Funding Opportunities for Graduate Students

The PROMISE Program receives a number of funding and fellowship opportunities to share with students.  The information provided here is a partial list based on a funding workshop that was presented on UMBC’s campus through the Success Seminar series.  Our PROMISE  Career Partners website provides weekly updates for fellowships, internships, and positions.  A search engine is available for that site. (Suggestion:  Add the category, e.g. fellowship, plus the year, e.g., 2012 for the most recent entries.  An entry of fellowship 2012 in the search box will yield all fellowship opportunities with 2012 deadlines or start dates.)

FELLOWSHIP TIPS

Many fellowships have strict deadlines, and most of them are listed between October and November.  The external fellowships often allow students to apply from all over the country, therefore they need time to review and process applications so that fellowships can be awarded in time for the fall semester. Here are some tips:

• Pay strict attention to deadlines and submit early.
• Maintain strong relationships with faculty members since you will probably need strong letters of recommendation from your faculty.
• Become familiar with the online interface for the fellowship’s website.  Many fellowships now require online submission which include registration procedures and multiple pages of set-up for essays or statements, letters, transcripts, etc.
• If the deadline has passed for a fellowship that you are interested in, email or call the contact person to inquire about other opportunities with that particular organization, tips for applying next year, or any remaining opportunities for the current year.  Sometimes deadlines are extended but not posted. It’s worth an ask.

FELLOWSHIP LINKS

• LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate. The LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate Fellowship, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, is a 2 year fellowship that is awarded to alumni of the undergraduate LSAMP programs throughout the U.S.  Bridge to the Doctorate Fellows must be former undergraduate participants of LSAMP programs and must have their participation validated by their undergraduate LSAMP Directors.
  • UMBC Application, Deadlines vary based on availability of funds. Contact marylandbridgetothedoctorate@gmail.com for inquiries.
  • LSAMP at College Park
  • Schools across the U.S. have Bridge to the Doctorate Programs.  Check with the university’s LSAMP office for detail.
• NASA Fellowships – Through Pathways to Science:
  • Fellowships and internships for graduate students 
  • Sign-up sheet to receive individualized information: http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/form.asp
• GEM: http://www.gemfellowship.org/
• Homeland Security http://www.orau.gov/dhsed/
• National Physical  Sciences Consortium – http://www.npsc.org/
• Ford Foundation http://national-academies.org/fellowships
• McNair Scholars Program waives/discounts application fees, GRE fees http://www.ed.gov.offices/OPE/HEP/trio/mcnair
• Application Fee waivers for CIC graduate schools:  http://www.cic.net/Home/Students/FreeApp/Introduction.aspx
• Project 1000 waives up to seven application fees:   http://mati.eas.asu.edu:8421/p1000
• NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
  
  • Program Information: http://www.nsf.gov/grfp
  • Application and deadlines: http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov
  • Email: info@nsfgradfellows.org
• National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship
  
  • Program Information, application and deadlines:
    http://www.asee.org/resources/fellowships
  • Email: ndseg@asee.org
• General Listing of fellowships for women and diverse groups: http://www.imdiversity.com/Villages/Channels/grad_school/fellowships.asp
• Database of fellowships and scholarships for all disciplines:
  http://scholarships.fatomei.com/
• Institutional Fellowships (The university applies to the National Science Foundation for this funding and students have a chance to apply and participate through their universities.)  http://www.igert.org/
• http://www.gk12.org/

LINKS FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

• Fulbright – Fulbright grants are available for international students in graduate school.
• The Soros Foundations Network – This foundation offers international student scholarships for undergraduate and
  graduate students. Many are restricted to students from specific countries.
• AAUW – This organization provides fellowships for international graduate students who are women.
• American Councils for International Education – The councils provide international student grants and fellowships to international students from the former Soviet republics.
• AMIDEAST – This organization provides grants for international students from the Middle East and North Africa.
• Cornell University Graduate School Fellowship Notebook – This database contains a list of funding and international student scholarships available to graduate international students.

(This information is re-posted from: http://www.usastudyguide.com/Financial_aid.htm)

The following information was contributed by former PROMISE Peer Mentor  Dr. Frances Carter (M.S. Physics, Ph.D. Public Policy, UMBC) from the September 2010 UMBC Success Seminar on funding, reprinted from the PROMISE intranet page on MyUMBC.

Thanks to everyone who attended yesterdays session on “Graduate Students and Money!” The information was extremely helpful in making sure that we as graduate students are creating bright  financial futures for ourselves as we work on our academic future.  As promised, I am including the fellowship links for your use:

• http://www.nsfgrfp.org
• http://www.gemfellowship.org/
• http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/grad_fellows/ (provides an overview of fellowships by deadline date with links)
• http://www7.nationalacademies.org/fellowships/
• http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Student/GRFN/
• http://www.umbc.edu/gradschool/funding/external.html
• http://foreign.fulbrightonline.org/
• http://www.finaid.com/ and their search engine: http://www.fastweb.com/
• http://apps.collegeboard.com/cbsearch_ss/welcome.jsp
• http://www.sreb.org

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• More Information about Funding Opportunities for Graduate Students