The Royce Fellowship: An Overview

Considering the inevitably varied paths, in both course and kind of journey, by which students each year discover and partake in the Royce Fellowship Program, crafting a precise yet encompassing overview of the application process is, at the very least, a difficult task. In order to help us develop this component of the website, we asked past and current fellows for a few reflections on their decisions to apply to the fellowship, on the process of crafting a proposal, and on the reality of undertaking their projects once selected. What follows, then, is not an exhaustive breakdown of potential strategies or lessons learned, but a sampling of experiences shared by a few fellows over the years. For potential applicants, our hope is that this overview offers a different perspective on the application process, one outside of the standard overview of procedures and requirements.

Decision to Apply
Apart from having a tangible project in mind before the early second semester application deadline, there is no one set way that fellows have discovered and decided to apply to the program. For some fellows, preexisting collaborative relationships with faculty or staff were the essential catalysts behind developing and submitting a proposal. For others, the inspiration came from projects conducted, not with faculty, but with a current Royce Fellow. "I was working on a research project with a Royce Fellow. She knew I wanted to continue the work and felt that it would be a good Royce project. She described the program to me and convinced me it would be a wonderful experience."

Not all fellows, however, could share their project ideas with students or faculty involved in or familiar with the program. "My advisor and the majority of my friends knew nothing about the program, which made the application process a little harder." For these fellows, it was the opportunity to be supported in shaping and conducting their work that ultimately convinced them to apply. "Money was a big factor but, more than that, was the fact that I really believed that the program would allow me to be immersed in the project exactly as I wanted to be."

The Application Experience
Once the decision to submit an application is made, the nitty-gritty of researching information and assembling it in narrative form unfolds in myriad ways. For some fellows, the only difficulty crafting the proposal came in the page limitations imposed. "My proposal ended up being easy to write, as I was so passionate about the subject. It was hard to fit all that I had to say in five pages, and I wanted to communicate just how important the support of the Royce Program would be for both my academic development and the continued vitality of [the community I was working with.]" But for many, articulating the concrete shape and outcomes of the project in addition to the passion brought to the work was a more difficult task. "I had done plenty of preliminary reading and research and made contacts. However, the shape of my project was quite nebulous. I had a sense of the issues I wanted to address, but my specific research methods were vague, at best. In my proposal, I spent a lot of time discussing my personal connection to the project and the salient issues involved, but the nuts and bolts of the endeavor were very much up in the air." Because there can sometimes be too many undefined "nuts and bolts" in a given project and proposal, it is inevitable that many applications ultimately do not advance. This was the case for several fellows their first time through the selection process. "I left for a year off in September and the work continued via email and phone conversations. It was difficult to communicate with my partner and my advisor. There were delays and miscommunication and the result was a bulky, burdensome proposal." But although certainly discouraging, the months in between application cycles afforded these fellows the time necessary to clarify the shape and scope of the project proposed. "Over winter break my junior year, I spent a lot more time researching the project, making initial contacts, and writing up a better proposal. I'm definitely glad I applied again; perseverance, preparation, passion - those are the keys with this committee."

Getting Underway
Whether in a fellow focus or a newsletter article, many fellows have taken the time over the years to reflect honestly and publicly about the obstacles and opportunities presented by their projects. In addition to the responses received concerning the decision to apply to the program and the experience of applying, fellows also commented on the transition from imagining to actually undertaking the work proposed. If the project stemmed from an already existing partnership, there was often a necessary shift in its dynamic and nature. "I had worked via a GISP with the professor before, but the summer research was the first one-on-one research experience I had with him." But perhaps more important and more universal than a changing relationship with a faculty member was the change experienced in the fellows' own relationship to their goals and work. "I cannot think of another research project that I have spent more time on but, then again, neither can I think of another project that has been so rewarding. Sometime during the course of that research the project became my project." An exciting prospect, indeed.