NYU Deferral & Funding Questionz

[Phoebecaulfield]

I deferred at NYU for their Master's program in English and American Lit. I'm slated to begin there in August.

 

I deferred because (as you may know) the program offers z-e-r-o funding; however, they have a nice program that offers to double any external aid you may receive. So, I thought that I'd use this year to try to get myself some external funding so that I could, at the very least, minimize the amount of loans I will be taking out.

 

A couple of questions:

 

1. Does anyone know of good scholarships, grants, external fellowships, or even good resources to find these opportunities? I am going to be in an English Master's program... I've noticed (can't say I'm surprised) that most funding out there is for more in-demand fields of study, like nursing and accounting and rocket science. I will be thrilled for any suggestions!

 

2. I've been reading a lot, in an attempt to keep my brain from congealing into a mass of Nutella and cartoons in the year I'm out of school, but what else will keep me on point for grad school next year? I'm worried that I'm going to lose an edge academically. In fact, I'm pretty sure that my writing ability is already slipping... Help!!

 

Thanks to anyone for their advice. Also, if there's anyone reading this who is familiar with the program... I would love any information about it or advice that is unrelated to my questions as well!

 

Cheers!

[id quid]

Can't really answer the first question, but for your second:

 

Find a list that posts calls for papers (CFP). Then, participate! Submit a prospectus. Write the paper whether you're accepted or not. And if you're accepted? Excellent! You know you're on track.

 

Is there any way you could audit some classes in the interim? Or even take one? Keeping in the academic mindset is hard once you're out of school, and it's helpful to have the classroom structure (particularly if you can get in on a graduate course) to keep you going.

 

Good luck!

[Phoebecaulfield]

Thanks for the advice! I will look into that, definitely. I was thinking about trying to get a paper published, but wasn't sure where to begin. I think I'll see if I can audit a class next semester, too-- wouldn't have thought of that myself.

[operationchampagne]

Christi, you might want to check these sites out: 

 

http://www.fatomei.com/

 

http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/grpinst.htm

 

The UCLA database in particular is pretty comprehensive, and it brings up a lot of smaller, less well known scholarships that I think fewer people will apply for. I think your biggest difficulty will be finding scholarships to fund MAs, as a lot of the fellowships/scholarships that I've applied for in the past are aimed towards (potential) doctoral students. Of course, that just may be a function of my own bias (I'm only looking for doctoral funding). Good luck!