wenner-gren dissertation grant

[fnordian]

hi all, just wondering about the may 2010 application round... does anybody know when final decisions will be made? i'm assuming mid or late october?

I'm wondering the same thing. I was rejected in the second round last time, and I got my results about 3 weeks before the people who were accepted did (based on the posts here and the dates listed for previous winners on the wenner-gren site), so I'm treating no news as good news, but obviously I don't know if anyone has started getting rejections yet. Last year's winners had their grants awarded October 13-26, except for one person who was granted the award on 11/20 - there always seem to be a few stragglers, and I'm wondering if these people were waitlisted or something. If we base it on how long the second round of review took last time (12-14 weeks), it should be October 14-28, so that range is probably right on target.

[yueqiong]

I'm wondering the same thing. I was rejected in the second round last time, and I got my results about 3 weeks before the people who were accepted did (based on the posts here and the dates listed for previous winners on the wenner-gren site), so I'm treating no news as good news, but obviously I don't know if anyone has started getting rejections yet. Last year's winners had their grants awarded October 13-26, except for one person who was granted the award on 11/20 - there always seem to be a few stragglers, and I'm wondering if these people were waitlisted or something. If we base it on how long the second round of review took last time (12-14 weeks), it should be October 14-28, so that range is probably right on target.

hi fnordian, that sounds right. i actually broke down and called wenner gren to stammeringly ask when decisions would be made, and a very annoyed administrator answered "either this week or next," next week referring to the week of oct 11-15... i was assuming she was referring to both rejection and award notifications.

[fnordian]

hi fnordian, that sounds right. i actually broke down and called wenner gren to stammeringly ask when decisions would be made, and a very annoyed administrator answered "either this week or next," next week referring to the week of oct 11-15... i was assuming she was referring to both rejection and award notifications.

Thanks for sharing that info! Having some idea definitely helps me get in the right frame of mind - I'm the type to assume rejection so that I won't be let down, but I don't want to spend weeks on end thinking that way either!

[fnordian]

OMG, OMG, OMG. I got the "tell us what other funding you got" email!

(It came at 1:59 on 10/7/10)

The lesson, assuming this means I got it? That it is definitely worth it to reapply if you don't get funded the first time! I only made a few key revisions to deal with the suggestions made by my reviewers and it's looking like it worked!

[Wallace the Walrus]

Hi, I also received the request for funding results from other agencies (at about 5:00EST on 10/7). From the last cycle, there was a note on this forum that this letter included something about having an "excellent chance" of being funded and to not bother applying for the next round. There was nothing along those lines in the e-mail I just received. Is that a reason to withhold premature celebration?

Good luck to all who are still waiting.

[yueqiong]

Hi, I also received the request for funding results from other agencies (at about 5:00EST on 10/7). From the last cycle, there was a note on this forum that this letter included something about having an "excellent chance" of being funded and to not bother applying for the next round. There was nothing along those lines in the e-mail I just received. Is that a reason to withhold premature celebration?

Good luck to all who are still waiting.

i just got that email too, but i am anxious as well and am trying not to get hopes up... there was nothing about an "excellent chance of being funded" as there was in previous rounds! maybe their process has changed and they are asking everyone this question?

[Wallace the Walrus]

It is curious that the letter does state that notification of final decisions will occur in early November, which raises a question: what to do about the November 1st deadline for the next round of W-G?

[fnordian]

Well, I know the letters were sent out by someone different this year, which I think is why it's phrased a little differently (it also isn't as close to the deadline as last time, which might have something to do with not saying "don't bother to reapply"). I asked a bunch of anthro people (not my primary field) and like others have said in this thread they've never heard of someone getting that email unless they won, or of getting a rejection after the deadline for the next round... but of course that is still limited data.

Why not try writing back and asking if you should reapply in the next round, to see if they give you the same kind of encouragement as last round's applicants? I would do it myself but it might be a little weird since it's already my second time applying and I'm not going to try a 3rd time if I didn't get it..

It'd also be nice to hear from someone who got a rejection? (as much as I know that sucks! my sympathies to anyone this might apply to!)

[boneil02]

I have not heard anything either way, though a person from my department received a rejection letter yesterday morning (Thursday Oct 7th). Not sure what that means for me, but good luck to everyone else out there.

[Wallace the Walrus]

I have not heard anything either way, though a person from my department received a rejection letter yesterday morning (Thursday Oct 7th). Not sure what that means for me, but good luck to everyone else out there.

boneli, going on posts from the last round, have you checked your spam folder?

