<p>I am an engineering major applying to grad school for a PhD and also the NSF fellowship. I was just wondering, if i were awarded the fellowship, would i still get a stipend from my school in addition to the NSF stipend? Anyone with experience please shed some insight!</p>
<p>LOL no sir! I received the chemistry NSF fellowship last year. Practically every school accepted me because I received the reward but I didnt get any extra stipend… unless MIT is screwing me over. Its an incentive for schools to take students in and save money</p>
<p>Thank you for the clarifications, but dont you receive the NSF decision around march? That is way past the decisions of graduate schools.</p>
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<p>Right. To my understanding, you only indicate that you are applying for external scholarships on your applications (if it asks). Then it’s something you can bring up again during an interview. Then you wait to hear from schools like everyone else, and the advantage is that a successful NSF award can turn rejections into acceptances. </p>
<p>But there are a few personal reasons I chose not to apply to the scholarship. 1) It may falsely raise schools’ hopes. 2) Timing: I’d have to wait until March, which by that time everyone is getting acceptances/rejections anyways, and the biggest reason of them all; 3) I kind of want to be accepted based on my own merits. I don’t want to feel like I got in just because I got the scholarship. Stupid way of thinking, I know.</p>
<p>Then you wait to hear from schools like everyone else, and the advantage is that a successful NSF award can turn rejections into acceptances. </p>
<p>Ive heard people on a waitlist are more likely to get accepted but ive never heard of anyone going from rejected to accepted. How does that happen haha</p>
<p>^Yeah, sorry, thats what I meant - “waitlisted” → accepted</p>
<p>But that brings up another point - I feel by applying to the scholarship, the school can afford to waitlist you. It’s almost like they’re playing a game with you. It’s like, “well he/she looks good for free, but they’re not worth our own program dollars.” I’d rather them be upfront. Yes or No? Do you want me or Not? (again, I know that sounds stupid, and I hope I don’t have to eat my own words in a few months)</p>
<p>It depends on the school. Some schools top up external awards to a certain level. For example, here at Columbia PhD students in the social science and humanities divisions who have an external award can either choose to receive topping-up of their award or they can choose to “bank” their years of the GSAS internal fellowship for later dates. However, the limit is $30,000, so students with NSFs already have that and thus can’t receive the topping off.</p>
<p>I don’t think that you should hold off applying for scholarships because you are afraid that you might get accepted based on the scholarship instead of your own merits. Any student who is good enough to get an NSF is good enough to do well at a graduate program, and graduate programs reject students for many reasons besides qualifications - sometimes, they simply don’t have the money to fund you, or the other people had personal connections.</p>
<p>Personally I think if you are intending to get into a PhD program…you should do what you gotta do. The NSF is a prestigious award. It’s not as if you’re a wealthy celebrity buying your way into a PhD program by donating a library; the qualifications for winning an NSF are arguably higher than getting into doctoral programs.</p>
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Seconded. </p>
<p>There are very few cases where an NSF awarded to an incoming first-year “turns a rejection into an acceptance.” In most cases, a student qualified enough to be awarded an NSF fellowship as an incoming student has already been accepted to all the top programs in his/her field.</p>
<p>The advantage of an NSF fellowship is not that it will help you in the graduate school application process. The advantage is that it is a prestigious fellowship award that will look good on your CV for the rest of your career.</p>
<p>There are some scenarios where you can receive extra money from your school on top of NSF. For example, my school has an agreement with NSF that allows fellows to TA for a semester and “double dip”, so to speak. I believe many schools should have such an agreement, because getting an academic job typically requires that you have some kind of teaching experience.</p>
<p>That’s also true - I didn’t think about that, gthopeful. I have an NSF, and I still get paid for TAing.</p>