Stanford University - Assistantship Process

[Samuel Low]

Hi! First post here, usually starts with some woes (or celebrations) I suppose! So I was offered an admit letter for Stanford's MS in Aero/Astro (my prime choice, scream in jubilation!), but also told that I was not on a finalist list for Stanford's Graduate Fellowship. Long story cut short, I do not have a privileged financial background at all, thus I am scrambling to seek for financial aid in the form of assistantships, course gradings, and any other way I can feed myself. I'm not sure if I should directly approach professors at Stanford? I was told it's a bad move to make a first impression.

Non-US citizen (Singapore here), and thus federal study loans are not an option, and I do not qualify for most US scholarships by virtue of citizenship. The Fulbright-Singapore scholarship also only emphasises on cultural, socio-economic, and policy-oriented studies... not exactly rocket science there, so it's not so applicable for me too ?

Anyhow! Would love to hear from students who started in this position, and how did you navigate your way to some degree of (semi-)independent financial aid?

Cheers, and good luck to all with admissions this season!