September 2023

The Politic of the NSF GRFP

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program is widely considered “the” fellowship to win. Not only does it provide some of the most generous funding available, but it also lends a type of academic credibility unmatched by other fellowship programs. It’s reputation is so significant that STEM and STEM-adjacent fields simply refer to it as “the NSF.”

As mentioned above, the NSF GRFP has both a unique function and funding package. The goal of the NSF GRFP “… is to help ensure the quality, vitality, and diversity of the scientific and engineering workforce of the United States.” Ultimately, the GRFP is a retention tool, it is a sure fire way to ensure students finish the PhD, which is not a guarantee. This is reflected in the funding package, which is valued at $159,000. Broken down, that is three-years of funding covering $16,000 for education and $37,000 of living stipend each year. Fairly unique to this fellowship is the duration (three-years is a long time) and holistic funding (both education and living expenses). This essentially provides the winning students three-years of independent, research-focused study (and rent!). A dream for any graduate students who have balanced (multiple) teaching assistant positions, courses, and fitting in research. The outcome is three full academic years of research agency. All with no requirement for publication/topic consistency. It’s pretty clear that this is a life-changing form of funding.

I applied and won the NSF GRFP as a post-bac (having graduated undergraduate, but not yet enrolled in graduate school). However, the first-time I won the fellowship, I had to rescind it as I wasn’t able to attend a graduate program the following year (crazy story). While a tumultuous time of working nearly minimum wage waiting for my “big break” to get into a PhD program, I was told that just winning the NSF GRFP was enough to get into any graduate program I wanted. I didn’t even need to money to convince them. While mostly untrue, I was told after getting accepted (remember that NSF GRFP releases results after PhD program do) that having the NSF GRFP win on my application was a significant marker of my academic quality. If the National Science Foundation – one of the largest funders of STEM research on the planet – thought I was quality, then why shouldn’t the university? I hope this illustrates how powerful this fellowship is. Not just financially, but for your career (just see how many NSF Career winners were also GRFP winners).

But, you may not have ever heard of it.

The issue with the GRFP is that elite institutions dominate the winning of this particular fellowship. In an infamous 2019 Science post, it is revealed that roughly one-third of all NSF GRFP awardees come from just 10 schools. 14% come from just 3 (UC Berkeley, MIT, and Stanford). 0.3% went to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and 0% went to Tribal Colleges and Universities. Why is that?

If you attend a non-elite school, then it is likely you haven’t heard of the NSF GRFP, heard about it too late, or applied with little support. This is intentional. I will use my current university as an example.

If you are entering your first of second-year as a PhD or masters student, you are still eligible to apply for the NSF GRFP (given that you have not previously done 12+ months of past graduate study). The first thing that will happen is a fellow student (many of whom already have this fellowship), faculty, or staff member will make visible the NSF GRFP – though so many students come from elite undergraduate institutions which may have done this visibility work. If these interventions don’t happen, you will certainly received one of the many emails raising visibility and/or offering support for applicants. Unlike non-elite/under resources institutions, it is nearly impossible to miss the NSF GRFP deadline. This is a crucial first step. I have heard countless times from underfunded PhD students that they simply didn’t know the fellowship existed, or heard about it too late.

Now, having been exposed to this golden funding source, there is still the question of how do you win it? NSF is notoriously opaque with its unique form and requirements (i.e. broader impacts). If you are a student at Cornell, you have: multiple and many winners (likely in your department), winning essay repositories (which can act as templates), peer-review programs (with paid staff and current winners), workshops and webinars on essay crafting, and other resources to refine your academic arguments (i.e. committee and writing services). Not only this, but elite schools tend to make space (renting out rooms and providing food) and time (having a lower workload in general or a break to work on this application).

Compare this to under resourced institutions. Ones where few or no active students have this fellowship. Whose faculty may primarily not be tenured or be familiar with this fellowship. Whose institution doesn’t have essay repositories or workshops.

It becomes very clear then that this is not a merit based application, it is one of resources. Akin to standardized tests like the GRE.

A question that may be lingering in the back of your mind is: so why do elite students apply for this fellowship? By and large PhD students at elite schools are guaranteed five-years of funding. This may include teaching or research positions. But regardless, the vast majority will always have a stipend. Whereas, it is common at state schools to at-most have three-years guaranteed funding forcing many students to be constantly applying for funding to fill in the gaps until they graduate.

The simple answer is: comfort and clout.

The NSF GRFP offers marginal increases to the comfort of a PhD student. It allows for more flexibility and forgiveness in research and likely provides a larger stipend increasing quality of life. However, the more common reason given is clout. The NSF GRFP is such a strong signal of academic quality that elite students feel obligated to win it. It has a strong correlation to winning other fellowships/grants and is a strong signal for academic careers afterward. While true, I advocate for elite students to cease applying for these fellowships. Take into account your positionality and use your energy to apply for research funds, not retention funds. To be clear, this doesn’t apply to my first-generation, Black or Indigenous, and trans colleagues who often represent less than a percent of the PhD population. Who are often still the “firsts” in their respective fields.

The NSF GRFP represents one of the most reliable mechanisms to ensure talented marginalized scholars finish their programs. Do not take resources just for comfort or clout.