HKS Fellowships: Gleitsman v. Dubin

[lacanadiense]

I wasn't sure if I should post this at the Bank, but seeing as these fellowships are HKS-specific, I thought I'd get more valuable feedback here.

 

The Center For Public Leadership at HKS offers two very similar fellowships: the Gleitsman Program in Leadership for Social Change, and the Dubin Fellows Program for Emerging Leaders. Both offer similar financial rewards and programs, and are both run through CPL. I figured I'd apply for both, but then I noticed this:

 

 

Students may apply for multiple fellowships at CPL, but we encourage applicants to think about which fellowship aligns with his/her experience and goals.

 

So they're saying you can apply for more than one fellowship, but that they discourage it. Also, each of these fellowships requires two letters of rec, and I'm starting to feel bad in terms of how much I've made my letter writers do. So I've essentially decided I should apply to one, but I can't decide between the two! Does anyone have concrete ideas about substantive differences between the two fellowships? Based on the CPL website, the Gleitsman fellows seem a little bit older and more experienced, which is making me lean towards Dubin, but that's about all I can glean from the materials they've posted. Any insights to the differences between these fellowships or the HKS FinAid process in general are welcome!

 

Those are all my questions, but continue reading if you'd like to indulge a quick rant. Basically, I'm feeling very stressed about having to apply to all these HKS fellowships before I even know whether or not I've been accepted. I understand that they want us to be able to know our financial offers in time to make a decision for April 15th, but seeing as they've had our apps since Nov. 30th, maybe they could have done like Georgetown, admit us in February, and then have us apply for funding separately. I wouldn't mind doing all this work if I knew I had an admit. HKS's admissions process has seemed finely orchestrated from start to finish, so they must have some reason for doing it this way, but it seems very unfair to us applicants. It's one more thing to stress over, and it might be all for nothing if our name is already on the list of those to be dinged. OK that felt good.

 

 

[pete-mc]

I fully agree with you. It's an archaic relict in HKS admissions and they should really go with the flow. First, admissions decisions, then possble funding.

 

I'm in the same situation as you. Trying to finalize my fellowship applications til the 28th February. Need to bug my recommenders again, at least we have til 8th March for that.

 

I would ignore their message and apply to as many fellowships as you are eligible.

[vincehoward]

I fully agree with you. It's an archaic relict in HKS admissions and they should really go with the flow. First, admissions decisions, then possble funding.

 

I'm in the same situation as you. Trying to finalize my fellowship applications til the 28th February. Need to bug my recommenders again, at least we have til 8th March for that.

 

I would ignore their message and apply to as many fellowships as you are eligible.

Great advice. Does anyone happen to know whether HKS still fully funds PPIA Fellows?

[lacanadiense]

OK, I think I'm going to go for it. Such a long shot, but I guess I have nothing to lose (except my time and sanity).

[pete-mc]

Just finished my fellowship apps, specifically those that do not require recommendations.

 

Wanted to get this done already earlier, but kept procrastinating thinking whether I should do it or not, not knowing if I get admitted.

 

Need to now court my recommenders to finalize the "big" apps. Glad that HKS at least does not require same deadline for that to come in.

 

Good luck everyone else. PS: I basically re-processed my app essays into the required one page statement and modified them slightly.

[scholl43]

I'm still procrastinating on these and feel bad about asking my recommenders too.  Unfortunately, I think HKS has to do it this way because I believe they do phone interviews with applicants and generally need to stay within the funding/decisions timelines that other schools are on.  It would be really nice if the extra letters were at least eliminated.

[lacanadiense]

OK, potentially stupid question: what time tomorrow are all the materials due? Anyone know? I am still editing two of my essays. Normally I would assume 11:59EST, but since Harvard's actual application was due at 5 p.m. if I remember correctly, I suddenly started to freak out - I could use the extra time tomorrow!

[rz922]

im weighing the very same thing-- if i should turn in a couple of fellowship applications last min even though i'm not sure i will even be admitted! anyone think that if you're being considered for a fellowship it might sway the adcom decision? or that narrowing candidates down for the fellowships wont start until after admission decisions are out? 

[soaps]

im weighing the very same thing-- if i should turn in a couple of fellowship applications last min even though i'm not sure i will even be admitted! anyone think that if you're being considered for a fellowship it might sway the adcom decision? or that narrowing candidates down for the fellowships wont start until after admission decisions are out? 

 

The chances of getting one of these fellowships are considerably lower than gaining admission to HKS. I'm sure you wouldn't be in consideration for one of these fellowships unless you already met the basic HKS admissions profile. 

[Worthashot]

I find it comforting that there are others wrestling with the same thoughts that I am.  It's hard to think that there wouldn't be any cross-talk between fellowship boards and Adcom. 

