Rules of thumb: when do you really hear good/bad news from NSF unsolicited proposals Things keep changing and trends evolve. I submitted my first grant proposal in January. The "external review began on" date shows as late March, which is date when the NSF panel met (it was on the NSF website). I haven't had any contact from them.

Is this a good or a bad thing? Some colleagues say that the sure rejects are informed within couple of weeks of panel meeting, then those that will definitely recieve funding, whilst the rest are in limbo until the official six month deadline (or even later).

Can anyone tell me what to make of it ?
I don't really have an answer to your question, but I can say that I think that the current political climate has resulted in delayed proposal reviews and notification for many federal programs. we submitted and NSF proposal back in December and from what I can tell, the review date changed from the original date and we haven't received any helpful feedback about when decisions will be made. This is my first NSF proposal - I usually submit to the NIH.

I had another grant submitted last November to a different federal program and they delayed notifications until last week (normally, decisions would have been made in February for that program). I wish I had a better answer, and maybe someone else can provide more insight. However, don't thin proposal reviews this year are "business as usual" and not hearing back at this point may not mean bad news. Hope this helps!