Oh, gosh... Just thought I'd check what new here after a while, and I find all this...
I'm so sorry for you Dreamer, Pete, whomever else got a negative result. I was rooting for you.
No matter how much we prepare ourselves and try not to build expectation, it is disappointing and can be discouraging, after all the hard work put into it.
Please don't let it discourage you from pursuing your research, and look for other ways/places to do it (although it's not easy at all, we all know).
As already said here by several people, it says nothing about you, and a lot about the weaknesses and inconsistencies of the evaluation process.
These cases of a major drop in resubmission appear to be too common, and reveal how subjective the reviewers are.
My prospected supervisor told me before submission that she honestly doesn't know anymore what works because:
1. One of her candidates in previous calls had exactly the same thing - a drop from 88 to 68 with the same proposal, and the only changes were to adress the weaknesses pointed in the first time.
2. She was asked once, as a reviewer, to evaluate a msca proposal on something from our field but completely not in her area of expertise. She told them she is not the right person for it, but makes one wonder how many people do it anyway...
As she thinks my proposal is excellent, she actually said that if this one isn't funded, she will not apply again to msca with other people. So even this highly experienced scholar and supervisor is disillusioned regarding this system and process.
Sending good vibes and virtual covid-free hugs to you all.
And fingers crossed for those of us still waiting and hoping...
(and apologies for this very long manifesto
. Didn't mean too...)
