Stacy L ChinFounder, KeepYourEquity · I get the government to write you checks

My Experience with Rejection and Disappointment in Grant Writing

15 Jan 2024 · 1 min

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In this personal narrative, the speaker recounts completing a doctorate in Boston under an advisor who heavily emphasized grant writing, particularly for NSF and NIH R01 funding. Initially, the speaker despised the process due to its demanding, component‑heavy nature, which left them exhausted after each submission. The repeated rejections of the grants they co‑wrote with their advisor amplified their frustration, making the substantial time and effort feel wasted.

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So when I completed my doctorate in Boston, I was very fortunate to work under an advisor who wrote grants like crazy. And he also emphasized the importance of teaching his grad students how to write really strong research grants like those for the National Science Foundation and R01s for the National Institutes of Health. And at first, I absolutely hated it. Writing grants took so much time and energy, and there were just so many components and things to consider when putting together an application. And so once you submit a grant, you're just absolutely exhausted. But you know what the worst part was? All the grants I wrote with my professor just kept getting rejected. And this got me even more frustrated because I felt like the time and energy spent on writing these grants was just completely wasted.