NSF GRFP 2016-2017

[opelton]

Hi everyone, great thread and thank you for all the useful information!

I just learned about the NSF GRF 1 weeks ago, my deadline for physics is in 2 weeks-- a bit rushed! I need to decide if I should apply now, or wait and apply next year as a 1st year graduate student. I have several questions!

1)  Is it better to apply as undergrad or 1st year grad student... any info on this?

2) Does the $32,000 stipend add to, or replace the university stipend?

3) How specific does my research proposal need to be? I'm not even sure which school I'm going to yet! Not sure how I can write an extremely detailed research proposal. However, if undergrads have a better shot at getting accepted, then I'll give it a shot. 

Thanks in advance!

[chaparral]

9 hours ago, opelton said:

Hi everyone, great thread and thank you for all the useful information!

I just learned about the NSF GRF 1 weeks ago, my deadline for physics is in 2 weeks-- a bit rushed! I need to decide if I should apply now, or wait and apply next year as a 1st year graduate student. I have several questions!

1)  Is it better to apply as undergrad or 1st year grad student... any info on this?

2) Does the $32,000 stipend add to, or replace the university stipend?

3) How specific does my research proposal need to be? I'm not even sure which school I'm going to yet! Not sure how I can write an extremely detailed research proposal. However, if undergrads have a better shot at getting accepted, then I'll give it a shot. 

Thanks in advance!

1) I think you should definitely apply now if you can pull it together. You can apply twice: once now, and once either as a first year grad student or a second year grad student. If you don't apply this year, you only get one chance instead of two! If you don't get it this year, you will still have the feedback from the reviews to inform your next attempt.

I have heard that undergrads are compared with other undergrads, etc. If you think your application would be competitive compared to other undergrads, all the more reason to apply. NSF says they want to fund scientists early in their careers.

2) In my case the 34k replaces the university TAship I would otherwise have needed. I have heard that in rare cases universities will stack fellowships, especially to attract an incoming student with a GRFP, but I wouldn't count on it. You would need to check with your university.

3) My (successful) proposal was quite specific. I outlined a hypothesis, research plan with methods, the university where I would do the research, and how I would interpret results. However, if you get funded, you don't have to do anything in that proposal. You don't even need to attend the school that you said you would. NSF just wants to see that you have the ability to craft a solid research proposal. Having said that, I wasn't ridiculously specific on the methods. Space is limited.

Hope this helps! Best of luck. Don't be afraid to ask your professors for feedback.

[opelton]

Thank you very much chaparral, your answers do help me a lot. That's good to know that I won't be held to the project I propose, I'm going to give it a shot!

[chaparral]

59 minutes ago, opelton said:

Thank you very much chaparral, your answers do help me a lot. That's good to know that I won't be held to the project I propose, I'm going to give it a shot!

Awesome! Double check by reading the solicitation on the GRFP website (you should do that anyway), but I believe the primary constraint is that you can't completely change fields (e.g., physics to biology).

[Pitangus]

I second chaparral's responses and would add that you should first line up your letter of recommendation writers and make sure they can submit their letters by the deadline. If you've already done that then definitely apply.

[immunoweirdo]

Hi everyone! I am writing my research proposal on an immunology question (mechanism of specific CD4 T cell subset). Any advice on what field of study I should choose? I originally thought I would choose the "other" option for life sciences and write in immunology but have heard that's risky? Should I choose something like cell biology? 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[vaporeon]

Tiny question on key words:

In most journals in my field, the term "key words" means key phrases (i.e., there can be more than one *word*). For the NSF GRFP, I just want to make sure that's standard. Do you all know? And do you know how many key words we should have? I typically submit 5-6 for most manuscripts.

[Butterfly_effect]

Quick question about applying in the second year of grad school:

Is it still fine if your personal statement focuses on undergrad? For some context, in my program, we do rotations and classes first year. October of second year is the time we actually start to define our projects so most people have no preliminary data. I chose not to talk about my other rotations in my personal essay because my undergraduate work was more productive (resulted in papers) and my previous rotations had nothing to do with what I'm doing now so it seemed to me like it would disrupt the flow of the essay rather than support my current interests. I also got E/E E/E E/E (but only honorable mention) last year using last year's version of this essay. Thoughts?

[Infinito]

8 hours ago, Butterfly_effect said:

 

Quick question about applying in the second year of grad school:

Is it still fine if your personal statement focuses on undergrad? For some context, in my program, we do rotations and classes first year. October of second year is the time we actually start to define our projects so most people have no preliminary data. I chose not to talk about my other rotations in my personal essay because my undergraduate work was more productive (resulted in papers) and my previous rotations had nothing to do with what I'm doing now so it seemed to me like it would disrupt the flow of the essay rather than support my current interests. I also got E/E E/E E/E (but only honorable mention) last year using last year's version of this essay. Thoughts?