[lacanadiense]

I'm sure there are some applicants who are already on a list of admits, so maybe the fellowship committees could start evaluating their applications before official decisions go out. But I would agree with soapwater in that anyone in the running for a fellowship is at the top of the HKS applicant heap, so I don't think that would give them any kind of boost. 

[rz922]

@soapwater, sorry didn't mean to give you -1 reputation vote, i dont know how to undo that...

 I agree that the people who receive fellowships will be the most impressive candidates but they also dont have your transcript and GRE scores in front of them. Many are just an essay and resume, so it's conceivable fellowship committees may be interested in a candidate who has less than stellar GPA or a weak quant score or whatever other weakness not readily apparent. It says specifically they dont have access to your admissions file. So, thats where my thought process came from. By the time fellowship committees check in with the adcom, decisions may have been finalized however... Obviously, I wouldn't be surmising if i knew how it worked, but just a thought..

[pete-mc]

I got this from the CPL website:

 

"Finalists for the Gleitsman Fellowship will be asked to come to Harvard Kennedy School (if local) or call in for a phone interview with members of the Gleitsman Fellowship Selection Committee on March 18, 2013. Finalists will receive an invitation via email by March 15, 2013 which will provide more detailed information. Information regarding the interviews will not be available prior to that time."

 

"Finalists for the Dubin Fellowship will be asked to participate in an in-person interview at Harvard Kennedy School with members of the Dubin Fellowship Selection Committee on March 19, 2013. Finalists will receive an invitation via email by EOD March 15, 2013 which will provide more detailed information. Information regarding the interviews will not be available prior to that time."

[Tom-MPP]

Just got an email from Harvard's Committee on General Scholarships. Did not make it into final round of Zuckerman Fellows.

 

I guess that means also good bye to my HKS application. Strange though that HKS hasn't sent out decisions yet while HCGS has..

[lacanadiense]

I guess that means also good bye to my HKS application.

 

Sorry to hear that you didn't make the cut. It is strange that they notified you before the HKS notifications have come out, but I doubt that assures that you didn't make it into HKS. All of these fellowships are even more competitive than HKS admissions, and Zuckerman even more so since it's for dual-degree applicants (if I remember correctly). Harvard's entire system of applying for fellowships before receiving admissions decisions really does boggle the mind.

[ohcoture]

Anyone hear anything yet regarding these fellowships?

[pete-mc]

Anyone hear anything yet regarding these fellowships?

 

I see you got admitted. Do you mind sharing your background/stats with us?

 

I posted in the HKS subforum that CPL fellowships (finalists) will be notified Monday/Tuesday.

[avicennalocke]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm in the exciting / annoying stage you were all in last year. I was wondering whether people here could share their tips / thoughts on the process. What do you think the key thing the committee are looking for is?

[alexarg]

Hello everyone, 

 

1. Are we all on the same page that CPL is expecting us to apply to just one of their fellowships? I mean, would it be wrong to apply to 2 of them? 

 

2. Does anybody have any clue about the acceptance rate of these fellowships? Are they all equally competitive? 

 

Thanks! 

[Gov2School]

All they say on the website is that you should think seriously about which fellowship is best for you, but that you're not prohibited from applying to multiple fellowships.  If you think you can make a good case for both Gleitsman and Dubin, then it sounds like you could apply for both (I could see how it would be possible, though not very common, to be both and activist and someone who overcame adversity and is committed to transformational change).  

 

No idea on the competitive nature of the fellowships, probably the only people who could tell you that work for the CPL.  It did seem from the website that certain fellowships like the Presidential Fellowship (which is not through CPL) are more competitive than others, if only because they specifically said  this is Harvard's highest award. But you have to assume the answer to how competitive is "very".  Most applicants will, I think, be applying for fellowships (though not everyone for the same fellowship), and your chances of getting a fellowship are probably lower than your chances of getting in to Harvard. But it costs nothing to apply for them (other than time), so why not go for it? 

[alexarg]

Thank you very much Gov2School - I truly appreciate your insights!

I have leaned for Dubin.

Just in the nature of encouraging everybody with strong social leadership backgrounds to apply: I have read the profiles of the previous years fellows. They have OUTSTANDING careers, but in my opinion not all of them seem to have overcome major adversities. 

[Gov2School]

I agree that the criteria of "overcoming adversity" seems a little bit fuzzy, it seems to be more about your overall leadership potential for Dubin. 

[schlafgut]

Hi, just asking.. does anyone here receive the email regarding interview for Dubin fellowships ? would we still be hearing from them even if they don't select us as semi-finalists ?

[samiam]

I applied for Dubin, and have been offered admission to HKS, but haven't heard anything about an interview. So I'd take it as a good sign for you that you have!

[schlafgut]

@samiam: same case here, admitted to HKS but not a word from Dubin. (grats to your admission ). Their website stated that an email will come 14th March for finalists. I wonder whether they notify rejected guys also ?