Did NOT Apply For Fellowships...Will This Significantly Hurt My Chances?

[topologicalGod]

Hi Grad Cafe!

 

I am a STEM field PhD applicant looking to get into a top 5 program in my field. I believe that I am a pretty qualified applicant, but recently while filling out my application to Stanford I noticed they required the following: "List non-Stanford Scholarships and fellowships for which you have applied and/or been awarded for graduate study." For various reasons (mainly me not understanding that one could apply for fellowships before acceptance...) I have not applied for any. I wanted to get your opinion on whether or not this significantly affects my chance at admission? Thanks in advance

[TakeruK]

It won't be bad at all. Many graduate students apply for fellowships in their first year. However, for anyone else reading this, it's always better to apply as many times as you can, so it's usually a good idea to apply for things like NSF in your senior year!!

[topologicalGod]

Thanks for the reply!

[Vidoory]

I have a very similar question. Being a Canadian applicant for American universities, I'm really confused about the differences between funding structures. In Canada, I think most people would apply to the major scholarships like CGS-M and OGS. However, what would be the American equivalents of this, and would I have a good chance of getting them as a Canadian? Most of these posts in this section seem to be from Canadian students...

 

Also, all the phD programs I am applying to guarantees a stipend, would this stipend already include any scholarship and fellowships I might be receiving? Sorry if these are really stupid questions, but I'm not too familiar with how funding works.

Thanks!

[TakeruK]

I have a very similar question. Being a Canadian applicant for American universities, I'm really confused about the differences between funding structures. In Canada, I think most people would apply to the major scholarships like CGS-M and OGS. However, what would be the American equivalents of this, and would I have a good chance of getting them as a Canadian? Most of these posts in this section seem to be from Canadian students...

 

Also, all the phD programs I am applying to guarantees a stipend, would this stipend already include any scholarship and fellowships I might be receiving? Sorry if these are really stupid questions, but I'm not too familiar with how funding works.

Thanks!

 

If you are Canadian and you have a degree from a Canadian school, you can apply for the CGS-D when you are at an American school. You would have to turn down the CGS-D once you get it and accept the PGS-D instead though. I am currently on the 3rd year of my PGS-D at a US school. American schools are direct-to-PhD so you would apply to a CGS-D award right away and skip the -M awards. 

 

As Canadians we are not eligible for the equivalent to the NSERC in the US (NSF). Most government fellowships are for the citizens of that country only!

 

Finally to your last question -- yes. My program pays $30k per year no matter what fellowships you have. NSERC PGS-D provides $21,000 CAD and the school pays me the difference based on the exchange rate (I show them my cheque stubs).

[Vidoory]

If you are Canadian and you have a degree from a Canadian school, you can apply for the CGS-D when you are at an American school. You would have to turn down the CGS-D once you get it and accept the PGS-D instead though. I am currently on the 3rd year of my PGS-D at a US school. American schools are direct-to-PhD so you would apply to a CGS-D award right away and skip the -M awards. 

 

As Canadians we are not eligible for the equivalent to the NSERC in the US (NSF). Most government fellowships are for the citizens of that country only!

 

Finally to your last question -- yes. My program pays $30k per year no matter what fellowships you have. NSERC PGS-D provides $21,000 CAD and the school pays me the difference based on the exchange rate (I show them my cheque stubs).

Thank you! I'm in a bit of a difficult situation then because the deadlines for CGS-D has already passed... The CGS-M and OGS deadlines are not until December and January that I didn't think to apply to scholarship until now, but does that mean I probably will not have any external fundings for next year if I attend an American university? Would that seriously hurt my chances of getting into a program? Although the previous poster said it's not bad to apply without fellowships (and I guess I can apply next year), all the grad students around me have some sort of funding coming into their programs, because from my understanding their supervisors would have to pay out otherwise. Would that not mean PI's will much prefer students with external funding?

[TakeruK]

Thank you! I'm in a bit of a difficult situation then because the deadlines for CGS-D has already passed... The CGS-M and OGS deadlines are not until December and January that I didn't think to apply to scholarship until now, but does that mean I probably will not have any external fundings for next year if I attend an American university? Would that seriously hurt my chances of getting into a program? Although the previous poster said it's not bad to apply without fellowships (and I guess I can apply next year), all the grad students around me have some sort of funding coming into their programs, because from my understanding their supervisors would have to pay out otherwise. Would that not mean PI's will much prefer students with external funding?

 

Yeah, it's also very hard to get a PGS-D award while you are still an undergraduate student. This is because you are competing with other more advanced graduate students (if you are in Canada, then you normally apply to the CGS-D/PGS-D in your 2nd year of your MSc or your first 2 years of your PhD -- i.e. after 1-3 years of grad school + research experience). So, I would not worry that you already missed the deadline for this year. Make sure you make the Oct 15 deadline next year though (You can still apply for the CGS-D while you are in a US school!!)

 

What do you mean "all the other students" have external funding? It's not that common--you must have very talented friends! External funding is not very common so you won't be at a disadvantage without it. Even in the US, most American students enter their first year without external funding and then a small number get one in their first year. The US system is also different -- you don't start working with a single prof immediately so most students are funded by "the department" instead of any individual prof in your first year. 

[Vidoory]

Yeah, it's also very hard to get a PGS-D award while you are still an undergraduate student. This is because you are competing with other more advanced graduate students (if you are in Canada, then you normally apply to the CGS-D/PGS-D in your 2nd year of your MSc or your first 2 years of your PhD -- i.e. after 1-3 years of grad school + research experience). So, I would not worry that you already missed the deadline for this year. Make sure you make the Oct 15 deadline next year though (You can still apply for the CGS-D while you are in a US school!!)

 

What do you mean "all the other students" have external funding? It's not that common--you must have very talented friends! External funding is not very common so you won't be at a disadvantage without it. Even in the US, most American students enter their first year without external funding and then a small number get one in their first year. The US system is also different -- you don't start working with a single prof immediately so most students are funded by "the department" instead of any individual prof in your first year. 

Oh OK, thanks a lot for the clarification! A lot of people around me seem to have OGS or another scholarship. There was also a phD student in my lab a few months ago that had her scholarship run out (I think it was only for 3 years). Our supervisor said he would fund her even if she could not get another scholarship/fellowship, but everyone reacted like that was a really bad situation and that your PI shouldn't have to pay that much. 

[TakeruK]

Oh OK, thanks a lot for the clarification! A lot of people around me seem to have OGS or another scholarship. There was also a phD student in my lab a few months ago that had her scholarship run out (I think it was only for 3 years). Our supervisor said he would fund her even if she could not get another scholarship/fellowship, but everyone reacted like that was a really bad situation and that your PI shouldn't have to pay that much. 

 

Unless there is something else going on, that is really weird. Most PIs are grateful when their students have OGS/NSERC, they don't expect it of every student. In addition, the maximum NSERC Doctoral award is 3 years and most PhD programs are longer than that, so it's a really rare case for a Canadian graduate student to spend all of their years under a fellowship (even if you did a Masters first, there is a lifetime limit of 4 years total from NSERC/SSHRC/CIHR). The way to get the most funding possible is to do a 2 year Masters (first year on CGS-M, second year on OGS) and then finish your PhD in 3 years all under a CGS-D or Vanier. This works because NSERC years count against the limit for OGS but OGS years do not count against your 4 year limit for NSERC.