I can haz fellowship?

While I intended to do a lot of research this past week, I ended up spending a lot of time working on a funding application for next year (this is a slow process: you apply now for next fall's grants). Funding is very important (see below), and, unlike a lot of people, I actually kind of enjoy this process.


For those of you who have never written a scientific funding application, you pretty much write a lot about what you are planning to do, why you think it will work, and, most importantly, why that project (once you succeed) will matter in the grand scheme of things.

While day-to-day sciencing consists of a lot of frustrating details (why won't my code compile?!, for example), the fellowship game gives you an excuse to think about your work in a bigger context. And, after all, isn't this "big picture" the reason we do science in the first place?


That being said, I am antsy to make some new discoveries, and that means getting back to some details!


As promised, here is why it's important to win the fellowship game. The results here are stated for a typical physics graduate student at Berkeley. Results vary by department and by school.



If you do not win the fellowship game,
You will spend 20 hours/week teaching undergrads, in exchange for which the department will pay your tuition, and give you a salary that is just barely enough to pay for food and rent. Not too bad: you won't starve, or have to live on the street, and you get about 1/2 of your "work-time" (40 hours/week, right?) for research towards your thesis.

If you win the fellowship game,
You will not have to do any teaching. You may still choose to (and reap the financial rewards, in addition to your fellowship), and you can choose between 10 or 20 hours/week if you do want to teach. Even if you don't teach (which yields extra $$), you will be paid 25-75% more than your non-fellowship colleagues. You will also have around twice as many hours/week to work on your thesis project, meaning you will likely graduate sooner than they will. Graduating earlier is good because people hiring scientists will think you are smarter (when, really, you just happened to win this fellowship game).