GEM Fellowship 2018

[Lackawanna]

Just talked to them. University Fellows are chosen by the schools and have very little relation to the GEM department themselves in terms of communication. The full GEM fellowship they said they are almost done filling the spots with employers but are not completely done yet, so the process should end around April.

[aldburg]

1 hour ago, Lackawanna said:

Just talked to them. University Fellows are chosen by the schools and have very little relation to the GEM department themselves in terms of communication. The full GEM fellowship they said they are almost done filling the spots with employers but are not completely done yet, so the process should end around April.

Should we be choosing the school that we are planning on attending through the GEM portal or wait until a University reaches out for a fellowship?

[collegesista]

On 3/1/2018 at 10:45 PM, strawberrykat said:

I assume that by this time, most employers have made their selections. However, this week my status changed from released to matched again and I was a little surprised because it feels very late in the game for this. Does anyone know if there are still GEM employers looking for fellows?? 

My status was changed the same way, but I emailed them that I accepted an offer with a non-GEM employer, so idk how that happened

[ikindasuxs]

I know of two companies (Los Alamos National Laboratory and MIT Lincoln Labs) that have not picked all of their fellows as of yet. I would recommend reaching out to the companies (look up office of diversity) to see if it could be a match.

[MagicMan]

Just contacted GEM about any specific deadlines of University decisions to be considered for the Associate or University Fellow. They said, "Once employer selection are complete.  We will send notice to all applicants with next steps in the application process." So just hang on tight. I have until April 15th to make my decision between my Universities so I guess I'll wait for GEM until I can't anymore. 

I also got put on Held last week randomly. So other people are correct in that some employers are still looking.

[kaseyr10]

Can anyone verify the source that the stipend comes from for the Associate Fellow? Is it from the GEM University or from GEM itself?

[aldburg]

5 hours ago, MagicMan said:

Just contacted GEM about any specific deadlines of University decisions to be considered for the Associate or University Fellow. They said, "Once employer selection are complete.  We will send notice to all applicants with next steps in the application process." So just hang on tight. I have until April 15th to make my decision between my Universities so I guess I'll wait for GEM until I can't anymore. 

I also got put on Held last week randomly. So other people are correct in that some employers are still looking.

1

That's all I hear, it would be nice if the employers would choose their students already.  I would really like to know which or if any university is going to offer me a fellowship.  

[polyxcrunner]

@kaseyr10 I have been in contact with a GEM representative from one of the schools I applied for, and they mentioned that they only have funding for full fellows (no funding for Associate or University) this upcoming year. Meaning that the funding comes from the GEM university although GEM is the one who selects you as a "fellow".

[strawberrykat]

One of my schools told me that I would be a GEM Associate fellow if I attend. They were already giving me funding, but this would allow me to participate in GEM programming and events. Still hoping to get some closure on the full fellowship thing though. 

[ikindasuxs]

Does anyone know if you are allowed to have an internship/job with a different company during the fall and spring if are employed by a GEM employer?

[kaseyr10]

@polyxcrunner thanks for that info! To clarify it further would it be more of an internal fellowship from the University/Graduate school itself or from your actual department?

[EngineerAlvara]

On 2/23/2018 at 8:24 PM, aldburg said:

Did that university originally offer you full funding?

 
On the GEM website that there is a column for offers next to the "Applicant Self Report Status" column. If the university is willing to fund us, will that offer only show up there?

Sorry for the late reply. The university offered me full funding, yes, but that funding was in the form of TA/RA offers. Just FYI. Contact the University first then see if they are going to fund you. Then if you find one, get back to GEM and they might list you.

[aldburg]

I have been accepted to my number one school of choice for a MS but it is currently not funded but I am waiting to see if I have a GEM fellowship. I have also been accepted to another school for a fully funded Ph.D. in which I need to make a decision by April 15, 2018. I am currently put in a difficult position with the uncertainty of knowing whether or not I have any of the GEM fellowships. Any recommendations as to what I should do?

[rverna]

@aldburg Hello, I'm a long time reader and first time poster. I'm pretty much in the same position as you when it comes to not being funded for an MS. I just spoke to a GEM rep and they suggest contacting the department in which you're going to do your MS and informed that you weren't sponsored by an employer and ask to see if they would be willing to sponsor you as a university associate or fellow. The gentleman also recommended reaching out to the GEM rep at your school to also inquire about funding. I hope that helps.

