Application Advice

I have extensive experience helping peers with scholarship and fellowship applications. Here I've compiled my personal advice, my own successful applications of various things, and helpful links.

These are all to be used for inspiration and guidance only.
You are welcome to distribute advice pages with proper attribution.
Do not distribute application materials without authorization.
Honor system here people.

Advice on NSF GRFP Applications

From Fall 2020 - Fall 2021, I worked as a graduate consultant for the University of Arizona GRFP Application Development Program. As an undergrad at the University of Texas, I worked as a consultant at the University Writing Center for three semesters, helping folks improve their writing on all kinds of writing pieces, of which maybe 50% were applications for scholarships or programs. I’ve developed a toolbox of common advice and feedback throughout all these consultations.

Grad School Application Advice

Here I have compiled my advice and takeaways from my graduate school application and decision making process, as well as my successful application materials (ones that resulted in offers).

NSF REU and Award Application

Above writing advice is applicable to these applications as well.

Stuff I've made!

Grad School Resources

The Student Veteran Research Network Links page has a huge collection of all kinds of useful links.
Some things to consider when considering a grad program
A great tweet thread on writing a statement of purpose. A PDF of the tweet thread.
List of Astronomy, Planetary Science, and Physics US grad programs and their status on the GRE and Physics GRE
A website of resources and blog about women in STEM by Sarah Rugheimer.
List of internships for non-US undergrad students
Astrobites grad school guide
A tweet thread by Dr Caitlin Casey on astronomy undergrad summer research programs.
A compilation of questions to ask when visiting a prospective graduate program.
GRFP advice by Dr. Taylor Hutchison
An excellent blog post about inquiring about grad school research positions and contacting potential advisors, by Jacquelyn Gill.
Advice from Miles Currie on astronomy grad school applications.
More grad school application advice
My Notion collection of useful tweet threads ; How to use Save To Notion to make your own

Library Management Resources

Zotero is the best library management tool. Here is my blog post about why!
15 Zotero tutorials by Mushtaq Bilal
Litmaps: find papers that connect to papers in your Zotero library; from this tweet.
Connected Papers: find papers that connect to papers in your Zotero library.
Research Rabbit: find papers that connect to papers in your Zotero library.

Funding Resources

Woody's Stars, The foundation supporting students in STEM started by my friend Charity Woodrum in honor of her late son Woody.
ProFellow fellowship finding tool.

Writing Resources

Using reverse outlines from University of Wisconson Writing Center
The "Uneven U" form paragraph structure
How to write a great research paper by Simon Peyton Jones
How to craft a well-argued proposal by Dr Julianne Dalcanton.
5 common writing mistakes by Jacquelyn Gill.
Manuscript flowchart from This thread by Dr Asma Jabeen
Writing resources by Raul Pacheco
Tweet thread on writing compelling introductions by Peter Gao

Doing Good Academia

Note taking techniques by Raul Pacheco
Writing literature reviews by Raul Pacheco
Better Poster 1 by Mike Morrison
Better Poster 2 by Mike Morrison
The "Good Talk" Talk by Natasha Batalha and Emily Martin
Tweet thread by Nicholas Coles about good talk practices
Tweet thread about using color in presentations
Tweet thread about using fonts and typesetting in presentations

Coding Resources

Intro to Astro python coding bootcamp course specifically for astronomy by Howard Isaacson at UC Berkeley
Code/Astro 2021 workshop materials by Sarah Blunt, BJ Fulton, and Jason Wang. Instruction on good coding practices, open-source software design, publishing a package, and much more. You should also REALLY sign up for the next course. Information here
Peter Smith's blog with tutorials on jazzing up plots with matplotlib.

Let me know if you have a link of valuable resources, I'm eager to collect more! Send me an email!

Header Image: Carina Nebula from JWST/NIRCam, source: NASA