How competitive is admission to the DSSG summer Fellowship program?
rayid2019-11-17T23:40:45-06:00Typically, we get 600-1000 applications for 24-40 positions
Who should my recommenders be?
rayid2019-11-17T23:31:10-06:00Your recommenders should be the two people who know you and your work best. This can be your advisor or professor, or your work/research manager. It is not necessary that they are faculty members at your university, but we recommend getting letters from people that can comment on your academic background, practical skills in data [...]
Can I change my recommenders?
rayid2022-01-24T23:47:01-06:00If necessary, yes. Please do the following: 1) Send the link to the new reference. 2) Send us the name of, contact info of, and your relation to the new reference at dssg at datascienceforsocialgood dot org. 3) Send us the name and contact info of the reference you'd like to remove at dssg at [...]
How specific should the project proposal be?
rayid2016-06-05T01:15:08-05:00We'd rather you give us a few project ideas than one detailed, specific, project proposal. We can then work with you to better understand the potential projects to select the one that best fits the fellowship.
What if my recommendation letters come in after the deadline?
rayid2018-01-31T15:39:25-06:00Any recommendations submitted after the deadline will be added to your application, but reviewers can only take into account information available to them at the time of review so we highly recommend you ensure your recommendations are in before the deadline.
Can you give me an update on my application status?
rayid2018-01-26T17:35:44-06:00We will communicate your application status in several emails leading up to the application deadline to inform you whether we are still missing parts of the application or recommendations. Once the application deadline has passed, we review applications using a rolling process. The review period is an extremely busy time for us, which is why [...]
When will I find out if I was admitted?
rayid2026-02-16T15:14:20-06:00Once applications close, we will start the rolling review process to get back to you in 1-2 weeks for an interview, and by mid March with a final decision.
Are you only looking for tech and computer science geeks?
rayid2019-11-17T23:41:53-06:00No, not at all! We love CS geeks but in order to solve high impact problems, we need teams with a broad set of skills. We want people from all kinds of backgrounds including sociology, economics, public policy, public health, geography, physics, and chemistry. However, we do want you to have experience with programming, data [...]
Do I have to be a student to apply?
rayid2026-02-16T15:17:21-06:00Not necessarily but this is designed for current student or recent graduates. If you have finished a degree (undergrad, Masters, PhD) in the past couple of years, you should be ok to apply. We've had post-docs, as well as people in industry (recent graduates), and people in between undergrad and gradschool come as fellows in [...]