External Opportunities

University of Maryland graduate students have been highly successful in competing for fellowships awarded by outside agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, and the Ford Foundation. Even if you have a funding guarantee from your department, there are compelling reasons to apply for a competitive external fellowship.

• A competitive external fellowship is an honor that will stay with you throughout your career
• Distinguish your CV when you enter the job market.
• Clarify your thinking about your research and expose you to valuable feedback.
• Increase your flexibility in selecting advisors, choosing research projects, and conducting fieldwork.
• Help faculty support more students by bringing your own funding to a field.

Listed below are various funding opportunities external to the University. Deadlines vary.

SPINPlus Search System:  The university subscribes to the SPINPlus database that houses more than 40,000 funding opportunities worldwide. UMD faculty, staff and students can request a profile and then begin using the site free of charge.  Use SPIN to set up one or more sets of parameters, save your searches, download results, and set up email alerts.

UMD National Scholarships Office (NSO):  This office is located in Marie Mount Hall and they primarily support undergraduate students.  However, NSO does provide support for graduate students applying for the NSF GRFP, Fulbright, Ford Predoctoral Fellowship, and others.  Consult the NSO Graduate Student webpage for more information.

Students interested in being nominated for limited submission fellowships (Apple Scholars, Google PhD fellowship, etc.) should talk to their department to learn about the nomination process.