[yueqiong]

boneli, i hope you find a request for info on other funding in your spam folder!

[boneil02]

Thanks for the advice -- I just checked and still no word. I guess I have a bit of a wait in front of me...

[boneil02]

I received my rejection notice today. So for future applicants, it seems that WG does stagger their notifications a bit. So no news right away does not necessarily mean good news. Good luck to everyone else!

[fnordian]

Sorry to hear that boneil, and my condolences to others who got bad news as well.

I wanted to give another update on my situation. I responded right away to the email they sent last week asking if I'd gotten any other funding, and let them know that I had applied for an NSF dissertation research improvement grant, but that I wouldn't hear back about it until late November/early December and there was no overlap in budgets (I applied for living expenses from Wenner-Gren, research expenses from NSF). This morning I got an email asking me to write back with a statement about whether the feasibility of my research would be affected if I don't get the NSF grant. Luckily it won't be, so I explained my plan B to deal with each of the items on my NSF budget if I don't get that grant.

[Wallace the Walrus]

Sorry Boneil, but I appreciate your keeping us informed. As for an update from me, I also replied saying I had applied for a few other grants of which I haven't heard back yet. The reply I received today simply reiterated that final decisions will be made in the next few weeks. I wish they didn't have to keep us in limbo like this. I have at least three deadlines for other fellowships (including the next round of WG) between now and early November. I'd rather not bother with them (or make my letter-writers bother with them) if I don't have to. I'm fairly confident that if we haven't been rejected yet and if we don't have funding already covered, the "excellent chance of funding" that went out in last round's letter applies to us as well. Any thoughts on whether that optimism is justified?

[anotherstudent]

I got the email too, and my sense is that your optimism is justified. If they've sent out rejections, the readers must already have evaluated our projects and assigned them numeric scores, and the committee must have established a cut-off score for funding. They can't possibly be re-evaluating our projects at this point, which means that they're just making sure that everything is clear with our budgets. My guess is that the change in wording was at the advice of the W-G's lawyers--if they do end up not funding someone, either because they already have the money they need or because they need more money than they've asked the W-G for, they don't want to be legally liable.

That said, I wish they would end the suspense and send something more concrete!

Sorry Boneil, but I appreciate your keeping us informed. As for an update from me, I also replied saying I had applied for a few other grants of which I haven't heard back yet. The reply I received today simply reiterated that final decisions will be made in the next few weeks. I wish they didn't have to keep us in limbo like this. I have at least three deadlines for other fellowships (including the next round of WG) between now and early November. I'd rather not bother with them (or make my letter-writers bother with them) if I don't have to. I'm fairly confident that if we haven't been rejected yet and if we don't have funding already covered, the "excellent chance of funding" that went out in last round's letter applies to us as well. Any thoughts on whether that optimism is justified?

[Wallace the Walrus]

Hi all, the official word of the reward came in the mail today! For the info of future applicants, that's one week and one day after the somewhat cryptic "your application is still being processed" e-mail. Good luck to everyone with whom I've had the pleasure to correspond over this board.

[anotherstudent]

Congratulations, Wallace! Did you hear by email or by post?

Hi all, the official word of the reward came in the mail today! For the info of future applicants, that's one week and one day after the somewhat cryptic "your application is still being processed" e-mail. Good luck to everyone with whom I've had the pleasure to correspond over this board.

[fnordian]

Hmm, I hope they send (or can send) something through email, since I used my departmental mailing address and it would take a while for that to get forwarded to me. Maybe I should contact them about this.

[Wallace the Walrus]

Hi all, the official word of the reward came in the mail today! For the info of future applicants, that's one week and one day after the somewhat cryptic "your application is still being processed" e-mail. Good luck to everyone with whom I've had the pleasure to correspond over this board.

Post. And the envelope was postmarked 10/13/2010. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for all of you!

[yueqiong]

hi all, pleasure corresponding as well, and best of luck in everything. my letter arrived, one day later than wallace's, also dated 10/13. for future applicants, both rejection and award notifications come with very helpful comments (comments with award notification were more extensive than those i received with rejection notification last round), which are really helpful for the project and for writing other proposals.

[fnordian]

Since I wanted as much data as possible while I was waiting, I thought I'd add that I too was awarded the grant after getting that email about what other funding I've received.

Apparently I missed that they asked for updated contact info (or I just forgot what contact info I had sent them, and that it wasn't up to date, more likely), so I got a little bit of mild chiding for not telling them about my new address, but they're sending me a new packet in the mail and let me know the results through email.