School is expensive, but luckily at each stage of your education there are many sources of funding out there for you to take advantage of. Scholarships and fellowships are key among these - unlike loans, they don’t need to be paid back, and they often help you in non-financial ways, such as by expanding your network and looking really good on your resume! While the terms “scholarship” and “fellowship” are often used interchangeably, “scholarships” are usually financial awards without many strings attached, while “fellowships” tend to be funding for a specific commitment, such as an internship or a research project. Scholarships are most common as sources of funding for undergraduate programs, while fellowships tend to become more available after you receive your Bachelor’s degree and are the most common form of funding for graduate school.
Often the most difficult part of getting scholarships and fellowships is finding the right ones for you - eligibility for different scholarships/fellowships can be quite narrow, and it is hard to know where to even look for these opportunities. If you are just getting started with your scholarship or fellowship search, please check out our guide to identifying the right scholarships/fellowships for you.
Once you have found a scholarship/fellowship (or a few!) that you want to apply to, how do you maximize your chances of being selected? While each opportunity will have its own requirements and different application materials that you need to submit, there are some general guidelines that will be helpful for all applications. Here’s our guide to applying for scholarships and fellowships.
By Markus Min
Often, the hardest part about getting a scholarship or fellowship (hereafter referred to simply as scholarships) is finding that scholarship in the first place. There are an enormous amount of scholarships out there, but finding ones that you are eligible for can be difficult. Scholarships vary greatly in their eligibility criteria - while some are open to anyone, most scholarships have eligibility based on criteria such as university, geographic location, field of study, and a bunch of other things. Below are some general tips for finding scholarships; while these are geared towards current or incoming undergraduates, they are also very applicable to those applying to colleges as well as for those in or considering graduate school.
Tip #1: Start early!
The earlier you get started looking for scholarships, the better. It’s a bad feeling when you find the perfect scholarship, only to realize that the deadline to apply for it has passed or that you are no longer eligible for it! I would highly recommend setting aside some time early in your college career to look for scholarships (via the internet, your on-campus scholarship office, or other resources) and note the application deadlines and eligibility criteria. Enter them in your calendar, set reminders for yourself, create a list – do whatever works for you to make sure that you know when deadlines are approaching and when you need to start on your application.
Tip #2: Visit the financial aid or scholarship office (or check out their website)
Every major university has a financial aid office, and most also have a scholarship office (this may or may not be separate from the financial aid office). These are often your best resources for finding scholarship opportunities, as both by navigating the website and by speaking with staff, you will be able to identify scholarships that you are eligible for.
Tip #3: Look for scholarships within your department
Your department at your university will usually also have a number of scholarships available, and often these will also be tied to work or research experiences (an added bonus!). Google the department at your university + “scholarships”, and you should be able to find some opportunities.
Tip #4: Look for opportunities outside of your university
Outside of universities, scholarships are also offered by private entities, corporations, government agencies, NGOs, just to name a few other sources. While your university’s financial aid/scholarship office may help identify some of these opportunities, it will take you doing your own research to find most of these scholarships. There will often be websites that have already aggregated many of these scholarships for you; one example is the website environmentalscience.org, which has put together this page.
Finding scholarships can be a long and at times frustrating process, but don’t give up! The benefits of scholarships, both in terms of the financial reward and the doors they can open for you career-wise, are tremendous.
Scholarships and fellowships are unquestionably a lot of work – scholarship applications usually require you to write essays, provide letters of recommendation, and sell yourself based on your past experience. However, applying for scholarships can be incredibly rewarding. Here are some tips to get you started working on scholarship applications.
1. Get started early!
The earlier you get started on finding scholarships and fellowships, the better. There’s little worse than finding the perfect scholarship only to realize that the deadline to apply for it has passed! I would highly recommend setting aside some time early in your college career to look for scholarships and fellowships (via the internet, your on-campus scholarship office, or other resources) and note the application deadlines. Enter them in your calendar, set reminders for yourself (even a few years out!), create an organized list – do whatever works for you to make sure that you know when deadlines are approaching and when you need to start on your application.
Once you have identified scholarships or fellowships that interest you, start early on the application! In a scholarship or fellowship application, the most time-sensitive part of the application is requesting letters of recommendations. You should aim to request your letters at least a month before they are due. The sooner you ask your recommenders, the more likely they are to write you a letter and the more time they will be able to put into writing you a good letter. Starting early on your application itself gives you extra time to revise your essays and get more people to review and give feedback on your writing to help you ensure that you have the best application that you can.
