Dear Grant Agency,
Please explain why I, as a new investigator who is already an assistant professor, am required to provide a gazillion confidential letters of reference in addition to a letter of support from my department chair when applying for your grants? Can you explain the logic behind this? Will this alter the supercoolosity and fantastic potential of the science I'm proposing? Do you understand that as I will be submitting two different proposals to your agency that means I will need two gazillion motherfucking letters of reference plus two from Dept Chair? Do you have any idea how stupid this is? Do you also need a letter from my mother giving me permission to submit these goddamned grants?
You fucking suck. And you don't have a fucking clue about anyfuckingthing.
That is all.
Yours in a most outraged motherfucking state,
PiT.
Wordless(ish) Wednesday
4 hours ago
Lots of new investigator grants from private foundations require letters of reference and a chair's letter of support. Whatever this entity is, it is far from unique.
ReplyDeleteDon't rain on my rant, PP. It's been a while since my last one.
ReplyDeleteI guess the logic is that departmental support is a significant factor in the success of an individual group.
ReplyDeleteWait till you have to write all these letters! I hear my boss complain about that all the time.
That is plain fucking stupid. Period. Rant away!
ReplyDeleteDude I'll write you a letter of reference! Imagine if we bloggers did that...fucking hilarious.
ReplyDeleteWell, you are asking them for money and they have to decide how they want to pay out their cash. If the application process is not worth the expected value of the funds you have the option not to complete it!
ReplyDeleteDear PiT,
ReplyDeleteThank you for reminding us, Yes we do require a permission from your mother, along with your high school aptitude test.
Kind Regards
Grant Agency
Like cPP said, lots of foundations want these. Use it to your advantage.
ReplyDeleteI've written a letter for you so that you can avoid bothering at least one of your colleagues. I think it'll get you the grant by itself. Thanks Dr. No for the suggestion.
ReplyDeleteoh my... it never ends, does it? It's like that post on NN about "judging" and that it is all we ever do in science... although they tell us it ends after graduating *insert hysterical laugh*
ReplyDeletenow, about that letter dear...
good luck!