F30 chances? What is most important and what is least important?

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IndigoJoe

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Hello everyone!

I just took step 1 and began doing research (finally!!!!!). I haven't received my Step1 scores yet, but I am not one of those 260 ppl... My performance in medical school is good, but I'm not a gunner.

I was wondering if anyone here has any advice for me on this. Does my status as an more average MD student significantly hurt my chances of receiving an F30 award?

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

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From my experience reviewers didn't seem to care about medical school performance very much, although I am somewhere where these classes are P/F. I did do well on Step 1 and mentioned it on my application, and they listed that as a positive, although I don't think it was game-breaking.

Fellowship reviewers appear to put a lot more emphasis on undergraduate grades and MCAT. Still, remember that the most important parts of the application are the research proposal and the training plan - don't neglect the training plan! Many applicants tend to brush it off and wind up getting slammed for it.
 
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I believe the NIH recently announced that standardized test scores no longer need to be included on the biosketch.

I never had a reveiwer comment on my grades or test scores. The best thing to have is probably a publication. Nearly all reviewers will point out if you do not have a first author peer reviewed paper and state it is a weakness.

Good luck and submit early! Getting feedback from the first round of review will really help to refine your project and make it better.
 
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Thanks globe199 and foreverGrad!!!!

Very helpful feedback! Shooting to get this thing submitted by the December date.

I believe the NIH recently announced that standardized test scores no longer need to be included on the biosketch.

I never had a reveiwer comment on my grades or test scores. The best thing to have is probably a publication. Nearly all reviewers will point out if you do not have a first author peer reviewed paper and state it is a weakness.

Good luck and submit early! Getting feedback from the first round of review will really help to refine your project and make it better.

Would you say that there is benefit to submitting significantly before the due date????
 
Here's the announcement that standardized tests are no longer required: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-15-120.html

> Would you say that there is benefit to submitting significantly before the due date?

I've never heard anyone say this (I submitted an F30 myself this past cycle, haven't heard back yet). What many people do recommend is emailing a program officer in the institution you're planning on applying to with your specific aims 1-2 months prior to the submission date (though I haven't seen any data that this is actually helpful, it seems like a reasonable idea). This means that you need to get feedback on your specific aims from your PI and collaborators relatively early, and it's worth thinking about that aspect of your application in particular early or even now. That said, you have plenty of time before December 8th.
 
There is no benefit to submitting before the due date. What I meant is that it is a good idea to submit your fellowship early in your training. Electricity is right that it is good to start early. The entire process will take you 1-2 months since the applications end up being ~50-75 pages once everything is put together. The only advantage to submitting early is that if something goes wrong during submission you can fix it before the due date, since changes can be made to submitted applications up until the 5PM deadline. Submissions also typically require a university signing officer to approve the grant before routing it to NIH, if you have you application complete 1-2 days before the deadline, there will be ample time to complete this. Obviously every institutions policies are different though, so talk to your PI!
 
Submissions also typically require a university signing officer to approve the grant before routing it to NIH, if you have you application complete 1-2 days before the deadline, there will be ample time to complete this. Obviously every institutions policies are different though, so talk to your PI!
I can't stress this enough. My institution requires your full, complete, ready to submit, un-editable grant application (with all supplemental files) to be submitted for approval 2 full weeks before the grant deadline. Find out what the rules are where you are and make that date as your new hard submission deadline.
 
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