Questions regarding the Goldwater scholarship

[Dreaming big]

Hi,

I know there are some people on here who have won the goldwater scholarship. I had some questions which I was hoping to have answered. My schools department which handles the goldwater said it is their first year and they don't have much information.

here are my questions, if anyone has any answers that would be great!

• Do case reports count as research for the award? I am currentely doing neurology research in a teaching hospital and have been a part of 2 case reports which will be published and maybe an article. Does clinical research have the same value as bench research? Does that count as research? Will that be a boost to my goldwater application?
• How much value do the letters of recommendation have? If I was to get a LOR from the doctor who I worked under, would that be ok?
• What does the selection committee look for in LOR? Are there specific qualities they are looking for?
• I am also doing research in a regular undergrad lab. I might get a textbook co-authorship or case study. Would that be a benefit to my application?
• Are the essays very important? Can anyone post the essay questions from previous years? I cannot access application yet and wish to pre-write them

Does anyone else who's been through the process have any advice on what do to and how to be the best possible candidate?

Thanks in advance!🙂

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[AuH2OScholar]

Question #1: I have no idea

Question #2 and 3: They require 3 letters of recommendation, and I think they require at least 1 that has mentored you for research.And yes, they are extremely important. There aren't specific questions that need to be addressed, but they should speak to your intellect and ability to do transformative research in the field (potential and whatnot)

Question 4: Yes, any and all research is important since that's what the goldwater is all about

Question 5: Again yes they are important, they wouldn't require you to write essays if they weren't important. The prompts, at least from previous years, were:

What are your professional aspirations? Indicate in which area(s) of mathematics, science, or engineering you are considering making your career and specify how your current academic program and your overall educational plans will assist you in achieving this goal.
Describe an activity or experience that has been important in clarifying or strengthening your motivation for a career in science, mathematics, or engineering
Goldwater Scholars will be representative of the diverse economic, ethnic, and occupational backgrounds of families in the United States. Describe any characteristics or other personal information about yourself or your family that you wish to share with the selection committee
And you also need to write a research proposal.
The only suggestion I can give is to work closely with the faculty member for the research proposal, since it requires significant time to write a good one. It'll require time and effort for a good application, but it's worth it since you can use your responses later for personal statements.
Remember, this is a research based scholarship, so you need to demonstrate that you really want to pursue research.

 

[NickNaylor]

Last year I "won" a Goldwater honorable mention, so I think I can give some tips.

Case reports can probably be considered as research, however you have to remember that the Goldwater is aimed at more traditional bench research. I doubt you'll get very far with a case report alone.

LORs are extremely important. REPEAT: EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. Get them from PIs or those that have supervised you in your research. I would also stick to science professors, since the Goldwater isn't interested in a breadth of experience. You need to be able to demonstrate that you're capable of scientific research, not research in general. Make sure that those you ask to write letters will write you an absolutely unqualified positive letter. The LOR should demonstrate a few things: your PI was impressed with your work, the PI believes you would make a fantastic scientist in the future, and your specific work in the lab was meaningful and somewhat independent. In other words, your PI needs to demonstrate that you understood what you were doing, could do it without constant help, and did it well.

Anything you include in your application will help, but I don't think this is what is quite being looked for. Again, traditional basic science is the key. Peer-edited journal publications are #1, followed by poster presentations, abstracts, etc.. That said, include everything you can related to your research.

The essays are very important, ESPECIALLY the research proposal. The other questions are fairly straightforward and shouldn't be too difficult. The research proposal should receive most of your attention. You need to be able to demonstrate that you can successfully use data from a project to ask new questions and propose experiments to further that research. Your proposal needs to be scientifically clear and well-written.

As the above poster said, work with your faculty member throughout the process. Since each school can only nominate four people, they should have plenty of time to go over your application (especially the essays) several times.

Good luck.

 

[afugazzi]

Remember that it is a scholarship for people who want to devote their careers to research. They used to (I'm not sure if this is still the case) make people who wanted to do MD/PhD write an extra essay explaining why the MD is necessary for your research career. Given this, and given the clinical nature of case reports, I would guess it wouldn't pull nearly as much weight as bench research. If there were a way to tie in (in your essay) the case report that you published with the future science you want to work on, this might be good. Of my three LORs, one was a physics professor and research advisor, one was just a physics professor, and another was a math professor I did an honors project with. Definitely pick science profs and try to get ones that can speak to your research potential (or maybe 2 that can speak to research potential, and the other that can talk about your brilliant mind and love of learning or something like that).

 

[Dreaming big]

First off, thanks for the replies. I do intend to go into a research field in medicine.

For my LOR's, I was thinking a science professor who knows me well, my science research advisor, and my clinical science research advisor.

As for tying in the clinical, maybe i could talk about something like transitional research, where it actually leads to applications of the research?

 

[afugazzi]

Transitional research sounds totally reasonable, but I really can't say for sure. Is there another college in the area that you could google for the undergrad awards advisor? Maybe you can shoot them an email with these, saying you are from a small school? Also, I think my advisor at school was able to email them and ask them questions for me, so maybe you could ask your advisor to email them and ask?

Those professors sound good.

 

[Dreaming big]

Unfortunately, there is not. I have sent some emails to others but no response. Thats why i turned to sdn

 

[afugazzi]

Unfortunately, there is not. I have sent some emails to others but no response. Thats why i turned to sdn

So you can't get your advisor to email these questions to the committee? They would definitely know best.