Stanford
Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education

RAISE Application Information

Hear from current RAISE fellows at Stanford University reflect on why they would encourage other grad students to apply for the RAISE fellowship.

Please see the application link on the main RAISE Doctoral Fellowship page to access the application and to submit your application materials. Some of your questions might be answered in these Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

The application deadline is March 2024. 

1) Personal Statement: Why would you be an outstanding RAISE Fellow?

RAISE is a fellowship program intending to help doctoral students participate in purposeful engagement and public impact. Please share your motivations, interests, and potential contributions as a RAISE Fellow. 

In formulating your response, you might reflect on the following prompts, though you do not need to answer each independently: 

  1. What is your motivation and commitment to purposeful engagement and impact beyond the university? You could include specific examples of personal experiences, past or current public service, community organizing, leadership, or entrepreneurship.

  2. What would you hope to learn from your participation in the RAISE Doctoral Fellowship Program?

  3. What would you hope to contribute to and gain from your peers through the fellowship cohort experience?

  4. How might your background, experience, and/or proposed project pathway contribute to the diversity of the Fellowship program?

2) Social Impact Statement: How would you contribute to social impact as a RAISE Fellow?

RAISE Fellows have options to pursue sustained research partnerships or other partnership-focused engagements that help advance solutions to problems in our communities and society. Please provide a brief summary of your research and scholarship and your ideas about social impact. (The selection committee is composed of a range of scholars and practitioners, so please avoid the use of acronyms and specific terminology that might not be clear outside your academic discipline.)

In formulating your response, you might reflect on the following prompts, though you do not need to answer each independently:

  1. What is your area of scholarship and what are your areas of research expertise and/or interest?

  2. What is the community need, social problem, or public challenge that you aim to address, and how do you envision your scholarship, research, or project advancing solutions to meet those needs?

  3. Who are the kinds of partners you would like to engage with and how might your academic expertise, scholarship, research, and/or project benefit those partners? (Applicants are not required to have determined their partners before applying. Applicants can offer ideas on organizations they would be interested in partnering with and how they might engage them).

  4. How do you envision the RAISE Doctoral Fellowship’s training and experiential component aligning or integrating with your doctoral degree progress and career ambitions?

Your Personal Statement and Social Impact Statement should be no more than 1,000 words each (no more than 2,000 words total) and be uploaded as one PDF. 

Curriculum Vitae, resume, or brief bio

Please provide a current version of one of these documents to give the RAISE Fellowship Selection Committee more information about your education, experience, and interests. 

Faculty Endorsement and Letter of Recommendation

The RAISE doctoral fellowship requires an Endorsement from your primary advisor and a Letter of Recommendation. If you choose to have your primary advisor provide your Letter of Recommendation, insert their contact information into both sections.

Please note that the individuals you ask to submit an endorsement or letter of recommendation do not have access to your application. You may want to share your application materials with them so they understand your motivations and interests in applying for RAISE. Many faculty and other recommendation writers find this helpful in drafting a letter targeting the specific opportunity. Please enter the contact information in a timely manner so these individuals have sufficient time to respond before the March deadline. 

1) Faculty Endorsement

Please provide the name and email of your primary faculty advisor, who will be asked to affirm that you are making adequate progress towards your degree requirements and endorse your engagement in the RAISE Doctoral Fellowship Program’s training and experiences.

2) Letter of Recommendation

Please provide the name and email of the person you would like to write a letter of recommendation. This can be your faculty advisor, another Stanford faculty member or Stanford staff, undergraduate mentor or professor, or professional mentor/manager.

The individual you ask to submit a letter of recommendation will be asked to comment on the criteria that the RAISE Fellowship Selection Committee will use to evaluate applications:

  • Motivation and commitment: applicant exhibits compelling motivation and commitment to public service and social impact
  • Learning mindset: applicant exhibits curiosity and humility, especially in relation to partnership engagement
  • Diversity: applicant’s experience, background, discipline, and projects will contribute to the diversity of the fellowship program and cohort
  • Value add: the fellowship program is likely to contribute towards the applicant’s personal and professional development and doctoral degree progress