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NSF GRFP

Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 11:06 am
by seanlikesmath
When I applied for the GRFP in November, we were required to list our proposed school. Does anyone know anything about what happens if you get the fellowship but weren't accepted at the school you listed, or found a better fit for your research elsewhere?

Re: NSF GRFP

Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 2:15 pm
by dasgut
seanlikesmath wrote:Does anyone know anything about what happens if you get the fellowship but weren't accepted at the school you listed....?
I know more than a few people who've used an NSF GRFP award to get into a school that rejected them earlier in the admissions season. The award is a strong signal to a department that you'll succeed and it greatly reduces their cost of accepting you.

Re: NSF GRFP

Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 3:05 pm
by seanlikesmath
Excellent; I was rejected by this school last year, so I was curious about what would happen in case of a repeat performance.

Re: NSF GRFP

Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 6:35 pm
by vj
I know a guy who listed MIT in his application and when he got accepted into MIT and Stanford he decided to go to Stanford with NSF funding. As far as I know, he had to provide information about his field of study at Stanford matched what he stated in his NSF application.

Hope this helps

Re: NSF GRFP

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 4:55 pm
by rmhism
So, it matters what school you put on your NSF application? If you choose a different school, you don't get NSF funding?

Re: NSF GRFP

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 7:33 pm
by seanlikesmath
That's my understanding, but it's vague. I can't find any direct information pertaining to this.

Re: NSF GRFP

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 7:48 pm
by Steve
If you get the fellowship it doesn't matter what school you attend, as long as you are studying something similar. So you can't go to graduate school for chemistry and still keep the fellowship if your application said you were going to do math, but you can go to another school for math, regardless of whether you were accepted to where you said you would go.

Re: NSF GRFP

Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 1:04 pm
by seanlikesmath
(Semi) official word from a dean with experience says yes, you can definitely change schools.