The Fall Fellowship Application Development Program offers deadlines and writing support to assist students in completing fellowship applications during the fall semester. If you need help identifying a fellowship, please review our resources for finding funding. The program is free and flexible.
Eligibility
University of Arizona students applying for graduate and post-doctoral fellowship opportunities are eligible to participate.
Update on Program as of October 2025
Due to the changes in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) announced on Sept 26, we are adapting our Fall Fellowship Application Development Program.
First Year Graduate Students: Only first year graduate students are now eligible to apply for the NSF GRFP. The applications are due beginning the week of Nov 10. We strongly encourage all eligible students to apply. Because this change was only recently announced, we recommend first-year students take advantage of this change. Please sign up for our NSF GRFP application program to receive examples and advice.
Second Year Graduate Students: For second year students who were planning to apply for the NSF GRFP and are now ineligible, we encourage you to talk with your advisor about alternatives and search the available databases. In addition to the options your advisor suggests, consider the following awards as alternatives to the NSF GRFP:
- National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program (NDSEG)
- DoD Scholarship for Service (SMART)
- Graduate Education for Minorities (GEM) Consortium Fellowships:
- Graduate Fellowships for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Diversity
- Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (as of 10/3/25 not yet announced for 2025/26)
- Micky Leland Energy Fellowship Program
- NASA Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) (as of 10/3/25 not yet announced for 2025/26)
- NASA Space Technology Graduate Research Opportunities (NSTGRO) (as of 10/3/25 not yet announced for 2025/26)
Program Components
To participate in the program,
- If you plan to apply to the NSF GRFP, please fill out the enrollment form for that program. For all other awards, fill out our general enrollment form to register. We ask that you discuss the program with your faculty advisor or mentor prior to enrolling.
- Attend the fellowship workshops that will be most beneficial for you.
- Fill out the request for access to successful examples of applications prior to October 24, 2025.
- Make an appointment with the Graduate Writing Lab to get feedback on essay drafts. You may submit to one or both deadlines. We recommend that you submit early. If the Graduate Writing Lab is full, please schedule an appointment with the THINK TANK Writing Center.
If you are interested in additional grant and fellowship writing experience, contact us about our Grant and Fellowship Writing Certificate.