Fellowships

FAQ


What happens if I miss the advertised deadline?
How does a Fellowship differ from a Value-Added Internship?
How does a Fellowship differ from volunteering?
What is a capacity-building project?
What is an underserved community?
Can I apply without having a community partner in place?
Who should my Fellowship supervisor be?
Where can I do a Fellowship project?
When can I do a Fellowship project?
How much is a Fellowship stipend?
Can I work with a friend on my project?
Can I apply for more than one Fellowship?
Can I get help to develop my Fellowship idea?

What happens if I miss the advertised deadline?
If you miss the advertised deadline, you may submit a wildcard application by the wildcard deadline approximately one week later (see schedule for details).

However, we will accept a very small number of wildcard applicants, so your chances of being selected are much greater if you apply in the first round.

How does a Fellowship differ from a Value-Added Internship?
Value-Added Interns typically work within a community organization, have a lot of contact with the organization’s staff, and can expect to learn a lot about how the organization functions. Internship projects are often quite closely defined by the community organization, although students can propose their own internship ideas.

Public Service Fellows typically work more independently, functioning as collaborators or consultants for the community organizations they are serving. They are likely to spend less time with the organization’s staff, but each Fellow must have a supervisor who commits to provide general support and advice for their project. Fellows typically take the lead in defining their projects.

Both Public Service Fellows and Value-Added Interns are required to build-capacity for the communities and organizations that they serve.

How does a Fellowship differ from volunteering?
In a nutshell, volunteers don't get paid!

Volunteers usually work only a few hours a month for a particular organization, and give their time for free. A Public Service Fellow works intensively full-time on his or her project for a number of weeks or months, and receives payment for this work.

Volunteers often perform a particular direct service, such as serving food at a homeless shelter, many different times without having significant input into how the task is organized or implemented. Fellows, in contrast, have ownership of projects that they shape to fit their own particular interests and skills. However, as Spiderman's Uncle Ben once told him, "With great power comes great responsibility." Each Fellow is responsible for developing and implementing a substantial capacity-building project during their Fellowship period.

What is a capacity-building project?
All Public Service Fellowships must build capacity for an underserved community, community organization, or non-profit. By 'capacity building' we mean a project that results in long-term, sustainable benefit for the community. Capacity building can be contrasted to 'direct service,' in which volunteers provide services that help an individual or community in the short term, but provide little or no lasting benefit for the community.

This distinction can best be explained by example:

Teaching science to minority students at an educational summer camp: Direct service. Although the students benefit directly, the camp has not improved its ability to teach other students in the future.

Developing a curriculum to teach science to minority students at an educational summer camp: Capacity building. The summer camp staff will get long-term benefit from having improved teaching materials, and will pass this benefit on to many students.

Delivering supplies to a flood-stricken village in Central America: Direct service. Although these supplies are vital in the short term, they do not help the community to reorganize and better survive future floods.

Designing an early-warning system to give villagers advance warning of floods: Capacity building. With advance warning, the community can save people and vital supplies from the floods that are likely to hit them in the future.

Serving food to homeless people at a local shelter: Direct service. Although the homeless people benefit immediately from a warm meal and safe surroundings, the shelter has not improved its ability find food to serve.

Developing a food salvage system by which local restaurants donate unused food to the shelter: Capacity building. The shelter's long-term ability to feed its clients is improved, and valuable relationships with community businesses are established.

If you want to apply for a Fellowship, but aren't sure that your project idea is 'capacity building,' come and talk to us and we'll help you develop your idea in the right direction.

The Public Service Center has a number of direct service programs and opportunity-finding resources. Applicants to the Fellowships program, however, must be proposing to work on capacity-building projects. Please talk to us if you are not sure that your project fits this criterion.

What is an underserved community?
We use this phrase to mean a group of people who lack particular resources that are commonly accessible to others. These might be teachers who lack engaging classroom materials; villagers without clean-drinking water; high-school students who are unaware of their opportunities for college education; islanders who want to develop ecotourism, but are unsure how to go about it; etc.

Fellows may work directly in the community, or with a community organization or non-profit that is working to improve the lives of community members.

