Do you know what fellowship or grants you will apply for this year and in the coming years? In this blog post we will look at how to choose what awards to apply for and when. If you are eligible for multiple awards and you are trying to decide what to apply for, prioritize your […]
Welcome to the GradFund Blog
Welcome to the GradFund Blog
Understanding your funder and the awards it offers
Why do organizations provide money for grants and fellowships? Knowing the answer to this question (which varies depending on the specific funder) helps elucidate the ways in which graduate students need to approach applying for external funding. Without knowing the underlying mission behind an award, be it public or privately funded, it is difficult to […]
Fulbright Application Process Series: What Goes into a Completed Application
Welcome to the first installment in an occasional series on applying for Fulbright support as a graduate student. As the Assistant Dean for Graduate Student External Support in the School of Graduate Studies, I am the GSNB’s advisor for the Fulbright IIE Research/Study and ETA grants and the Fulbright Hays. The focus of today’s post […]
Where Do I Start? Finding Good Advice on Proposal Writing
When you think about writing the first draft of a proposal, you may have trouble finding a starting point. Indeed, the first step to writing any good funding application is getting past the first blank page. Along with GradFund’s resources, like blog posts (see Crafting the Research Question as an example), there are other online […]
Preparing for your GradFund Meeting
At Gradfund, all members of the Rutgers University graduate student community are invited to schedule a meeting to discuss funding options and have application drafts reviewed. To get the most out of your meeting with GradFund, please see the tips below for both meeting types: Planning and Application Review. Planning Meetings During planning meetings, you […]
Understanding the Review Process
What happens to your application after you press “submit?” Does it disappear into a black box that processes your materials according to some complex algorithm and spits out a list of winners automatically after a predetermined waiting period? Does it even matter, since the application is beyond your control by then anyway? In fact, the […]
Writing an Annotated Bibliography for Funding Proposals
An annotated bibliography can be a powerful component of your application package. If a funder requires one, it is further opportunity to situate your research within your field, or it may take the place of the literature review. Your goal is to highlight significant bodies of work, advancements in the literature that you are contributing […]
American Association of University Women Fellowships
Each fall, our office receives multiple requests for review of proposals to the various award programs offered by the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Generally speaking, the AAUW seeks to support the educational and professional advancement of women through a wide range of programs, including fellowships for female graduate students. While an applicant’s graduate […]
In-Residence Fellowships for Research and Writing
In the dissertation research and writing stages, perhaps among the most under-utilized external funding mechanisms are fellowships that offer support to young scholars spend a semester or academic year in residence at a library, research center, or other university. While the residency requirement attached to this type of award can be challenging due to personal […]
Archival Research Grants and Fellowships
Will your thesis or dissertation research lead you into the pages of historical manuscripts or rare books found only in a few libraries in the world? Will you need to examine collections of photographs, paintings, or fine prints? Will historical or archaeological artifacts held by world museums or research centers be a primary source of […]