University of Southern California
Women in Chemical Engineering WChE Life Hacks - Looking for Fellowships |
USC External Fellowship Resources
Fellowship FAQ
About the author: Belinda Garana is a PhD student in Chemical Engineering. She was awarded the NSF GRFP in 2019 and received honorable mention for the Ford Predoctoral Fellowship in 2019 & 2020. In 2019, she served as a panelist at the USC External Fellowship Bootcamp.
Considerations before reading: The application process will be unique to each person because everyone has different needs. However, there are some questions which are common among graduate-level applicants I have spoken with at USC. I hope that my answers to these frequently asked questions will help you get started. If you have other questions, feel free to reach out to me via my Voices of MFD page.
Please keep in mind that funding agencies can only award a limited number of applicants, which means that many applications do not get awarded. I believe that the process of preparing these applications in itself is highly valuable. Preparing my fellowship applications helped me develop my writing skills. Being able to effectively communicate research ideas and my background in succinct documents is important--not only in research, but also as a STEM professional.
How should I prepare my applications?
Start writing early and set deadlines for yourself along the way. Take your application seriously by devoting real time to it. Read the prompts closely. Be concise, direct, and specific so that the strangers who will consider your application will be able to understand that you are dedicated, capable, and promising.
Make your personal statement personal; illustrate your strength as an applicant by elaborating on the experiences which were most valuable to you or most influential in shaping your career. For the research proposal, you will need to identify knowledge gaps and approaches you will use to test specific hypotheses.
Where should I seek help?
First, I recommend that you look for examples of successful applications. It will be helpful to see concrete examples of what a strong application looks like. There is a compilation of successful NSF GRFP applications which have been submitted here: https://www.alexhunterlang.com/nsf-fellowship. If you are applying to the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, an example application is available here: https://carlnotsagan.github.io/resources/.
The second place I suggest going for help is the Writing Center. I visited a couple of times for my personal statement to narrow down my ideas, improve flow, and make sure I addressed the prompt.
Next, I suggest reaching out to friends and professors. Please be mindful of their time. Revise your application as much as you can before sending it to them, but still give them enough time to give you feedback (more than 2 weeks). Your PI may be the most helpful with your research proposal, but other opinions are useful too because those reviewing your application will likely have a different background than yours.
What if I don’t have publications?
I didn’t have a single publication when I applied. I did, however, learn a lot from my research experiences. I also had poster presentations and a research scholarship, which I highlighted. Regardless of your publication record, be sure to write about what you gained from your experiences and how you are qualified to conduct the research you are proposing.
Who should write my letters of recommendation?
One letter should definitely come from your current PI(s). The funding agency will want to know that your PI also believes you are a strong candidate, particularly since your PI is likely an expert in your field of study.
I suggest that your other letters come from professors who know you best from your undergraduate studies. Supervisors from your most recent experience (i.e. a boss from a job you had after undergrad or an internship) are also a good option.
One of the main factors to consider is that the writer should be someone who knows you very well and believes in you; great mentors write great letters. Another consideration is that you want your writers to collectively paint a holistic picture of you. It would be ideal if your writers can speak to different strengths. Don’t be shy to list the strengths your writers can speak to when requesting their letter (with examples provided) because they are probably very busy people and you know yourself best.
Considerations before reading: The application process will be unique to each person because everyone has different needs. However, there are some questions which are common among graduate-level applicants I have spoken with at USC. I hope that my answers to these frequently asked questions will help you get started. If you have other questions, feel free to reach out to me via my Voices of MFD page.
Please keep in mind that funding agencies can only award a limited number of applicants, which means that many applications do not get awarded. I believe that the process of preparing these applications in itself is highly valuable. Preparing my fellowship applications helped me develop my writing skills. Being able to effectively communicate research ideas and my background in succinct documents is important--not only in research, but also as a STEM professional.
How should I prepare my applications?
Start writing early and set deadlines for yourself along the way. Take your application seriously by devoting real time to it. Read the prompts closely. Be concise, direct, and specific so that the strangers who will consider your application will be able to understand that you are dedicated, capable, and promising.
Make your personal statement personal; illustrate your strength as an applicant by elaborating on the experiences which were most valuable to you or most influential in shaping your career. For the research proposal, you will need to identify knowledge gaps and approaches you will use to test specific hypotheses.
Where should I seek help?
First, I recommend that you look for examples of successful applications. It will be helpful to see concrete examples of what a strong application looks like. There is a compilation of successful NSF GRFP applications which have been submitted here: https://www.alexhunterlang.com/nsf-fellowship. If you are applying to the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, an example application is available here: https://carlnotsagan.github.io/resources/.
The second place I suggest going for help is the Writing Center. I visited a couple of times for my personal statement to narrow down my ideas, improve flow, and make sure I addressed the prompt.
Next, I suggest reaching out to friends and professors. Please be mindful of their time. Revise your application as much as you can before sending it to them, but still give them enough time to give you feedback (more than 2 weeks). Your PI may be the most helpful with your research proposal, but other opinions are useful too because those reviewing your application will likely have a different background than yours.
What if I don’t have publications?
I didn’t have a single publication when I applied. I did, however, learn a lot from my research experiences. I also had poster presentations and a research scholarship, which I highlighted. Regardless of your publication record, be sure to write about what you gained from your experiences and how you are qualified to conduct the research you are proposing.
Who should write my letters of recommendation?
One letter should definitely come from your current PI(s). The funding agency will want to know that your PI also believes you are a strong candidate, particularly since your PI is likely an expert in your field of study.
I suggest that your other letters come from professors who know you best from your undergraduate studies. Supervisors from your most recent experience (i.e. a boss from a job you had after undergrad or an internship) are also a good option.
One of the main factors to consider is that the writer should be someone who knows you very well and believes in you; great mentors write great letters. Another consideration is that you want your writers to collectively paint a holistic picture of you. It would be ideal if your writers can speak to different strengths. Don’t be shy to list the strengths your writers can speak to when requesting their letter (with examples provided) because they are probably very busy people and you know yourself best.
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