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Now I know something. But what?!
Mar. 25th, 2010 04:54 pmThey posted my grant score this afternoon.
I got a priority score of 27. Under the new system, a priority of 20 is "Outstanding. Extremely strong with negligible weaknesses." 30 is "Excellent. Very strong with only some minor weaknesses." I'm somewhere in the middle there. (The lower middle.) That's pretty good for a first submission.
My percentile score is 20. (NIH does this weird thing where lower percentile = better.) The percentile score is the best indicator of whether a grant is likely to be funded. And mine tells me... not much.
Some NIH institutes have a "payline," a percentile above which virtually everything is funded and below which virtually nothing is funded. NIMH doesn't. That would be too easy. Here's what they say about their payline:
So I'm juuuust on the edge of the potentially fundable range. I do have Early Stage Investigator status, which should help, but my guess is: probably not quite enough. It could be funded this time around, but I am not in the hold-your-breath range.
A score this high does bode well for my chances of a successful resubmission. But here's the sad thing: NIH radically changed their applications just after I submitted my grant. So I won't be able to just polish what was already a very good application, working in carefully-crafted responses to the reviewers' criticisms. I'll have to rewrite the whole damn thing. AND SHORTEN IT FROM 25 PAGES TO 12. *cries*
I actually feel pretty good about my score. It's a frustrating score, almost more so than something in the definitely-not-gonna-get-in range would have been. But it's a good score for a first submission. Most grants don't get funded the first time around. It would've been nice to defy the odds and get a fantabulous, immediately-fundable score. But the score I got says "really good grant, just needs a tiny bit of work." I'll take that.
I got a priority score of 27. Under the new system, a priority of 20 is "Outstanding. Extremely strong with negligible weaknesses." 30 is "Excellent. Very strong with only some minor weaknesses." I'm somewhere in the middle there. (The lower middle.) That's pretty good for a first submission.
My percentile score is 20. (NIH does this weird thing where lower percentile = better.) The percentile score is the best indicator of whether a grant is likely to be funded. And mine tells me... not much.
Some NIH institutes have a "payline," a percentile above which virtually everything is funded and below which virtually nothing is funded. NIMH doesn't. That would be too easy. Here's what they say about their payline:
In general, NIMH assumes that research applications that fall below the 20th percentile are scientifically meritorious and that sufficient funds are available to support up to 80 percent of these new and competing research applications. Council and program staff may selectively recommend payment of grants that fall in this range, as well as beyond, based on: 1) Institute and division priorities; 2) balance in the existing research portfolio; 3) early stage new investigator status (see below); and 4) availability of funds. [...]
Early Stage Investigators: NIMH is committed to supporting new investigators and facilitating the independence of emerging scientists. The Institute considers early stage new investigator status--new Investigators who are within 10 years of completing their terminal research degree or within 10 years of completing their medical residency at the time they apply for R01 grants—as a priority in funding decisions. This means that a research grant from a newand/or early stage investigator may be funded out of order and at percentile scores the same or higher than grants not selected for payment from established investigators.
So I'm juuuust on the edge of the potentially fundable range. I do have Early Stage Investigator status, which should help, but my guess is: probably not quite enough. It could be funded this time around, but I am not in the hold-your-breath range.
A score this high does bode well for my chances of a successful resubmission. But here's the sad thing: NIH radically changed their applications just after I submitted my grant. So I won't be able to just polish what was already a very good application, working in carefully-crafted responses to the reviewers' criticisms. I'll have to rewrite the whole damn thing. AND SHORTEN IT FROM 25 PAGES TO 12. *cries*
I actually feel pretty good about my score. It's a frustrating score, almost more so than something in the definitely-not-gonna-get-in range would have been. But it's a good score for a first submission. Most grants don't get funded the first time around. It would've been nice to defy the odds and get a fantabulous, immediately-fundable score. But the score I got says "really good grant, just needs a tiny bit of work." I'll take that.
