Now I know something. But what?!

[rivka]

They 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:

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.

Comments

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

But the score I got says "really good grant, just needs a tiny bit of work." I'll take that.

Hooray for you.

And I am REALLY SORRY about the ambiguity of the result; like you, I wish it had been "Really good grant, you're getting money for sure!"

Um... how is 27 "the lower middle" of a scale between 20 and 30?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Um... how is 27 "the lower middle" of a scale between 20 and 30?

Because the lower the score, the better.

The full scale is from 10-90, where 10 = "exceptional grant with no weaknesses at all" and 90 = "you've got to be kidding us."

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

They set up that ordering to mess with our heads, didn't they?

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I think the way they do the actual scores make sense if you keep in mind that they are priority scores, so a score of 1 = first priority. It's the "low percentiles are better" thing that strikes me as crazy weird.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

It would have been nice to have the "celebrate and start planning" score. But the way you've explained it, you have a good chance. I like the sound of that note about giving priority to early-stage investigators - it's kind of neat to read "facilitating the independence of emerging scientists" being a natural goal for everyone.

Even if you have to re-write all of it for a new format, your work isn't wasted. You will get reviewer comments (right?)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Yes. My mentor tells me that they post the summary statements (of reviewers' criticisms) in score order, so mine should show up relatively quickly.

Once I have my summary statement in hand, I can also call my Program Official at NIH. He will have been in the room when my grant was discussed, so he'll be able to give me additional information about what people thought. He can also counsel me on the likelihood that I'll be funded this time around.

[ailbhe]

I'm a bit confused, but glad that in spite of the obstacles thrown in your way you did so very very well! Your awesomeness continues to astound :)

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

Yay for an excellent review! May your expectations be exceeded and your grant be funded!

[kcobweb.livejournal.com]

That all sounds very promising! Yay!

[annaoj.livejournal.com]

The grant I'm on is in a similar boat--we just missed the official percentile cutoff for funding, but the changes they want are really *really* minimal. Our program officer let the PI address them in a letter, and hopefully if that goes through, we'll find out about funding in May. If it doesn't go through, we too are stuck with shortening our application from 25 pages to 12...

[rivka.livejournal.com]

OMG! I wonder if my PO would let me do that. *crosses fingers*

Good luck to you! Seriously, is there anything that would suck more than having to cut your grant in half?

[elusis.livejournal.com]

Interesting and potentially encouraging news, anyway!

I spontaneously generated an idea for a very small qualitative project last week, and have two interested grad students who could work with me on it. I had a sit-down with our grants guy on Tuesday. The scale of what I'm looking for is miniscule compared to what you're doing, but I'm heartened by hearing about your process, and knowing that I need to be prepared for a lot of uncertainty ahead.