Fall is the big fellowship application season. It’ll start with the British scholarships (Rhodes, Marshall, Mitchell), then the Fulbright and the Watson, then a few more for the UK–St. Andrews, the Churchill, and the Gates-Cambridge–and then the NSF. And that’s all before Halloween.
These fellowships offer great opportunities for post-graduate educational funding and a few also contribute toward undergraduate education. Some, like the Fulbright, the Watson, and the Compton, provide for a year-long post-graduate experience, like a research project or an opportunity to teach English abroad.
How do you know if you qualify for a scholarship? Well, do some research. The fellowships that require Middlebury nomination are listed on our website: go/sfas . There’s also a link there to a much bigger database where we add all the opportunities we come across, and most of those you apply to directly. But the first trick is to find a good match between you, your objectives, and the scholarship’s mission and criteria. All these foundations have different kinds of students they look to support. The Churchill funds a year at Cambridge in science, engineering and mathematics. The Udall funds undergraduate students interested in environmental policy. The Jack Kent Cooke will fund any kind of grad program, including law and medicine, but you need to have demonstrated financial need as an undergraduate. The Watson wants creative projects. The Fulbright wants students who will make good ambassadors abroad. Many, but not all, have minimum GPA requirements, too. So review the scholarship’s selection criteria and look for ones where there’s a good match between you and the scholarship.
When should you start looking at competitive fellowships? There is no time like the present. Most of these are for seniors and recent grads, but some are for sophomores and juniors (look at the Goldwater, Beinecke, IIPP, Truman and Udall). And there is a real advantage to starting this process early in your undergraduate career–it will make you a much stronger applicant when your application time rolls around.
What should I do next? Get in touch with the fellowship advisor for your fellowship. You can find contact information on our SFAS website.
Upcoming topics: letters of recommendation and writing the essays.
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