When to apply for external funding?

[med latte]

I've read on this forum that a PhD applicant who has already been awarded external funding would be viewed quite favorably, especially at a state school.  I'm a bit confused about the timing of the application to get accepted into a PhD program and the timing of the application for external funding.  The external funding applications don't require confirmation of acceptance to be eligible?  They are all awarded to hopeful PhD students pending acceptance?

 

I appreciate any insight / clarification on the timeline.

 

thanks!

 

 

[TakeruK]

I applied for external funding at the same time as my grad school application (for both my MSc and PhD programs). In my case, most grad school decisions are made in Feb-Apr, while most fellowship decisions aren't made until early April! However, some programs have a "first cut" that is made sometime in the early Winter, so you can mention that when applying to schools. The materials sent to the fellowship and grad schools are pretty similar, so I think grad school admission committees can have a good guess of whether or not you're likely to get funded.

 

To answer your other question, the majority of the awards I've looked at in Canada and the US do not require you to be a current student to apply for it, but it does require you to be a student when you take up the award. So, for example, many awards have a range of possible start dates (e.g. May 2014 to December 2014), and in order to actually receive the award, you need to start a PhD program within that date range. If you end up not taking the award because you didn't get into a program, then that award might go to someone else, or just disappear, depending on how each award works.

Edited November 7, 2013 by TakeruK