How to apply to the NSF-GRFP (in 7 weeks!)
- cientificolatino
- 3 days ago
- 12 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
by Olivia Goldman (Biosciences, 2019 NSF-GRFP fellow, applied as a 2nd year)
with contributions from John Lê (Physics, 2025 NSF-GRFP fellow, applied as 1st year)
Fellowship writing season is upon us!! This was written in response to the solicitation release of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF-GRFP). Although the NSF-GRFP has a lot of quirks (some of which are addressed here), many of these tips and timelines will also apply to most other fellowship deadlines when you're under time pressure.
Although the NSF-GRFP is very competitive, if you are eligible, we highly recommend applying! What you learn in the process is highly valuable and will provide great starting materials for your qualification exams or future fellowship applications. If you are a grad school applicant, this is excellent preparation for the admissions process.
Finally, check out Cientifico Latino, Inc.'s repository of fellowship statements for the NSF-GRFP and other fellowships. One of the best ways to learn how to write a successful fellowship is to read them!
Fire up your pistons, pick up your pen, and get down those research ideas!
6-7 weeks before the deadline (by September 15th)
Start planning, and read the solicitation!
Give it a shot — it’s not too late! The process of applying is incredibly valuable, even if you don’t end up being awarded. Think of the application as an exercise in (1) science communication and (2) making a scientific plan.
For current graduate students, this will help you make progress towards qualification exams or something you can build off of for future fellowships.
Note, expectations will be higher for second-year (compared to first-year) graduate students. But even if you just joined the lab last month, you can still do it!! See sections below on how to further develop your research proposals, broader impacts, and preliminary data.
For graduate school applicants, the personal statement is essentially an early draft of your application essay, and the research proposal is terrific preparation for interviews and speaking about your current research.
I highly recommend writing about something related to your current research project — basically, if you were to stay in your field, what would your PhD thesis be on? The NSF-GRFP ultimately funds the person, not the project. You are not obligated to do anything you propose.
Start asking/reaching out to your letter writers this week. The deadline will come up sooner than you think.
If you are a grad school applicant, consider that these would be your grad school letter writers. Let them know that you are also applying to graduate school. These are ideally professors (it is not common for your direct research mentors to write letters). For the NSF-GRFP, this matters probably even more than for grad school because of how competitive the fellowship is. Think of letter writers as supporters. Any PI you've interacted with who is willing to support you and your career is a good candidate.
Clear your schedule and set aside time for writing. You should aim to have a nearly complete statement and research proposal two weeks before the deadline. You'll send these things to your letter writers around that time. This soft deadline is also a good point to solicit feedback on your statement from colleagues and research mentors on your materials. Avoid trying to write the fellowship outside of your 9-to-5. Don't feel guilty about putting experiments on the back burner, this is an important professional development experience.
Read through the solicitation and create a list of the requirements for the personal statement and the research proposal for yourself AND the folks you’ll be asking for feedback.
NSF-GRFP is very strict about following the rules and criteria of the application. There are automated checks for formatting, and not meeting content requirements is an easy way to get rejected. Help tired reviewers (who will be looking at the rubric alongside your application) and match the criteria as explicitly as possible. We strongly encourage using section headings such as “Broader Impacts” and “Intellectual Merit”).
People you ask for feedback can help you assess if you're meeting the requirements in a strong and strategic way. It would be unfortunate if a person giving you feedback suggests, for example, "Why do you have a broader impacts section? You should remove it." Make their job easier by creating a clear summary of what the NSF-GRFP requires.
Read many successful applications. This is the best way to internalize what makes an essay stand out. When you read a personal statement, ask yourself, what about it convinces you that this person is (or will be) an excellent graduate student? Use these insights to guide your own work on your personal statement.
See Cientifico Latino's repository of fellowship application statements.
Search for your STEM field + “NSF-GRFP” to find others. The Cientifico Latino team does a great job of compiling resources, but there are many more resources available online that we may not even know of — maybe even uploaded examples of personal statements for your specific subfield!
Keep in mind the structure of the NSF-GRFP has changed over the years, so be sure to look at some recent statements!
Make sure also to read applications from folks who applied at a similar stage (pre-grad student, first-year or second-year graduate student).
5 weeks before the deadline (by September 22nd)
An outline will take you a long way!
By this stage, you should have contacted your letter writers (ideally the same ones you are using to apply to graduate school - if you are also using their letter for grad school apps, let them know this), or if not, do so ASAP.
It is always helpful to send your resume or curriculum vitae (CV) with your letter of recommendation (LOR) request, but particularly for LOR writers that you know less well or haven't spoken with in a while.
Give them 7 days to respond, then send a follow-up email. However, begin thinking of back-ups. Don’t hesitate to reach out to a 4th or 5th LOR writer. NSF-GRFP allows for up to 5 letters, but only the top 3 will be considered.
