Yes, you should apply to these fellowships. Here’s what you need to know.

If you know where this is from, you’re my favorite.

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

A few things you should know about the GRFP:

1. The application consists of: a personal statement no longer than three pages single-spaced, a proposed research project statement no longer than two pages single-spaced, three letters of rec, a general application form, and transcripts from all institutions you’ve attended.
2. Your field of study will determine when your application is due. Make sure you know the correct date, found here. All applications are due in October.
3. This is a five year grant. You are a fellow for five years and can take advantage of the many opportunities being a fellow provides (such as attending leadership institutes, like I did this summer).
4. Although you’re a fellow for five years, funding is only provided for three of those five years. You can accept the funding for whatever years are the most strategic for you. For example, you may want to take the funding during your first, second, and fifth year of your program (if you are a PhD student), or perhaps just the first three years. The order in which you take the funding doesn’t matter, as long is it’s during those five years as a fellow.
5. The GRFP provides fellows with $34,000 a year for their stipend. This INCLUDES summer money (which, if you are not yet familiar with typical graduate school funding, summer stipends are hard to come by).
6. The GRFP also provides $12,000 to your institution to help cover the costs of your graduate courses (but you’ll never have to deal with this money, it will all be administrative).
7. While actively receiving your stipend from the GRFP (those three years I mentioned earlier), you are not allowed to accept additional money that will go towards your stipend, BUT you are allowed to apply for and receive awards and grants that will be used to conduct your research, so long as they do not pay you directly.

Ok, got it. So what is NSF looking for in my application?

First and foremost, you should know that the GRFP is not funding a specific project, the grant is funding YOU.

What does this mean? 

It means that you can write about whatever you want for your proposed research (as long it falls in the discipline for which you are applying. So if you are applying for the geosciences deadline, your proposal needs to be geosciences related).

That being said, you don’t actually have to do that research. You just need to show that you can clearly and logically think through a research project with realistic expectations. I highly, highly recommend working with your potential or current advisor on the proposed research statement, especially if you don’t have experience applying to grants just yet.

When writing your personal statement, keep these following things in mind, in addition to NSF’s recommendations:

1. DON’T BE AFRAID TO TALK ABOUT YOURSELF. This is the only opportunity you have to showcase who you are, as an individual, in your entire application. Did you win an undergraduate research award? You go Glen Coco, write about it. Did you take time off after getting your bachelor’s to discover what you really wanted to do with your life? YAS QUEEN, TELL THEM.
2. TELL THEM WHY YOU WANT THIS DEGREE. Are you from a lower income background? Are you trying to lift yourself out of poverty? Tell them. Are you a first-generation student? Have you experienced resistance or struggled to be where you are now? Be the woke-ness they need.
3. TELL THEM WHAT YOU HOPE TO DO WITH THIS DEGREE. Do you want to be a professor? Say that. Do you find yourself more interested in science outreach? Say that too. SAY ALL THE THINGS.

When writing your proposed research statement, keep these following things in mind, in addition to NSF’s recommendations:

1. BE CLEAR. Nobody likes reading statements that are convoluted and don’t make any sense. We barely like reading scientific papers that do the same. Don’t make your reviewers struggle to understand what you’re saying, because they won’t waste their time with your application if you can’t be clear.
2. BE CONCISE. You have two pages to get across all your ideas, including citations. Don’t be long-winded or wordy for no reason. You’re just taking up valuable space and wasting your reviewers’ time.
3. BE LOGICAL AND REALISTIC. There’s no sense in being overly ambitious with your proposal. You’re not going to redefine evolutionary theory or discover the ultimate cure for cancer. Think about a small project that will contribute to your field, and be realistic about your completion of this project.
4. MAKE SURE TO ADDRESS ALL ASPECTS OF YOUR PROPOSED RESEARCH. This includes not only discussing your research questions and how you’re going to answer them, but also the worth of the project (Intellectual Merit) and how you’re going to spread this knowledge outside of the scientific community (Broader Impacts).

You’ll need three letters of rec for this application. Choose your recommenders wisely.

I chose individuals that could attest to different aspects of my life. My first recommender was my undergraduate research mentor, one of the primary investigators in the plant molecular evolution lab I did my work in. My second was my undergrad anthropology major advisor, who also happen to be my instructor for two courses. My third was my former boss, who oversaw all my work as a program coordinator.

Together, all of these individuals helped paint a holistic picture of me and my abilities as a graduate student. This helped tremendously in convincing the NSF that I would be a good person to fund.

The link to begin your GRFP application can be found here.

The Ford Foundation Fellowship Program (predoctoral application*)

*There is also a dissertation and postdoctoral application available. Because my knowledge base is limited to the predoc one, I will only focus on that application.

A few things you should know about the Ford Fellowship predoc application:

1. The application consists of: a personal statement no longer than two pages double-spaced, a previous research statement no longer than three pages that includes a list of publications and presentations, a proposed research statement no longer than two pages double-spaced, list of honors and awards, three-five letters of rec, a general application form, and transcripts from all institutions you’ve attended.
2. Similar to the GRFP, the Ford Fellowship predoc application is also a five year grant, with three years of support. This fellowship provides students with an annual stipend of $24,000. The fellowship also provides support to attend the annual conference for Ford Fellows and access to a network of former Ford Fellows for mentorship!
3. This fellowship is explicitly for students from underrepresented backgrounds who have interest in and history of promoting diversity, and also hope to become professors.
4. You’ll notice on the program announcement for this application that there are two deadlines, one for your application and another for your supplementary materials. Your application, due in December, will consist of the personal statements, list of honors, and general application. The supplementary materials, due in January, consists of your transcripts and your letters of recommendation. Make sure to note both of these deadlines and that all materials are in on time. 

I recommend similar guidelines for this application as listed above for the NSF application, you’ll just be writing three statements instead of two.

The link to begin your Ford Fellowship application can be found here.

WHEW. I know that was a lot of information, and I appreciate you sticking with me. I know it can seem overwhelming, but I also have a bit more advice on how to make applying to these programs more manageable. Stay with me.

1. START EARLY. These applications take time and energy. Start early, familiarize yourself with the application system, and get the easy parts out of the way (like giving them your personal information). Doing this will ensure you’re dedicating the most amount of time to your statements.
2. REPURPOSE, REPURPOSE, REPURPOSE. Don’t sit down and write two different personal statements, two different proposals, etc. This isn’t going to help your anxiety. When I applied, I was also applying to grad programs at the same time. So you know what I did? I used the same personal statement (with a few tweaks) for each application, including my grad ones. This saved me time and sanity.
3. STAY ON TOP OF YOUR RECOMMENDERS. I asked my recommenders very early in this process if they would write for me. I also asked them to submit the same letters to the multiple places I was applying. This made my life easier because I didn’t have to worry about tracking down so many people. I would also send gentle reminders to let them know when deadlines were coming up (a month in advance and then about a week in advance). You don’t want your application to be disqualified because of a rec letter that wasn’t submitted on time. That’s just sad.
4. GET PEOPLE TO READ YOUR STATEMENTS. The best way to edit is to have people proofread your work to check for clarity, spelling mistakes, etc.  Do not fly solo. Rely on your friends, lab-mates, and advisor(s) to help you with this. It will only make your application stronger.

To give you an idea of what my applications looked like, I’ve included both my personal statement and research statement for my NSF GRFP application and my personal statement, previous research, and proposed research statements for the Ford Fellowship. If you have any questions about these applications, feel free to email me at maggiehern1@gmail.com.