General FAQs
General
Where can I get a copy of the application?
I already registered, but I want to go back and download the application again. Do I have to do the Fellowships Registration all over again?
Who can I talk to about my application?
Where do I submit my application?
How strict is the deadline?
When will I hear back about my status? Will I be notified either way?
What are my chances of winning?
Is financial need a consideration?
My GPA isn’t very high, should I not even bother?
This seems like a lot of work. Is it worth it?
Eligibility
I am off-cycle, am I still eligible?
Are alumni eligible?
I have advanced standing, can I apply?
I am planning to travel/work together with a friend. Can we apply as a group?
Application components
Should I submit a resume or a CV?
Do I have to order an official transcript? Or can I turn in an unofficial transcript?
What percentage of my proposal should talk about my personal background, and how much should reference my future plans?
Can I see examples of previous successful proposals?
I don’t know my professors very well. Can I ask a TF or a high school teacher to write a letter of recommendation for me?
General
Where can I get a copy of the application?
Most applications are available in the summer before the academic year begins. All applications are posted online and can be downloaded after you fill out the Fellowships Registration page. You will only need to register once each calendar year.
I already registered, but I want to go back and download the application again. Do I have to do the Fellowships Registration all over again?
No. Once you have registered, your information will be remembered by the server. You can go to this site: https://harvard.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_43pfGBXidc5v7nK and skip straight to the application download page.
Who can I talk to about my application?
For procedural/general questions, please contact the Fellowships Office at fellowships@fas. If you would like answers to more detailed questions, or feedback on your application materials, your House Fellowships Advisor(s) are an excellent resource. Each House has a trained staff of HFAs who can help you think through the complexities of your fellowship application. Particularly if you are applying for an academic scholarship/fellowship, you should also utilize your professors, TAs, and the HC Writing Center for feedback on your application essays/proposals.
If you have questions about OCS Summer Funding for underclassmen, you should contactocs_summerfunding@fas.harvard.edu. You should not contact OCS about postgraduate and national fellowships administered through this office.
In general, the Funding Sources Database lists the contact information for each office administering a funding competition at Harvard College.
Where do I submit my application?
Unless otherwise specified on the application instructions, all applications should be submitted through your Crimson Careers account. If you do not have access to the “Fellowship Applications” tab on Crimson Careers, you may not have completed the Fellowships Registration, which is what triggers your access to that section.
How strict is the deadline?
All Fellowships Office deadlines fall at 12noon, EST on the specified day. The Fellowships Office adheres strictly to deadlines, and late applications are not accepted. You must have at least one letter of recommendation submitted at the time of the deadline in order to be allowed to apply. If you anticipate that one or more of your recommendations may be late, you must contact the Fellowships Office well in advance of the deadline. If you anticipate that any of your own materials will be late, you must submit an appeal to the Fellowships Office ahead of the deadline, together with a written explanation from your Resident Dean.
When will I hear back about my status? Will I be notified either way?
You can find information regarding the application timeline on the Browse Fellowships section of our website. This will give you a general idea of when you can expect to hear back about your candidacy. Wherever possible, we will notify you of more specific dates. In the case of interviews, we will notify you of your invitation to interview within one week of the interview date.
You will always be notified of the final decision on your candidacy. If the expected time-frame for notification has passed and you have not yet been notified, feel free to contact the office for an update.
What are my chances of winning?
Overall, approximately 10% of candidates for fellowships are successful, although each competition varies in its competitiveness. You can expect that prestigious national fellowships will be extremely competitive, both at the Harvard and national level. Harvard-specific fellowships, however, are often slightly less competitive. For statistics regarding a particular competition, contact the Fellowships Office.
Is financial need a consideration?
While most prestigious national scholarships do not take financial need into consideration, there are a few (e.g. Beinecke, Jack Kent Cooke) which are interested in funding students on significant financial aid. However, for all Harvard fellowships administered through this office, financial need is not a consideration.
My GPA isn’t very high, should I not even bother?
As mentioned above, fellowships are very competitive, and after learning about what the committee is looking for, you should be honest with yourself about your chances. That said, GPA is not the main criterion in any fellowship competition, but instead is one of many elements that make up your candidacy. Think carefully about what are your best attributes, and be sure to highlight those in your application.
There are also a number of fellowships for which GPA is not among the main criterion at all. Traveling and public service fellowships are often looking for candidates who demonstrate certain personal attributes which would prepare them for that kind of experience. For more specific advice regarding your personal competitiveness for these and other fellowships, contact the Fellowships Office or your House Fellowships Advisor(s).
This seems like a lot of work. Is it worth it?
Successful fellowship applications do require a lot of time and effort. Especially as you enter your senior year, you should carefully assess all of your commitments to be sure that you will have the time and energy necessary to submit applications that you can be proud of. That said, we often hear from unsuccessful candidates that they are glad they went through the process, even though they didn’t get the outcome they were hoping for. These candidates often report that participating in fellowship competitions helped them to define their goals, and gain a deeper understanding of what they would like to pursue after graduation.
Eligibility
I am off-cycle, am I still eligible?
