External scholarships/fellowships for International students in US?

[ROCOCO92Chinoiserie]

Going to graduate school in FAll 2016. Is anyone familiar with external scholarships/fellowships that international students can apply to in the USA? Need help on that!

 

Many thanks!

[TakeruK]

These are very limited! It might help to say what field you are in. I know of only one single fellowship for my field.

There are some national level awards that are open to international students because their purpose is to attract international researchers. For example, the Fulbright program has one for PhD students. You generally apply through your home country's Fulbright office. (Note: Fulbright offers a lot of programs, including one for Americans to work/study outside of the US, so make sure you find the one that is relevant to you).

Other than that, I think most international students I know with fellowships have them from their home country/government. If your home country has something like the United States' NSF, they might offer a fellowship for graduate study outside of your home country. These fellowships may or may not have some conditions when taken out of the country, so keep that in mind too!

[ROCOCO92Chinoiserie]

38 minutes ago, TakeruK said:

These are very limited! It might help to say what field you are in. I know of only one single fellowship for my field.

There are some national level awards that are open to international students because their purpose is to attract international researchers. For example, the Fulbright program has one for PhD students. You generally apply through your home country's Fulbright office. (Note: Fulbright offers a lot of programs, including one for Americans to work/study outside of the US, so make sure you find the one that is relevant to you).

Other than that, I think most international students I know with fellowships have them from their home country/government. If your home country has something like the United States' NSF, they might offer a fellowship for graduate study outside of your home country. These fellowships may or may not have some conditions when taken out of the country, so keep that in mind too!

Thanks for your reply!

My field is art history, 18-19th century french art with a cross-cultural art focus in particular; and my home country is China.

I have heard from other people suggesting me to apply for the Fulbright, but from what you said, do they only offer fellowship/scholarship to PhD candidates?

I have only found scholarships that the Chinese gov are offering to foreign students who want to study in China, not the other way around.

[TakeruK]

Actually, I am not sure if the Fulbright is limited to PhD students only. There used to be multiple Fulbright awards with different criteria. You apply for these through your country's Fulbright office, a google search for Fulbright China returns this page: http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/fulbright_program.html. I think it's a great place to start (clicking on "How do I apply ...") to see if you are eligible! Good luck!

[fuzzylogician]

The options are very limited, unfortunately. I think the Fulbright is one of the only options that are available to international students, but it comes with the 2-year requirement and hence isn't desirable if you think you might want to stay in the States after your PhD. There is one NSF grant that you could be eligible for, but only a few years down the road -- the NSF dissertation improvement grant. Other NSF grants are for citizens only. If your country doesn't have options of its own, it may be very difficult for you to obtain external funding. 

[ROCOCO92Chinoiserie]

On 4/4/2016 at 2:29 PM, TakeruK said:

Actually, I am not sure if the Fulbright is limited to PhD students only. There used to be multiple Fulbright awards with different criteria. You apply for these through your country's Fulbright office, a google search for Fulbright China returns this page: http://beijing.usembassy-china.org.cn/fulbright_program.html. I think it's a great place to start clicking on "How do I apply ...") to see if you are eligible! Good luck!

Thank you for the reply! I have looked everywhere about the fulbright in China, and I even wrote to the office in Beijing with no reply

I wonder if you know as international students, do they have to apply to the fulbright only when they are physically present in their home country?

[ROCOCO92Chinoiserie]

On 4/4/2016 at 4:09 PM, fuzzylogician said:

The options are very limited, unfortunately. I think the Fulbright is one of the only options that are available to international students, but it comes with the 2-year requirement and hence isn't desirable if you think you might want to stay in the States after your PhD. There is one NSF grant that you could be eligible for, but only a few years down the road -- the NSF dissertation improvement grant. Other NSF grants are for citizens only. If your country doesn't have options of its own, it may be very difficult for you to obtain external funding. 

Thanks for the reply!

Sorry to ask, but what is the 2-year requirement that you are referring?

I am assuming the NSF grant is for PhD students since it is a grant related to the dissertation?

[fuzzylogician]

14 minutes ago, ROCOCO92Chinoiserie said:

Sorry to ask, but what is the 2-year requirement that you are referring?

I am assuming the NSF grant is for PhD students since it is a grant related to the dissertation?

1. Basic search skills: if you google "2-year requirement" the entire first page of the search gives you exactly the answer to your question plus lots of extra details. In short, if you accept certain fellowships you are required to leave the US and go back to your home country for two years. This means you won't be able to take another job in the States after you graduate.

2. Yes. (And again, google would have told you that). 

[TakeruK]

2 hours ago, ROCOCO92Chinoiserie said:

Thank you for the reply! I have looked everywhere about the fulbright in China, and I even wrote to the office in Beijing with no reply

I wonder if you know as international students, do they have to apply to the fulbright only when they are physically present in their home country?

I don't know if you need to be physically present, but you do have to apply through your home country's office. I think each country may have different formats for selecting awards. When I applied to the Canadian Fulbright office, there was no requirement to be physically present in Canada at the time of application, however, I had to have been in Canada for the last 5 out of 6 years (i.e. cannot have done an undergrad outside of Canada). Also, Canadians already in the US are not eligible. But the Fulbright Canada program in question was designed as an exchange program, that is, funding for Canadians who have lived in Canada to experience school in the US (and vice-versa). Each country has different Fulbright programs with different goals and different requirements.

Note: The two year requirement is a condition of the J-1 visa status granted by the Fulbright award, but not a requirement of Fulbright itself (generally). When you search this term to find out more, be sure to also read about ways you may or may not be able to get this 2 year requirement waived. And it might help to search for "Academic Training" (AT) which allows you to spend some time after graduation working in the US on extended J-1 status (usually good for a short postdoc or a research position).

[ShogunT]

I only classify the funding into eligible and non-eligible for internationals. As international student you will not be eligible for NSF Fellowship unfortunately. But there are still lots of money out there to grab. Go asking your financial/graduate office. There are lots of small endowed fellowships ($2.5k~$3k a year) for internationals in my public school. I applied and got some that provided a little relief to my study. They are all competitive, and some require the Dept.'s nomination. In additin, if you publish a paper to a conference, choose one with travel grant support for grad students, so you can have part of your travel covered.

Edited April 29, 2016 by ShogunT
previous post not complete

[fernandes]

@ShogunT I wish Rice had those small endowed fellowships to incoming grad students, being awarded one of those would be terrific!

Edited April 29, 2016 by fernandes

[ShogunT]

@fernandes: absolutely! But you should check with Rice for eligibility. Most of the endowed fellowships/scholarships required students to have good academic GPA (not eligible for incoming students as you have not enrolled in any coursework there). I talked with a prof. in Rice ECE last year. He said Rice is a very small but research-focused school, and faculty members have lots of money at their disposal. So admitted students are usually 'well'-funded. I hope you receive one kind of such good funding that allows you to focus on your research without worrying much about the financial stuffs.

Best wishes.

[fernandes]

20 hours ago, ShogunT said:

@fernandes: absolutely! But you should check with Rice for eligibility. Most of the endowed fellowships/scholarships required students to have good academic GPA (not eligible for incoming students as you have not enrolled in any coursework there). I talked with a prof. in Rice ECE last year. He said Rice is a very small but research-focused school, and faculty members have lots of money at their disposal. So admitted students are usually 'well'-funded. I hope you receive one kind of such good funding that allows you to focus on your research without worrying much about the financial stuffs.

Best wishes.

I got some sweet funding from Rice already, thanks for trying to help! I was just wishing they had small fellowships that I could apply to for some possible extra funding. Thanks though