This statement is your chance to talk about who you are, what you've done, what your goals are, and how this opportunity will help you achieve your goals. And it's your shot to connect with the committee beyond an intellectual level on a more human level.

There are a lot of different ways that you can write the essay, but if you're having trouble getting started, keep these four things in mind:

Connect the Dots: Use your opening paragraph to draw the reader in. From there, organize your thoughts clearly and succinctly to make sure your essay flows. Choose carefully what you write about; your personal statement should be a clear narrative of your story and where you want it to go from here. 

Be Specific: Pick one or two things that you want the fellowship committee to know about you and focus on those points in depth. Whatever you talk about should be a microcosm that demonstrates who you are; for example, talk about a specific event in your life that influenced who you are and why you are applying for a fellowship.

Show, Don’t Tell: Tell the committee a story; delve into the intricacies of the issue or accomplishment you're talking about, explain how it affected you, and demonstrate how it's helped to shape your life. Show how it's made you who you are.

Write. Then Rewrite: It's incredibly hard to put all your thoughts, aspirations, hopes and dreams onto a piece of paper (much less format them into an essay). The only remedy to this situation is to write, and then rewrite, and then rewrite until you get all those hopes and dreams organized into a clear vision of who you are and how this fellowship will help you become who you want to be. Remember, the goal isn't to tell your entire story. Your job is to contextualize the life experiences that best convey why your strengths and goals align with the fellowship program's mission. 

There's no right or wrong way to write a personal statement; the most important thing to do is to spend a decent amount of time reflecting on what you want to say, and then refining it into a finished product. 

For assistance with your personal statement, please consult the Writing Center or contact four@uvm.edu.

A Fellowship Interview Is your opportunity to engage in an interesting and intellectual conversation with a group of smart people. A Fellowship Interview Is not a painfully nerve-wracking experience, if you do the work to prepare yourself in advance. If you prepare for your interview, you will be cool, confident, and ready to wow the committee.

There are three things to keep in mind as you prepare for your fellowship interview:

• Know your application thoroughly
• Stay on message
• Be yourself.

Know your Application Thoroughly: Be ready to dive into all the elements of your fellowship application in depth. Before your interview, talk to your professors. Ask them to help you anticipate where questions may come up. Stick to the vision, goals, and narrative you outlined in your application, and be ready to expand on how the vision of who you are and what you want to become has played into other areas of your life.

Stay on Message: Before your interview, identify three key things about yourself that you want the fellowship committee to remember. These should highlight who you are, what you aim to achieve, and how your identity & goals align with the mission of the fellowship you're applying for. Throughout the conversation, try to tie everything you discuss back to this core message: you, the fellowship, and why you are a perfect fit for each other.

Be Yourself: Above all, relax and enjoy the process. Be open and honest about who you are and what you want to accomplish. Be confident in your proposal; at this stage you've put a lot of thought, sweat, and tears into your project, and you should be proud of what you've produced. Finally, be confident in yourself; you've put an incredible amount of work into getting this far, and you have earned the opportunity to be in front of the committee. So enjoy it!

Still don't feel ready? The best preparation for an interview is a mock interview, and there are several offices on campus that would be happy to help run you through a mock fellowship interview, including the Career Center and four@uvm.edu.

1. Ask for a letter of recommendation early.
2. Ensure that your recommender of choice will write a good letter for you (it’s okay to ask, "Do you think you could write a strong letter of recommendation for me?").
3. Provide your recommender with specific information on the scholarship/fellowship you're applying for, your background and why you think you're a good fit for the scholarship.
4. Make some suggestions on what you think your recommender-of-choice should write about, but do not ask to see the letter.
5. Be very clear about the rules for submitting letters of recommendation.
6. Be very clear about application dates and the deadline for submitting the letter of recommendation.
7. Send a thank-you note to your recommender-of-choice after they submit their letter.
8. Keep in touch and let them know how the competition turns out!

Be sure to also check out these tips from the Career Center!

The most important thing to remember about prestigious fellowships and the incredible opportunities they bring is this: you, the student, do not win a Truman Scholarship or a Fulbright Grant, they win you. These awards don't just go to the students with the highest grades, they go to the students that have demonstrated excellence in the classroom, have taken the initiative to make their community a better place, and now wish to use their passion, their intellect, and their energy to change the world.

As you peruse some of the winning applications listed on fellowship websites, one other thing you may notice is that there is no checklist of accomplishments that all grantees have in common. The people who win these things have incredibly diverse interests, expertise, hopes, and dreams. All that proves is that there's no winning formula and there are no guarantees in the fellowship process. However, there are a lot of things you can do to set yourself up to have a successful college career at University of Vermont that will also help to lay the groundwork to become a strong fellowship candidate.

So while there is no recipe for success, there are countless opportunities to set yourself up to be successful. 

• Take advantage of your academic opportunities. Take classes that you find interesting and engaging. Do well in them. For classes you are very passionate about, talk to your professors about research or other opportunities to pursue your favorite topics in depth.
• Reach out to your professors, academic advisors, and fellow students. Go to office hours and take advantage of opportunities to learn more and become more involved in your classes.
• Look for opportunities to do something you find interesting over the summer (research, internships, etc.). Start thinking about it earlier rather than later in the academic year. If you are interested in research at UVM, contact the Undergraduate Research Advisor (four@uvm.edu) to see if there is an opportunity that fits your interests.
• Be proud of what you do: enter competitions and apply for departmental awards for work you're proud of.
• Have fun: get involved in activities that you find engaging. Meet people, share ideas, do different things. Live it up.

