Author: Alison Caditz
On Thursday, March 5, the Fellowships Fair in the quad provided students an opportunity to talk with faculty and staff and to obtain information about fellowships, scholarships and national awards available to Oxy students. The event was held primarily to raise awareness about the multitude of such opportunities available for students to pursue.
From the highly competitive Rhodes Scholarship, which awards up to three years of graduate study at Oxford, to the lesser known Goldwater Scholarship, which funds undergraduate study in math and the sciences, there is a possible award for every Oxy student. There are scholarships which award time to study abroad, like the Fulbright, and awards targeted to just liberal arts colleges, such as the Beinecke and Luce Scholarships. All told, 23 different scholarships, fellowships and national awards are currently advertised by the Office of Fellowships Advising.
A popular award for Oxy students is the Fulbright Fellowship, which provides grants to support graduate study, English teaching and research in over 155 countries. “Students who win this Fellowship tend to have done a lot of community service and have excelled academically, although there is no minimum GPA. They also usually have a broad vision for the future,” faculty Fulbright advisor Lynn Dumenil said. Last year, ten Oxy students were awarded the Fulbright Scholarship.
Another award which attracts Oxy students is the Truman Scholarship, which is the most distinguished award given during one’s junior year, providing up to $30,000 for graduate school. It is also a “feeder scholarship,” boosting one’s chances of winning prestigious awards given senior year. “The award goes to smart people who are agents of change and who have already demonstrated leadership capabilities,” Professor Caroline Heldman said, the faculty advisor for the award.
Even if one’s chances of winning are slim, Heldman encourages students to apply for the Truman. “A lot of the awards have similar application processes. The Truman has a nasty interview process and will prepare you to apply for awards during senior year. Also, even if you don’t win but are nominated for the award, you can put it on your resume.”
Despite efforts to increase awareness about the awards, many Oxy students are unaware of the numerous opportunities for travel and funding that are within in their grasp. “There’s free money out there,” Heldman said. In fact, few are even aware that there is a National Fellowships Office located in Johnson 108. Sue Pramov, the Program Coordinator, urges students to stop by to discuss their interests and explore their options.
The primary issue preventing Oxy students from applying for awards is by not getting started early enough. The internal deadlines for awards run nearly a year before the actual deadline, and the applications usually require a significant investment of time. “You can’t build a resume if you start thinking about applying for awards during your senior year,” Pramov said. To be competitive for these awards, Pramov recommends that students start thinking about which awards they are interested in during sophomore year or second semester freshman year. She also suggests keeping a journal to look back to when writing personal statements.
Another reason that some students do not apply results from an unequal distribution of knowledge. “Scholarships tend to go to people who come well-prepared prior to college, students who have been tracked since they were little,” Heldman said. “There is an underrepresentation of poor students and students of color in the application process. I would like to see greater economic and racial diversity in the applicant pool.”
“These are great post-grad opportunities to travel and study which have opened students up to new possibilities and changed what they’ve decided to do after college,” faculty chair of the National Fellowship Committee Professor Marla Stone said. Moreover, the benefits of the various scholarships transcend the monetary award. “The money is great, but the intangibles are what are most important. They help students make connections and open doors to a professional, elite track.”
The National Fellowships Committee is currently planning a luncheon in the spring to bring in more students, and a new website will premier sometime in the near future.
The Office of Fellowships Advising is located in Johnson 108. Their website is http://www.oxy.edu/x8361.xml. Contact Sue Pramov for Fellowship advising at pramov@oxy.edu.
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