Can I apply without having a community partner in place?
For all Fellowships, applicants must collaborate with an underserved community or community organization to develop a project and work plan before submitting an application. All applicants must submit a letter of support from the community they will be working with or from a supervisor who is familiar with that community.

The better the collaboration between student and community partner, the more likely we are to award a Fellowship.

Who should my Fellowship supervisor be?
Each Fellow needs to have a supervisor to oversee and evaluate their work, deal with any problems, record and submit their hours, and report regularly to the PSC staff. Your supervisor must be a responsible person who is knowledgeable about your project, and able to meet with you regularly and guide you in doing the work and keeping to schedule. If you are unsure about finding a suitable supervisor, please come and talk to us.

Your Fellowship application should include a brief profile of your supervisor and how you plan to work together.

Where can I do a Fellowship project?
Almost anywhere! Fellowships may be undertaken in the Cambridge area, elsewhere in the US, or across the globe. If you are considering international work, please take a look at the MIT travel advisory website to see if there are particular dangers or travel restrictions associated with the country you have in mind: http://web.mit.edu/scholars/advisory.html

When can I do a Fellowship project?
Most Fellowships take place during the IAP or summer semester breaks, but some Fellows work during the semester.

Preference is given to projects with potential for significant community benefit and sustainable outcomes, and these typically require substantial time commitments.

For summer Fellowships, we expect a minimum of 6 weeks full-time or 8 weeks part-time work, and a maximum of 12 weeks full-time or part-time work.

For IAP Fellowships, we expect a minimum of 100 hours work, but preference is given to full-time four-week projects. The maximum length of an IAP project is 4 weeks.

For local semester-time Fellowships, we expect a minimum of 5 hours a week and a maximum of 20 hours a week. We welcome applications that combine service projects with other work that students are undertaking — for instance, a student studying abroad for a semester can combine this with a Fellowship project undertaken in their spare time.

How much is a Fellowship stipend?
All applicants must submit a budget outlining their financial needs for the internship and any other secured or potential sources of funding. The selection committee will determine the amount of funding provided on a case by case basis – there is no set funding amount.

Fellowship funding is intended primarily to support the living and travel expenses of the students involved.

Funding decisions will take into account the potential impact of the proposed work. We are unlikely to fund short-term projects with high expenses.

Students who need to travel to their Fellowship sites may request part of their funding in the form of travel tickets purchased by the PSC from an MIT-approved travel agency. Other Fellowship funding is made available by check in advance of the project. Students receiving this funding commit to carrying out their proposed project, reporting weekly to the PSC during the course of their Internships, and submitting any requested post-Fellowship reports, evaluations, photos, and presentations. Any student who receives Fellowship funding but does not complete these requirements may be asked to repay a portion of their funding and will be barred from future funding by the PSC.

The aim is for Fellows to be resourceful and do as much as they can with the equipment and supplies that are available through their host organizations or the communities they are serving. If additional supplies are needed for Fellows’ capacity-building projects, they may apply for PSC Grants to cover some expenses for items such as prototyping materials, ground transportation, printing and binding, etc. Grants requests must be submitted in advance of making any purchases. Will we not consider retrospective grant requests.

Can I work with a friend on my project?
Yes. There are three options for working with other students on Fellowship projects:

  • Two or more people can agree to split the funding and workload of a relatively small project.
  • Two or more people can plan to work full time together on a larger joint project and each apply to receive full funding.
  • Individuals can apply for group Fellowships and ask to be matched with team members by the Fellowship staff.

It should be clear from your application that you intend to work with someone else on the project. Be sure to explain why you think a joint project is advantageous, which of the above options you are interested in, and what each person's role will be. Indicate whether you would consider doing the project alone if only one person is accepted.

Each person will need to submit a separate, personalized application. The selection committee will select team members based on their individual merits so there is no guarantee that people who apply together will be accepted together.

Can I apply for more than one Fellowship?
Yes. You can submit as many applications as you like, but you will need a separate application for each project you propose. Please note that the application guidelines for individual and group projects are different.

Can I get help to develop my Fellowship idea?
Yes. You are always welcome to come and talk to us about your Fellowship ideas. The earlier you come and see us before the application deadline, the better.