Guidelines for Fellowship Essay Conferences

Time permitting, your IEFP fellowship advisers will be happy to read and advise you about your fellowship essays. The following guidelines will help make the essay conferences more productive.

It is always best to send your drafts a few days ahead of any scheduled conference, whether it is a phone conference (often necessary during the summer) or an office appointment. To schedule an appointment, call 203-432-8685.

When sending drafts of fellowship essays, resumes, or lists of activities and awards as attachments, please use the following format to label your documents:

Last name.competition.list or statement or study

For example:

Jones.rhodes.list (for drafts of the Rhodes list of activities and awards)
Jones.fulbright.statement (for drafts of the Fulbright personal statement)
Jones.marshall.study (for drafts of the Marshall program of study proposal)

Abbreviations are fine for people with longer last names. For example:

DeLaurentis.ful.state

Please format your essays in 12-point type; use 1-inch margins and 1.5 or double spacing.

Give your name, the name of the fellowship, and the date on the first line of your document. (It is also helpful if you can include a word count.) For example:

James Smith Mitchell essay draft (1,150 wds) date

Only send clean copy,not text marked with alternative versions.

IEFP should not be your sole source of advice on drafts of your essays. We are not experts in your field of study. Your faculty advisers should be an important resource for good advice on these essays. Ask your recommenders, the Graduate Fellowship Affiliate in your college, and perhaps your Dean, if they have comments or questions about your drafts. Also consider showing your essays to experienced people in other professions. These other eyes will help you see your essay the way Committee members will. Their comments will help you prepare for the kinds of interview questions your essay raises.

During the school year, the Yale College Writing Tutors are another source of helpful advice. They have worked closely with IEFP, have years of experience working with fellowship essays, and will give you a sharp, generalist’s perspective.