The impact of fellowhips on decisions and resumes

[samman1994]

Hello everyone,

I just received an email today that is potentially a game changer in my decision for which school I want to go to. I received an email regarding an offer of a fellowship if I choose to go to that school. Now I don't know much about fellowships, but I do know they look good on resumes. The problem is, I don't know how much of an impact fellowships make on resume (in other words, how "good' they look). If I recall, fellowships simply replace other methods of income (i.e. your stipend from RA or TA), so it's not extra money. 

So how important is receiving a fellowship? I'm trying to decide how much value to give this in regards to making my decision. Thank you ahead of time!

[rising_star]

At some schools, fellowships are not extra money but at others they are. It's worth finding out the situation at that particular institution first, rather than making a blanket assumption that a fellowship doesn't mean extra money. 

The impact it has on your resume/CV is entirely dependent on how prestigious and competitive the fellowship is. If it's a named award given to all incoming students, then the effect will be negligible. 

[FishNerd]

So I think you might need to inquire what this fellowship entails because internal fellowships at schools can vary widely.

For example I have received additional fellowships at the two schools I am considering. I say additional because in both cases they are additional money on top of the typical TA stipend for my department. So not all fellowships replace a TA or RA position and they sometimes do mean more money overall. Also at one school the fellowship is only for the first year and across the regular nine month TA stipend. The other school's fellowship is for the first 4 years and goes across the entire year. So it might also be worth asking how long you will receive this fellowship for.

Edited March 9, 2018 by FishNerd

[TakeruK]

Even if they don't mean more money, it means time you don't have to TA instead. Which means more time for your research. Which means you get more stuff done, and more stuff on your CV when you graduate and look for jobs.

Compared to RAs, it might also mean more research freedom. It could mean less costs for your supervisor (since they don't have to pay your RAship). This means more money left for them to spend on you on other things, such as paying for supplies to do that experiment you want to do, or sending you to that conference that you want to go to. This all means more things for your CV, more science, more networking, more benefits!

The "residual"/"fringe" benefits above are way more impactful than being able to put a line in the CV. The real benefits of fellowships are these bonuses that they enable.

[samman1994]

So this fellowship is only for the first year, and it is in addition to the stipend (so additional income). In the email, I am told it is only awarded to exceptional students in attempts to recruit them to the school. So I'm assuming it's somewhat prestigious based off that? While yes, it does allow me to focus more on research and less on TAing, this is only in the first year, and that first year is primarily rotations and classes. So in regards to the impact it would make on my research freedom, it seems minimal in the long run. So the main thing it appears I'll be getting out of it is, a little bit of pocket change in my first year, and something to put on my resume. This is why I'm curious about how much of an impact it should make in my decision, how much weight I should assign to it. 

[TakeruK]

2 hours ago, samman1994 said:

So this fellowship is only for the first year, and it is in addition to the stipend (so additional income). In the email, I am told it is only awarded to exceptional students in attempts to recruit them to the school. So I'm assuming it's somewhat prestigious based off that? While yes, it does allow me to focus more on research and less on TAing, this is only in the first year, and that first year is primarily rotations and classes. So in regards to the impact it would make on my research freedom, it seems minimal in the long run. So the main thing it appears I'll be getting out of it is, a little bit of pocket change in my first year, and something to put on my resume. This is why I'm curious about how much of an impact it should make in my decision, how much weight I should assign to it. 

Maybe other people's opinions will vary but I would count a fellowship that fits this description, i.e. "awarded to exceptional students in attempts to recruit them to the school", doesn't really count as prestigious enough to make a difference on the resume/CV. You still should put it on the CV though. But usually the ones that matter are the ones that come from an actual merit-based competition that is typically University-wide or even nation-wide. However, this is still a great achievement! And you will still get benefits from it because your advisor can mention that you were one of the department's top picks and they even awarded you a fellowship to recruit you, that's how much they wanted you! This will go further in future applications than a line on your CV with this fellowship that no one outside of your department will recognize.

I wouldn't dismiss the impact of first year research/time freedom. But yes you are right that this isn't a huge factor in your decision. I would not make this fellowship a deciding factor in what school to accept. 

[Eigen]

Yeah, internal "recruiting" fellowships are used to entice good students. It's a nice perk, but it's not a competitive award that's going to make much difference on a CV.

I would argue there are relatively few school-level fellowships that will make a big difference, but they're still nice to have. 

The fellowships that are really beneficial for CVs are ones you apply to that are nationally competitive.

As you seem to have concluded, I wouldn't weight this heavily in a decision.

[samman1994]

8 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

Maybe other people's opinions will vary but I would count a fellowship that fits this description, i.e. "awarded to exceptional students in attempts to recruit them to the school", doesn't really count as prestigious enough to make a difference on the resume/CV. You still should put it on the CV though. But usually the ones that matter are the ones that come from an actual merit-based competition that is typically University-wide or even nation-wide. However, this is still a great achievement! And you will still get benefits from it because your advisor can mention that you were one of the department's top picks and they even awarded you a fellowship to recruit you, that's how much they wanted you! This will go further in future applications than a line on your CV with this fellowship that no one outside of your department will recognize.

I wouldn't dismiss the impact of first year research/time freedom. But yes you are right that this isn't a huge factor in your decision. I would not make this fellowship a deciding factor in what school to accept. 

Okay, thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for. 

[FishNerd]

@samman1994 So based off what you describe about your fellowship it sounds pretty similar to my fellowship I've received at one of my schools. Since it is only one year I would imagine its impact on a resume/CV are relatively low, at least in comparison to fellowships that are guaranteed across several years (like the position I am in). I'm sure it would still look very good on a resume/CV but I don't think that alone will make your CV. Sometimes awards beget more awards though (if the application process for subsequent awards takes into account previous awards you have won), so it could be a stepping stone for subsequent awards.

Like Takeru says above I probably wouldn't make my decision on whether to attend this school based off of this fellowship alone. I know the fellowship I have received that's similar to yours is definitely not swaying my decision making (it is a competition - but only within the school of Natural Sciences and Mathematics). When I visited that school my prospective advisor called it basically a signing bonus if I decide to go there and that's how I am treating it. I do think my fellowship at my other school though will look pretty good on my CV, since it is a university wide award, and I definitely am taking it more heavily into my considerations (it also is worth a lot more money).