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Posted

Hello All,

Curious if anyone else applied for a Ford Fellowship towards a History/Humanities Graduate Program. I applied for one, but the process was oddly confusing. For example, they don't award fellowships until April, after most schools and students have made their decisions.

So my question: is anyone familiar with how schools coordinate with Ford Fellowships? As I applied to the fellowship, I was only able to list one school to take the fellowship to. Is the fellowship transferrable?

I asked these questions to the Ford people directly, and their responses were vague and standard.

Gene P.

Posted

I too had some questions. I was curious as to how someone who didn't have an acceptance to a PhD program could apply to the program. It made 0 sense to me how they could expect you to turn in your application before the PhD application process was over. For example what if I had applied, won and then gotten accepted to a school that gave me full funding for at least my first year? Could I defer the Ford fellowship to another year? I guess I'm too simple to understand these things :(

Posted

No, oseirus, I had the same issues. I also wondered, what if the Ford committees like you, but then you are denied admission to your school of interest? Glad I'm not the only one..

That would be the most hilarious thing ever: they earmark you for funding, but pending an acceptance & then you don't get accepted to any of the schools you apply to. I don't mean ha-ha hilarious mind but more so, 'wow that is effed up, guess life hates me' hilarious.

Posted

Hey guys: I also applied to the Ford. It's my understanding that you can use it at any of the schools you get admitted to, even though the application itself only lets you list one school. As for the scenario in which a student gets the fellowship but doesn't get admitted to at least one school, I am inclined to believe it is highly improbable and something you shouldn't worry about.

Posted

Hey guys: I also applied to the Ford. It's my understanding that you can use it at any of the schools you get admitted to, even though the application itself only lets you list one school. As for the scenario in which a student gets the fellowship but doesn't get admitted to at least one school, I am inclined to believe it is highly improbable and something you shouldn't worry about.

Thanks. I certainly hope thats the case, particularly because graduate programs want Ford Fellows (it boosts their reputation). It seems silly to have pre-doctoral student applicants list only one school especially when a multitude of schools would be good fits for some people.

Irvinchiva10, can I ask how you chose your inevitable one-listed school? I chose mine based on which school would be most competitive for funding.

Posted

Thanks. I certainly hope thats the case, particularly because graduate programs want Ford Fellows (it boosts their reputation). It seems silly to have pre-doctoral student applicants list only one school especially when a multitude of schools would be good fits for some people.

Irvinchiva10, can I ask how you chose your inevitable one-listed school? I chose mine based on which school would be most competitive for funding.

That's exactly the same reasoning I used. But, if my memory serves me correctly, I also used one of the essays to expound on why I would be a good fit for the schools I applied to. So, in the end, they must know I applied to more schools than the one I listed (Columbia).

Posted

As for the scenario in which a student gets the fellowship but doesn't get admitted to at least one school, I am inclined to believe it is highly improbable and something you shouldn't worry about.

Welcome to the insanity grad cafe seems to brew :)

Posted

Alright, so I sent a few emails, and did some more snooping around the Ford website. I found the answer to our question buried in the FAQ sections, which I probably should have looked at first. Sorry!

Anyways, here's what it said:

Enter your first choice of Ph.D. institution in your fellowship application. The review panelists do often factor in their application review the suitability of choice of the proposed Ph.D. institution for the proposed area of study. If you are notified that you have been chosen as a fellowship awardee and will not be attending the proposed fellowship institution indicated in your fellowship application, it should not be a problem as long as you have been accepted in a similar program at another fully-accredited Ph.D. degree granting institution in the U.S. Those decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

Posted

Alright, so I sent a few emails, and did some more snooping around the Ford website. I found the answer to our question buried in the FAQ sections, which I probably should have looked at first. Sorry!

Anyways, here's what it said:

Enter your first choice of Ph.D. institution in your fellowship application. The review panelists do often factor in their application review the suitability of choice of the proposed Ph.D. institution for the proposed area of study. If you are notified that you have been chosen as a fellowship awardee and will not be attending the proposed fellowship institution indicated in your fellowship application, it should not be a problem as long as you have been accepted in a similar program at another fully-accredited Ph.D. degree granting institution in the U.S. Those decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

There's a worry of my mind. Thanks! Great job at reading thoroughly!

Posted

Alright, so I sent a few emails, and did some more snooping around the Ford website. I found the answer to our question buried in the FAQ sections, which I probably should have looked at first. Sorry!

Anyways, here's what it said:

Enter your first choice of Ph.D. institution in your fellowship application. The review panelists do often factor in their application review the suitability of choice of the proposed Ph.D. institution for the proposed area of study. If you are notified that you have been chosen as a fellowship awardee and will not be attending the proposed fellowship institution indicated in your fellowship application, it should not be a problem as long as you have been accepted in a similar program at another fully-accredited Ph.D. degree granting institution in the U.S. Those decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.

Why did they mention that it has to be another accredited school in the US? Is there some other loophole else where that allows you to apply for a non-US school?

Posted

They probably mean some online university kind of thing, is my guess.

Well there goes my Phoenix education

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

I think they finish their selection process in April.

Well if anyone here wins let us know & if you're shy the PM works

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

has anyone heard back yet? notifications were supposed to go out by the end of today, according to what they told me on the phone....

Posted

Yes. Check the results page. How you been?

LOL ... duh ... been good how've you been? Haven't seen you on the other threads in a while

Posted

I plan on applying next year, I just couldn't handle any more than my classes and apps this year!

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