Once someone has written a letter for you, it’s much easier for them to do it again. More letter writers can come in handy in the future (e.g., if they have different perspectives on you, or if one of your LOR writers is unable to do so in the future).
Start drafting your personal statement. Set aside time (or a day) to complete a rough draft. Look at successful statements for structure and content. You will want to be able to put this down and come back to it with fresh eyes, so get a draft down soon. Don’t be afraid to “word dump” — leave the editing for later!
Think about your aims for your research proposal. What is the larger research question? Aims should be logical building blocks to approaching your question. Consider the type of data you would hypothetically generate for each aim. Does it make sense to answer your question? (Without getting overly technical) Is it feasible? Talk about it with a scientist outside your lab. Are you able to communicate your project and its motivation to someone outside of your field? Do they understand what and why you're pursuing your question? Why did you choose these aims?
Make it about fundamental, basic science. If your project is currently translational or disease-oriented, what are the underlying systems that your experiments will tell us more about? What other systems do they intersect with beyond that specific disease? A disease can also serve as a model for revealing fundamental truths. Focus on the basic science underlying your research, but also feel free to mention translational applications to provide the reviewer with context on the research's importance.
If your research applies to multiple fields, carefully choose which one to apply to. You can be strategic about this in a way that will help your application (some fields have less applications, so a better chance of being awarded). Consult your PI.
Think of people you'd like to ask for feedback. The more the better — from diverse fields and backgrounds is a plus! The only way you'll know if your materials are coming across well is by having people read them.
Check in with them ahead of time if they are open to reading your research proposal and/or your personal statement (ask if they’d be open to reading both, or give them an option to read just one).
Ask your PI, mentors, postdocs, graduate students, science friends, non-science friends, etc.! Current NSF-GRFP fellows in your program can also be a great resource.
Check if your school has a writing center or fellowship coaching. Writing centers sometimes have specific science writing help! Even if they don’t have a science-specific person, keep in mind that they might not be aware of the expectations of a science personal statement. Still, they will be able to tell if you are communicating your ideas effectively.
4 weeks before the deadline (by September 29th)
Now is the time you should be fleshing out the details of your personal statement and proposal!
Proposal aims. The strongest proposal aims (and experiments in general), are often designed with possible results in mind. Some experiments can be successful without any idea of potential outcome, but most aren't. The better you have possible outcomes in mind, the better the experiment can take into account proper controls, and also contribute to a cohesive and convincing research direction. Think about (and explain) what results you expect to see from each aim? How will your experiment support or reject a hypothesis? In the event of each outcome, how will the information you gain help inform the following aim?
Making your personal statement into a narrative. The NSF-GRFP is interested in funding you as a person, rather than the project. Confidence is absolutely key to a successful application. If you lack confidence in your future, it is difficult for your reviewers to be confident in you. Even if you are not sure about what you'd like to do for your future career, you should convey a clear idea of what you intend your future career and impact to be (e.g., an easy one is to say that you ultimately want to be a PI — even if it’s not true, it’s a straightforward way to approach for the application). Frame your experiences in a way that demonstrates how they have prepared you both personally and scientifically for your future goals, as well as the impact you will have both scientifically and on your community. Ideally, your trajectory to where you are now and where you are going should seem inevitable.
Choose up to two or three research experiences. There is just limited space to explain exactly what happened at each of these experiences and how they are preparing you for your next step as a graduate student. It's important that each experience seems meaningful, not just that you have a lot of them. You want to flesh out the skills you’ve learned and how they will help make you successful as a current or future graduate student (soft skills count, too!).
The "hook". It's crucial to convey your passion for your science (and for your outreach). It should be convincing and genuine. This does not necessarily have to be in the form of a charming story (especially if you don’t have one). But it should convey why you love doing what you do. Explaining intellectually why something fascinates you is also great. “Show-don’t-tell” is a great philosophy to internalize for this application because it makes you a much more convincing applicant.
Outreach. As with research experiences, sometimes less is more. Focus on the most meaningful experiences you’ve had and how they lead to the impact you’d like to have in the future. Explain why you especially are poised to make an impact.
Getting stuck. If you get stuck on something, put it aside for now and move along! If a particular transition or argument continues to evade you, consider sharing your statement or proposal with a friend/colleague/mentor sooner rather than later. Let them know what you’re struggling with, see if they have any ideas, or if they’ll talk it out with you!
Using AI. The personal statement needs to be in your voice. Avoid using AI, or do so as little as possible. It’s not worth the risk of making your reviewer suspicious that they’re not reading something you actually wrote.
Read your essay out loud (it will be cringey). If something sounds off or is not in your tone, highlight that sentence and go back to it.
Consider only using AI later in the writing process. AI can be helpful while editing to reduce words and make writing more direct and succinct. This approach better preserves the writer’s voice than incorporating AI early on.
