harvardocs: a health and med blog for harvard students: It's fellowships time

Many students are in the process of applying or thinking about applying for funding for their summer opportunities. I wanted to share some of my quick thoughts.

"Fellowship": There's nothing special about the word. All it means is a type of grant--financial support provided to an individual for some specific experience. I'll admit that I didn't understand the concept of a fellowship until after college! Don't get intimidated by the word.
Gobs of Money?: Yes, it's true that Harvard offers a ton of financial support to students to do interesting things with their summers. But it doesn't mean getting that support is easy. The difficult thing with fellowships or internships at Harvard and elsewhere is the sheer number and variety of them. Each has their own criteria and restrictions whether it be by class year, time period, industry or field, area of the world, nature of the opportunity, etc. Case in point: Even as someone who served on the selection committee for one of the Radcliffe fellowships last year, I can't recall exactly what the criteria were for that fellowship (although I certainly knew them at the time!).

Where to look?: Finding an appropriate fellowship requires time. Browse the OCS fellowships office website; you'll find the Harvard Supplement for their guide to grants online. Monitor your listservs and keep your ears open. Some fellowship and internship programs, like Weissman and CPIC, are well-publicized, others not as much. And if you have specific questions, drop by the Fellowships office on the 3rd floor of OCS. Paul and Adonica have open walk-ins during the day and can either answer questions on the spot or arrange to meet with you later. So long as you have some sense of what kind of opportunity you're interested in, they should help give you a sense of the fellowships landscape.

When to apply?: It's intersession and time to relax so I don't like talking about deadlines but do keep in mind that many fellowship deadlines are in February (and some at the end of January).

Shapes and sizes: While a fellowship basically means funding, they come in different flavors. For instance, for one fellowship, you may be asked to apply with an internship that you intend to set up on your own in mind (e.g. Weissman). For another, you may be asked to explain your interests in your application, and the organization will then find an internship or opportunity that suits you (e.g. many of Harvard's international centers such as the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies). And the most structured programs offer the opportunity and the funding together (e.g. IOP Director's Internships in which internships are already set up). All fellowships will require that you have a sense of what you'd like to do but it's not true that you necessarily need to know every last detail.

How to further explore?: First things first, think about what you'd ideally like to do. I often recommend that students look at what other students have done to see the range of possibilities out there. So if you know you're interested in going abroad, check out the (newly online) Weissman reports, wonderful write-ups by previous fellows that describe their experiences. If you know the general field you'd like to pursue, reach out to faculty, departments, and academic centers to see what they know. If you know the area of the world you'd like to be in, reach out to Harvard's international centers. When I asked these orgs at the Summer Opportunities fair if they'd be willing to meet with students to discuss their interests, I don't think there was anyone who refused. Folks want to help you! And talk to your fellow classmates whether that means individually or via a student group. In many ways, you guys are your own best resources.