By ProFellow Founder, Dr. Vicki Johnson
Some people assume that fellowships are only for recent graduates or graduate students, but there are fellowship opportunities for any level of your academic and professional career. Here’s how to find fellowships for all career levels in ProFellow’s fellowships database.
- Find fellowships for undergraduates: Fellowships typically do not fund undergraduate tuition (those grants are usually labeled “scholarships”), but you can find a few unique opportunities by using the selection “Undergraduate study” under Fellowship Type in the filter on the left sidebar. More common are fellowships for summer work opportunities, study abroad and undergraduate research. To find a summer fellowship, use the selection “Summer fellowship” under Fellowship Type. You can also search the database using the terms “study abroad” or “undergraduate research” in the keyword search bar to find other undergraduate opportunities.
- Find fellowships for your first year of work after college graduation: If you are interested in pursuing a fellowship that begins the summer or fall after you graduate, you must apply for opportunities while you are a senior. It’s good to look early in your senior year, even the summer before, because deadlines for these professional fellowships are typically between October and February. To find this type of fellowship, use the term “recent graduates” in the keyword search bar.
- Find fellowships for professionals with less than 5 years of work experience: This one is easy. Use the selection “Less than 5 years” under Work Experience in the filter on the left sidebar of the database. These will include opportunities for graduating seniors or those who have a few years of work experience.
- Find fellowships for graduate study, such as a Master’s degree or MBA: Use the selection “Graduate study” under Fellowship Type in the filter on the left sidebar of the database. You can further filter by Fellowship Discipline. Some graduate fellowships provide funding for a full graduate program, while others fund research for a Master’s thesis or add an international component to your studies.
- Find fellowships for professionals with 5-10 years of work experience: Use the selection “5-10 years” under Work Experience in the filter on the left sidebar of the database. These will be for professionals with at least 5 years of work experience. If you don’t quite have 5 years of experience, bookmark the fellowship for future reference.
- Find fellowships for doctoral study or post-doctoral research: Use the selection “Doctoral study” or “Post-doctoral research” under Fellowship Type in the filter on the left sidebar of the database. Doctoral study fellowships typically support dissertation research only, not tuition for coursework, but you can also find fully-funded PhD programs (providing tuition remission and an annual stipend) in my blog series on “How to Fully Fund Your PhD.”
- Fellowships for mid-career or experienced professionals: The term mid-career typically means more than 10 years of work experience, even though most careers are 40+ years long. Therefore, use the selection “10+ years” under Work Experience in the filter on the left sidebar of the database. You can also use the term “mid-career” or “experienced professionals” in the keyword search bar.
For all of these options, you can further filter your returned fellowship list by Citizenship, Discipline and Location (world regions). It is not always easy to put fellowship opportunities into clear buckets, so I encourage you to not filter fellowships too specifically. Keep your search broad and take some time to skim each returned listing – you might find a hidden gem!
Dr. Vicki Johnson is Founder and CEO of ProFellow, the world’s leading online resource for professional and academic fellowships. She is a four-time fellow, top Ph.D. scholar, Fulbright recipient and an award-winning social entrepreneur. She is the Creator and Director of Fully Funded, an award-winning online course and mentorship program for graduate school applicants seeking to find and win full funding.
© Victoria Johnson / ProFellow, LLC 2016, all rights reserved.