my scores may suck but my NSF proposal was good!

I understand that the number of NSF fellowships given out might triple this year, as a result of the stimulus package. The omnibus spending bill also hasn't been signed yet, and it contains more NSF money. It actually might delay things a couple of weeks---it takes more time to give out more money. I've never understood how they decide---we have had mediocre students get them and terrific students not get them (apparently the "broader impact" aspect is more important than many realize).mhazelm wrote:Does anyone know when we will find out? From looking through old threads, it sounds as though they didn't make any announcements until the very end of March last year. I'm hoping the results aren't delayed because of the economy; it could be a get-out-of-jail-free (i.e. admissions) ticket...
my scores may suck but my NSF proposal was good!
In general, you have 5 years to use your 3 years of funding for the NSF. For more details, look at this pdf.jcmaxwell wrote:This delay is particularly frustrating for me because I am considering deferring to go abroad a year (a government program, but not related to science). Does anyone know under what conditions NSF can be deferred?
Yep... I was holding out hope that I was in the "honorable mention/not-yet-rejected" group until this morning at about 11:30am when I got my rejection email. But also keep in mind that the sub-categories of physics for the NSF are mostly arbitrary -- they divide physics applications to consider in two piles by sub-category but not more specifically than that. Oh well, next year!YF17A wrote:Wow. There are exactly 2 awards in the first round for theoretical physics. I hope there are more coming, or this does not bode well for our future careers...