Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans
Apply through Independent Application Process
Internal Deadline: none - see website for deadline, usually near the end of October
» Scholarship's official website
Description
The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans provides merit-based funding for New Americans, immigrants and children of immigrants, who are poised to make significant contributions to US culture, society and academia. This fellowship supports thirty individuals for up to two years of graduate study in any subject at any accredited university in the United States. As of 2024, the fellowship provides up to $90,000 over the course of one or two years of graduate education.Eligibility
You must be:
- thirty years old or younger at the time of the application deadline;
- an immigrant or the child of immigrants;
- (if you are an immigrant) a naturalized US citizen, a green card holder, an aslyee or refugee, or someone who graduated from both high school and college in the United States;
- planning to be enrolled in a full-time degree-granting graduate or professional program in the United States in the following academic year (the following fall).
Selection Criteria
- The candidate has demonstrated creativity, originality and initiative in one or more aspects of their life.
- The candidate has demonstrated a commitment to and capacity for accomplishment that has required drive and sustained effort.
- The candidate has demonstrated a commitment to the values expressed in the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. This would include, but not be limited to, support of human rights and the rule of law, opposition to unwarranted encroachment on personal liberty, and advancing the responsibilities of citizenship in a free society.
- The candidate gives promise of continued significant contributions. Those contributions are likely to reflect distinctive creativity, originality and initiative and will mark the candidate as a leading and influential figure within their fields of endeavor.
- The candidate’s graduate training is relevant to their long-term career goals and is of potential value in enhancing their future creativity and accomplishment.
The program seeks to create “a level playing field” for the consideration of applicants from different backgrounds, in different fields, at different stages in their educational development, and of different ages. Because New Americans and their families have had very different immigration experiences, they take those differences into account in assessing applicants’ success in meeting the selection criteria.
The program looks at applicants holistically and has never had a preferred GPA or test score range. The program is interested in applicants who do the most with what they have, challenge themselves, and work hard to overcome obstacles.