Damn.

[rivka]

I just heard back from the National Cancer Institute's Program Officer for the grant I submitted in April. My score was a 303. The pay line (above which grants are funded) is 225. So, no money.

The Program Officer gave me some notes over the phone, and contact information for someone who can give me more detailed suggestions. In a few weeks, I should get my pink sheets, which will point out all the project's flaws in exquisite detail.

I still think it's an awfully good project. Damn it.

Resubmission deadlines are August 20 and December 20. I probably won't make August 20, because the resubmission has to include a thorough response to the pink sheets, and they may not even arrive before August 20.

If I had gotten this grant, I would have been pretty much assured a faculty position at the Institute. Now that's very uncertain. It's extremely likely that we're getting another, much larger grant on which my boss is the Principal Investigator - the score for that one was 150, which is ridiculously high - so it's not as if my salary support will vanish completely. But I really wanted this grant, my own grant.

Most people get turned down for their first NIH grant. It doesn't mean I'm no good.

But I really wanted this.

Comments

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

I know all too well how this feels. I'm sorry it happened to you.

-J

[trinker.livejournal.com]

Hug offered, and much sympathy. It doesn't mean you're no good. I have the utmost confidence that you will have your own grant sooner rather than later.

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

How much of the grant process relies on the history of the grant writer?

Your day will come.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

How much of the grant process relies on the history of the grant writer?

For a normal grant: vast, vast amounts.

For this grant program: supposedly, not so much. It's a program offering small grants to people who want to become established as cancer researchers, and it's limited to people who have never gotten a grant from NCI before. It's the only kind of NIH grant I would even think of applying for, at this stage of my CV.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

part a of post: ugh. i'm sorry. if i had grant money to give out, i would give you some.

part b of post: i bet you get accepted after you go through those pink sheets and tighten it up. even if the sheets don't get there in time to do the august one, you'll have time for december.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

"I just heard back from the National Cancer Institute's Program Officer for the grant I submitted in April. My score was a 303. The pay line (above which grants are funded) is 225. So, no money."

This made no sense until I realized that, like golf, NCI scores are higher when they're lower.

I wonder how they do that? Do they give points for mistakes?

B

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Each reviewer rates your proposal on a scale from 1 (best) to 5 (worst). Then they average the scores and multiply by 100.

The small grants program is unusual because they publish the pay line upfront - their website says that everything above 225 will be funded. Normally it's a percentile thing, and also a how-much-money-is-available-at-the-last-moment thing, so you don't find out whether you'll be funded until sometime after you receive your score. Hence, my boss is sitting on a priority score of 150 and expects, but does not know for sure, that they'll actually send us the money.

Fortunately, the notes I've gotten so far are for things that will be relatively easy to fix - for example, "significance is not clear," "recruitment plan lacks specifics." I'm hoping I can polish it up and turn it around again quickly. We'll see.

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

Good luck with polishing and fixes. (And I wish I had something more encouraging to say, but I think that, if you think it's good research, it almost certainly is, and I'm not sure how to express that very well.)

[zencuppa.livejournal.com]

Drat, I am sorry :-)

My husband is a Geology Professor, and was just turned down for two National Science Foundation grants .. So, yeah, I know what you're dealing with ..

Get those pink sheets and send it in again . .. Persistence *does* pay off. I've also heard (from another academic who gets grants from NIH) that taking available courses in grant writing is definitely worth the effort.

[saoba.livejournal.com]

I will echo your 'damn' and add a large side order of good thoughts for the inevitable re-writing.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I'm so sorry

[minnaleigh.livejournal.com]

Oh that's so disappointing! Want me to wander over to their office and do some damage?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Yes. But on the other hand, it would probably injure my chances for the resubmission, so it's probably not a good idea. Thank you for the offer, though! You're a true friend.

Anyway, the program officer was actually very nice. The real culprits must be the peer reviewers, who, of course, have gone back to their respective academic institutions.