Just do it- grad school edition

By Serina DeSalvio

At the end of last semester I did something crazy- or at least, by my standards, it was crazy.

I applied for a fellowship.

This fellowship works like an internship. It’s in the field I plan to pursue after grad school, it’s notorious for opening doors for people with interests like mine, and it’s built for grad students. So you might wonder- what  makes this crazy, and why didn’t I apply sooner?!

The crazy part is, I work in agriculture, and this is a summer internship, which would mean I’m away from my research during the busiest time of the year. That’s also the short answer for why I didn’t apply sooner, there was simply not a summer I could miss in the past.

Until now.

I’m in my final year of grad school, and knowing that this summer would be a slower, writing-centric summer for me anyway, I figured I would finally give it a shot and apply for this fellowship I’ve been eye-balling since I started graduate school.

I didn’t tell anyone at first, either- I didn’t need letters of recommendation so I didn’t ask for any from professors, I was so nervous I would get desk rejected I was afraid to even mention it to my friends. But I knew that if I didn’t at least put my application in, I would always wonder what would have happened if I did.

So on December 21st , 2023, I submitted my application for the fellowship of my dreams.

And last week- I found out I’m a semi-finalist for it!

Once I found out I was that far along in the process, I told my coworkers and my PI and they were so much more supportive than I ever could have imagined. I told my friends and my family and the amount of positive feedback I got was more than I ever could have guessed- no one asked me anything disparaging about why now, or what might happen while I was gone, or anything else to deter from my enjoyment of this little milestone.

All of this to say- if it scares you, makes you shaky, nervous, excited- you need to do it. Whatever negative thoughts you have about your goals- no one else is thinking them, except you. So get out of your own way! Apply for the fellowship, the internship, or write that paper, submit it to THAT journal- you got this. Go do it!