personal statement for fellowship sample

Fellowship Personal Statement

Whether the personal statement is called Career Goals , Intellectual Excitement , or Statement of Purpose , it should contain a coherent theme that ties together your experiences, the goals of the program, and your research interests. Regardless of the structure you choose, the committee reading your application should get to know your scientific identity and see a place for you in their program.

Check out NSE’s page on fellowships to see which ones you may be eligible for. For more information on international fellowships, contact the Office of Graduate Education .

1. Before you start

Most applications are rejected if they look generic or the applicant appears uninformed about the target program. Your strategic goal is to demonstrate that you understand what they are about, and that your qualifications, values, and interests are a match for them. So don’t start writing yet—not until you’ve clarified this match for yourself.

1.1. Who are you?

You are more than a research project. Spend some time reflecting on your experiences and values. What do you care about? Why do you need this fellowship to accomplish your ulterior objectives?

Think beyond the technical space as well. If you only have one summer research internship because you spent your summers mentoring under-served high school students, use that to demonstrate your commitment to service and diversity. If you discovered a passion for fusion energy in your senior year and all your previous experience was optimized for an industry job, show that excitement to the committee. Whether it’s growing up on a farm, hiking the Appalachian Trail, or leading a high school robotics team, these experiences can be used to demonstrate motivation, commitment, and a good work ethic. These are attributes that can help you be successful in research.

1.2. What is your target program?

Take the time to carefully read about the program. Consider the goals of a fellowship and pay attention to any special requirements (e.g. Broader Impacts and Intellectual Merit for NSF applications) as well as any tips they might offer on their websites.

As for t he backgrounds of the actual reviewers, the evaluating committee may vary from non-technical readers to specialists in your scientific niche. Usually, they are academics from your broad area of science (e.g., nuclear engineering) but not from your specific area (e.g., thermal hydraulics). Consider this as you choose the details and vocabulary to describe your current and former research and activities.

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2. What goes in your statement

As long as you stay within the specifications set by your target program, you have the freedom to structure your personal statement as you wish. Some programs have specific prompts seeking 300–500-word answers, and others ask for 2–3-page statements.

2.1. A personal narrative

Build a personal narrative that ties together y our personal history, experiences, and motivations. In addition to a few paragraphs (2–3) at the beginning of your statement, you can weave your motivation and goals throughout your document to create a cohesive story. This cements your identity into the minds of the reviewer. If they remember you, they will be more likely to accept you!

2.2. Your experiences: meaning and match

This section is typically 3–6 paragraphs long, with a few examples to illustrate your point. To decide which experiences to share, ask yourself these two questions:

1. In which ways did this experience help me grow? One common mistake is to describe an experience in great detail and fail to translate it into skills or qualifications. Instead, explicitly say what that experience means for your future goals. Ex: Building a fusor in high school has prepared you for laboratory work, or volunteering with a recycling program shows your dedication to protecting the environment. More details here.

2. Why should the review committee care? Make it very clear that you are a match for their program. Tie your experiences and their meaning directly to the qualities that the fellowship program is looking for in successful applicants. For NSF GRFP applications, you’ll need to have explicit sections for Broader Impacts and Intellectual Merit. Be sure to explain how you and your project will fulfill these two goals.

2.3. Research interest

Spend 1-2 paragraphs describing your research goals. Depending on the application, you may or may not have a specific research statement. If you have a separate research statement , save the more specific research topics for that document, and reference them in your personal statement. If there’s no research statement, you should briefly summarize the projects you want to work on, and how those fit in with your experiences.

2.4. Career goals

Wrap up by looking into the future. Your long-term career goals should be a logical completion of the personal narrative you’ve built throughout the document, and usually takes up one paragraph. Will you leverage the fellowship to explore new and impactful ideas without established funding? Will you be able to engage in public outreach and education more easily with a secure source of funding? Answering these questions will show that you are forward-thinking and will put the fellowship to good use.

3. Maximize effectiveness

Now that you’ve got the main pieces down, revise your document to maximize its impact.

