Fellowships?

[xfgdfrmgpo332]

So, a little late in the game to be asking this, but...what are fellowships exactly, and how do they fit in to the application process? In doing these apps, there's usually a section about what kind of fellowship, teaching or research assistantship thing you want, and how much money you want/need, etc...I have no idea what to put for these things.

I guess I was under the naive assumption that you just applied to places, and certain places gave you certain fellowships of varying quality and amount of funding, but almost always they covered the tuition. And of course it varies from school to school, I assume.

But does anyone have any info on this, from an applicant prospective? Like, if I put that I am requesting X amount dollars, would a school be less likely to accept me because I would be "expensive"? And vice versa?

Thanks very much for any info or personal experience.

Edited December 7, 2011 by joega1111

[Medievalmaniac]

You don't request a certain amount. You have to fill out the financial aid form, and check the box for financial aid on the application. At that point it is at the department and graduate school's discretion to award or not to award merit-based fellowship funding available in-school. It is your responsibility to check into and apply for outside funding via national fellowship and scholarship programs - there's a thread for that on the forum.

i hope that clears up your question?

[Timshel]

Don't most people get funding via teaching assistantships?

[ecritdansleau]

If they app is asking how much money you want/need, could it be for extenuating circumstances? Some financial aid forms will ask questions like, do you have a dependent, do you need extra money for medical treatment, etcetera (things that they wouldn't know).

But the idea of them just asking "how much do you want" as a total free for-all is not something I'm familiar with. Even with federal funding (for graduate students, this basically=loans because there are no pell grants for graduate students), there is an official/agreed upon amount for tuition+estimated living expenses and personal expenditures for different schools in order to determine eligibility for different amounts.

If it's confusing to the point where you can't really answer the questions, I would definitely contact either the graduate school or the department to clarify exactly what they want to know. It doesn't sound like this is the common way applications handle this. Some of the apps I've filled out haven't asked for any financial information at all.

[xfgdfrmgpo332]

Thanks guys, that helps some. But Johns Hopkins does indeed blatantly ask this:

"How much financial support do you need? (Please type just a dollar value - ex. 45000)"

Then there is a box for "Tuition Request" and then "Living Expenses Request."

This is right after the app asks whether I want a fellowship, a teaching assistantship, or a research assistantship.

And it's due at midnight...ahhhh!!!!!!

Edited December 8, 2011 by joega1111

[rawera]

As I understand it, fellowship = grant = free money.

TA = teach comp/lit courses = get tuition remission/money in exchange for working

No idea what a RA is for humanities, I imagine it means lab work for sciences.

I suspect somewhere it says "financial data will not affect your application," but they need to have an idea what kind of aid they will be allocating, if possible. Or maybe they consider all of that too.

[ecritdansleau]

I suspect somewhere it says "financial data will not affect your application," but they need to have an idea what kind of aid they will be allocating, if possible. Or maybe they consider all of that too.

It's funny, but one of the questions on one of my applications was "Do you require financial aid? Because if you do not this can increase your chances of admission, since the department is limited by its own budget" and I was just like...hmmm. That definitely sounds fair. *cough* I guess I prefer the less direct ways they could ask this question, i.e. "How much do you have in savings? Amount=___ How much do you have in your current bank/checking account? Amount=____". Haha, the funny thing about it is how much less money I'll have from the beginning of December to the end, just paying all these app fees. So funny. *cough*

Edited December 9, 2011 by ecritdansleau

[rawera]

It's funny, but one of the questions on one of my applications was "Do you require financial aid? Because if you do not this can increase your chances of admission, since the department is limited by its own budget" and I was just like...hmmm. That definitely sounds fair. *cough* I guess I prefer the less direct ways they could ask this question, i.e. "How much do you have in savings? Amount=___ How much do you have in your current bank/checking account? Amount=____". Haha, the funny thing about it is how much less money I'll have from the beginning of December to the end, just paying all these app fees. So funny. *cough*

I hope that same school asked for evidence of your economic hardships, at which point you just uploaded a screencap of that previous screen.

Also I did the same thing, I looked at my bank account, subbed out application fees and emailed the grad coordinator to ask about entering a negative figure.

[yank in the M20]

Are you guys filling out FAFSAs? Or is that something you do if you're enrolled and don't get enough funding from other formats and if you need some loans? Shows my ignorance, but it's been some time since my BA and I did my MA abroad. Thanks!

[contretemps]

Thanks guys, that helps some. But Johns Hopkins does indeed blatantly ask this:

"How much financial support do you need? (Please type just a dollar value - ex. 45000)"

Then there is a box for "Tuition Request" and then "Living Expenses Request."

This is right after the app asks whether I want a fellowship, a teaching assistantship, or a research assistantship.

And it's due at midnight...ahhhh!!!!!!

I also encountered this. What I did was I added the living expenses and tuition fees in the website they provided. I don't know if that's correct though.

[rising_star]

Are you guys filling out FAFSAs? Or is that something you do if you're enrolled and don't get enough funding from other formats and if you need some loans? Shows my ignorance, but it's been some time since my BA and I did my MA abroad. Thanks!

The FAFSA will be available starting January 1. You should fill it out ASAP, listing all the schools you've applied to. The reason why is that the school may have some need-based loans/grants available to graduate students that are given out on a first-come, first-serve basis. You don't want to miss out on the possibility of getting those if you can help it.