Social Sciences Fellowships for International Students

[migrationdude]

Since I'm an international student, it doesn't seem like I'm eligible for most U.S. fellowships (except intramural ones). I'm lucky enough to have funding figured out to a certain degree, but still it would be great to know what (if any) fellowships would be available for later years in my grad career. I'm not talking about full, $30k/year fellowships (although those would also be nice ), but about the smaller awards that may be buried in some database somewhere. If anyone has any info it would be great to compile a list!

[Ibn Anthropology]

Hey,

Since its been a year when you posted this question (alas, no replies!) I was wondering if you found any fellowships for non-US citizens studying in the US/Canada? If so, please let me know since I am very much in the same boat you were in a year ago (:

[Dexter Morgan]

And I will be in that boat next year.. Such a list would indeed be useful!

[dreaming 1]

Hey Guys,

As far as I know, and based on my own experience this year- internationals are equally eligible for university based funding. We are not eligible for NSF/Javits type fellowships, but you shouldn't have a problem getting funding just because you're not a US citizen.

The two offers I got this year both came with full funding (plus money to help pay visa processing etc).

The exception you might encounter is some state universities (in my case UCLA and UC Berkeley)- as schools like this actually DO favour US nationals for the reason that if I am from eg Missouri, I can register as a California resident and then the Cali govt cover the fees. If I am not a US national, I can never register as a California resident, which directly costs the school about $30-40,000 in tuition.

BUt in general, private schools who fund most or all of their incoming doctoral students are your best bet, as they don't differentiate.

Hope this helps!

[StrangeLight]

if you are a canadian citizen or permanent resident studying in canada OR the US OR another "accredited" country (think UK, australia, japan, etc.), you are eligible for the social sciences and humanities research council of canada (SSHRC) doctoral fellowship. this is worth $20,000/year, for anywhere from 1 to 4 years. the duration depends on how early into your PhD studies you win the award.

you are also eligible for the SSHRC doctoral award (and possibly the masters' level awards) if you are NOT canadian but are attending grad school in canada.

you can apply for these awards multiple times.

if you are an international student studying in the US, you are eligible for mellon ACLS fellowships and SSRC fellowships (social sciences research council). these are highly competitive (as are the SSHRCs in canada) but you're eligible.

i'm sure you're probably already aware of these.

[Poppet]

FYI, applicants for the Doctoral Fellowships must be either a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident, AND if they are applying the SSHRC to a degree program abroad, one of their first degrees MUST have come from a Canadian university. So just being a Canadian or a Permanent Resident is not necessarily enough if you are applying this to a program elsewhere in the world.

To qualify to apply to both the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowships and the Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarships programs, you must:

• be a citizen or permanent resident of Canada;
• be applying for support to pursue your first PhD (or equivalent);
• be pursuing doctoral studies in the social sciences or humanities;
• not have already received a scholarship or fellowship from SSHRC,NSERC or CIHR to undertake or complete a doctoral degree or combined MA/PhD; and
• not be applying in the 2010-11 academic year to NSERC or CIHR.
  
  Eligibility to Hold an Award: Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarships are tenable only at eligible universities in Canada. There are no exceptions.
  
  SHRC Doctoral Fellowships are tenable at any recognized university in Canada or abroad. For the fellowship to be held abroad, the award holder must have completed at least one previous degree at a Canadian university. For award holders who do not meet this requirement, the fellowships are tenable only at recognized Canadian postsecondary institutions.

you are also eligible for the SSHRC doctoral award (and possibly the masters' level awards) if you are NOT canadian but are attending grad school in canada.

This is untrue though. You don't need to be Canadian to be eligible for the Doctoral or Masters SSHRC award, but you do need to at least be a Canadian permanent resident. See above for the Doctoral fellowship and below for the Masters Scholarship:

Eligibility to Apply
To qualify to apply to this program, you must:

be a citizen or permanent resident of Canada;be applying for support to pursue your first graduate degree (i.e., master's or equivalent) and not have completed more than 12 months of full-time graduate study at the proposed start date of the award (all previous studies at the graduate level, regardless of discipline, will be included in determining eligibility); have achieved a first-class average, as determined by your university, in each of the last two years of full-time study or equivalent;not have already received an award for master's-level study from SSHRC,

NSERC or CIHR; andnot be applying for graduate funding in the 2010-11 academic year to NSERC or CIHR.

International students are not necessarily Canadian Permanent Residents, so the distinction is extremely important.

Sources:

For Doctoral Fellowship

For Masters Scholarship

Edited March 5, 2011 by Poppet