3.1. Be specific and quantitative (show, don’t tell)

Make your relevant experiences tangible by stating specific outcomes such as awards, discoveries, and publications. Whenever possible, try to quantify the experience. How many people were on your team? How many protocols did you develop? As a TA, how often did you meet with your students? Here are some examples of vague and concrete experiences:

3.2. Explain the meaning of your experiences

Your goal in sharing your experiences is to demonstrate that you have the qualifications, qualities, and promise found in successful recipients of that specific fellowship. Therefore, you will need to not only choose experiences wisely but also state specifically what they mean within the context of your application.

3.3. Match your level of specificity to your current academic level

Your current education level should influence the tone and topics you address in your statement. For instance, the NSF GRFP accepts applications from three levels of students: senior undergraduates, first-year graduate students, and second-year graduate students. The tone and specificity of your application should reflect your level. While senior undergrads can write generally about their future goals, second-year graduate students should write about specific progress towards career goals.

3.4. Try section headers

Consider labeling your sections to show the structure of your statement. These will guide the reviewer through your document and explicitly call attention to sections where you answer questions from the application material. In an NSF research proposal, “Intellectual Merit” and “Broader Impacts” section headers are specifically requested.

4. Quick tips

• Start early. It is critical that you spend the time to carefully read through the program’s solicitation and guidelines, and that you have the chance to receive and incorporate feedback on your drafts. The evaluation committee will be reviewing hundreds of applications and yours will be quickly dismissed if it doesn’t quickly make an impact.
• Pay close attention to formatting instructions. The NSF GRF Program is notorious for rejecting applicants who use the wrong font size or line spacing. Whatever fellowship program you apply to, make sure to follow the formatting instructions.
• Read the prompt carefully. Each fellowship is unique and will have unique requirements for their applications. If anything in those requirements contradicts with advice you read here or elsewhere, go with the application guidelines.
• Double-check your spelling and grammar. A well-written statement demonstrates your communication skills, which are essential for success as a researcher.
• Be strategic with letters of references. Do not go to professors who you think will write you the most positive letters. Instead, go to those who can write about specific experiences that demonstrates the skills that you want to highlight in your application. Each letter should bring new and complementing insights into who you are as a student and researcher.
• Check out other fellowship resources , especially those on the MIT Office of Graduate Education website . If you are an international student enrolled at MIT, you can email OGE ([email protected]) to learn more about your options.

5. Authentic Examples

Selection criteria can vary from year to year. Be sure to follow the most up-to-date guidelines provided by your target fellowship program, especially if you are referencing older examples. You can also find examples from across different disciplines here (scroll to the bottom).

To get started or receive feedback on your fellowship personal statement, make an appointment with one of us. We would love to help you!

• Office of Fellowships and Scholarships >
• Getting Started >

Develop a Strong Personal Statement

Jane Halfhill, 2023 recipient of a Fulbright research grant to study in Italy.

For students, the personal statement is one of the most difficult and most important documents they will ever write. We have the resources to boost your confidence and the know-how to help you write a powerful personal statement.

Debunking the Personal Statement

What it is:.

• Your introduction to the selection committee. This is your story, written by you. It should describe your interests, skills, questions and goals. It should clearly portray continued interest in your field of research and desire to learn more.
• A chance to demonstrate your ability to write and communicate effectively. A well-written personal statement demonstrates your ability to organize your thoughts and communicate clearly. Conversely, an unpolished statement can unintentionally portray the writer as disinterested, unprofessional and careless.
• Your personal statement should articulate your preparedness by clarifying how your past experiences, education and extra-curricular activities have prepared you for your field.

What it isn't:

• A personal autobiography. A personal statement is not the time to write about your childhood, family or hobbies that are not relevant to your field or academic development.
• A resume of accomplishments in essay form. Do not simply list information that is available in your other supporting documents (e.g., resume, transcript). Rather, you should provide context as to why your past accomplishments and experiences are significant to your academic and professional development.
• A plea for the scholarship. This is not the time to beg, plea or justify why you are more deserving of the scholarship than the other applicants. You are eligible for this scholarship for a reason. Focus on your accomplishments, not why your accomplishments make you better than others.

