Applying for Funding

[homonculus]

I haven't been able to find a good source on this, but I've read that applying for external funding is important for grad school applications. In Donald Asher's "Graduate Admissions Essays" book, he basically says it doesn't matter if you receive external funding, but they want you to be savvy enough to know to apply for it. This seems especially important for the Canadian programs I'm applying to. Does anyone have an idea of what type of funding we should be looking for? I don't want my application to be weak simply because I don't know where to apply for external funding and I don't have a funding plan outside the university.

Any advice is appreciated!

[FacelessMage]

I would apply to any kind of government council funding that you can. I'm not sure what's available in the US, but in Canada almost everyone applies to Tri-Council (SSHRC/CIHR/NSERC) and OGS (if in Ontario). I would take a gander up to the funding section to see what's available. 

[Oshawott]

If you're American, you generally won't be eligible for external funding from Canadian (federal) agencies. If you're going to apply for Ontario Universities, there's the Ontario Graduate Scholarships and the more competitive Ontario Trillium Scholarships. As far as I know, you have to apply for these scholarships through the schools, so find the relevant application page for each schools you're applying to. As for other provinces, I apologize, but I am not familiar with their funding structure.

As for why its important: It shows you're a serious contender, and in competitive programs like Psychology, even if the program has excellent funding, it still reflects well on your application that you went the extra mile to apply. I've talked to other people in other (non-psych) programs and they didn't even know what these scholarships were until later in their academic careers...which is surprising to say the least since everyone in Psychology that I've talked to knows what these are at the undergraduate level. Taking that into account, applying for scholarships may not make you look better so much as not applying for them may give the impression that you're not prepared.

As a side note, if you don't apply for scholarships, there should be good reason. For me, when I didn't apply for a SSHRC CGS-M at my current institution, it was because the application was centralized and I was only able to send the application to five schools throughout Canada (and I applied to 10), while the school I was applying to was an Ontario school, and therefore eligible for provincial funding. If you are American, your lack of applying for Canadian scholarships probably won't hinder you in that they don't exist, but if you apply for the few that do (e.g., OGS and OTS in Ontario) it will make you look that much better.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Oshawott

[homonculus]

Thank you both for the responses, I'll look into those scholarships. I am American and I only have a couple applications going to Canadian schools.

When you apply for external funding (whether in Canada or the US), is the funding necessarily related to projects you plan to carry out? You mentioned applying through the schools, does that mean you apply separately for each program?

Also, does anyone know what funding opportunities are available in the US? I had seen mention of applying to external funding when I applied last year, but I feel like I'm somewhat out of the loop on this.

[Oshawott]

Thank you both for the responses, I'll look into those scholarships. I am American and I only have a couple applications going to Canadian schools.

When you apply for external funding (whether in Canada or the US), is the funding necessarily related to projects you plan to carry out? You mentioned applying through the schools, does that mean you apply separately for each program?

Also, does anyone know what funding opportunities are available in the US? I had seen mention of applying to external funding when I applied last year, but I feel like I'm somewhat out of the loop on this.

You don't have to do the projects you mention in your application (talking about Canada), but the projects should be realistic and make sense for the program you apply for. Since the application goes through the school, it also benefits you if you mention why that school is the best place for the proposed project.

As for the "applying through the school", its because the schools are given a quota on how many scholarships they can award in a given year from these agencies. Each school has its own application process, so yes, you will have to apply more than once (for OGS and OTS anyway).

As for American scholarships, check out the NSF.

[spunky]

my uni (University of British Columbia, UBC) has a handy-dandy list of awards/fellowships/funding opportunities. although many of them are exclusive to UBC students, there's a sizable bunch that come from independent institutions and anyone can apply. the fact that they went through the trouble of compiling a list of all of these has saved me quite some time. maybe you'll find it useful as well?

https://www.grad.ubc.ca/scholarships-awards-funding/award-opportunities

Edited October 26, 2015 by spunky

[Piagetsky]

As an American student, you can't apply to OGS until you're accepted to a Canadian school.  You have to have a study permit to apply, and you can't get a study permit until you've been accepted at a school.