Graduate school fellowships and honors in the sciences
How to get an award: about half of these awards are by application, about half are by nomination. But here’s something you might not know – the best way to get nominated for an award is to ASK FOR A NOMINATION.
Yes, that’s right, it is perfectly fine, perfectly normal, and actually expected of you to ask for nominations for yourself if you think you’ve actually done something award-worthy. Professors aren’t usually aware of the hundreds of awards given out by Wash. U. and different societies each year or ignore the emails when they come through their inbox. So, it’s 100% up to you to ask for a nomination, explain why you’re worthy of a nomination, and to provide your letter-writer with all the necessary materials for your nomination. In some cases, they may ask you to write out a very detailed letter in the third-person detailing the facts of what you have done, which they will use as the basis of their letter. This is normal.
If you’re interested in something super fancy like a Marshall or a Rhodes scholarship, you need to schedule an appointment with the Fellowships Office and speak with them about it many months or even years in advance. If you only think up the idea on the first day of senior year, it’s already way too late. GO IN EARLY! Don’t be shy.
Fellowships for study at US universities
In addition to the fellowships listed below, you should also search for special fellowships given out by each university you apply to. While departments generally consider you for internal department fellowships just through your standard application, many special university-wide programs have separate applications and earlier deadlines (e.g. the Knight-Hennessy program at Stanford).
General national fellowships
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF-GRFP): all fields
- National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NSDEG): all fields
- Department of Energy – Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (CSGF): computational sciences
- Department of Energy – Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE-SSGF): high energy, nuclear, materials at extreme conditions, hydrodynamics
- NASA Fellowships: earth and space sciences
- Hertz Fellowship: applied sciences (construed broadly)
Fellowships encouraging diversity in the sciences
- Ford Foundation Fellowships: underrepresented minorities
- GEM Fellowships: underrepresented minorities
- Soros Fellowships for New Americans: immigrants and children of immigrants
- American Association of University Women fellowships
Other national fellowships and awards
For prospective Wash. U. students:
Fellowships for Study Abroad
Short-term programs
- Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings
- Summer schools, winter schools, and conferences in your specific subfield may also have grants available
Selection of prestigious fellowships for graduate study overseas
Descriptions directly copied or paraphrased from fellowshipsoffice.wustl.edu , which contains a more comprehensive list of relevant fellowships.
- Churchill Scholarship: Master’s degrees in STEM fields at the University of Cambridge. Award: One-year award covers all tuition and fees, plus living, travel, and research allowances. Requires WU nomination.
- Gates Cambridge Scholarship: For study at the University of Cambridge. Award: 1-4 years of graduate study, including tuition and fees, twelve-month allowance, and round-trip airfare.
- Fulbright: Study, research, or teaching of English abroad. Award: One-year award, typically covering round-trip transportation, language or orientation courses, tuition, book and research allowances, and living expenses. Requires WU nominaton.
- Marshall scholarship: For study at any British university. Award: Full tuition, fees, living allowance, and various expenses for 2-3 years. Requires WU nomination.
- Rhodes Scholarship: For study at Oxford University Award: 2-3 years of full tuition, fees, living allowance, and travel expenses. Requires WU nomination.