Am I missing something? What is the point of a fellowship if assistanship is lost.

[lexicana]

I applied for the Ford predoctoral fellowship and am expecting that results will come out this week. The thing is I am starting to think it really doesn't matter if I am awarded the fellowship.

I have been accepted to two insitutions and both of them have stated that if I got the fellowship the research assistantship would be given to another student. The problem with that, as I see it, is that research is a critical part of the PhD. Why would anyone want to pursue a research based PhD program and not want to be involved with research. So, if the assistanship is given to another student then I would either not be involved with reseach (just taking coursework) or be involved with research but not getting any funding (other than tuition) from the institution.

Also, the Ford fellowship is only a couple thousand more than the stipend I would receive from the assistantship. So, why would I want the fellowship. It makes more sense to be on fellowship later on in the process when working on one's own research and dissertation but why does it make sense to be on fellowship the first couple of years?

I get that there is a prestige factor but is that it? Am I missing something. Do any institutions let you keep the assistantship and the fellowship?

[quinquenion]

Best way I've heard it put is: RAs work for professors, while Fellows work with professors. You don't stop doing research because you receive a fellowship. Rather, the fellowship gives you the freedom to work on whatever *you* want to, rather than what your advisor has funding to do. In some cases, you might be working on exactly the same thing either way; however, you don't have to. Perhaps you want to put together your own ambitious research project, or maybe start up an interdisciplinary collaboration between several different professors. Having a fellowship lets you do just that. It also gives you the freedom to switch advisors and projects if things don't work out.

As for money, some (but not all) departments will give you a couple thousand extra each year you have the fellowship, or sometimes advisors will pay you a bit on top, since you're working for them for "free". However, this is by no means required or even expected.

ETA: I just noticed that you're in the social sciences, of which I have very little knowledge. Apologies if any of this doesn't apply to you.

Edited April 1, 2012 by quinquenion

[yoshiko]

I was offered a fellowship and a TAship and I am in a social science too. In my program the fellowship was just extra money, not an invitation to work with or for a professor. However, I'm sure since you are being offered a fellowship, that you are very wanted in the program, meaning that there are people that want to work with you. You should ask your POI how you can work with him/her during your program. A RAship is great in that it promises you research experience but if you are going into a good PhD program with a fellowship (again meaning that you are a top student), then you are going to get research experience and publish.

Good luck.

[Eigen]

Yoshiko:

The OP is talking about an external fellowship vs an internal assistantship.

But yes, the point off fellowship is that you get to have a much larger role in directing your research. An RAship in the social sciences, from my understanding, tends to be a lot less of your research and a lot more of assisting with lit reviews, pulling books, etc. for a PI, while on a fellowship you're being paid to do your own research and coursework full time. The same professors who would have given you an RAship will often still want to work with you- but as Quinquenion said, you work with them, rather than for them.

There's also a huge prestige factor that translates into better chances for funding down the road, opportunities for postdoctoral fellowships, and an increased chance of grant funding when you start applying. There's also the good will from e department, being as you're supporting yourself, which I've found to lead to an increased chance for the funding of travel for research and conferences, as well as funds for research. Since they're not paying for your stipend, they can more easily help fund you in other ways.

Depending on the terms of funding at your institution and the fellowship, you're also probably more likely to get RA funding after the fellowship ends, as well as be more competitive for summer funding, etc.

[Pauli]

quinquenion and Eigen hit it on the nail with their comments. I also heard that graduate school admission committees use fellowships as a huge factor to accelerate acceptance in their programs (i.e., if a prestigious fellowship program awarded you a fellowship, they did the work for us, haha!).