Academic Affairs: Fellowships & Scholarships - Advice

The national selection committees for the Churchill, Beinecke, Goldwater, Jack Kent Cooke, Luce, Marshall, Rhodes, and Truman scholarships require Haverford College to confer an institutional endorsement, or an official nomination, on a limited number of students. The Mitchell Scholarship requires such an endorsement if you apply as a graduating senior; alumni may apply directly to Mitchell, although they are most welcome to seek the advice of Dean Bean regarding their applications if they are inclined to do so.

Students who would like to apply for consideration for these scholarships are therefore required to submit all application materials, including letters of recommendation, required essays, and the scholarship's application cover/personal information form, to the Committee on College Honors (by way of Dean Phil Bean, Chase Hall 205) by the internal deadlines summarized below.

Please note: Haverford's internal deadlines for such scholarships differ significantly from those established by the national selection committees (as published on the websites for those fellowships), and that students are responsible for meeting the college's internal deadlines.

Students interested in the Watson Fellowship also need to obtain an institutional endorsement. However, students interested in the Watson need to submit their materials to Dean Steve Watter, Chase Hall 213.

The Committee on College Honors has certain expectations which must be met if a student expects to get full consideration for a College nomination:

• Applications must be complete by the time the relevant internal deadline; those submitted after those deadlines, or which are not complete by the time the deadlines lapse, may not receive consideration by the Committee on College Honors. If you are experiencing difficulty getting your materials together in time, please be in touch with Dean Bean as soon as you sense that there may be a problem.
• Application essays will be thoughtful, insightful, well-written, and tailored to the interests and objectives of the scholarship for which the candidate would like to be nominated. It is the experience of the Committee that the vast majority of students, regardless of how accomplished they are, cannot write compelling and authentic personal statements in the last few weeks before the deadline. Dean Bean is willing to read and comment on essays, when time permits, during the summer; he cannot, however, read any essays after the first day of the fall semester for any scholarship that has a campus deadline in September. Please take advantage of the summer not only to seek advice from Dean Bean and your faculty mentors, but to refine your essays progressively over time.
• If students are applying for a scholarship to study at a particular university, the Committee on College Honors expects that they will be informed about the institution in question and the specific degree program they would like to pursue there.
• Students will be prepared to speak insightfully about their experiences, their studies, their aspirations and plans for the future, as well as current events, when they are interviewed by the Committee on College Honors. Interviews will play an important role in the decision by the Committee regarding which candidates will receive Haverford's institutional endorsement.

Candidates for the Fulbright are also required to submit their application materials to the Committee on College Honors by Haverford's internal deadline. However, Fulbright places no limitations on the number of Haverford students who can apply for consideration in any given year, and while the Committee on College Honors invites Fulbright applicants to an interview, the objective of these on-campus interviews for the Fulbright is simply to give candidates advice regarding how to improve their application materials.

Students who are interested applying for any fellowship are strongly encouraged to contact recommenders in a timely fashion; again, waiting until shortly before a deadline is not helpful, as it only tends to make it more difficult for recommenders to do justice to the students about whom they have been asked to write. Those interested in applying for scholarships with internal deadlines that fall in September or October are encouraged to contact faculty recommenders before they leave in May or during the summer. Students are also encouraged to provide recommenders with a copy of their curriculum vitae, and to make sure that recommenders are aware of the criteria of the scholarships for which they are applying. Candidates for Fulbright and Watson are encouraged to give a copy of their project proposal to their recommenders. Recommenders are welcome to send letters to the Committee on Honors (by way of Dean Phil Bean) during the summer for consideration in the fall.

Deadlines

Application materials, including letters of recommendation, for scholarships that require an institutional endorsement must be submitted to Roxanne Clark, Chase Hall 205, by the dates specified below, except in the case of the Watson, applications for which need to to be submitted to Dean Steve Watter (Chase Hall 213):

• September 4, 2012 - Fulbright, Churchill, Marshall, Mitchell, Rhodes
• September 28, 2012 - Watson
• September 28, 2012 - Luce
• October 26, 2012 - Goldwater, Truman, Beinecke
• December 7, 2012 - Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts Award
• March 6, 2013 - Cope and Murray