This is the third post in a series on navigating the world of external funding as a parent in graduate school. Can an experience as normal as parenting be incorporated into your personal statement? The answer is: it depends. On one hand, it might seem that there is nothing interesting about being a parent; it’s […]
Advice
Advice
Balancing Grad School, Parenting, and Grant Applications
This is the second post in a series on navigating the world of external funding as a parent in graduate school. Being a parent in graduate school brings with it a whole host of time-management challenges. Balancing coursework, research, teaching, and parenting can be overwhelming. And throwing grant applications into the mix might seem impossible. […]
Parents: Here’s Why You Should Make Time to Apply for External Funding
This is the first post of a series on navigating the world of external funding as a parent in graduate school. Students with children undoubtedly face a unique set of challenges and time constraints in graduate school. As graduate students, we’re taking courses; studying for exams; grading exams; teaching classes; conducting, presenting, and publishing our […]
Bringing Your Previous Research Experience into Your Current Application
Many of us have had several research experiences prior to graduate school. These experiences may have been within or outside of the discipline in which we have chosen to pursue our dissertation research. For some lucky few, all of these research experiences connect to one another and center around a clear research focus and trajectory. […]
Unpacking Jargon—Part Two
Part One of this post described reasons to limit jargon in your proposal, and two strategies to help you minimize your use of jargon. Part Two offers more specific advice for addressing jargon in your writing. Define for yourself each term you or your readers have identified as jargon. You may discover that some of […]
Unpacking Jargon—Part One
Jargon serves important functions in any field of activity. It lends accuracy and efficiency to communication within a subfield, and terms that begin as jargon may eventually enter into common use: consider the current popularization of specialized terms like “intersectionality,” “epigenetic,” or “VPN.” But in grant writing, jargon can be risky. The need for precision […]
4 Things to Do Before Applying for Funding
If you’re thinking about applying for external funding (and you should be!), it’s important to prepare yourself for the application process. Here are four things to do before diving into your proposal. 1. Schedule an appointment with GradFund– Whether you’re still figuring out which awards to apply for or you already have one in mind, […]
A Visit from the SSRC- Part II
Looking to apply for the Social Science Research Council’s International Dissertation Research Fellowship (SSRC IDRF)? Recently, GradFund hosted an information session on the IDRF presented by its Program Director Daniella Sarnoff. The presentation provided a wealth of information on what SSRC reviewers are looking for as they assess the applications. Check out part one of […]
A Visit from the SSRC-Part I
At Rutgers, we recently had a visit from the program officer of one of the most prestigious fellowship awards for which we help graduate students apply: the Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Research Fellowship. The IDRF supports 9-12 months of continuous, on-site dissertation research in countries outside the United States. Consistently among the most […]
“But What If It’s Just a Waste of Time?”: How the Process of Grant Writing Can Advance Your Career—Part Two
Part One of this post described ways to use the application process to expand and strengthen your professional network. Part Two describes how attention to detail in the grant writing process offers benefits beyond increasing your application’s chance of success. -While it may be tempting to try to write an all-purpose proposal or simply to […]