when they said that this was arbitraty. . . but one person torpedoed my ratings. I had all Very Good and Excellent except for this person's two Goods. The reviewer directly contradicted everything the other two said, and adressed me as Laura. My name is not Laura and does not start with an L or even end with an A; in fact my name only shares one letter with Laura. WTF.

On the bright side I got more money than this in my school's fellowship. But I'm still feeling like they didn't even read my application seriously given the wrong name issue. Does three reviewers mean you made it past the first round?

[LadyL]

Hi everyone. I did not get an award, got only two reviews (F/F and G/G). This was my first time applying (I'm in between undergrad and grad school) so I guess I am starting from the bottom, which is ok, I have more chances! I started another thread for people who did not get an award to discuss what they plan on improving for next year:

[cwd2]

Applied as an undergrad and got HM! I was pretty sure my chances were slim to none, so HM is very exciting. Must try harder next year and take home the fellowship. Congrats to all who applied!

Ratings:

VG / VG

E / E

VG / VG

The first reviewer described my research as too narrow in scope but gave me VG anyway. The other two reviewers seemed to love my app. I did an NSF REU and they seemed to like that I had some research experience as an undergrad. The main deficiencies were 1) having no publications (mentioned by 2 reviewers) and 2) having only done one presentation at a symposium (mentioned by one of the same reviewers).

Did anyone else get called out for not being published?

[areese07]

Hi All,

I woke up this morning with notification that I received a fellowship offer. I dont usually post on this forum site, but I just wanted to let people know u can message me with questions. I applied for medical anthropology. I have not looked at my rating sheets yet. As far as the application, I did not submit GRE scores, first year grad student, no publications but several presentations. Congratulations to those who received an offer and good luck to those who will apply again next year.

[apathetic]

Thanks Hekog. My ratings were E/VG, E/E, and VG/G. Apparently my academic record was "less competitive" according to reviewer 3 (see my first post).

[Pavilion]

Didn't get anything. Undergraduate. First time applying. Only two rating sheets.

Intellectual Merit

Very Good

Very Good

Broader Impacts

Excellent

Good

Over all, they are okay with my qualification, but they said: 1. my proposed plan isn't really new in the field; 2. need details in my research plan; 3. need more on my PI's career plan...

Edited April 6, 2010 by Pavilion

[zilch]

HMed again

2010

IM/BI

G/G

E/E

VG/G

2009

IM/BI

E/E

VG/VG

E/VG

both years I had one reviewed that seemed to love my app, one reviewer said it was good but pointed out specific areas where he/she would've like me to talk more about and one reviewer in the middle.

my advice for those that will be re-applying, don't take the comments too seriously. I followed the advice given by the reviewer that gave me the lowest scores last year and this year all of the things my reviewers mentioned never showed up in my comments last year.

[swingline]

Yaaay!! I got it. I am a 2nd year grad student and this was my last chance to get this. Whew!

Now I'm just waiting for DOE and NDSEG.

[Rails111]

I got an award in psychology! Anyone can feel free to message me and I'll send them my essays/review sheets

Intellectual merit: Excellent, Excellent, Good

Broader Impacts: Excellent, Excellent, Excellent

[cwd2]

Yaaay!! I got it. I am a 2nd year grad student and this was my last chance to get this. Whew!

Now I'm just waiting for DOE and NDSEG.

I'm curious, which award is the best out of the 3? I applied for DOE but am not betting on it, and since I got an HM I wont have any tough choices should I get the DOE fellowship. And if you choose, say, the NDSEG, does that mean some of us honorably mentioned folk may get offered a discarded NSF fellowship (cross fingers)?

[swingline]

I'm curious, which award is the best out of the 3? I applied for DOE but am not betting on it, and since I got an HM I wont have any tough choices should I get the DOE fellowship. And if you choose, say, the NDSEG, does that mean some of us honorably mentioned folk may get offered a discarded NSF fellowship (cross fingers)?

I think DOE may be the best. It has the biggest stipend at $35,000 and they also give you $5,000 annually to spend on research related expenses.

And I am fairly sure that if someone rejects an NSF offer, that someone else will get it. I would go to one of the poor people who is going crazy because they still haven't gotten a response.

[finnegans_cake]

I'm curious, which award is the best out of the 3? I applied for DOE but am not betting on it, and since I got an HM I wont have any tough choices should I get the DOE fellowship. And if you choose, say, the NDSEG, does that mean some of us honorably mentioned folk may get offered a discarded NSF fellowship (cross fingers)?