Bottom line: Set the tone for who you are and what role you want to fill on this campus for the next four years.

• Build on all the good stuff you did freshman year: continue to do well academically and to get involved in the campus community.
• Challenge yourself with harder courses.
• Look for ways you can make a difference on campus. Take initiative and start looking for ways that you can make a positive difference within an organization, on campus, or in the community.
• If they suit your interests, apply for undergraduate fellowship opportunities (sophomores are eligible for the Udall, Goldwater, Critical Language Scholarship, the Fulbright U.K. Summer Institutes, and several other fellowships). Check out the "Fab FOUR" along with our list of fellowships to find more information. If you prefer to continue to pursue research at the University of Vermont, contact the Undergraduate Research Advisor in the FOUR office (four@uvm.edu) to find an opportunity that fits your goals and interests.
• If you plan on studying abroad for your entire junior year, swing by the FOUR Office before you leave for the summer to plan ahead for the application process.

• A lot of applying takes place during this year. You're still eligible for the Udall, Goldwater, and other undergraduate fellowships, but it's also time to start preparing your application for post- graduate opportunities including the Rhodes Scholarship, the Marshall Scholarship, or a Fulbright Grant. Make an appointment with the Fellowships Advisor (four@uvm.edu) in the spring to begin laying the groundwork for your application.
• By now you've established who you are and how you fit into your community, so continue to challenge yourself. Take on leadership roles for clubs, activities, and events. Do extensive academic research. Push your limits.
• If you are abroad: Make sure you are engaged in your classes and research. Make sure you are learning the language, becoming engaged with the culture and the community you're in. It's a fantastic opportunity, so take advantage of everything you can.

Bottom Line: If you feel really busy during your junior year, then you're doing it right.

Summer before Your Senior Year: A lot of fellowship applications are due within the first month that you return to campus in the fall. If you don't already have them, start making contacts in the countries you want to visit. This will help you to focus your project and get used to explaining it to people smartly and concisely. Also, start contacting faculty or other individuals that you want to write you a recommendation. They can help to make sure you are on the right track with your proposal as well.

For the sake of your sanity, start brainstorming, outlining, and heck, even writing your fellowship proposal so that once you return to campus we can work together on refining your proposal to turn it into a quality presentation of who you are, what you've done, what you want to do, and how a fellowship will help get you there.

• Apply.
• In addition to your personal statement and/or research proposal, fellowships require that you submit anywhere from three to eight letters of recommendation. These letters should be written by your professors. They should be someone that you have had a lot of interaction with and can attest to your writing ability, your intellectual curiousness and your potential. Be sure to approach the people you want writing your letters of recommendation early in your application process to ensure that they have adequate time to complete their letter.
• Get good at interviewing: for most fellowships, the next step in the application process is an interview. Fulbright requires that one interview be done in the native language of the country you want to study in. For more tips on nailing your fellowship interview, see our advice on preparing for interviews.
• Continue to reach out and make contacts at the university where you want to be doing research.

Good question. A nationally competitive fellowship is for high-achieving students who have big dreams and an idea of how they want to accomplish them. It is also a unique and useful way to clarify personal, academic, or career goals.

Applying for a nationally competitive grant, scholarship, or fellowship can be an in-depth, intense year-long process. Piling a personal statement or a research proposal on top of a heavy academic course load and extracurricular activities is not a challenge for the faint of heart. However, the process of applying for a fellowship usually directly coincides with work you need to be doing to prepare yourself for your future anyway.

It depends on what you're applying for. Check out our "Fellowships in Focus" page for a list of the fellowships we advise on most frequently; if none of these resonate with you we also advise on an array of other fellowships that offer academic and professional development. You should familiarize yourself with application requirements well in advance of deadlines. Applications sometimes require a "personal statement," a specific proposal for research or a course of study, one or more interviews, anywhere from three to eight letters of recommendation, as well as complicated biographical data forms. FOUR is here to help you navigate the process.

Several fellowships require official institutional nomination, and for all of these an initial application must be submitted to FOUR by a campus deadline that may be one month or more before the external deadline. A fellowships committee reviews the applications and may interview applicants as part of our internal selection process.

All fellowships requiring institutional nomination require you to submit an application for review by FOUR. In some cases, the application you submit will be the full fellowship application; in other cases, you will complete all the official fellowship forms for the national deadline.

Do not think of the internal application as a "draft" application. Yes, you will have some time to make revisions before submitting the final application. But the internal application will form the basis of the committee's evaluation of your candidacy. It is important that it represent your best work. Check spelling, capitalization, grammar, and sentence structure. The care that you put into your application shows.

You should also put some care and preparation into the campus interview, if one is required. Review your application prior to the interview and be prepared to elaborate on anything contained within it. As much as is possible, prepare orally: do not just think through answers to possible questions, actually say them out loud! If you feel self-conscious talking to yourself, find a friend or professor to pose questions to you. Be prepared for unexpected questions: an unanticipated response to something in your application, something emerging from a recent news article about your interests, or anything else your interviewer chooses to ask. If you do not understand a question, ask for clarification. Try to answer completely, but concisely. Do not fret over less than perfect answers; even very strong interviews may have a couple of rough spots. Much of any interview is about getting to know you, so try to relax and be yourself. Nervousness is inevitable but need not be debilitating.

Unfortunately, most of the fellowships discussed in this website require U.S. citizenship or at least resident alien status. There are, however, many important exceptions. FOUR has created a guide to scholarships, grants, and fellowships (DOC) which accept applications from non-U.S. citizens. 

For further assistance finding fellowships for you, please email four@uvm.edu