Towards Securing the Bag: Tips for Successful PhD Fellowship Applications
It’s fellowship season again! This is the time of the year when many scholarships and fellowships across various fields are open. It could be a daunting task to find fellowships that you are eligible for, write the research proposals, gather recommendation letters, then wait for the result of all that labor.
Luckily, this year I’ve been very fortunate to be awarded the Google Women TechMakers Scholarship and the Facebook Fellowship. I don’t have the secret key for unlocking the kingdom of coveted fellowships but I can offer a few tips based off my experience and from asking people who usually evaluate these applications.
But first, what are fellowships?
If you are an incoming PhD student, especially in CS or HCI, you may learn that most students are offered an assistantship position (could be a Teaching Assistanship or Research Assistanship) or fellowship from the department which would support your tuition cost and a stipend to cover living expenses. Stipend amounts vary across disciplines and even departments within the same school. It’s important to do research to make sure your stipend would be sufficient to cover your expenses based on your location. For instance, $20,000 annually might be possible in rural South Carolina but that would become really stressful really fast if you had to make that work in Manhattan or San Francisco.
Outside of your department, companies and governmental organizations also offer fellowships. If awarded a fellowship, this would typically provide a stipend and/or cover tuition as well as travel support. However, all fellowships are not created equal. Here are some ways they can differ:
- Fellowship amount: this will be obvious. The range is typically between $10,000 to $40,000. Although the highest I’ve seen is $60,000 from Mozilla.
- Length of support: You can be offered the same amount annually for multiple years or paid one time.
- Travel support: This isn’t always offered but some organizations provide support specifically for conference travel in addition to your fellowship stipend. For instance, the Facebook Fellowship offers $5,000 annually for travel plus the stipend.
- Internship offers: Being awarded a fellowship does not necessarily mean you have special preference for internships. However, some companies like Snapchat specifically mention that winners will be offered summer internships while Adobe mentions that they’ll offer the opportunity to interview for internships.
- Collaboration: You can be given the award as a sign of support in your abilities as a researcher or coupled with a mentor within the company. At Facebook all the fellows were invited to the headquarters in Menlo Park and given the opportunity to talk with Facebook researchers about our work. Note: this doesn’t guarantee you’ll be working together on papers or that you’ll be offered any on site positions.
Tip #1. Start looking for fellowships early
This is especially true if you’re looking to apply to multiple fellowships. Organization will be your friend. I prefer spreadsheets but find some way to help you stay on top of deadlines and the different requirements for each application. Remember you’ll need recommendation letters (as in multiple for one application) so giving those people time would be polite and in your best interest. I would suggest as least letting them know a month in advance.
Tip #2. Social media (especially Twitter) is clutch
This may seem like the last place you’d go to find out about opportunities. I can’t tell you how many travel grants and fully paid events I’ve learned about through Twitter. USE THIS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. Plus, if you’re mindlessly scrolling it will make you feel more productive. I’d suggest finding your tribe (*shameless Jidenna reference because he’s 🔥*). Since I’m a female-Afro-Caribbean-first-generation international student there are some subgroups on Twitter that I connect with a bit more. For instance, I love the support from #BlackTechTwitter, #WomeninTech, and #FirstGenDocs.
Tip #3. Write, re-write, then write again
The word limit and application materials that are required for each fellowship will vary. However, as a general rule of thumb I think the following structure is helpful in making an impactful research proposal:
Introduction
- Present the problem
- Identify who this impacts and why this is relevant in general and more specifically relevant to the company
- One sentence summarizing your idea/approach
Paragraph 2
- What you plan to do
- How you plan to do it
- What you’ve done to show you can do this (optional)
Paragraph 3
- Contribution to the community (academic and public)
- Relevance to the mission/values of the company
Take a lot of time editing and reading up on the recent publications from the research team to get a sense of the current direction of the company.
Resources (because I’m trying to make your life easier fam)
Let me say this first, if you are an international student there are options out there for you (don’t stop believing 🎵). I’ve created a shortlist of fellowships that I was eligible for which means this is incredibly tailored and might not suit everyone. However, if you are in CS/HCI, or a female, or an international student (or all three) then the link below might be for you my friend. (FEEL FREE TO ADD TO THIS. PAY IT FORWARD)
I’d recommend taking at look at the following options (sourced from: Robbie)
The following is more comprehensive and includes scholarships for different disciplines.
I also recommend checking CMU’s fellowship page since it’s usually updated often.
Lastly, my grandfather would always have me say “if at first you don’t succeed then try, try, and try again”. Fellowships are really competitive. For a point of reference, when I submitted my application for the Facebook fellowship there were over 950 submissions and only ~23 students selected. And this was not my first time applying to that fellowship. Keep trying and keep doing good research in the meanwhile.
