by The Ebony Tower Contributors
Once you have received an offer to attend a graduate program, one of the biggest factors in determining whether or not you can accept said offer, is the funding package. Many doctoral programs provide competitive funding packages to aid your transition into the program and to help sustain you over the next 5-7 years. You may receive a stipend that parallels your locale’s cost of living, a relocation allowance, free university healthcare, and even the oft coveted summer funding. That, my friends, is what grad school dreams are made of. But what about reality though? In reality, you may receive none of the above and, depending on the program, you may even need to pay tuition and fees. The Lesson: before you click that “I Accept” button, please read the fine print. Try to have a good idea of what your financial situation will be once you’re actually on campus. And, if all else fails, apply for additional funding.
In addition to internal and external scholarships and grants, fellowships are a good way to offset the costs of grad life and a majorly great way of flexing your research muscles. Writing for funding is a skill you’ll need to finesse throughout your academic career. Check out the financial aid pages of your intended programs as they may have comprehensive fellowship lists, and staff who are ready to support you through the application process. For now, here are a few of the top fellowships to consider:
- Opportunities for pre-doctoral, dissertation, and post-doctoral funding
- Connection to a network of Ford Scholars
- Deadline: November 10, 2016
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program
- Funding opportunity for STEM and social science students
- Research based master’s and doctoral students encouraged to apply
- Deadline: October 24-28th, 2016 depending on Field of study
- Letters of Recommendation: November 3, 2016
Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans
- Open to college seniors and early graduate students
- 2 years of funding up to $90,000
- Deadline: November 1, 2016
Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarship
- Open to Canadian doctoral students in the humanities and social sciences
- Support from scholarly community
- Deadline: December 9, 2016
American Association of University Women International Fellowship (AAUW)
- Pre-doctoral and Postdoctoral funding opportunities for women who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents
- Intent to return to home country to pursue academic research
- Deadline: December 1, 2016
The Hertz Foundation Graduate Fellowship
- Pre-doctoral fellowship for applied physical, engineering, and biological sciences
- Tuition and personal stipend fellowship, renewable up to 5 years
- Deadline: October 28, 2016
- Letters of Recommendation: October 31, 2016.
Looking for smaller funding opportunities or more targeted fellowships and scholarships? Check out Pivot, formerly Community of Science.
Did we miss some amazing fellowship opportunities? Please email us and let us know!
The Ebony Tower 