<p>Is anyone here familiar with the Ford Predoctoral Fellowship? I know the Ford Foundation grants/scholarships/fellowship are all very selective and/or competitive and are also a high honor. I am thinking about applying next fall, however I can only find information about the fellowship from the Ford Foundation. This is of course useful but it doesn’t quite let me know if I would be wasting my time applying…</p>
<p>If anyone could provide any information about the fellowship…
how selective or competitive the selection process is? you or someone you know has applied??</p>
<p>You should definitely apply. I applied last year and got honorable mention, and I reapplied this season hoping to get it. Last year they received 1800 applications and awarded 120 fellowships (7%) and named an additional 597 (35% of the remaining number; 33% of all applicants including fellows) as honorable mentions.</p>
<p>So yes, it’s competitive - actually, on its face, more competitive than the NSF GRFPs, but that’s simply because NSF awards almost 10 times as many fellowships. However, the important part is the money, really - Ford awards $20,000 per year for 3 years to its fellows and also gives you travel money to travel to one conference of Ford fellows per year. Some schools “top up” that money to match GRA stipends (like at my school a GRA stipend is almost $30,000 per year, so they pay the difference of $10,000 on a monthly basis).</p>
<p>The process is almost exactly like NSF’s - submit a proposed research statement, a personal statement and a previous research statement. The only difference is that you have to evidence a strong commitment to increasing diversity at the college level as a professor at a college or university AND as a researcher/scholar in your field. For example, one of the changes I made when I wrote my Ford essays was a great emphasis on being a first-generation college student and an African American woman in a male-dominated, white-dominated field (I mentioned it in NSF but far less emphasis). Also, you have to write about wanting to be a professor and increasing diversity in students because they want you to contribute to diversity in teaching.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s really a waste of time to apply. It does take some time and some thought but it’s free to apply and the end result, if you get it, is 3 years of adequate (not spectacular, but adequate) funding. If you don’t you’re not really out anything except the time. In addition to the money, though, writing the NSF and Ford gave me a chance to formulate my research ideas, put them on paper, and get feedback from my advisors (since they looked it over), as well as improve my writing for the purpose of soliciting funds. That can only help you when you’re trying to get real grants later on, even though the format is different.</p>
<p>My school requires us PhD students to provide evidence that we’re competing for outside monies every year, so we have to apply for NSF and the minority students are strongly encouraged to apply to Ford.</p>
<p>Thank you so so soooo much for the reply! That was a lot of valuable information. Would you mind answering a few more questions??</p>
<p>I knew that the Ford Fellowship had a diversity initiative attached to it and that was the main reason I was drawn to it. Do you know how much weight diversity in your field along with the individual maintaining a commitment to diversity throughout college plays in the selection process?? I ask this because I think that would be my strongest point as an applicant. I know my strong point is that I was very active in minority organizations in college (holding positions of leadership) and increasing diversity within my undergrad. I still volunteer as a mentor and tutor minority high school students. I’m also Black and a first-generation college student. </p>
<p>The reason I’m hesitant to apply is because I don’t know how my academic history would be judged. My undergrad gpa was far from “achieving academic honors” as the Ford Foundations notes, but I did do a year of grad school and am currently doing post-bac classes now. From reading about the fellowship it seems that the diversity commitment and activity is the “deal breaker” rather than having a 3.5+ GPA and deans list every semester… Would you agree?? or would you think it’s even?</p>
<p>I know you’re also supposed to list the graduate school you plan on attending, but how are you supposed to predict where you will go if you haven’t been accepted to any programs yet??? The Ford app is due around the same time as graduate apps… so how did you answer that question?</p>
<p>Finally, it asks for 4 letters of recommendation. Do those who write on your behalf have to mention anything about your diversity commitment? or does just one writer have to touch on that?? </p>
<p>I definitely plan on applying, because like you said it’s free and worst case they’ll just say no. :-)</p>
<p>Diversity plays a HUGE part in the selection process, because that’s the entire point of the fellowship (to increase diversity in the U.S.'s college and university teachers and researchers). You sound like a strong candidate from just your diversity stuff because that’s exactly the stuff they’re looking for - if you read the suggestions of things that the reviewers take into consideration it’s everything you mentioned, positions of leadership in minority organizations, tutoring and volunteering in other ways with minority students, and being a minority yourself :D</p>
<p>Academic achievement is important too, but I think it’s more important for undergraduate applicants. I applied as a graduate student so my undergrad GPA was less of a factor during my first application, and it’s even less of a factor the second time around now that I have a year of graduate grades behind me. I think you do need to have a solid undergraduate GPA to be considered and of course the further you are from undergrad the less that matters. My guess is that they’re going to look for minimums but the really important part will be your research and diversity commitment. They’d probably take a really committed 3.5 over a 3.8 that just seems blah about the diversity thing.</p>
<p>When I applied I was already in a graduate program, so that wasn’t an issue for me, but you just list your top choice program (which hopefully is also the program that is the best fit - instititutional fit and the ability of your mentors to really work with on your project is important) and if you end up going somewhere else you just change it if you win it.</p>
<p>About the diversity commitment…that’s a good question. I don’t know, I just asked my recommenders to write me letters and gave them the information about the foundation fellowship. Last cycle, two of my recommenders were from my current graduate university - one white, and one black (my primary mentor) and two were from my undergraduate university, both white. I’m thinking that my primary mentor here and my primary mentor from undergrad probably discussed diversity commitment and the other two might not have. This cycle I had all the same recommenders except one - I replaced one of the undergrad professors with one of my graduate professors, but she flaked on me and didn’t write the recommendation Hers would’ve been really good and would’ve definitely commented on my ability to contribute to diversity as a teacher, because that’s her research area, but whatever dude. (You only need 3 to compete - 4 is more competitive, but you know what, I couldn’t worry about it after the deadline.)</p>
<p>Thanks - I also hope I get it, although I’d rather have the NSF. However, I’m not turning down any money :D</p>
<p>Thank you again for the helpful comments! I would consider the NSF fellowship too but I graduated in 2008, already did 1 year of graduate school, but I’m not currently a graduate student… so I think that makes me ineligible to apply for the next cycle. I also had a fellowship through NLM so I think that I’m ineligible for there fellowships too! So I’m pretty much set on the Ford Foundation fellowship now that I have more information about the application process.</p>
Hers would’ve been really good and would’ve definitely commented on my ability to contribute to diversity as a teacher, because that’s her research area, but whatever dude. (You only need 3 to compete - 4 is more competitive, but you know what, I couldn’t worry about it after the deadline.)</p>