As a graduate student, you may already feel overwhelmed. Perhaps you’re a new student navigating challenging coursework, establishing advising relationships, finding your community, and still unpacking from your move to campus. Or maybe you’re preparing for preliminary exams, teaching, presenting at conferences, caring for family members, and trying to keep your research moving forward. At any stage, it can feel as though every week brings a new deadline and a new demand on your attention. Why, then, should you consider applying for an external fellowship?
My first answer is, maybe you shouldn’t.
If you already have adequate financial support and can meet your professional goals without external funding, great! If you’re pursuing a career that doesn’t care much about scholarly accolades, a fellowship might not carry significant weight with future employers. You may also decide that your time is better spent advancing your research rather than preparing additional applications.
In other words, I do not believe that pursuing fellowships should necessarily rank highly on every student’s priority list. Graduate school presents numerous demands, and students must think strategically about what matters most. After all, fellowship applications require a lot of time and energy. Should you invest that time and energy into an application? To make that decision, I would suggest that it helps to ask a different question. The real question is not simply whether a fellowship is worth the effort. It is whether the application process advances the work you already need and want to do.
Read the latest blog post by Dana Johnson, Director of External Fellowships to learn which choice is best for you.