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Janice Eng, PhD

Professor & Associate Dean

UBC Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies

Canada Research Chair in Neurological Rehabilitation

How to make your scholarship application shine

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Have others review your application

Have a colleague or friend read your application

for readability / grammar/ typos

Do they get excited about the work or get the

sense of importance from the way you wrote it

Put together a scholarship writing club

Use peers to review different pieces from each other

once a week running up to the deadline

Invite a faculty member to provide tips at one of the

sessions

Get as many eyes on your application as possible

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Common Application Mistakes

Didn’t follow instructions

Training expectations does

not build on experiences

Does not market proposal

Does not market CV

Language not lay

Typos

Lack of details in proposal

Supervisor’s CV does not

show support for proposed

work (CIHR)

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Components

Transcripts – used to assess academic potential

Proposal – used to assess research potential

Training expectations/Personal statement – used to

assess research potential

CV - used for all components

Reference letters - used to assess all components but

especially leadership and personal characteristics

Most significant contributions – research potential

Academic potential (Transcripts, previous awards) and Info

from References weighted highly for Master awards.

Increasing weight on Proposal and Productivity

(presentations/publications) for Doctoral awards

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The Reviewers

Topics range from A to Z, multi-disciplinary,

different methodologies

One primary & one secondary reviewer

Likely not experts in your topic

Lots of reviews and little time

Your neighbour

should be able to

understand your

application and be

excited about it

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What are reviewers looking for?

Candidates are expected to have an

exceptionally high potential for future research

achievement and productivity.

Potential for important contributions &

independent research.

Do not apply if you are truly not competitive –

takes a lot of work and time

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Be clear and specific

Write short sentences and keep it simple.

“My main objective is to identify critical

regulators of [….]. To attain this objective, I have

three specific aims. These studies will define the

role of [protein] in [biological activity].”

Use strong, active verbs, such as “is” and “will”.

“These studies will enhance our understanding

of the biology of…”

“To identify molecular regulators of axonal

guidance, I will...”

“The research is designed to…”

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Be clear and specific

Use transition words.

“Furthermore”, “Additionally” and “In contrast”

Minimize the use of acronyms.

Use all space provided!

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Transcripts

GPA is considered, but reviewers also

consider:

Courses and load taken

Grade relative to class average if reported

Program and university

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Proposed Research (typically 1 or 2 pages)

Must be easy to read and explain technical terms

Objectives / research hypothesis provided

Project fits your background but challenges or extends your skillset

Needs to be ‘stand-alone’, easy-to-read, and to capture the interest of reviewers and show potential for impact.

“Do-ability” (describe time frame, resources)

Fit between project and the supervisor's research program

Your role

Developing algorithms, collecting data, write and publish manuscripts, present data at conference

Must be detailed, not vague

Comment complaint: “Not sure what they are going to do”

“I’m not convinced this is feasible”

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Headers are helpful for proposals

Background:

Why is this needed?

Purpose and Hypothesis:

Methods Research design

Sampling/Subjects/Theory

Measures

Analysis strategy

Limitations

Significance/Impact:

Role of candidate:

Qualitative studies

might use alternative

headings such as

Theoretical context,

framework for

analysis

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Training Expectation/Personal statement

Logical description of experiences that contributed to development of interest in research

Must show that each experience logically builds and leads to next experience and has benefit to your development as a researcher

Introduced to research as a summer student (acquired skills in…)

Exposure to practical challenges in industry/work/4th year (acquired skills in ….) led to an interest in research

Led to Master's program where the candidate developed an important research topic, developed expertise in XXX and presented early results at conferences. Mentors strongly encouraged to continue to Doctoral program to develop complementary skills in…and address research gaps in...

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Training Expectation Fit with supervisor (why him/her) and research

centre/department

Unique skills that you will gain from the supervisor/research centre and how they will complement your prior experiences

if a supervisor CV is required (CIHR), it must reflect the type of work you have proposed

Future goals

Over next two years (MSc), I will undertake…..I hope to continue with PhD studies with someone like Dr. X from…

Over next 5 years (PhD), I will undertake.. ..I hope to continue with post-doctoral studies with someone like Dr. X from.. And then develop an independent research career focused on..

