Tag: British

Gates Cambridge Application Now Open

Lisa Gates / / Fellowships, UK
Gates Cambridge Scholarships are offered to students who would like to pursue a full-time postgraduate degree at the University of Cambridge. The scholarship is open to students from most citizenship types.
 
Applications opened on 1 September 2015 for entry in October 2016. There are two Gates Cambridge application deadlines: 14 October 2015 (for US citizens resident in the USA) and 2 December 2015 (for all other eligible applicants).
 
Please follow this link for more inforamtion: https://www.gatescambridge.org/apply

Applications for Fall 2015 British Scholarships

Lisa Gates / / Fellowships

For those students and alumni continuing with the British scholarship nomination process (and this means you were interviewed by the British scholarship committee in April/May 2015):

I wanted to review instructions for our Aug 15 deadline for submitting your British scholarship application(s) for review for nomination. Please read through carefully.

1. If you have changed your mind and do not want to apply for any British scholarships in the fall 2015 cycle, please let me know that. In most cases, you can consider applying in future application cycles.

2. If you are applying for any British scholarship, please submit a polished working draft of the application with a copy of your advising transcript from Banner as a single PDF file. It is very important that this is a single file and that you make a single pdf file for each application. The only exception to this is if you are applying for a Marshall, Rhodes, Mitchell or Churchill AND the Keasbey; in that case, note that you are seeking nomination for the Keasbey still and we can use the Marshall, Rhodes, Mitchell or Churchill application for that nomination determination. If you are applying for the Keasbey nomination ONLY, you will need to submit a draft of the Keasbey application (at go.middlebury.edu/keasbey) and advising transcript as a single pdf file. Please label the file with your last name and the name of the scholarship, e.g. Gates_Marshall, Gates_Rhodes etc.

3. What you are not submitting now: letters of recommendation or official transcripts.

4. To make a copy of an online application, you may have an option to save as a pdf and use that. If not you can print to a pdf file.

5. For those of you who have been told you are being nominated for a particular scholarship, this application copy will allow us to provide feedback on your application (except for Rhodes and Mitchell, per their restrictions; however I will be happy to talk with you broadly about the application). For those who have provisional nomination or have been told we could not make a decision about nomination in May, this material will serve as the basis for our final nomination decisions.

​6. My goal is to have final decisions and feedback out to everyone by 9/2.

7. Remember, Gates Cambridge does not require any institutional nomination. So you may feel free to apply directly to that scholarship and talk w/ me about questions and essays.

Any questions, let me know. Lisa Gates will be out of the office 8/6 through 8/18, returning on 8/19. Colleen Norden will be in the office until 8/14, so can help with questions about process.

 

Rhodes Foundation Encourages 2nd BA as Option

Lisa Gates / / Fellowships

For students thinking about degree options through a Rhodes scholarship, the foundation continues to support second BA programs. This used to be a more common degree choice, and the foundation still feels it is an excellent choice, worthy of consideration. In choosing the second BA, students experience Oxford’s tutorial system–one of the institutions great strengths. The Oxford “MA” (Master of Arts) degree is awarded to anyone with an Oxford BA seven years after matriculation, i. e., five years after someone completes a two year BA with Senior Status, or four years after one completes a three year BA with Senior Status. All separately examined Oxford masters’ degrees are described as MSc, MStud, MPhil, Mlitt, MBA, MPP. Applicants thinking about a second BA should also have a potential graduate program in mind too, given the competitiveness in BA admissions. As always, degree choices are not a factor in selection as a Rhodes scholar.

Summer 2015 Notes for British Scholarship Applicants

Lisa Gates / / Fellowships, Graduate School Funding, UK

For those applying for a British Scholarship (Churchill, Gates-Cambridge, Marshall, Mitchell, Rhodes, Keasbey) in the fall, read on for notes to help you structure your work on applications.
I am around for much of the summer, but will be traveling too—so my ability to respond to you may be faster or slower depending on when you contact me. Contact me at fellowships@middlebury.edu or x3183.

Please note: The schedule below is organized around the competitions requiring nomination by Middlebury–and the nomination interviews already took place in late spring for the Fall 2015 application cycle. The Gates Cambridge is a direct apply fellowship. You do not need to be nominated to apply, but I am glad to talk with you about the process and discuss essays with you. There are other fellowships supporting study in the UK not discussed here, either because you apply directly (without nomination) or there’s a much later nomination deadline (St. Andrews). See list of UK ideas in earlier post, and also look at the Fulbright as another option.

Application Process and Timetable:
By July 1:  A. Confirm the program(s)/universities you propose to apply to and which faculty or program contacts are important for you to connect with. You will want to have conversations (typically done through email, sometimes phone) to discuss your research interests, how they align with faculty in the program, and be certain this is a program that will help you reach your educational objectives (and that you’re a good candidate for it). If you’re planning on pursuing research with a faculty member, you will need to talk with them about your interest and affirm their interest in having you join their lab/project. You will need to note this in your essays.
By July 15: Complete a functional draft research proposal and/or application essays. Share with me and relevant faculty/advisors for feedback. Don’t underestimate how much writing/revision is needed for these. They are short, but challenging. Note the Rhodes policy about feedback on the essay; you are much more restricted for the Rhodes. I am happy to advise you about the policy.
August 15: Turn in a solid, working application draft in PDF form for the fellowships you are seeking nomination for, as outlined in emails I sent to you following the nomination interview. If you are seeking nomination for the Keasbey ONLY, you will need to get a copy of the Keasbey application from the fellowship website; this will be made available within the next two weeks. If you are also applying  for nomination for a Rhodes or Marshall, we will use those application determine our Keasbey nominees. Committee members will review this draft, provide feedback and make final determinations about nomination status where that is still needed.
Early September: You will be notified of final nomination decisions. At this point, you should ask for letters of recommendation if you haven’t already. If you have already been told you are being nominated, you can ask for letters earlier, after you have confirmed the recommendation choices with me.
September through September 30 or /November 11: Work on revising and polishing application and essays. Marshall, Mitchell final deadline is October 1; Rhodes expected to be October 7; Churchill is November 10. Gates Cambridge to be confirmed–last year it was October 15 (Round 1); December 3 (Round 2).
The schedule above is intended to help you organize the different parts of the application. If you are confused about any details, please ask.