What to Include in Your Personal Statement

Professor Stacy Hubbard from UB's department of English breaks down what you should include in your personal statement.

• Origins of interest in a particular field. This could be a book you read, a lecture you attended or an experience you had.
• Ways in which you have developed your interest. Additional reading, experiments, internships, coursework, summer jobs, science fairs, travel experiences, writing projects, etc. Provide details about what you gained from a particular course or how a particular project or paper has helped you to develop intellectually.
• Reasons for changes in your interests and goals. These changes could be addressed in positive, rather than negative, terms. Instead of saying "I became bored with engineering and switched to physics," try "Through a bridge-design project, I discovered a new interest in thermodynamics and decided to focus my studies on physics."
• Reasons for inconsistencies in your record.  If there is anything unusual or problematic in your record (poor grades, several school transfers, time away from school, etc.) this information needs to be explained in as positive a way, as possible. If you were immature and screwed up, then you matured and shaped up, say so and point to the proof (improved grades, a stellar recent employment record, etc.). Remember, failure of one kind or another, if you learn from it, is good preparation for future success.
• Special skills you have developed, relevant to the planned research.  This could be general knowledge of a field acquired through reading and study or special practical skills (data analysis, fossil preservation, interviewing techniques, writing skills, etc.) that will qualify you to conduct a particular type of research. Be specific about how you acquired these skills and at what level you possess them.
• Character traits, talents or extra-curricular activities outside the field that help to qualify you. If you are particularly tenacious about overcoming obstacles, creative at problem-solving, adaptable to unfamiliar circumstances or just great at organizing teams of people, these qualities can be mentioned as relevant to the research experience. Sometimes the evidence for these traits may be other than academic. Have you have overcome a disability or disadvantage of some kind in your life? Have you persisted in a particularly challenging task? Have lived in different parts of the world and adapted to difference cultures? Have you organized teams of volunteers in the community? Make clear what traits have been developed by these experiences and how these will help you in the research experience. Acknowledge your strengths, but do so humbly.
• Knowledge and/or skills that you hope to acquire through participation in this opportunity.  What is particularly intriguing to you about this opportunity? How will it help you to acquire new skills or carry forward your own research questions?
• Emerging and ongoing questions.  What kinds of unsolved puzzles, problems or potential research paths are of interest to you? Which of these have you explored in school or extra-curricular projects? What sorts of projects do you hope to pursue in the future?
• Future plans and goals.  Do you plan to go to graduate or professional school and in what field? What are your post-graduation goals and why? How would this research opportunity help you to achieve those goals?

The Do's and Don'ts of Writing a Personal Statement

• Adhere to the rules. Note the proper page layout, format and length, and adhere to it.
• Use proper spelling and grammar. An easy way to have your application overlooked is to submit it with spelling and grammatical errors. Use spell-checkers, proof-read and let others review your application, before you submit it.
• Show your audience, don't tell them. It's easy to say "I am a leader," but without concrete examples, your claim isn't valid. Give an example of why you believe you are a leader.
• Don't try to tell them everything. You can't cram your entire life into one personal statement. Choose a few key points to talk about and let your other application materials (resume, letter(s) of recommendation, application, interview, etc.) tell the rest of your story.
• Don't use clichés. Things like "since I was a child" or "the world we live in today" are commonly found in personal statements and don't add any value.
• Don't lie or make things up. This is not the time to fabricate or inflate your accomplishments. Don't try to guess what the committee is looking for and write what you think they want to hear. Invite them in to get to know the real you.

At the end of your personal statement, you want people to think "I'd like to meet this person." That is your end-goal.

UB Resources

• Center for Excellence in Writing
• Graduate Student Association Editing Services

Additional Resources

• Helping Students to Tell Their Stories , The Chronicle of Higher Education
• Preparing a Compelling Personal Statement , profellow.com
• Proposal Writing Resources , University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
• Purdue Online Writing Lab , Purdue University
• Writing a Winning Personal Statement for Grad School , gograd.com