nominated for a fellowship - therefore accepted?

[iowaguy]

A POI recently emailed me about funding.  She said nothing is official yet, but it looks like I will get a department stipend plus they put me up for a graduate school fellowship for additional funds.  Said she will let me know when she hears back on the fellowship, etc, etc...  She did not, however, say that I had been accepted into the PhD program.  When I check the online application system it shows that my application is still under review.

 

This might be a stupid question, but if they nominated me for a fellowship does that mean that the department has accepted me and is just working out the details?  I'm trying to figure out this whole admissions/funding process

 

As a side note, how long does it usually take to hear back on graduate school fellowships?  Thanks!

[Eigen]

A good sign, but not a sure acceptance. 

 

Depending on their funding situation, it may be that they would need you to win the university wide fellowship, or they might still be reviewing things. 

 

I say to be cautious, as I did have a friend who was one of a small set of graduate students nominated for a very prestigious university fellowship who ultimately didn't get accepted to that same institution. 

 

But on the whole, it's a really good sign! Congrats!

[TakeruK]

Agree with what Eigen said about the correlation between fellowship nomination and acceptance! Congrats

 

To answer your other question -- at my MSc school, I was nominated for an internal fellowship at some point in May (they asked me for additional details in early May) and I found out the results in early August. This might be a bit different because all of this happened much after I accepted their offer and the fellowship did not change my overall funding package (just changed the source of the funding from the department to the graduate school). 

 

So if it's a University-wide competition that's meant for people who are accepted already, then it might take them awhile. However, if they are hoping that you will win this fellowship so that they can increase your offer to entice you to come, then you can probably expect it to happen more quickly! For some of my schools, the letter of offer listed several funding scenarios depending on the result of some internal and external fellowship results!