NSF GRFP: Craft Your Competitive Proposal for 2025
October 20, 2025
The Graduate School is hosting a series of sessions to help graduate students craft effective proposals for the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF GRFP), the applications for which are due in November. This year, graduate applicants must be first-year graduate students in their first graduate degree program with less than one academic year completed in the degree program.
In October, there will be two in-person peer review sessions for those interested in hands-on assistance. Students working on their proposals will sign up for time slots with current GRFP awardees who also received their awards as first-year students. Sessions on Wednesday, Oct. 22 will be held from 2-4 p.m., and sessions on Monday, Oct. 27 will be held from 12-2 p.m. All sessions will take place in 103 Mann Library.
Students who sign up for a time slot should plan to provide their peer reviewer with a draft of their application materials via email no less than 24 hours before their peer review appointment. In your email to your reviewer, please make sure you introduce yourself and let them know the time slot you are signed up for. We do not anticipate the peer reviewers having time to do an in-depth review of your materials before your appointment, as this is what the appointment is meant for. However, their ability to do an initial read of your materials before your appointment will help make your time with them more productive.
The Graduate School hosted a webinar about the GRFP program on Oct. 16 that included a panel of successful GRFP applicants. Students interested in accessing the slides from the webinar can email grad_academics@cornell.edu.
Graduate students interested in additional review are invited to workshop their proposals in one-on-one consultations with Graduate Writing Service tutors. Students are also invited to browse the GRFP proposal library via the External Fellowship Portal, hosted by the Graduate School, to read past successful proposals while crafting their own. Please note: You must be logged in with your Cornell NetID to access the essays.
- All reference letters: November 7
- Life Sciences: November 10
- Computer and information science and engineering; materials research; psychology; social, behavioral, and economic sciences; and STEM education and learning: November 12
- Engineering: November 13
- Chemistry; geosciences; mathematical sciences; and physics and astronomy: November 14