For prestigious national competitions, you should always check directly with the sponsoring foundation about their eligibility requirements. Sometimes your class year is defined by how many semesters you have completed, and sometimes it is defined by how many you have left before graduation. The Fellowships Office does not have a say in defining these eligibility requirements, and it is your responsibility to be sure that you do not miss out on an opportunity to apply for a national scholarship/fellowship.
For Harvard-only competitions, for any fellowship in which you would be expected to participate in a formal postgraduate academic program, you must have graduated in time to begin your course of studies with the rest of your class. For example: If you are applying for the Paul Williams Scholarship (which supports a Master’s degree at Cambridge University), even though you are a first semester senior at the time of the spring deadline, you are not eligible to apply since you would not be ready to start your postgraduate studies the following fall. Instead, you would need to apply for the Paul Williams in the spring following your December graduation.
For most Harvard fellowships which are not associated with a formal academic program, you have a choice of when to apply, but you may only apply once. For example: If you are applying to the Spring Postgraduate Traveling Fellowships (which are due in the spring), you may either apply in the spring of your senior year (your first semester as a senior), or in the spring following your December graduation. If you apply as a first-semester senior, your application will be considered with the spring graduating class’, and you will be required to start your fellowship immediately upon graduation. If you apply in the spring following your graduation, your application will be considered with the following graduating class’, and you will be required to wait until July to begin your fellowship.
If you have any questions regarding your candidacy, be sure to contact the Fellowships Office.
Are alumni eligible?
Almost all fellowships run through the Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships are only open to currently registered Harvard College undergraduates. The only competitions for which recent Harvard College alumni are eligible are the Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Herchel Smith, and Carnegie Endowment Junior Fellowships.
I have advanced standing, can I apply?
See above response about off-cycle eligibility.
I am planning to travel/work together with a friend. Can we apply as a group?
Because the committee is looking to gauge your personal fit for a particular fellowship, group applications are not accepted. Each member of your group may apply for funding separately, but you should not expect that if one is funded, that the other(s) will also.
Application components
Should I submit a resume or a CV?
Typically, you will only have one or two pages with which to convey all the resume information you’d like to the committee, so use the space wisely. You should not feel constrained however, by the typical rules of resume/CV writing as defined by the professional or academic spheres. The document you submit should be a clear, concise, eye-catching summation of your most relevant activities and achievements. If you are applying for a traveling fellowship, you may find that it is more relevant to list personal activities/hobbies/interests than scholastic awards. Similarly, if you are applying for an academic fellowship, it may be more relevant to list publications, coursework, research experience, and academic honors.
Do I have to order an official transcript? Or can I turn in an unofficial transcript?
For national fellowship competitions, you will need to order an official transcript. You should expect that it may take the Registrar’s Office up to two weeks to issue a transcript, so plan ahead. For Harvard fellowships, and most competitions for Harvard nomination, you will only need to turn in your unofficial transcript, which can be downloaded from yourmy.harvard.edu portal. You should never turn in a Student Record (SREC).
Remember, when you download your unofficial transcript, even if it doesn’t appear to be, the file is encrypted. Before you can upload it to your Crimson Careers account, you will need to print the document and rescan it, so that it can be saved without the encryption. Scanners are available in your House Office, at the Science Center computer lab, and at the Office of Career Services.
What percentage of my proposal should talk about my personal background, and how much should reference my future plans?
There is no magic formula for successful proposal writing. Be sure that you have carefully read the description of the fellowship, and then write a proposal that expresses who you are, what you would like to do with the fellowship, and why you would be a good candidate. There have been successful proposals which have addressed each of these topics in order; others have taken a more narrative tone, addressing each of these topics less explicitly, although still effectively. You should write your proposal in a way that feels comfortable to you, and in a way that introduces you to the committee both through your writing style and through the content of your essay.
For more advice on putting together a successful proposal, see the Writing Fellowships Essays section of this website.
Can I see examples of previous successful proposals?
The Fellowships Office does not provide examples of past applications. We do, however, provide mid-year and final reports from previous fellows. Located in the OCS library, you can read about what previous fellows did and what were their reflections on those experiences. While this won’t tell you how to go about writing your proposal, it will help you to gauge the kinds of endeavors and fellows the committee has previously found compelling.
I don’t know my professors very well. Can I ask a TF or a high school teacher to write a letter of recommendation for me?
The best letters of recommendation come from a person who is respected in your field, and who knows you very well. Don’t turn in a poor-quality letter of recommendation just because it is from someone quite famous. That said, your letters of recommendation should always be from someone who is adequately prepared to judge your ability to perform in the environment you have proposed. For example: If you’re proposing to participate in a rigorous academic program in Mathematics, your French TF would probably not be a good choice to recommend you, even if they know you very well.
Regardless of how well your recommenders know you, you should always sit down with them, describe the fellowship you are applying for and why you are pursuing it. This will help your recommenders be specific about your plans for using the fellowship, and your personal fit for the experience.
At this level, it is almost never advisable to ask for a letter of recommendation from a high school teacher. Only in an environment like the Rhodes (where you have the option to turn in 8 letters of recommendation), and even then only if you have kept in close contact since high school, would it be advisable to consider a letter from a high school teacher.
For more information about asking for letters of recommendation, see the Asking for Recommendations section of this website.