• Research the Fellowship: Familiarize yourself with the fellowship’s mission, values, and selection criteria to tailor your essay accordingly.
• Understand the Prompt: Carefully read and analyze the essay question to ensure you address all key points. 

• Research the fellowship’s goals and values.
• Align your essay with what the selection committee is looking for.
• Read past winning essays if available. 

• Explain your short-term and long-term career aspirations.
• Show how the fellowship will help you achieve these goals.
• Connect your goals to the fellowship’s mission. 

• Being too generic. If your essay could apply to any fellowship, it’s not specific enough.
• Overloading with accomplishments. Your resume already lists them—use the essay to provide insight and context about what you learned or took away from your accomplishments.
• Writing passively. Don’t just describe experiences—show how you engaged, learned, and grew. A handy tool for storytelling is use “therefore” and “but” instead of “and then”.
• Forgetting the audience. Your readers are experts, but they may not know your specific field—explain concepts clearly.
• Ignoring the prompt. Always tailor your essay to the fellowship’s mission and selection criteria.

Writing essays for fellowship applications requires good understanding of the fellowship program, its requirements, and its expectations. Official fellowship websites often provide helpful advice and guidance to applicants. 

It's a good idea to draft your own essays first, before you read samples or examples from past years, so that you are not influenced by others. Remember, fellowship committees are interested in learning about your specific project and goals. 

Start early and do your homework:

It takes more time than you might think to explore options, seek advice from advisers and mentors, and put together a strong application. Dive right in and begin sooner rather than later.  

Some questions to consider:  

• What are you proposing to do with the fellowship, where, and why?
• What does the fellowship application request?  What is the essay prompt?
• What is the fellowship for? What is its history? What are the stated selection criteria for the fellowship? What is the audience for whom you’re writing?  

Think of your application as a cohesive whole:

What are the ideas you want to present? Consider what will best be conveyed by which part of your application: the letters of recommendation, the language evaluation, the letter of affiliation, the transcript, résumé/cv, short-answer questions, and essays, as applicable. 

• What can be said only or best by you?
• What might better be said for you by other people (e.g., in a letter or language evaluation), or by your transcript, résumé, etc.?
• Considering each essay prompt; what might you put into each answer?
• Do essays/other pieces of the application complement one another to create a coherent narrative?
• Be strategic about what is included.  What sheds light on key points or advances your argument?  What is interesting but not particularly relevant to the application/proposal, and therefore might be omitted at need? 

As you write:

Remember that audiences vary. Write for an intelligent, well-educated non-specialist, but remember that a specialist in your field might read your application. 

Some committees are more likely than others to contain specialists, e.g.: Goldwater applications are read by people in STEM fields, Beinecke applications by people in humanities and arts fields, etc. In these instances, write for experts in the field. 

Take a close look at the structure of your work.  

• Does your application start the conversation going in the right direction and open up interesting possibilities for further discussion?
• Does it open any subject you would rather not discuss? 

If there is a clear weakness in your application, it is often better to tackle it up front in your application, so that concerns are defused and they don’t distract the reader from your strengths. 

After you've written a draft, leave it alone for a while, and come back to it with fresh eyes. Does your draft say what you want it to say, clearly and concisely, in your own voice? Have you made the points you need to make, and is there an important aspect that you take so much for granted that you forgot to spell it out? 

Finally, remember to proofread. It is best practice to find and ask someone else proofread for you, too. Typos say that you are not focusing your full attention on the work, so the reader is not drawn to either.

No matter the result of your fellowship application, the process of applying will teach you valuable skills that will help you navigate future applications, interviews, and projects. Remember that you can always apply again, and if the specific fellowship has eligibility requirements that mean you can’t, you will still have won by learning more about yourself and your goals.  

In addition to the advice above, consider the following key questions if pursuing fellowships for postgraduate study overseas: 

• What are you proposing to do with the fellowship, where, and why?
• Have you found the right graduate program for you, to suit your preparation, interests, and long-term goals?
• Why study in Britain or Ireland over another destination?
• Why are you applying for this particular fellowship? What might you bring to the fellowship, to contribute to the community of scholars and to the mission of the fellowship? 

