Fellowship information

Graduate School
1

<p>What kind of grades and extracurricular activities one requires to be nominee for a fellowship like Rhodes scholars/Goldwater/Fulbright etc? </p>

<p>Since College only nominate fewer students for these awards what one has to do besides achieving success in classroom.</p>

<p>Is it necessary to do volunteer work abroad?</p>

<p>Could a student substitute sports by personal exercises and thus show physical vigor by being involved in extracurricular activities that may add up to 35-40 hours a week besides academic course load? </p>

<p>Is it okay to take a not extremely hard course load but shine in extra curricular activities by showing passions in many different fields such as newspaper, political clubs, volunteerr work, muisc, research internships etc. ?</p>

2

<p>Looking at the internet profiles of previous winners is your best bet.</p>

3

<p>Goldwater winners ( I know a few) have both top grades and excellent hands on research experience. The scholarship is awarded based on future promise as a researcher.</p>

<p>The Rhodes and Marshall have similar requirements, which basically will be top GPA for the school, i.e. in the top 1% or so, excellent faculty recs from a variety of faculty, a diverse background, and such.</p>

<p>All these above also include essays/personal statements as a key component, so the ability to write well is critical. </p>

<p>Finally, the Rhodes and Marshall both include interviews as a key part of the selection process. Keep in mind there are only 32 Rhodes and 40 Marshalls each year. There are about 300 Goldwaters.</p>

<p>The Fulbright is much more diverse and is first and foremost a cultural exchange program, so top academics are less critical than an acceptable proposal.</p>

4

<p>Each major fellowship is a little bit different and looks for slightly different things in applicants. </p>

<p>The one constant is grades–generally, you need above a 3.8 to be competitive and most applicants, especially for the Marshall and Rhodes, have above a 3.9. The committees also look at the content of your coursework. Liberal arts majors (and, yes, this includes sciences) are best, and foriegn language coursework is very important. </p>

<p>The ‘in classroom’ stuff is really just a prerequisite though. Every decent applicant will have it. What gets you interviewed for these things is the other stuff you’ve been doing. There is no set path, but all your activities/achievements, along with your academic work, have to prove that you are someone who has the potential to tangibly improve the world. You need to have leadership positions in activities that relate to your academic interests, you need good internships, you need to be leading campaigns, you need serious academic achievements like published research. </p>

<p>The most important thing is that everything ‘fits’ together. For example, say someone is interested in democratization and civic participation. He/she should have majors that complement that interest…say political science and economics, or political science and a language. Maybe he could start an on-campus voter registration drive, maybe found an organization dedicated to furthering social justice issues, maybe study abroad and work as an election monitor in a developing country, and maybe have a published paper about voting methods. If this person were to write about these experiences in the essays, he/she would be a compelling applicant, much more so than, say, a Biology major who was editor of the school paper and President of a sports club. </p>

<p>A few words about the different scholarships: </p>

<p>The Truman is all about public service and civic activity…the applicant I described above would be perfect for it. </p>

<p>The Rhodes wants ‘well-roundedness’ more than the other scholarships. Being a Varsity athlete is a big advantage. </p>

<p>The Fulbright is very different, and probably shouldn’t be mentioned in the same category as the other ones. Grades are necessary for a Fulbright, but the extracuricular stuff is weighed somewhat differently. The most important qualifications are:
1. A well thought out research proposal, and contacts in-country that
are willing to help make it happen.
2. Proficiency in the language of the country in question.
3. Research experience. </p>

<p>The amount of work required to build the resume that will make you competitive for these scholarships is insane. You should never do all the work with the explicit goal of winning a scholarship, even if you are perfect the odds are incredibly low and dependendent on factors that are often out of your control. You have to really BE the person that the scholarships are looking for, and then maybe you’ll get rewarded.</p>