3 weeks before the deadline (by October 6th)
Get even deeper into the nitty-gritty of the writing!
Keep the personal writing (or anything flowery, poetic, or vague) to an absolute minimum. Even if it’s very honest/authentic, it likely deviates from professional scientific writing, which at its best is concise, persuasive, and direct.
Think about how your research and personal statements connect. The more cohesive the two are, the more you’ll stand out and the stronger your application will be. How can they support each other? Look for overlapping themes. Broader impacts are a good place to think about this. Consider also if you can connect your scientific research with your broader impacts.
Be clear and direct. Consider ending your first paragraph with a vision (stated as confidently as possible) of what your future career plans are, and why you are ideally suited for the task. The most convincing fellowships are from folks whose trajectory seems inevitable.
Less is more in making statements convincing. Avoid "laundry lists" of techniques, for example. Fewer things often make a stronger point.
Don’t give too much space to other people. Your words and vision are the most important thing here. Avoid quoting others or summarizing literature unnecessarily, and refrain from referring to any other research by name. If you were in a lab and supervised by a post-doc or graduate student, you only need to mention the name of the lab; you do not need to name your direct supervisors. If you cite references, limit yourself to only those that are strictly necessary. The reviewers know your space is limited.
Do not use jargon. Think of the NSF-GRFP as a game of science communication. Jargon and unexplained ideas and concepts are your worst enemies. You will not seem unintelligent for explaining something; instead, it will demonstrate that you really know what you're talking about. Unless it’s something broadly known by people in the field you are applying to, it’s better not to assume your reviewer understands something; otherwise, you risk alienating them.
Think of the NSF-GRFP as a persuasive argument (and make it as logical as possible) - for the proposal: that this project is necessary/important. The proposal is strongest when the logical flow of your argument and its rationale is clear to the reader. For the personal statement, you are trying to convince the reviewer that you are a talented, burgeoning scientist with the experience and drive to make an incredible impact!
Keep the intellectual merit and the broader impacts/community service parts of your statement relatively separate. You want to show that you excel in both independently. If they do connect, that is just extra icing on the cake! Use section headers (“Intellectual Merit”, “Broader Impacts” — if a reviewer is skimming, make it easy for them to find the content for each criterion. Underline sentences that really bring your point home or demonstrate that you meet the criteria of the applicant they are looking for.
Remember to HYPE YOURSELF UP! Proposal writing is always somewhat of a sales pitch for you and your ability as a scientist. Students from underrepresented groups tend to downplay their accomplishments. For many people, it's normal to feel a little bit "icky" while showcasing accomplishments. Don't be afraid to really show the committee the amazing things that you've done!
Addressing personal challenges. Describing personal challenges can be an important part of the personal statement. Spin it as a positive. How did these challenges make you a stronger scientist and a more prepared graduate student? These experiences make you unique, but how are these experiences actually your advantage? What perspective do you offer that others can't? How does your science benefit from your background?
2 weeks before the deadline (by October 13th)
Revise, polish, and get as much feedback as you can!!
Send your drafts to your letter writers! This is a great way to remind them that you’ll be expecting their letter of recommendation as well.
Tips on getting feedback
Be understanding if they can't do it or don't get to it (ask more people so you're not depending on only a few!)
Think about how you’ll keep your edits organized. Ideally, one person will read your essay at a time. When you send your material, ask them when it will be best for them to read it (this is considerate and it helps you time your edits!). If they take longer than they expected, let them know they can always contact you to request an updated version — feedback on an old essay version is generally not as helpful!
Be clear about the type of feedback you are looking for. If you're trying to cut down on words, let them know! If you're struggling to omit jargon and make research descriptions clear, ask a friend from outside of your field and let them know that they can tell you if they don't understand something.
FEATURED AUTHORS
Olivia Goldman is a Schmidt Science postdoctoral fellow in the SENse Lab at the University of California, Berkeley / HHMI, advised by Dr. Diana Bautista. She studies neuroimmune interactions that occur during virus-evoked headache. She completed her PhD at The Rockefeller University, advised by Dr. Leslie Vosshall, on chemosensation in mosquitoes, the deadliest animal to humans. She is co-founder of Cientifico Latino, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supporting underrepresented groups in STEM. She earned her Bachelor's from Barnard College of Columbia University. She is passionate about making science accessible to anyone curious.
John Lê
(he/him/his)
John Lê is a graduate student at Rice University in the Applied Physics Program, where he is also an NSF-GRFP and GEM Fellow. Before coming to Rice, he pursued a BA in Mathematics and Physics at Colorado College as a QuestBridge Match Scholar.
His research focuses on thin film oxides for energy storage. He is currently studying antiferroelectric materials and engineering different structures to increase their energy storage and pulsed power capacities.