 

I don't see any problem with that. I'm starting my first year and doing my first rotation; I probably spent about 1/3 page talking about that, but I looped it into my new interests as pertaining to my proposal. 

Also, that you can get E/E * 3 and still get HM is testament to the crapshoot that we are applying to.

[Butterfly_effect]

22 hours ago, Infinito said:

Also, that you can get E/E * 3 and still get HM is testament to the crapshoot that we are applying to.

Yeah, it's definitely a crapshoot. :/ My reviews were glowing, but I probably got reviewers who overall gave high scores, so that lessened the impact of my all Es.

[imacick6]

This says it all right now.

 

[environment&health]

This is definitely a last minute question, since my application is due tomorrow!

BUT if anyone on here has an answer...

I have done graduate study in a field that is not supported (public health), and I had planned to list this on my application but now I am having doubts about how to make sure this is clear. There is no way in the dropdown to list the field that the study is in. Should I even list the study? I'm worried it will be confusing for assessing eligibility. If you had an MBA for example, would you include that information in the application?

Thanks!

[Flux2]

I realized that I made mistake in my application after submitting it.

If the deadline is Tuesday, is there anyway to possibly amend the typo?

(I have "?" around my list of publications)..If not, will this disqualify me?...

[vaporeon]

14 hours ago, environment&health said:

This is definitely a last minute question, since my application is due tomorrow!

BUT if anyone on here has an answer...

I have done graduate study in a field that is not supported (public health), and I had planned to list this on my application but now I am having doubts about how to make sure this is clear. There is no way in the dropdown to list the field that the study is in. Should I even list the study? I'm worried it will be confusing for assessing eligibility. If you had an MBA for example, would you include that information in the application?

Thanks!

I'm not sure this is helpful, but I did not list any experience that wasn't relevant. My rationale was that they have limited time to review these applications, and I wanted everything they read to be on point. 

However, I believe I read (check the solicitation) that all graduate study (I assume you mean coursework) must be listed. Was there no option for "other"?

[opelton]

On 10/17/2016 at 4:55 PM, Pitangus said:

I second chaparral's responses and would add that you should first line up your letter of recommendation writers and make sure they can submit their letters by the deadline. If you've already done that then definitely apply.

Yeah, I thankfully have professors I'm close with who didn't mind a short 2 week notice. I sent in my application today, put a lot of work into it. Wouldn't have gone through the trouble without the help from here, so thanks again! 

[sierra918]

Good luck, everyone!!!!!

[Pinot Meow]

I wish I were more patient... Waiting for GRFP results AND grad school results makes me anxious when I remember them!

[Bschaefer]

Hey Everyone, 

I just found this thread, good luck to everyone! 

[Kaede]

Good luck everyone! Be back in April!

On a side note, has anyone who applied to NSF GRFP also applied to the Ford?

Edited November 6, 2016 by Kaede

[TieZhu]

I will also wish everyone good luck! This is the last chance for me or anyone in my position (2nd year who applied last year) to apply so hopefully I made it count!

[shim12]

I just found out that I reported some data incorrectly in my proposal. The whole proposal is built upon this data. Is there anyway to contact them to fix it??

[bearhat]

On 11/6/2016 at 1:07 PM, Kaede said:

Good luck everyone! Be back in April!

On a side note, has anyone who applied to NSF GRFP also applied to the Ford?

I am applying to the Ford! It's kind of a pain...why does everything need to be double spaced??!

[paleoearth]

Good luck everyone! Anyone else apply to the paleoclimate/geosciences GRFP? 

[busybee]

21 hours ago, paleoforams75 said:

Good luck everyone! Anyone else apply to the paleoclimate/geosciences GRFP? 

I applied for medical anthropology. I deferred my Ph.D. admission to take a Fulbright and applied under the first option, so luckily I can apply again next year! It's weird, because this is the first application I've submitted where I don't care if I get it or not. I'm not thinking about it at all, or obsessing like I have in the past like every other application I've ever submitted. 

Good luck to everyone as well!

[busybee]

On 11/7/2016 at 5:11 AM, TieZhu said:

I will also wish everyone good luck! This is the last chance for me or anyone in my position (2nd year who applied last year) to apply so hopefully I made it count!

Good luck to you as well, TieZhu!