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   iGrrrl

   June 22, 2011 at 10:38 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

   Huh. I think I don’t agree. Let’s move the analogy to another sport — fishing. If you drop a hook without bait, do you really expect bites? Put in the hook with the best bait, IMO. If you put in an application every cycle, they can’t all be gems. Remind me to tell you one day the story of the soft money institute that went from a “just throw the hooks in the water” director to a “no grant goes out without internal peer review” director. Their NIH funding rate went from dismal to 70%.

   You also bring up another question, at least by implication. NSF has run the numbers with respect to falling funding rates, and a part of the issue of overall success rates has been an increase in the number of applications per investigator. NIH has posted similar numbers, if I recall correctly. Also, IIRC, the biosciences directorate at NSF recently sent a Dear Colleague letter that limits each investigator to one application in review (at any stage of review) at a time. I interpret that as a message to applicants to only put their best foot forward, and focus their efforts. So, to go back to baseball, the grant application is the pitch as much as the swing. Why waste effort on something out of the zone?

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   Bikemonkey

   June 22, 2011 at 11:25 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment

   Only an idiot would go fishing and only have their hook in the water for 20 min out of each hour

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   anon

   June 23, 2011 at 10:15 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment

   I don’t submit grant applications with the intention of getting triaged. What kind of fuckin “advice” is that? As a reviewer, I also don’t want to waste time on piles of shit that people submit for the sake of submitting.

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   Comrade PhysioProf

   June 23, 2011 at 10:21 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment

   Batters don’t swing the bat with the intention of making an out. That doesn’t mean that sometimes you fucken nail the ball, but right at the second baseman. And it doesn’t mean it isn’t an amazing feat to hit .300. Taking your cuts isn’t the same as swinging at pitches in the dirt or over your head.

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   Gerty-Z

   June 30, 2011 at 10:08 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment

   I like this analogy of “taking your cuts”

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   Darren Boehning

   July 6, 2011 at 12:09 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment

   I agree 100%. My initial survival and current relative comfort are predicated on this advice. If you have a good idea, submit. Now.