The most important resources for you as you research post-graduate public interest fellowship ideas are people: Vanderbilt's Public Interest Office and Career Services staff; professors who know you well; employers in the fields you are interested in; students and alums who have worked in those fields; and other contacts you have developed through your work experiences. Throughout your networking process, you should work closely with the Assistant Dean for Public Interest. They will advise you on when and how to reach out to fellowship funders themselves.
Finally, you should spend significant time consulting with the many excellent written resources on public interest employment and post-graduate fellowships, particularly the following:
The most important online resource for fellowship planning is also the online centerpiece of all public interest employment searches: PSJD. PSJD has a membership of more than 200 law schools and over 13,000 law-related public interest organizations. Because Vanderbilt is a PSJD member, Vanderbilt students and alums can use the site to search for summer and permanent jobs as well as fellowship opportunities. You must create a personal login to use PSJD.
To search PSJD for (a) fellowship opportunities and (b) host organizations that are looking to sponsor project-based fellowship applicants, take the following steps:
You can also narrow your search by practice area and location.
PSJD's Resource Center also includes several helpful documents to guide you through the fellowship search and application process:
Vanderbilt's Office of Career Services posts fellowship opportunities and host organization solicitations on Symplicity.
Yale Law School maintains a helpful overview of public interest fellowships that is available to the public.
