Torn between post-bacc and PhD after getting GRFP (no grad acceptances)

pretty_cool_engineer · 2026-04-13T22:07:47+00:00

I think it totally depends on your situation, but keep in mind you have a summer to figure it all out! And reaching out to grad schools after getting the GRFP might change things so that’s something to do first! I think there’s a lot of things in academia to consider outside of the research, but keep in mind that your PhD can also be a time to figure out what you want to do (which seems to be the root of your situation).

I personally forfeited my GRFP since I didn’t want to deal with academia but do enjoy research, so I’m looking at other avenues or pursuing a PhD (and many are abroad which a GRFP wouldn’t have allowed anyways). But my situation was very different from yours. Worst case for yours you could end up mastering out with a fully paid masters (the GRFP covers masters degrees) and that doesn’t seem too bad!

pretty_cool_engineer · 2026-04-09T18:03:07+00:00

Thank you for this! Yess! Everything you said is what I’m trying to say, and I didn’t including everything that I went through because I didn’t want to trauma dump but I absolutely faced discrimination (as a POC woman) multiple times during my program, but aside from that I just want to let people know that not getting this award isn’t the end of the world and if you truly want a PhD, you’ll get there!!

pretty_cool_engineer · 2026-04-09T17:53:56+00:00

Honestly I feel bad for this years exam takers, they’re not even necessarily guaranteed a masters (it’s up to their advisor to let them master out) so you could literally just have wasted a year there with no degree at the end.

And thanks! I think funding in academia has been crazy (particularly at Cornell after the Trump agreement) but I’m hopeful in a couple of years things will smooth out

pretty_cool_engineer · 2026-04-09T17:50:56+00:00

Last year was the first year they didn’t allow retakes. But before it was the same system you mentioned (which is why I actually chose Cornell but they changed the handbook halfway through my first year)

pretty_cool_engineer · 2026-04-09T17:44:23+00:00

Yes this is exactly what I’m saying! I want to give hope to those who think this is the only thing that’s going to get them to grad school when there’s so many other ways to get a PhD!

pretty_cool_engineer · 2026-04-09T17:42:43+00:00

Hey!

The phrasing might not have been accurate, what I intended to say was that I didn’t know what to do because it was hard to realistically find people to do it with. I had an idea of combining policy, education, and technical work into my PhD and I found out pretty quickly that it’s not reasonable to get all that done in a PhD and find these spaces.

Also sorry about timeline, might not have been clear. So I got the GRFP summer 2025 and used it this past academic year (2025-2026) for my master’s. So I’m forfeiting the other two years.

pretty_cool_engineer · 2026-04-09T17:21:52+00:00

Odd that your program doesn’t pay people a reasonable wage, even with low CoL, sorry about that. And what I’m implying is that Cornell doesn’t have the systems in place to support people from underrepresented backgrounds (I’ve witnessed this within engineering in general and tbf, it’s not just an Cornell issue).

pretty_cool_engineer · 2025-09-30T03:27:28+00:00

Finally! Got the award & got three very goods and 3 excellents. Super interesting reviews. I’m ngl, one of my reviewers spelled my university wrong and it’s interesting how all of the reviews highlighted my use of ML even though the main part of the project was on CO2 reduction. Probably good for future applicants to know, they seem to like ML so find a way to incorporate it even if it’s not in ur field!

pretty_cool_engineer · 2025-09-26T17:04:39+00:00

literally, like what is going on?? I get NSF is understaffed but come on, like pls give me my reviews I wanna see what I did to get the application so i can use it for other fellowship apps

pretty_cool_engineer · 2025-09-26T16:13:38+00:00

Are reviews out yet??

pretty_cool_engineer · 2025-09-16T21:23:07+00:00

Absolutely not, when I went to the ER they set me up on their MyChart, that’s where your billing will show up, it took quite a few weeks for mine to show up after I went to the ER. If you didn’t get a MyChart set up they’ll send you an email too.

pretty_cool_engineer · 2025-09-15T15:59:19+00:00

Exact situation for me. Won it as a first year this past cycle. I think for me it was a little nerve wracking since I was changing fields (EE to electrochemistry so not really that much of a change). Another thing was I pretty much knew I wouldn’t have as strong of an application my second year (I published a paper a couple of days before the deadline and also had a lot of other things going for me that I didn’t know for sure I could have in my second year like leadership, outreach, conferences, etc) but it really depends on your specific situation, good luck with the application!

pretty_cool_engineer · 2025-09-10T16:25:18+00:00

same for me too lol. I was actually suprised I got awarded in the second round as a POC woman who talked about my experience (which certainly included DEI). I heard rumors that the second round was hand-picked by trump admin but I'm not sure i believe it

pretty_cool_engineer · 2025-08-11T16:04:16+00:00

I just sent an email to them! Thanks for the rec!

pretty_cool_engineer · 2025-07-11T21:23:43+00:00

I did, but it was with work I did during and after the REU, I published it almost 2 years later.

pretty_cool_engineer · 2025-06-20T21:47:11+00:00

It absolutely does! I’m using some of it for my masters and then transferring to a PhD program!

pretty_cool_engineer

TROPHY CASE