Application Information and Assistance

The Application

National fellowships and scholarships are extremely competitive and even the most outstanding candidates are not guaranteed success. Last-minute applications invariably lack substance and cut no ice with the seasoned judges employed by granting agencies. Thus, in order to ensure that your application is a winner, you should start as early as possible and pursue the following guidelines.

Choice of Grant

Take time to read the descriptions on this site and consult the OFA in order to identify the fellowship or fellowships that most closely matches your goals. This is preferable to selecting an attractive fellowship and trying to concoct a proposal that fits its requirements. Once you have made the choice, familiarize yourself with the foundation’s philosophy, criteria and procedures, and the documents which you will be obliged to furnish with your application.

Long-term Preparation

Take steps to ensure that your candidacy is as strong as possible. First, become fully engaged in your discipline outside regular coursework. Join the relevant professional organization, read the leading journals, deliver papers, and get to know the latest areas of research. Second, try to meet the criteria of your chosen foundation. For example, the Goldwater looks for sophomores and juniors with considerable research experience, while the Rhodes seeks seniors who have engaged in extensive extra-curricular activities. Others, such as the Fulbright, require detailed knowledge of and prior contacts with a foreign university.

Application

Most foundations have official websites from which you can download application materials and some (including Fulbright) employ electronic submission. Generally, the following documents are required (but be sure to check the foundation’s website to see if other documents are needed):

Application Form

This usually contains short-answer questions about biographical and related information. As it is the first document the judges will see, it should be typed and neatly presented.

Proposed Course of Study

Some foundations (including Mitchell and Rhodes) combine the proposal with the personal statement while others (including Marshall) separate them. In either case, the proposal should be written for intelligent readers from outside your area of research and describe the projected course of study in some detail. When writing the proposal, show that the project matches the foundation’s criteria and that your academic background makes you fully qualified to pursue it. If research is involved, outline the goals, methodology, and expected results. Indicate why you want to study in that program and country, and, if possible, refer to correspondence which you have had with professors in the department concerned. Present a timetable showing that the proposal can be completed in the time available.

Personal Statement

This is your opportunity to stand out from the herd and grab the attention of the selection committee. As space is limited, do not waste time on information that is available elsewhere in the application. Get right to the heart of the matter and stay on point. The selection committee wants to know what makes you tick and whether you and the fellowship would be a good match.

Tell them who you are, why you are distinctive, what are your passions.
Describe one or two people, experiences, books, or ideas that have had important influences on you.
Indicate when and why you first became interested in that field of study, the ways in which you have pursued it both in the classroom and outside, and how it fits into your long-term career or professional goals.
In the process, you will convey much about your priorities, values and the depth of your interests.

Students often find the personal statement difficult because, unlike most of their academic work, it is written in the first person and obliges them to look inward rather than at a set of data. At the same time, it is treated as a writing sample, a test of ability to communicate complex thoughts with clarity and economy. You should expect to write numerous drafts before producing one that is satisfactory. While doing so, seek the comments of friends, advisors and professors. Ask them whether the message is coherent. Are some points inadequately covered? Are there further questions that should be tackled? Be sure to include only matters that are important. Feel free to run drafts by the OFA.

Resume

Some application forms have space for this. Otherwise, on a separate page, write a list of your activities and honors under sub-headings (“academic awards”, “community service”, “leadership”, etc.). The purpose is to indicate your extra-curricular interests, so choose only those activities that have continued for some time.

Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendation are crucial to the application process.

Selection committees are interested in assessments by professors with whom you have studied rather than advisors who lack intimate knowledge of your work.
The best recommendations offer detailed information, placing the proposal into the context of your credentials and goals and assessing your suitability for the award.
You should first ask the professor whether he or she know enough about you to write a positive letter.
- If the answer is in the affirmative, discuss the details of the fellowship with them, remind them of work you have done in their courses, and suggest matters that the letter should emphasize.
- Give them copies of the other application documents (the proposal, personal statement, resume, and transcript), as well as the foundation’s description of criteria that the letter should address and the official recommendation form.
- Make sure they know the deadline and the address to which the letter should be sent; some letters should go to OFA (as in the case of the Goldwater, Marshall, Truman, and Udall) and others directly to the foundation (Mellon, NSF, and Rhodes). Fulbright sends electronic forms to identified references or completion and submission by the references.

