Applying for Fellowships Basics

Fellowships offer many unique opportunities for you as an undergraduate 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 field of study, 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 a current Columbia student, you have access to numerous resources that will help you as you explore fellowships. As you browse this 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? Do you want to develop your leadership skills? Are you planning to turn your senior thesis into a research project after graduation? Do you want to meet other eager graduates 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.

Because of the hard work and time that necessarily go into crafting the best application, we encourage every student to begin considering and exploring fellowships early. Unique fellowship opportunities exist for students in every academic year. Whether you are a first-year or a graduating senior, we advise that you stop by the fellowships office at any time in your academic career to discuss their immediate and long term goals. Sometimes internal deadlines for specific fellowships fall up to 6 months prior to national deadlines; therefore, students may need to explore scholarships in the academic year preceding actual application. Often work on an application involves numerous tasks leading up to that application: making contact with possible research affiliates, building strong relationships with possible recommenders, and developing your aims as an applicant. The Fellowships office is designed to assist students as they navigate all of these different aspects of fellowship application from initial interest to final submission.