What are Fellowships?

Where will your experience at Vanderbilt take you?

Pursuing nationally and internationally competitive fellowships are one way to find out. Fellowships can enable you to:

Broaden and deepen your academic training
Dive deeply into experiential and service-learning
Master a foreign language
Serve as a US cultural ambassador while teaching English, studying a foreign language, conducting independent research or earning a graduate degree abroad
Spend a summer or post-graduate year serving with an NGO in the US or overseas
Carry out a creative or performing arts project
Conduct mentored research at Vanderbilt or in laboratories throughout the US and around the world
Obtain full funding to pursue a graduate degree in the UK, Ireland, Germany, China or Japan – or in the US

The Fulbright US Student Program supports students and alumni serving as US cultural ambassadors in 140+ countries, serving as English Teaching Assistant, conducting research across disciplines on six continents, and earning graduate degrees in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Vanderbilt students have conducted dissertation, thesis, and independent research projects in Tunisia, Russia, Namibia, India, Sweden, Ukraine, Rwanda, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Australia, Morocco, Peru, the Netherlands, Israel, and Belgium. Vanderbilt alumni Fulbrighters have also earned graduate degrees in Taiwan, the UK, Ireland, Mexico, Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia.

Through Fulbright and country-specific fellowship programs including JET, USTA, TAPIF, NALCA, PAD, and EPIK, Vanderbilt students and alumni have served as English fellows in Germany, Austria, Spain, France, South Korea, Italy, Taiwan, Thailand, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Macedonia, and Cyprus.

CBYX offers students and alumni the opportunity to complete postgraduate professional development programs in Germany, Luce does the same in South and East Asia and Fulbright does so in Mexico.

Why Pursue Fellowships at Vanderbilt?

The Career Center’s Fellowships Team supports undergraduates, graduate students, and (recent) alumni throughout the application processes for (inter)nationally competitive fellowships that require Vanderbilt’s institutional nomination.

Fellowships alumni repeatedly comment on the value of the application process, which offers tremendous transferable skills—benefits that accrue whether you advance or not.

Do you know how to write a research proposal? Or how to describe your academic passions to various audiences? Can you craft a compelling story tracing the evolution of your interests with a clear red thread?

The fellowships application process builds your self-awareness and helps you take firm hold of the opportunities ahead. Further, it leaves you with well-crafted statements of research interest, personal statements, CVs/resumes, and other tangible materials for graduate school applications and your post-Vanderbilt career journeys.

Working with the Fellowships Team can be one of your highest impact experiences at Vanderbilt. We guide undergraduates, graduate students, and recent alums toward their most effective applications.

To get started, explore the list of fellowships that we support, read what your peers say about their experiences, and review our “Enter the Race” (pre-application) forms on InfoReady.

A note for Graduate Students:

The Fellowships Team encourages applications from graduate students and VU Graduate School alumni interested in pursuing Fulbright, Marshall/Chevening, Mitchell, DAAD, Luce, Boren, DAAD-RISE Pro, and other nomination-based awards.

The Career Center’s Graduate Senior Career Coaches support the non-academic career plans of graduate students in STEM, Humanities, and Social Sciences disciplines. These plans include internships, alt-ac careers, post-ac opportunities, and related career opportunities outside of the academy. The Graduate Coaches also support master’s candidates interested in pursuing doctoral studies and offer specific programming for students considering applying to PhD programs.

Requests for assistance with applications and other dossier materials for the academic job market should be directed to your PIs, dissertation supervisors, committee members, and other academic mentors, including Directors of Graduate Study, Department Chairs and individuals in your department/discipline, as they are best equipped to guide you through the nuances of tenure-track searches in your field and discipline.