Page 1 of 1

LORs for 1st-year grad student NSF Fellowship - who to pick?

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 2:53 am
by InquilineKea
The prospective advisers I've talked with definitely want me to apply for the NSF Fellowship next year.

So for 1st-year grad student applicants to the NSF Fellowship - which professors do they decide on asking? Do they ask their first-year grad adviser, or do they usually ask professors at their old institution? (seeing that you can't even do that much research with your 1st-year grad adviser before the NSF Fellowships are due).

Also, what if 1 of the 4 LORs comes from a professor who's more familiar with my outreach than with my real research? (while the other 3s are familiar with my real research?)

Re: LORs for 1st-year grad student NSF Fellowship - who to pick?

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 11:43 am
by bfollinprm
Your prospective adviser at your grad school--at the least--must be a recommendation writer. You can normally find one other.

Re: LORs for 1st-year grad student NSF Fellowship - who to pick?

Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:19 pm
by InquilineKea
Yeah - that's a good idea, since they have a vested interest in you actually winning it (which means that they actually want to write you a great letter). I wonder if that means that you should present them with things you've done that they don't know about.

(heh, I also wonder if they'll take material from old LORs you asked for when applying to their grad program). Normally, LORs should be as confidential as possible, but maybe it's a good idea to ask my adviser "which one of the LORs do you think were strongest?" since I may consider asking the person to write a LOR again for the NSF.