Tips from the other side: how to write the best graduate fellowship applications
Application season is here, which means that many prospective and current graduate students are writing personal statements and research proposals in the hopes of getting funding to cover the cost of their education. In the sciences, most PhD students receive some form of money that pays for their tuition and provides a small stipend to cover living expenses. In some cases, they are paid to be teaching assistants or research assistants, either from an internal fellowship or a grant to their advisor. Another option is to receive money from funding agencies outside of the university system (external fellowships). There are many databases where you can find external fellowships to apply for, but you can also ask your advisor or other professors for guidance. I’m not going to cover choosing which ones to apply for in this post, but let me know if that would be a helpful topic for a future post!
I want to acknowledge up front that there are a lot of problems with external fellowships, like the National Science Foundation’s GRFP. The system is unfair and exclusive. That said, it is really helpful to have external money and many advisors will want you to apply, so it is still worth a try. [Edit: here’s a resource with scholarships for undocumented students.]
Here are a few of my tips and tricks for both doing your best on the application and making it through the process with your self esteem intact, based on my experience applying and the excellent advice I received along the way.
General Application Tips:
- Don’t start with cliches like, “as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a geologist.”
It is important to be original and interesting! Application reviewers will be reading many personal statements, and they will be bored instantly if your work sounds just like everyone else’s. Also, just because you have wanted to be a geologist for 25 years, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be a great one! Use your previous research experience to show that you will be amazing at what you are choosing to do.
2. Tell a story.
Use one specific moment to draw people in, then explain how that moment is relevant to the rest of your career. In my personal statements, I talked about how I broke a microscope slide on my very first day of work as an undergraduate researcher (I’m still sorry, Michèle!). That experience taught me that research never goes according to plan and that it is important to be flexible. You can weave your story in throughout your personal statement.
3. Be clear about your goals.
It can be hard to know exactly what your goals are before you’ve made it very far in graduate school. But you should still clearly articulate what you want to do after you get your degree, how your degree will help you succeed in that career, and what you want to accomplish with your research project. Remember, these applications are (usually) not binding, the personal statement is not a contract, so don’t panic about committing to a career before you even start your PhD.
4. Proofread at least 3 times, and then have someone else read it, too.
You might feel awkward about asking your friends or advisors to read your application, but your work will be so much better if you ask for help. It is also important that you get advice from people who know what the committees will be looking for. If you are working on a research statement, make sure you have a faculty member read it over and/or develop it with you. And give them plenty of time to review it!
5. Balance vulnerability and professionalism.
Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable, but also don’t make it a sob story. You can show that you have faced adversity, but how have you overcome it, or dealt with it? The application reviewers need to see that you can be a successful researcher. All of your personal statement should be centered around your strengths. If you have parts of your transcript that you’d like to explain to the review committee (e.g., failing a class or a lack of research experience), get advice from a faculty member about how to best address that. You can also ask your recommendation letter writers to talk about that in their letters.
NSF GRFP-specific tips:
- Your broader impacts section needs to be really strong.
Explain what is important to you, what you are going to do about it, and how you are going to do it. For example, don’t just say you want to be a role model for girls. Say you will establish a day-long festival where young girls are matched up with female scientists for activities. Explain why these issues are important to you… did you feel like you didn’t have a mentor when you were growing up? Are you frustrated with the lack of diversity in your undergraduate program? Discuss your ideas with peers and faculty members to get their advice, just as you would with a research idea.
2. Bring up what makes you different and how that has impacted you.
This is similar to point #5 in the section above, but it is important enough to reiterate. Both parts are important, not just that you are ___[insert identity/experience here]__, but also what that means in terms of your scientific career. Has it made you more resilient, which is important because experiments require perseverance? Have you worked to support your family throughout your undergraduate career, which taught you time management and goal setting?
The emotional side of applications
- Remember that you have so much potential, no matter what happens.
It is extremely difficult to get an NSF grant or other external fellowship. Whether or not you get the funding, it is not a reflection on your skills and potential. It is way more about the committee members that evaluate your application, as unfair as that is. Rejection is painful, but it is also an important part of your development as a researcher.
2. Look for multiple sources of funding.
It will help you stay calm if you don’t have all your eggs in one fellowship basket. You can tweak your materials and tailor it to each program, so you don’t have to do all the work again.
3. Your peers are your allies, not your competition.
When you know other people applying to the same program or funding agency, it can be easy to get caught up in the fact that you have to be “better” than them, or that you are competing with them. That’s a great way to lose friends and have a harder time with the application process. Your friends and classmates should be supporting you, and vice versa. You won’t lose anything by sharing tips with each other and reminding each other that you are there for one another.
4. Remember why you want to be a scientist.
It can help to keep a list of all the reasons why you love research and science for the days when you are frustrated and tired of writing applications.
Good luck to everyone applying! If you’ve already gone through it, let me know what tips you have for anyone applying to external fellowships, or what you think I am wrong about.
