• U.S. citizenship or permanent residency.
  
• A graduate degree in a relevant area (such as public health, demography, environmental sciences, international development, public policy, public administration, etc.), earned fewer than five years ago.
  
• Classroom, professional, and/or volunteer work demonstrating family planning/reproductive health and environmental experience.
  

Commitment: Your dedication to a career in population-environment should be clear from both your preparation for the field and the personal statement portion of your application.

Coursework: A degree in public health or natural resource management, while a great start, is not necessarily sufficient classroom preparation for a fellowship. Our reviewers look specifically at the courses applicants have selected within their degree program. These should demonstrate not only a depth of knowledge in at least one side of the PE equation, but also familiarity with the other side. So, for example, public health practitioners should have as many family planning and reproductive health-related courses as possible, but they should also have some foundational environmental courses on their transcript, as well.

The following resources are available to help you meet the Program's coursework standards:

1. The PEFP has compiled a course guide that lists relevant population, health, and environmental coursework at a variety of graduate institutions across the country. It can be requested by e-mailing popenv@umich.edu.
   
2. For candidates with a strong environmental background who seek an overview of the international family planning and reproductive health field, the Population Fellows Programs offer a two-week Summer Certificate Course on the University of Michigan campus. When combined with appropriate applied experience, this course can help applicants better balance their qualifications.

Experience: Though coursework is an important element of preparedness for a fellowship, it must be bolstered by relevant applied experience. Whether counseling at a local Planned Parenthood clinic or serving as a conservation volunteer in the Peace Corps, you should have paid and/or volunteer experience in both family planning and environment -- and should have experience working in the developing world.

Graduate students seeking additional applied experience may be able to acquire it through an internship funded by the Population Fellows Programs Graduate Applied Project Mini-Grants. Please see this section of our Web site for more information.

Skills: Host organizations are especially interested in candidates who bring highly sought skills to their placements. Skills in demand by host agencies include: participatory rural appraisal (PRA); geographic information systems (GIS); demographic analysis; ecological analysis; needs assessment; program design; evaluation; advocacy; training; and grantwriting, to name a few.

Though it is not possible to become an expert in each of these areas in the course of a two-year graduate degree, by becoming proficient in at least some of them, you will position yourself to be more competitive for a variety of PEFP scopes of work.

Language skills, likewise, are a critical element of competitiveness. Near-fluent speakers of French, Spanish, and Portuguese are regularly requested. Should you wish to increase your competency in one of these languages, we encourage you to tap your local university, community college, and private course offerings.

Finally, the most critical element of success in a fellowship -- as in almost any endeavor -- lies in the area of interpersonal skills. Flexibility, adaptability, professionalism, diplomacy, and resourcefulness are particularly important in prospective fellows.