Thursday, November 6, 2008

oh my GRF...

I received a deluge of feedback today from Herb, Sam, Cora, Jon, and my mom on my NSF GRFP essays. I'm basically finished. I've uploaded 'backup' versions to NSF Fastlane so that if I can't do anything else I can at least hit the 'submit' button. That said, I'm meeting with Herb tomorrow morning to discuss the final details of my plan of research. Then I have 6 straight hours of meetings and class that end at 4 pm. I must submit by 5 pm. I'm going to proof read everything aloud to myself before I hit that button.

I must say, I think I've really put together kickass personal statement and previous research essays this year, and I'm feeling pretty good about my plan of research. I'm not as panicky as I was at this time last year, but I do have the legitimate lingering concern that they'll decide I'm not eligible (I wrote about this in the spring, but came to the conclusion that the potential benefits* were greater than the costs and I was going to apply anyways). So, I'm giving this thing my last best shot while trying to stay emotionally detatched and plan everything after this as if I never even applied for this.

*For my readers who aren't familiar with it, the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program gives you $30,000 per year for 3 years and money for tuition. This is far more than I could earn as a teaching assistant and gives me the flexibility to conduct field work in any month of the year.