2. Build relationships with professors or other potential recommenders
The importance of letters of recommendation in applications for scholarships, internships, or graduate school cannot be overstated. Your recommenders are instrumental in providing additional perspectives on you as a candidate and need to convince the committee reviewing your application of your academic and professional potential, personal qualities and strength of character, and ultimately, why you deserve this particular opportunity over other qualified applicants.
With that being said, it is crucial to build rapport with professors or other people that can write you letters of recommendation to support your application. While later in your college career your recommenders will often be people that you have worked with in some capacity (e.g. research, volunteer work, jobs), in your first couple of years it is extremely helpful to try and build relationships with your professors. Although professors can seem intimidating, most professors are very happy to speak with students about their class material or research, how they got to their current position, or provide general advice and guidance to students. Going to office hours, or better, setting up an appointment with your professor to chat helps you build a relationship and helps them get to know you, helping them to write you a personalized letter. In addition, getting letters from professors in classes where the material is relevant to your interests and where you did well in the class are usually stronger letters. Having a letter of recommendation from a professor where they can say more about you besides “____ is a good student that did well in my class” can help turn a decent application into a strong one.
(Should this be included here? In another article? Not at all? This is obviously very rough – want to know what you think first)
Once you have identified someone who can write you a letter of recommendation, writing them an email to request a letter is the next step. Crafting a well-thought-out email is an important part of getting someone to write you a good letter of recommendation. A good email requesting a letter of recommendation should include: 1) An introductory paragraph giving specific mention of how you know the recommender/what you have discussed that was of interest to you/mentioning any anecdotes, 2) Explaining what the scholarship or fellowship is, why you are interested, and why you believe you are a good fit, and 3) a concluding paragraph thanking the professor and telling them to let you know if they have any questions or need any more information.
3. Get involved, both on- and off-campus
For merit-based scholarships, having experience in jobs or internships, volunteering, clubs, research, or being involved in other ways is a great way to strengthen your application and show your drive. Pursue opportunities that you’re passionate about, take initiative, and have fun with them! Don’t be afraid if you feel like your experience doesn’t exactly fit the exact experience that a scholarship might seem to be looking for – as an undergraduate, you aren’t expected to have everything figured out yet, and it’s okay to be exploring different options! What’s important is getting involved and letting your passion and initiative show through in your application.
4. Take advantage of the resources available to you
When looking for scholarships or fellowships or working on your applications for these opportunities, be sure to take advantage of the different people and resources that can help you through the process! You’ll find a surprising number of resources that are available at your university (or high school!) or online to help you identify scholarships that fit your interests and you are eligible for. Most universities have a scholarship office, that not only can help you find scholarships but often provide writing help with your essays. Additionally, these scholarship offices also usually have websites that are a good place to start in your scholarship search. Another good resource to use are professors in your field that may know about opportunities. They are also often willing to proofread your applications and can provide great feedback!
If you don’t receive a scholarship or fellowship, don’t be demoralized! Even though it’s disappointing to not win a scholarship, working on an application is great practice for later scholarship, internship/job, or school applications.
By Markus Min
Note: Elements of this were drawn from a 2021 talk that Dr. Chelsea Wood gave during a workshop for applying for the NSF GRFP.
In the environmental field, letters of recommendation are ubiquitous. They are required for internship or job applications, scholarships or fellowships, or graduate school applications, to name a few. As such, knowing how, who, and when to ask letters for recommendation is key to success.
What is a letter of recommendation?
A letter of recommendation is a document that is submitted on your behalf by someone who you know, traditionally in a professional or academic sense, that attests to why you should be selected for a given opportunity. Letters of recommendation are tailored to the opportunity for which you are applying, but typically cover aspects such as your qualifications, intellect, ability, professionalism, and personality. These are used by those evaluating your application to corroborate what you wrote in your application, as well as offer complementary details about you that may not be conveyed in your application materials.
Who should I ask for a letter of recommendation?
Potential letter of recommendation writers are typically people that you have interacted with in an academic or professional setting. This means that work supervisors or professors in classes are suitable letter writers, whereas family members, peers, or sports coaches are typically not. When deciding who to ask for a letter of recommendation, you want to ask people that know you the best in these settings, and can speak to your ability and qualifications.
While later in your career you will likely have options for who to ask for letters of recommendation, early in your career, such as during your first couple of years of undergrad, it is extremely beneficial to go out of your way to develop relationships with potential letter writers, such as class professors. This means that finding the time to get to know professors outside of class time, such as during their office hours, can pay off tremendously in the long run. A professor that can speak to the passion you have for your field, your potential as a student, and your career aspirations will write you a much stronger letter (and is more likely to agree to write you a letter in the first place) than a professor who can only say “___ is a good student, receiving an “A” in my class.”
