Applying For Fellowships Basics

Fellowships offer many unique opportunities for alumni of Columbia College. Designed to support an individual’s academic and professional development, fellowships can provide funding for a number of different intellectually enriching opportunities. From independent research to study abroad to graduate study, each fellowship is designed to enable you to produce knowledge and gain a better understanding of yourself, your discipline, and the world around you. In turn, the recipient, through the community created by each fellowship, becomes part of a lasting network of likeminded people.

As alumni of Columbia College, you have access to numerous resources that will help you as you explore fellowships. As you browse the website or use the fellowships search engine, the first things to identify and consider are your motivation and goals in applying for a fellowship. Are you interested in language immersion for a year before you apply to graduate school or accept a job? After graduating have you become interested in continuing the research that you began during your senior thesis? Has your current job sparked a new research focus that you would like to explore in greater depth? Are you interested in attending graduate school abroad? Do you want to meet other individuals dedicated to promoting international and cultural understanding? By identifying your aim, you narrow your search as well as position yourself to complete the most competitive application. At the fellowships office, we provide the resources available for considering these different opportunities and identifying your unique needs.

Our office, located in 105 Carman on the Morningside Campus, is not just open to current undergraduates but to alumni as well. You are welcome to visit us and to use the resources available through this website. We also work via email and phone with many alumni who are living out of state or overseas. If you have decided upon a fellowship for application, please contact our office immediately. Some fellowships require university endorsement even for applicants who have already graduated, and the college has set some internal deadlines for specific fellowships up to 6 months prior to the national deadline. Additionally, because of the hard work and time that necessarily go into completing a competitive application, we encourage all alumni entertaining the idea of submission to get in touch with the Fellowships Office. Often work on an application involves not numerous tasks leading up to that application: making contact with possible research affiliates, renewing relationships with possible recommenders, and developing your aims as an applicant. The Fellowships office is dedicated to assisting alumni as they navigate all of these different aspects of fellowship application from initial interest to final submission.