Remember that professors tend to get very busy and take sabbaticals during which they may be away from campus for several months. You should request a recommendation at least a month before the deadline. Subsequently, keep the professor informed of developments and send a thank-you note.

Official Transcript

This can be obtained from the registrar: http://www.lehigh.edu/~inrgs/transcrp.shtml

GRE Scores

These are required by some foundations (including Churchill, Ford, Mellon, NSF). Note that the General Test can be taken throughout the year but the Subject Test is given on a limited number of occasions. For information: http://www.gre.org.

Allow Plenty of Time

Because of their complexity, application procedures frequently take much longer than students anticipate. To avoid problems you should write your essay and collect the necessary documents well in advance of the foundation’s final date for submission. For fellowships requiring university nomination, all documents must be submitted to the OFA at least a month ahead of the official deadline.

The Interview

What to expect

Applicants for major awards are usually interviewed on at least one occasion. While no two interviews are exactly the same, most have a number of common features.

Format

After you enter the room, the chairperson will introduce the members of the panel and ask a couple of gentle questions to make you feel at ease.
The member with most knowledge of your specialty will ask some probing questions about your proposed course of study.
The other panelists in turn will raise matters that interest them. They usually focus on one or two issues although one might ask a series of rapid questions about diverse topics.
After about twenty minutes, the chairperson will give you the chance to make some closing remarks, then thank you for coming.

Panelists

Members of the panel will be scholars and professionals from diverse fields. They already know a lot about you and want to find out whether you are as impressive in person as you are on paper.

Questions

Typically, the panelists have three main concerns.

The most important concern of the panelists the application itself.
They want to assess how well you understand your specialty and the feasibility of the proposal.
They might delve into any aspect of your personal statement, as well as courses taken outside your major and minor activities listed on your resume in order to find out what kind of person you are.
In other words, do not assume that they share your view of what is important in the application.
Their second concern will be whether you would be a good representative of your country.
You are not required to be wholly uncritical of the United States, but foundations tend to shy away from candidates who seem to be excessively negative.
The panel will be eager to find out how your mind works since your transcript leaves much unsaid.
They want to assess the breadth of your interests, how you “come across”, whether you are thoughtful, tolerant, mentally agile, and can express yourself clearly and concisely.
You should expect questions about diverse matters outside the application, such as travel, books you have read recently, performances you have attended, and current events.

How to win them over

Prepare

Go in armed with information about the country and the university to which you want to go.
What do you know about the history of the country and its current situation?
Why that particular institution?
Which professors do you want to study under?
How will they enable you to implement your proposal?
Be ready to answer questions about the granting agency.
Who was George Marshall?
What principles were dear to Cecil Rhodes?
What is the purpose of Fulbright grants?
Think about the non-academic aspects of your application, so that you give intelligent and thoughtful answers about them: why is that apparently trivial entry in your resume important to you?
Be prepared to explain what you will do if you do not win the fellowship.
Dress professionally.

Listen

The best interviews are almost conversational in the sense that they have a logical flow and a pleasant give-and-take between the candidate and the panel. To achieve this, listen closely to each question and, if necessary, pause before answering it directly and briefly. Avoid stock answers. Do not try to force the interview in the direction that you want. Speak clearly, and address the whole panel, not just the questioner.

Be yourself

Take the opportunity to convey your enthusiasm for the subject, the reasons it is so worthwhile, and what you would like to accomplish as a scholar.
Do not be aggressive or dogmatic, or ramble on about your accomplishments.
Try to come across as an individual who is confident but also flexible, willing to consider contrary views, and prepared to acknowledge and discuss any weaknesses in the application.
Inject humor if the opportunity arises.
Avoid nervous habits (twitching, fidgeting, cracking knuckles, scratching hair, etc).
Do not get flustered by a switch of direction or interruption, which usually signifies that you are handling one line of questioning well.
At the end of the interview, be prepared to respond briefly when the chairperson asks whether there is anything you wish to add.