If you are further along in your career and have the luxury of having multiple options of people to ask for letters of recommendation, awesome! That’s a good problem to have. General criteria for who to ask for a letter of recommendation from a suite of potential letter writers include:
Who knows me the best?
Who have I worked with most recently?
How can I select a set of letter writers that know me from different settings and thus can write me complementary letters? All of your letters of recommendation saying the same things about you (e.g., “___ is a good student” and nothing else) is not as powerful as having three letters that all speak to different aspects of your capabilities.
How do I ask for a letter of recommendation?
When asking for a letter of recommendation, particularly if the person you are asking doesn’t know you especially well, it is critical to write a solid email requesting a letter of recommendation. Elements of this initial email include:
An introductory section that might include information such as how you’ve appreciated or enjoyed their class or working with them or providing background on your passions. This section will vary considerably depending on who you are asking and what the opportunity is for, but is good to include so that you don’t start off with asking them to do something for you. This is most important if your potential letter writer isn’t someone you know particularly well, but is still a nice thing to include in all letter of recommendation request emails.
A description of the opportunity
Why you are applying for this opportunity
What the submission deadline is
An offer to provide more detail on the opportunity or why you’re interested
A request for a letter of recommendation, that gives the letter writer an option to decline your request. The inclusion of an “out” for a potential letter writer is important so that if they don’t feel that they can write you a good letter of recommendation, they can decline your request.
Here’s an example of an email I wrote to a potential letter writer, who I had taken a couple of classes with and interacted with during office hours, about the NOAA Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship:
Dear ___,
Thank you for leading such insightful and informative classes over the past year, as well as for being so friendly and helpful. Your Introduction to Environmental Science class confirmed for me that environmental science was the right major for me, and your class on water use in California remains my favorite class I’ve taken so far for its pertinence and engaging material.
As I have mentioned before, I am particularly intrigued by the field of marine conservation, as I believe that protecting our oceans and conserving its natural resources will be vital for the future of our planet, as well as for the well-being of all the people around the world who rely on our oceans for sustenance and for a livelihood. As our ocean faces more issues now than ever before, I believe that tackling issues such as ocean acidification and overfishing will be crucial in ensuring that our oceans can continue to support our way of life.
Due to my interest in this field and the pressing issues facing us today, I have felt drawn to apply to the Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship, a joint scholarship and internship program offered by NOAA. This program for students studying in NOAA mission fields includes a two-year scholarship as well as a 10-week summer internship at a NOAA facility, where scholars receive practical experience working in NOAA-related research, policy, management, and other fields. I believe that this program would be tremendous in helping me achieve my goals of working in the fields of environmental policy and marine conservation.
If you think that this sounds like a promising opportunity for me, I would be honored if you could write me a letter of recommendation, due January 23rd. If you have questions or concerns about the program or about whether I’m a good fit, I would be happy to meet with you to discuss the program and my merits. More information about the program can be found here: http://www.noaa.gov/office-education/hollings-scholarship
Regardless of whether you have the bandwidth to write me a recommendation letter, I look forward to your response and input. Thank you very much for your time!
Best regards,
Markus Min
See if you can identify all six elements that I mentioned above!
Once your letter writer has agreed to write you a letter of recommendation, you should send them a follow-up email that includes information on you that will help them write a better letter. Here are examples of things to include:
A resume/CV
A transcript
Your application materials (e.g., essays)
Optional, but can be very beneficial: A summary of points that you think the letter writer should address. Many letter writers will greatly appreciate this information as it will help them get started on your letter! For example, if your letter writer was your supervisor during an internship, you may want to remind them of the things you accomplished during your internship.
As far as the question of when to ask for a letter of recommendation goes, you’ll want to ask as early as possible. You should give letter writers at least a month (2-3 months is ideal!) before the submission deadline to give them time to write you as strong a letter as possible. If you’re asking letter writers on short notice, you’re more likely to (a) have your request declined, (b) have a weaker letter, or (c) have your letter writer not be able to submit by the deadline.
Once your letter writer has agreed to write you a letter of recommendation and you have sent them your initial follow-up email, make sure to send reminders! For example, if you asked two months ahead of time, it would make sense to send reminders one month from the deadline, two weeks from the deadline, one week from the deadline, and two days from the deadline. While this may seem annoying, don’t worry! Letter writers are typically very busy people and appreciate the reminders to complete your letter.