Nearly every graduate student seeking funding for their dissertation research project starts out focused on finding one award that will pay for all their expenses at one fell swoop (and in one application season). However, there are many reasons to consider the power of small grants offered by professional societies, private companies, and foundations. From […]
Understanding Award Types
Understanding Award Types
What Will You Do When? The Art of Designing a Persuasive Timeline
Many fellowships and grants require either an informal or formal timeline to be included with your proposal. The best timelines are persuasive documents that give reviewers the sense that you have a good idea of how your research is going to proceed, and that the work you are proposing is feasible in the time you […]
Parlez-vous français? The Ins and Outs of Funding for Language Training
Graduate students who conduct research on non-English speaking countries need to achieve a degree of fluency in a foreign language that will support their research. Many graduate programs require competency in one or more foreign languages. Even if your program doesn’t require this training, a language competency evaluation is part of the application package for […]
Predissertation Research Grants as a Foundation for Successful Dissertation Research
In the last few weeks, our blog posts have focused on the early stages of graduate study, including early graduate study fellowships and general advice for planning award applications long-term. Today, to round out this picture of the first few years of a graduate student’s external, merit-based funding perspective, we’d like to discuss pre-dissertation research […]
Early Graduate Study Fellowships
Fall is upon us, campus is again flooded with students, and classes are already in full swing. To the new students in all programs, we at GradFund would like to say, “Welcome!” Especially for first- and second-year graduate students, we would also like to remind you that now is the time to apply for early […]
Give yourself an hour to think about postdocs…
As April begins, graduate students (even those of us who have been doing this for what seems like forever!) begin to shift into end-of-semester mode: Grading exams and term papers begins to take precedence over just about everything else. However, if you will be entering your final year of dissertation writing in the fall, now […]