GRFP application materials
My own funded 2026 NSF GRFP essays, shared as samples.
Graduate school application materials
The statements from my own successful PhD application, shared as samples.
moth wick
Hi! My name is Katya Koulakova, and I am a neurobiology PhD student at Cornell and a 2026 NSF Graduate Research Fellow. My path here was anything but linear: applied physics, an engineering job, and several years as a neuroscience research assistant at NYU before I entered a PhD program. What all those applications taught me is that the rules for compiling them are almost never stated. Through moth wick, I make these rules explicit — so you can spend your time on the application itself instead of on decoding it.
Contact me at katya@mothwick.com
moth wick is an independent service. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Cornell University or the National Science Foundation.