I am curious about how the interactions b/w the fellowships work. Somewhere higher up in this thread, someone mentioned the possibility that there is coordination between fellowship programs ahead of the award announcements in order to optimize who receives stuff. I am skeptical of this. I mean, I wonder if I get really good reviews, will the GRF give me an HM if another fellowship wants me?

[UnlikelyGrad]

(For those of us who didn't get an award...) How do you access your ratings sheets if you haven't yet received an email?

[Language Lover <3]

Wow, just viewed my rating sheets, and I am beyond frustrated. The only thing that my reviewers commented on was the IM/BI of the proposal itself, with no acknowledgement of having even looked at my other essays. They even commented on how I didn't discuss how I'm prepared to do that topic, even though my research background essay specifically addresses my four previous years, three publications, and four national and international conferences on that exact topic. ~FUMING~

[Rails111]

how do we figure out our percentile rank?

[swingline]

How is everybody seeing their rating sheets. I still get a 404 error when I try to load the rating sheet link seen at http://www.nsfgrfp.org/applicant_resources

I also logged into my fastlane account and I don't see any rating sheets!

[kittraverse]

Congrats to everyone who received an award or an HM, just an incredible achievement. I'm heading into Grad School in the fall, in Cog Psych, and according to the website I didn't receive a nod in either category. Since I haven't received my rejection email yet, I can't post anything about my rating sheets, but I just wanted to congratulate all the winners, as well as the folks who just put in a great effort to get this submitted. Good luck everyone!

[apathetic]

Rails, I don't know if there is any real way to determine it. There are four cases, however, from my understanding, based on your combination of how many reviewers you got and whether you got the award. They are ranked as follows (highest to lowest): 1. Get GRF and only have 2 reviewers 2. Get GRF and have 3 reviewers 3. Do not get GRF and have 3 reviewers (these are the HM's) 4. Do not get GRF and only have 2 reviewers (no HM) I believe that the first three groups are roughly the top 30%, the second group is the top 15% and the first group is the top 7%, going by previous years' data.<br /><br />I like how the forum killed my formatting

Edited April 6, 2010 by apathetic

[aileen]

To access rating sheets, use the link and login information in the email you received. The other link isn't working for some reason.

I just registered to give some hope to those who don't think they can win with so-so stats. GRE was 1220 (620 V, 600 Q, 5.0 analytical writing). GPA 3.78.

BUT, I am an undergraduate who had 1.5 years of research experience when applying, non-traditional student, was an Ameri*Corps VISTA for two years, and really weaved the broader impacts through all of my essays. They LOVED that I was a VISTA and that I have done so much outreach already and had a good plan for outreach as a grad student.

Ratings were (intellectual merit/ broader impacts): VG/VG, VG/E, G/E.

(Also, I applied to Life Sciences, Neuroscience if that helps anyone.)

Edited April 6, 2010 by aileen

[BioTurboNick]

Just updating my no-HM rejection with relevant info.

Intellectual Merit: VG VG

Broader Impacts: G G

I had a very strong academic record and strong recommendations which both reviewers commented on and some broader impact-type stuff, but there were several big deficiencies they pointed out:

1. Lack of publications and external presentations. Though some people can't really help this based on how their research goes...

2. Most of my broader impacts were things I wanted to do in the future, but had only done a little bit in the past.

And if it helps others:

GRE V/Q/W: 720/760/5

GRE Biochem Subject Test: 690 (95th percentile)

Undergrad GPA: 3.61

Grad GPA: 3.92

[Hekog]

For those of you who haven't even gotten an email, here's the correct rating sheets link.. although you won't actually be able to login without the username and password you're given in the email!

www.nsfgrfp.org/ratingsheets/

[cogneuroforfun]

Rails, I don't know if there is any real way to determine it. There are four cases, however, from my understanding, based on your combination of how many reviewers you got and whether you got the award. They are ranked as follows (highest to lowest): 1. Get GRF and only have 2 reviewers 2. Get GRF and have 3 reviewers 3. Do not get GRF and have 3 reviewers (these are the HM's) 4. Do not get GRF and only have 2 reviewers (no HM) I believe that the first three groups are roughly the top 30%, the second group is the top 15% and the first group is the top 7%, going by previous years' data.<br /><br />I like how the forum killed my formatting

I had three reviews and no HM. I did better than last year and I have one more year to apply, so I'm hopeful about my chances next year. I got E/VG, F/F, and VG/F; another student in my program who won an award had one VG/F, leading me to believe that the middle reviewer is the one that really sunk me. I do think its a little funny that the exact same application can get E/VG and F/F