Application Materials

The application process for scholarships, fellowships, and academic positions can be frustratingly opaque. I share some of my application materials (with corresponding outcomes) in the hopes that it may help to demystify the application process (while being a single sample representative of my extreme good fortune and privilege).

Fellowships during graduate school

NSERC CGS-M (2015): This application was unsuccessful at the department level link

NSERC PGS-D (2016): This application was unsuccessful at the department level link

NSERC PGS-D (2017): This application was successful link

Postdoctoral fellowships

Near the end of my PhD, I applied for ~20 postdoctoral positions, including 8 Junior Research Fellowships at Oxford and Cambridge and an industrial postdoctoral position. I had 6 interviews of varying levels of formality and received 6 offers. Most applications asked for only a CV and cover letter. The cover letter I submitted for my position at LANL is here link.

Applicants could only apply once for the NSERC postdoctoral fellowship when I finished my PhD (in 2019). I decided to apply in 2020 with a year of postdoctoral experience at LANL.

NSERC postdoctoral fellowship (2019): This application was successful (ranked 3rd in Mathematical Sciences) link