<p>So I figured with all the genius CCers on here, someone must have applied (maybe even won?) a Davidson Fellowship. It looks really intense, especially the science ones (I don't even understand a single word in some of those titles, lol). What it really reminds me of is a Jr. Noble Prize, for people under 18. I knew about this last year, and was a bit intimidated by it. Now I'm starting to think it can't hurt to try. </p>
<p>My passion is writing, so I was thinking I would apply for the Literature section. How difficult would you say doing the project is/ how much time does it require? What sorts of topics does it have to be (can it be fun, quirky fantasy/scifi stuff, or does the subject have to deal with serious, world issues or something?) I'm a bit at a loss at where to start. Has anyone gone through this process and would like to tell me a bit more about it before I jump into a project I don't really know that much about?</p>
<p>My daughter applied for the literature fellowship. We won’t know the results until July 15th. The Davidson people were very, very helpful. They said that they purposely do not give much guidelines for what they want in the submission so that you can make your own decision about what to submit. For instance, we were under the impressoin that all the writing had to fall under a certain theme - and it doesn’t. However, since we don’t know the results yet, we don’t know if what she submitted will do. She submitted a hodgepodge of writings. No theme, except for her love of writing.</p>
<p>There is a ccer who won for literature last year. Run a quick search for Davidson Fellowship and you should be able to unearth her name.</p>
<p>Wow that’s cool that she won. I am still amazed at how smart people are on CC</p>
<p>But now I’m sort of doubting whether I should try for the Davidson Fellowship. It seems like a productive thing to do (and the 1 in a million chance I could win lots of scholarship money is appealing :p) but certain aspects of the application such as having a professional mentor are making me unsure of whether I could even complete it :(</p>
<p>My son won a Fellowship in science, and the best part of the application process was actually interviewing yourself about your project and what it means on video. Just thinking of what questions others might have for you was a great exercise in thinking through the project itself. </p>
<p>The young lady who won in literature that year wrote about the death process of someone she loved, her reactions, and those of other family members, something of a psychological study. Others have written fiction, poetry, or a collection of works. If you have this finished in time, it seems like there is an award for writing you can also enter it into - maybe golden key or something?</p>
<p>Do pay attention to the age limits - you must me under 18 as of a certain date. Many put it off until Sr year, only to find they have aged out. </p>
<p>^ thanks, that was really helpful, and congrats to your son, he sounds like a genius.</p>
<p>Mostly I’m not altogether sure what I should write about, but I suppose I’ll just have to brainstorm. But I really want to try. I think I’ll start this summer, and see where it takes me.</p>
<p>I have a question about this too. So if I did research over the summer with a mentor (science), how independent would the work have to be? I’m not completely sure what they’re looking for, but it was my first time in a lab, and so I did get alot of assistance. It was technically independent research…but I definitely had ALOTT more help than the grad students in the lab…
If someone who did apply/get it could tell me exactly how independent their work was, I would really appreciate it. </p>