Series note: The following post is the second installment in the Applying for Grants and Fellowships as an International Student series. Click here to read Part One. Confronted with the challenging situation of having limited external funding options to support their graduate career and research, international students often come to believe in certain myths that hold them […]
by U.S. Citizen
U.S. Citizen
The Art of the Abstract
Applications for competitive fellowships and grants often require a research abstract, but condensing big research ideas into a short blurb can be a challenging task. How does one go about writing an effective abstract? Think of the abstract as a highly compressed version of your research proposal. It should follow a similar structure and formula […]
Keys to the Castle? Strategic Use of Sample Proposals
On more than one occasion during my time as a GradFund Fellowship Advisor, I have met with students who seem to hold winning sample proposals from previous competitions to an almost mythical regard. By cracking the code, analyzing the formula, figuring out the secret of these documents, these believers expect that they can surely unlock […]
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 […]
Responding to Reviewer Comments
As aspiring academics, rejection is just one of those things we have to get used to- many excellent peer-reviewed papers, academic book proposals, and of course grant applications went through multiple rounds of “no” before the final “yes.” Within this process of “revise and resubmit,” the reviewer comments given for a previous submission can become […]
Broader Impacts in a Nutshell
The National Science Foundation funds basic science research at the early graduate, dissertation, and postdoctoral stages. The NSF uses two criteria for evaluating funding applications: intellectual merit and broader impacts. In this blog post, I will explain ways in which you can go about addressing the broader impacts criteria in your application. Brainstorm and free-write […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
How to Choose the Best Awards for You
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 […]
How to Search for Funding Effectively
One of the most common questions that fellowship advisors hear from students is “What can I apply for?” Even with the web resources available for searching, it can sometimes be challenging to find awards that are a great fit with a student’s research area and stage of study. Today, we will focus on using both […]