Can international master's applicants apply for US scholarships/fellowships

[Alexrey]

As it is extremely expensive to study in the US, I was thinking about applying to some external US scholarships or fellowships in order to ease the cost, but was wondering if there are any that allow international students to apply. Thanks guys.

 

EDIT: I should mention that I'm specificity looking for engineering scholarships/fellowships. 

Edited September 22, 2014 by Alexrey

[biisis]

There's Fulbright? But that requires about a year of admissions prep from start to finish. 

[Alexrey]

Thanks; yup, I applied for Fulbright at the beginning of this year but didn't get past the interview stage. I'll definitely be trying again next year though.

Edited October 11, 2014 by Alexrey

[1Q84]

There are a few scholarships open to US/Canadian residents I believe as well as global ones but, from my research in Humanities-related ones, the awarded funds are so small that they wouldn't even cover a fraction of tuition. If you're looking for it to help your living costs, it might be worth it.

 

I'm sure TakeruK will be able to give you a much more in-depth answer, especially as he is in the sciences. 

 

In any case, you should go talk to your OISS or whatever it may be called at your school (or potential school).

[Henry Hudson]

university-specific ones might be your best bet. 

[TakeruK]

First, Masters students are not funded very often in the US. But is a Masters program really what you want? I am just asking for clarification because the US graduate school system is different from other countries (e.g. Canada) where students who want a PhD will enter a PhD program right from undergrad--they don't enroll in a Masters program first. It is a bit of a risk for a non-American to invest a bunch of money into a US Masters program but perhaps you have good reason! Just wanted to say that it's not a common path, which is why so few fellowships have funding for it.

 

There are some fellowships that will fund non-American students at American schools. But almost all of these are for doctoral studies:

 

Depending on your home country, the best source of fellowship is probably your own home government. The main science/engineering fellowships that American students apply to (NSF, NDSEG, etc.) are all American citizens only.

 

You may be able to find specific fellowships granted by federal agencies that are open to non-US citizens. For example, in my field, the NASA Earth and Space Sciences fellowship is open to anyone working on a project that is in line with NASA's Science Mission Directorate's goals (i.e. support for their space missions). If this is related to your field, let me know and I can provide more information. If not, maybe you can find a similar fellowship for your field (check the national agency responsible for your field).

 

But that's it--Fulbright (applied through your home country), home country fellowships, and this single NASA fellowship are/were the only ones I am eligible for while studying in the US.

[Alexrey]

The reason I'm applying for a Master's and not a Ph.D. is because I'm a Mathematics graduate who is changing fields to Aerospace Engineering. I feel that my lack of Aerospace based research will but me at a disadvantage come admission time, since I won't have as solid a plan for Ph.D. study compared to other candidates (I have a pretty good idea of what I'd like to do, but my general understanding is superficial as I have not done course/research work in that area, although my math background does allow me to understand most of what is going on when looking at all the equations). Secondly, how much more valuable is a Ph.D. relative to an M.S. for someone who does not want to work in academia upon graduation (I would like to be in a research based role in industry though), since 5-6 years is a huge amount of time investment. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this, thanks.

[Crucial BBQ]

My personal opinion is that if you want to work in industry, than stopping at a Master's will be your best bet.  

[TakeruK]

I don't have any industry experience or knowledge (my field doesn't really have an "industry") so I can't really help you I have heard that some people say it's still a good idea to get a PhD if you want to do industrial research because a lot of people in the sciences go to industry after a PhD, not just a Masters. However, I know that engineering is different! I would say that if most industrial researchers have Masters then you should be fine with just that.