Fellowship on CV - big deal?

[iowaguy]

I received a one-year departmental fellowship at a school #1 that I'm applying to (haven't accepted yet).  It doesn't result in any additional funding beyond the amount that they've pledged for my RA stipend.

 

At school #2, I have been nominated for a university-wide fellowship that would add several thousand dollars on top of my TA/RA stipend (don't know if I will receive it yet or not).

 

Question:  how big of a deal is a fellowship on your future CV?  School #1 is framing it as if it's a big prestige factor to receive their departmental fellowship (even though it has absolutely no impact on my current finances).  Trying to figure out if this is just a recruiting effort on their part...

 

Is there much "prestige" difference (impact on my future CV) between a one-year departmental fellowship and a multi-year, university-wide fellowship, compared to attending another school #3 where I would receive no fellowship? (assuming all things equal with program strength, fit with advisor, etc)

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!!!

[selecttext]

anything to build up your cv is good. competitive awards are especially important because they will be considered when you are up for future awards.

[TakeruK]

This is what I think, but I don't have any evidence to back it up. It makes sense to me that the more prestigious the fellowship, the better it looks on the CV. Obviously, 1-year departmental fellowships are not as helpful as multi-year university-wide fellowships. Departmental fellowships are sometimes given to every single student that enters, and it's not really a "fellowship", but it's just money that the University has allocated to the Department to pay its grad students. Sometimes multi-year university-wide fellowships are awarded on the same basis -- for example, every International student from one of my old schools is awarded a fellowship that is equal to the difference in domestic and international tuition. 

 

In my opinion, I wouldn't use the "prestige" of internal awards to sway my decision. Some schools do have very competitive and prestigious internal awards but for the "CV effect" it might not do very good since others might not know about this internal award. There are some exceptions of course -- I think Harvard's Pierce Fellowship is very well known (a 1-year $18k award).

 

I also think there's a huge difference between national fellowships (e.g. NSF) and internal fellowships. And usually you can take your national fellowship anywhere, so it wouldn't really factor into a decision either!

[tarrman]

I agree with TakeruK here. I can't think of a single CV from the professor's I've looked at that mentions how they were funded through their Ph.D. These fellowships are there to attract top students in the applicant pool to get them to commit to the school. I don't think they carry much (if any) prestige outside of the school, unlike the national fellowships, which are much more competitive and well-known.

[rising_star]

I wouldn't worry about the prestige or even the amount of money you get, provided it's sufficient to live on. I turned down a named fellowship that offered more money because I decided the PI was the most important consideration when all was said in done. Sure, I sometimes wish I had the extra few thousand. But, I don't think it's hurt my CV, but that's probably because I've applied for a *lot* of things and ahve gotten a few of them, so I do have some awards and fellowships on my CV anyway.

[TakeruK]

I agree that fit with the PI is the most important. If you really want to look at it with an economical point of view, having the right PI / project would set you up to be much more successful overall and you'll probably end up making more money in the long run. Alternatively, having the wrong PI can really make your life miserable and your ability to succeed/finish and your happiness/sanity is worth more than a few thousand in that first year (or even each year). As long as you can survive and not have to worry about affording rent or food or occasional treats to yourself, then I wouldn't put too much weight on the stipend.