Reed College
Reed College

The Center for Life Beyond Reed

Boren Undergraduate Scholarship & Graduate Fellowship Internal Application Instructions

The Boren programs aim to support students who aspire to future careers in one of the many branches of the federal service. They are looking for:

  • a strong commitment and motivation toward careers in public service
  • a broad understanding of national security and challenges facing global society
In order to receive an institutional endorsement from Reed for your Boren application, you must complete the internal application process. For this internal process, you will register and complete the Boren's online application, but do not click submit for the internal deadline. In preparing your materials, please check out the Boren website for more details about the application as well as application instructions. Once you have a chance to look through the materials, and have a better sense of what you are still unsure of, please contact CLBR Fellowships with any questions.

Internal Deadline

To be decided.

Application Steps

Please complete your online application by the internal application deadline. You must complete the following steps to apply for Reed's institutional endorsement:

  1. Create an account and fill out the official online application via the Boren's website, including completion of the two essays and your study plans.

  2. Upload copies of transcripts to online application for Reed and up to two other colleges for which you have taken courses at. You may upload one multi-page file in PDF format, or each page in an image format (e.g. JPEG, PNG, TIFF). Transcripts may be unofficial.

  3. Upon the internal deadline, do not submit your application materials. CLBR staff will export your application materials from the Boren's application portal for review promptly after the deadline.

Letters of Recommendation

For the internal application, letters of recommendation do not need to be uploaded to your online application. Instead, you need:

  • Two informal letters of recommendation must be sent by your recommenders via email to clbrfellowships@reed.edu.
  • Recommenders should be people who know you well - this is far more important than their rank within their university/organization. Recommenders may be academic contacts who can speak to your academic, linguistic, and personal preparation for your overseas study or future career, or professional contacts from a job or internship relevant to your future career plans. They should not be family or friends.
  • Please note - Formal drafts of your letters will need to be uploaded to your application by the Boren's final deadline.

Waiver

You will need to complete this online waiver form as the final step in submitting your internal application.

Waiver Form

Applicants submitting application materials electronically by email will generally receive a confirmation within twenty-four hours. If you do not receive a confirmation during this time, please follow up with the Center for Life Beyond Reed at clbrfellowships@reed.edu to ensure that the application was successfully submitted.

Boren Homepage

After the Internal Application Deadline

Next Steps

After the internal application has passed, your application will be reviewed by the liaison to the Boren, Shania Siron. Please keep in mind that by participating in the internal application process, your internal application serves to aid in the liaison writing a strong institutional endorsement to accompany your application. Everyone who applies internally will receiving an institutional endorsement. Therefore, your internal application does not need to be in its final form and can be a draft, if need be. Though, the more complete and finalized the internal application is, the stronger your endorsement is likely to be. 

After the deadline, the liaison will review your materials, ask you via email any clarifying questions, and provide you with feedback on your application while working to draft your endorsement. Institutional endorsements for the Boren are not due until 3 days after the external deadline, providing you and the liaison an ample amount of time converse and craft a strong endorsement.