• Select people who know you well and can speak to your strengths, achievements, and potential.
• Prioritize recommenders who have seen your work closely and recently (e.g., professors, research advisors, mentors, supervisors).
• Ensure at least one recommender can speak to your leadership, character, or impact, especially for fellowships emphasizing personal qualities. 

• Ask at least 4-6 weeks in advance (or longer if possible).
• Follow up with reminders one to two weeks before the deadline. 

• Share a summary of the fellowship and why you’re applying.
• Provide your resume/CV, personal statement, and any key points you’d like them to highlight.
• If relevant, remind them of specific projects or experiences you worked on together.

• Politely suggest specific skills, achievements, or experiences they might emphasize.
• If possible, match their letter to the fellowship’s criteria (e.g., leadership, research ability, community impact).

• Provide the deadline and submission instructions in a clear format.
• If the letter needs to be emailed or uploaded, include the correct submission link. 

• Send a thank-you note (email or handwritten) to show appreciation.
• Keep them updated on your application outcome. They will appreciate knowing how their support helped you

The endorsement process requires that students establish their intent to apply well ahead of the endorsement deadline and work with the fellowships staff on their materials well in advance of a national deadline.  

Endorsement could look different depending on the fellowship:  

• Nomination: Sometimes Cornell can only endorse a few candidates, so a faculty committee will select the nominees for the national competition.
• Letters: Sometimes Cornell can endorse all interested candidates, so the Office of National Fellowships Advising writes an endorsement letter on your behalf to accompany your application.
• Submission: Sometimes the Office of National Fellowships Advising submits your final application on your behalf, so materials must be sent in prior to external deadlines.   

In some cases, as with Knight-Hennessy, endorsement is optional. The Office of National Fellowships Advising is happy to speak with you about endorsement. Please contact them well in advance to discuss this.

If you intend to apply for an endorsed fellowship, make an appointment with a fellowship adviser. Complete and return the waiver form.

Endorsement  

A faculty committee will read your application. They will select the nominees for the national competition. If you are selected, you will be asked to interview on campus. Zoom interviews will be arranged if you are off campus. All decisions made about an applicant’s candidacy are final. 

• Beinecke Scholarship (1 Cornell nominee per year)
• Churchill Scholarship (2 Cornell nominees per year)
• Gaither Junior Fellows (2 Cornell nominees per year)
• Goldwater Scholarship (6 Cornell nominees per year: 4 + 1 transfer student, 1 veteran)
• Keasbey Scholarship (2 Cornell nominees every 3-year cycle)
• Marshall Scholarship (24 Cornell nominees per year)
• Michel David-Weill (1 Cornell nominee per year)
• Rhodes Scholarship (No limit for US applicants; limit of 3 for Global candidates; additional limits on non-US constituency)
• McCall-MacBain Scholarship (No limit for US applicants)
• St. Andrews Scholarship (2 Cornell nominees per year)
• Truman Scholarship (7 Cornell nominees per year: 4 + 3 transfer students)
• Udall Scholarship (8 Cornell nominees per year: 4 in Indigenous issues & 4 in environment issues) 

Fellowships that Do Not Require Endorsement 

There are hundreds of fellowships that do not require endorsement. The Office of National Fellowships Advising is still an excellent resource in crafting these applications. We have worked with candidates in these processes and can offer full process support to all candidates.  The following is a list of popular fellowships that do not require an endorsement:  

• Ellison Scholars
• Gates Cambridge Scholarship
• Hertz Scholarship
• Knight-Hennessey Scholarship
• Luce Scholarship
• Madison Fellowship
• Pat Tillman Scholarship
• Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans
• Payne Fellowship
• Princeton in Asia, Africa, and Latin American
• Public Policy and International Affairs Program
• Quad Fellowship Rangel Fellowship
• Samvid Scholars
• Schwarzman Scholarship
• Yenching Academy