NRSA Fellowship - F31 or T32

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socialcog

Neuropsychology predoctoral intern
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Have many of you applied for and been awarded either the F31 or the T32? Can anyone explain to me the process and how competitive it is? How well developed does your project need to be before it makes sense to apply? Typically, at what stage of graduate school do students apply for these? Is it the norm for the POI to assist or is this a solo pursuit?

I admittedly know nothing about this so any comments are are appreciated.:)

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I have not applied, though I intend to in a year or two. From what I have heard it is quite competitive, though not unreasonably so. The main difficulty stems from the fact that due to the NIH timeline, most people NEED them funded on the first try. Most NIH grants you get 3 submissions for, but going through the full process 3 times will take quite some time (I'd guess about 2 years). Few people are willing to delay graduation that long in order to get one funded. I hope I'm not in that position, but if I am I would actually consider doing so if I'm reasonably on-track prior to that point. The way I see it, the sooner I can get my hand in the NIH cookie jar, the better off I will be.

People typically apply for the F31 when preparing their dissertation. When you apply would depend on what your program's timeline is like. As far as how developed it needs to be...its a grant. It basically needs to be your dissertation proposal, just in grant format (in other words, no 50 page introductions;) ). People used to submit them early on, long before having a firm dissertation project, and get funding for all of grad school...to the best of my knowledge that does not happen anymore, and you need a clear project to even be considered.

It is not only the norm for your POI to assist, but a requirement. The grant needs a faculty sponsor, which will generally be your advisor, and often a few other individuals (consultants, etc.). Many people write in training elements to the grant, to pay for workshops, etc. Again, in order to be competitive, they typically need to be seasoned investigators, and at least some need to have obtained NIH grants of their own. It isn't necessary, and I know someone who got one despite having an advisor who never had even a small NIH grant, but its surely helpful.

I know we have some folks here who have been through the process, so I'm sure they can give you more insight into what the actual process is like, and correct me if I'm off base on anything;)
 
I am also preparing to submit (December is my goal). To be competitive, you almost always have to submit more than once. The funding rate is only about 20% and that is counting those who have submitted more than once in order to get funded, so it is tough. They look at everyting...your project, your pubs, your advisor, there is a lot that goes into it. Just start planning as early as you can!

One thing I want to correct from Ollie (great response btw) is that they are changing to a maximum of two submissions, so you can only re-submit once. I don't know when this change goes into effect, but it is coming!
 
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Without being redundant, because the F31 info you got above is nice and comprehensive, I'll address the T32 question...

You cannot apply directly to NIH for a T32. That is an institutional grant whereas the F31 is an individual grant. In other words, a department applies for a T32 and then doles out the slots to their trainees (in whatever manner they decide). They are designed to fund a handful of students at a time.

As an individual, you apply for the F31 yourself. And it only funds you. It's a good gig. I had one. :thumbup:
 
I have an F31. It's definitely worth applying for one, but it's not something you need to think about much now if you're still an applicant-- although it's worthwhile having it in the back of your head. Ollie's post was fairly comprehensive. Here are some additional random thoughts.
-The proposal needs to be developed enough to have specific hypotheses, planned data analyses, power analyses, etc. I used mine as my dissertation proposal
-It is competitive, but not so much that it's such a rare thing to get one funded. Whether you get funded depends on your merits, your proposal's merits, and the whims of the review committee. The latter is not always predictable.
-It works out so you get your reviews right before the due date, so often you have to wait for the next due date to resubmit (4 months later), and as a result, it can be time consuming. I'd say that the average first submit to funding time is about one year-- if it gets funded, that is. I was lucky enough to have mine funded on the first go, but that's not the norm.
-Even if it doesn't get funded, it's worthwhile because you get a glimpse into the grant-writing process and produce your dissertation proposal.
-You get judged on the quality of your research proposal, but also the quality of your training plan, your sponsor, your training institution, your consultants, etc. You even have to give them your undergraduate grades.
OK, that was kind of rushed, but hopefully it's helpful!
 
I have not applied, though I intend to in a year or two. From what I have heard it is quite competitive, though not unreasonably so. The main difficulty stems from the fact that due to the NIH timeline, most people NEED them funded on the first try. Most NIH grants you get 3 submissions for, but going through the full process 3 times will take quite some time (I'd guess about 2 years). Few people are willing to delay graduation that long in order to get one funded. I hope I'm not in that position, but if I am I would actually consider doing so if I'm reasonably on-track prior to that point. The way I see it, the sooner I can get my hand in the NIH cookie jar, the better off I will be.

People typically apply for the F31 when preparing their dissertation. When you apply would depend on what your program's timeline is like. As far as how developed it needs to be...its a grant. It basically needs to be your dissertation proposal, just in grant format (in other words, no 50 page introductions;) ). People used to submit them early on, long before having a firm dissertation project, and get funding for all of grad school...to the best of my knowledge that does not happen anymore, and you need a clear project to even be considered.

It is not only the norm for your POI to assist, but a requirement. The grant needs a faculty sponsor, which will generally be your advisor, and often a few other individuals (consultants, etc.). Many people write in training elements to the grant, to pay for workshops, etc. Again, in order to be competitive, they typically need to be seasoned investigators, and at least some need to have obtained NIH grants of their own. It isn't necessary, and I know someone who got one despite having an advisor who never had even a small NIH grant, but its surely helpful.

I know we have some folks here who have been through the process, so I'm sure they can give you more insight into what the actual process is like, and correct me if I'm off base on anything;)



Thank you everyone! This was super helpful. I have a friend who was funded on her first attempt. We will be sitting down soon for a cup of coffee to discuss it.

I acknowledge that I am putting the cart waaay before the horse here, but there are a couple of glaring factors that might keep me from being competitive. The obvious is my graduate institution. It will be interesting to see if any student in PGSP's history as been awarded one and if so, what there application looked like. The other is my undergraduate GPA, which happened a long time ago, but yeah....it's pretty poor. My master's GPA is very strong but I don't know if they'll factor that in. We'll see how it goes when the time comes.

Again, many many thanks!
 
F31s and private foundation developmental grants are great. T31s represent something the institution already has in place (already allocated by NIH). F31s are extramural funds. Thus, the F31s are probably a bit more challenging in the onus is on you to setup the infrastructure for supervision and training in a way that NIH agrees is sufficient. Neither are likely to help you early on, as in prior to Masters. You need to build up a bit of a record first. Make sure you participate in conference presentations and manuscripts from day one if you are interested in applying for such things. Be early on everything, because time quickly is not your friend.

Noted and thank you, JS.

Strategically it has been both my assumption and fear to assemble the infrastructure out of the gates. My research interests don't match very well with the neuropsychology faculty at PGSP. One faculty in particular investigates the neuro of depression broadly, which might bridge to my focus in it's current state. However, one point worth noting is that I was told by several that it is not uncommon for PGSP students to not only collaborate with Stanford labs, but additionally to have Stanford faculty advising on their dissertation committees. This is, needless to say, of interest to me as there are a couple of faculty whose research are very well matched with my own. It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds.

JS, having knowledge of my research interests, can expect many hounding PMs from me in the coming year. ;)
 
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