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In your training expectation, you can tell of any

related experiences. I did a 4th year directed study

which involved reviewing the literature and this led

to my interest in graduate studies…..In one of my 4th

year courses, I had opportunity to study….and

developed a passion for this field and received the

highest mark. I acted as a teaching assistant and

assisted in integrating research concepts within the

classroom…I worked in the area of .. And it was

evident that there our decisions were not based on

research or evidence and this led me to … I worked

as a worklearn student in a research lab where I

learned…

What if you have minimal research

experiences?

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References/Sponsors

Used to judge characteristics and abilities of the candidate

Often a large weighting of a Master application

Helps to corroborate your points on leadership and research impact

Typically free-form letter or letter and ratings

Get instructions for referee letter so you know what info to feed your referees

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Sample Reference Requirements

To help explain your ratings, provide specific examples of the

candidate's behaviour with respect to each characteristic in Part

A: Critical thinking; Independence; Perseverance; Originality;

Organizational skills; Interest in discovery; Research ability; and

Leadership ability.

A CV is not sufficient to answer these questions

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Selecting your referees

Select sponsors carefully

Need to describe you well, provide them with CV

Provide them with text summarizing accomplishments and examples to match what is asked for (if you have energy, then make 3 slightly different versions)

Give 6 weeks time to complete – Manage your referees!

Honest appraisal

Comments must match ratings

Ratings should be consistent

Examples are a must

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Leadership and community outreach

Typically this is extracted from the CV and referee report

Leadership activity is weighted much higher than participation activity

Activity can be work experience, project management, volunteerism

Describe and clarify your role

You helped at a foodbank- Did you help serve food or did you organize three volunteers as a team

You helped with highschool science career events – Did you develop the content, did you approach the school?

You are on the Chemistry Graduate Student Executive –Do you organize a conference or orientation events

Ideal if some of the reference letters corroborate these activities

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Leadership and community outreach

Leadership activity is weighted much higher if it is sustained and recent (last 3 years)

Prefer you regularly help at a foodbank, rather than a one-time event

You have helped a program about science careers twice a year for 2 years in a row

Leadership is weighted higher if there are activities from different aspects of life – e.g. leadership related to school (sit on committee or helped organized a student-led conference); leadership in the community (mentor in your church; volunteer coach for elementary school track team)

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CV and Common CV Tips

Common CV: Input data online for some CVs,

including some NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR

competitions, UBC Affiliated Awards, Vaniers

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Minimize redundancy and enhance clarity

Although you can put the same item in multiple places in a CV, especially the Common CV, this really irritates the reviewers

Select one category to put it in

Ensure all items have appropriate dates associated with it (list the date or duration of an award or leadership activity)

Ensure you preview the Common CV file as it may exclude items

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Reasonable interruptions and delays are taken

into consideration

Maternity/parental leave

Family illness

Relocation

Switch from teaching to research role

Gained experience in industry/hospital/real-life

Administration role

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CV Productivity

If they allow, and if there is space…

Define your role (either globally or for each paper)

“As the first author, I conceptualized the paper, collected and analyzed

the data, wrote the first draft with input from my supervisory committee

(80% contribution).”

“I took existing data, but developed the methodology for the paper, wrote

the first draft and completed the 2 major revisions required by the journal

we submitted to (60%).”

“As 3rd author, I contributed to the data collection and provided input into

the final draft (10%).”

Cite impact factor of journal or rank of journal if relevant to your field and

it helps your case

Emphasize importance of productivity if you think the reviewers might not

know to value it “In my field of XX, conference proceedings (..sole author

book chapter) are highly valued…

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Awards: Provide details

Tell them what the award was for

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Supervision versus Mentorship

It is rare in Canada that graduate students are allowed to “supervise” graduate students in their Masters or PhD

However, I have seen this allowed in European universities and the professor confirmed in their reference letter that the PhD student was truly on a Masters thesis committee

Usually supervision of undergraduate or mentorship of Masters students should go in the Mentoring section, not Supervision section of the common cv

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Activities

Ensure activities have sufficient title, details and dates to

convey the duration of your activity and level of

participation/initiative/leadership

Use each activity to convey leadership and initiative if relevant

For example, for a teaching assistant experience documented in

the teaching activities section, communicate if you helped revise

or implement new curriculum

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Questions