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Now you're probably thinking
that this section is in the wrong place, but
you'd be wrong. After you've decided to apply to
grad school, the first set of applications you
need to worry about are fellowship applications.
Why? I'll get to that in a minute, first a
general statement about funding. One of the biggest myths about
computer science graduate school is that if you
go for a PhD you'll have to go into debt to do
so. While it is true that many schools in
computer science do not offer support to their
masters students, most schools offer support to
their PhD students. You won't be rich; you'll
probably get about $10,000 to $12,500 for 9
months to live on, but it certainly beats having
to pay the tuition and then having to support
yourself through other means. This means that
when the university decides how many students its
going to accept for the next year, much of it
depends on the amount of support they can provide
for their students.
Okay, so now you know how the
funding usually works (there are always
exceptions), and you may be thinking, so why is
it so important for me to apply for a fellowship
before sending in applications? Several reasons:
- When you get an outside
fellowship, many universities will
supplement it with more money. The idea
is that since you aren't costing them as
much money, they can give you extra money
and it will still be costing them less
for you to go there. This makes them
happy because they have to spend less
money (they also get to brag about it),
and you happy because you get more.
- Many fellowship
applications are due before the normal
applications are due. Most applications
are due in late December or early
January. Fellowship deadlines can be much
earlier; the National Science
Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship
application is due early in November, for
example.
- Sometimes if you apply for a fellowship,
the people involved with the fellowship
application will forward your name to
schools. When this happens, the schools
may decide to send you application
materials. Besides giving you a warm,
fuzzy feeling, they may also offer to
waive your application fee. This is quite
nice considering that application fees
usually run from $40 to $65. They may
also extend their deadline for the
application.
- Some schools will not reject students
until the NSF fellowships are awarded.
This means that you may get in schools
based solely on that. I think that this
practice is very sleazy, but you should
be aware of it.
- You can reapply for many fellowships
(including the NSF), and the hard part
about the statement of purpose (more on
that later) is getting it written the
first time. Now you shouldn't think of
the fellowship applications as a trial
run, but if you write the essays for
them, it will give you more time to think
about the final ones that you are going
to send into the schools.
These are reasons that will probably render it
important to you to think about applying for
fellowships early. Perhaps the most important
reason to apply for a fellowship is as follows.
When you go to a school after a time (typically a
year or two) you are told to choose an advisor.
Aside from giving you advice, she/he is
responsible for funding you. Many schools will
not fund you unless you strike up this
relationship early, and if you have an advisor
and think that you want to change your mind, you
may find funding to be a difficult issue. Along
the same lines bit a different level, if you
decide to transfer, an outside fellowship will
often follow you where you go. Which means that
you can change schools more easily since they
won't be as concerned about your funding.
So now you know why to apply for a fellowship;
the next question is how? There are a number of
resources you can use.
- Check with a faculty member in your
department. Many departments will keep
lists of fellowships around (since as I
said before, it's to their advantage to
have their students get fellowships) or
know where to look.
- click here for a list
of resources on line
- Many schools will actually send you a
list of fellowships to apply for when
they send you your application (yet
another reason to ask for an application
early.
- Ask your friends. They may know of
fellowships that you don't.
- Keep your eyes peeled. Sometimes a
fellowship may pop up at the last minute,
and unless you pay attention you may miss
it. Letting your department and friends
know that you are interested in one is an
excellent way to do this; if they know
that you're interested, if something
comes along they may think of you and
pass it on.
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