 

 

[MagicMan]

@aldburg I'm playing the waiting game too. April 15th is the deadline and want to know for sure on GEM opportunities whether University or Associate Fellowship. GEM seems unresponsive when I ask they have just said they'll update us on what to do after companies have made their decisions if we weren't offered a Full Fellowship. 

I am in no way the person to trust 100% but I say while you wait to hear back from GEM you try to get in contact with the GEM representative at the school for your MS and see if they know anything of possibilities of funding. Some people have mentioned this has been successful for them and that some schools are not able to because their budget has been planned, only provide funding for Full Fellows, etc. See if they have any input. 

Also, I guess the more important decision would be deciding which track you would want to take. Those are two very different paths and that life decision is up to you. Depends on how much financial aid is important to you. If you would hands down choose the MS program if you received full tuition then I would say go with that one. Regardless, contact who you can before April 14th and if nothing of substance comes back then make the decision. I'm not sure how difficult/frowned upon it is to back out of accepting a PhD offer, obviously try not to. 

A lot of people have April 15th deadline so hopefully GEM takes this into account and gives us an actual update before then.

[aldburg]

@MagicMan @rverna
At least I am not the only one struggling with this issue. I reached out to as many people as I could to the University that I am waiting for a fellowship for, hopefully, I can get somewhere!

[laveritecestla]

1 hour ago, MagicMan said:

@aldburg I'm playing the waiting game too. April 15th is the deadline and want to know for sure on GEM opportunities whether University or Associate Fellowship. GEM seems unresponsive when I ask they have just said they'll update us on what to do after companies have made their decisions if we weren't offered a Full Fellowship. 

I am in no way the person to trust 100% but I say while you wait to hear back from GEM you try to get in contact with the GEM representative at the school for your MS and see if they know anything of possibilities of funding. Some people have mentioned this has been successful for them and that some schools are not able to because their budget has been planned, only provide funding for Full Fellows, etc. See if they have any input. 

Also, I guess the more important decision would be deciding which track you would want to take. Those are two very different paths and that life decision is up to you. Depends on how much financial aid is important to you. If you would hands down choose the MS program if you received full tuition then I would say go with that one. Regardless, contact who you can before April 14th and if nothing of substance comes back then make the decision. I'm not sure how difficult/frowned upon it is to back out of accepting a PhD offer, obviously try not to. 

A lot of people have April 15th deadline so hopefully GEM takes this into account and gives us an actual update before then.

Seconding reaching out to your university. I did on a whim this morning and had confirmation that I'd be an Associate Fellow within the hour. 

[MagicMan]

@laveritecestla Just curious, was it someone from the department or just the GEM Representative? If it wasn't the GEM Rep, was it a faculty member or someone involved with admissions or what? I've only been in contact with a GEM Rep at the Uni

[laveritecestla]

2 hours ago, MagicMan said:

@laveritecestla Just curious, was it someone from the department or just the GEM Representative? If it wasn't the GEM Rep, was it a faculty member or someone involved with admissions or what? I've only been in contact with a GEM Rep at the Uni

I looked up the admin associated with graduate fellowships at MIT and emailed him. He reached out to my department to see if they would agree to the GEM terms, and they said yes, so he offered me the contract through the GEM system. Not totally sure if he's the GEM rep listed on the GEM website, but it is definitely something that falls under his responsibilities. 

[aldburg]

Nothing useful from GEM, still stating that they will contact us once employer selections are completed.  

[applestrudel]

Hi! I was unsure if the color of the school in the "planning to attend" section of the GEM portal means anything. The school I put hasn't confirmed funding on the GEM webpage yet, and the color of the school shows up in red. Does anyone else's school they put show up in a different color like green or something? 

[anon2332]

@applestrudel The color of my school is also still in red text. Also, in the Graduate Schools section, there is a "Willing to Admit as GEM Fellow" next to their name as well. They have already confirmed by email that they will sponsor me. However, GEM still says that they are waiting for all employers to make decisions and will inform applicants of next steps once their process has completed.

[aldburg]

@applestrudel The color of my school is also in red. 

[applestrudel]

Thanks guys

[anon2332]

Hi everyone, so after 4 months of being Matched to the same employer, my Employer Member Status was updated to Released today. I only interviewed with one company in February, and I assumed that they went with another applicant when I never got a response to my follow-up email. 

So, I'm assuming that the process is wrapping up. Fortunately, the school has verified that they'll sponsor me as an Associate if I'm not selected by an employer. Hoping to hear from GEM soon. If anyone gets notifications directly from GEM, then please keep us updated. Good luck to all.