Are you:

  • Thinking about living abroad after you graduate?
  • Actively involved in research in STEM?
  • Eager to advance world peace or examine public policy from an international perspective?

Consider applying for a national scholarship or fellowship program! National scholarships and fellowships are available by competitive application process for current students and graduating seniors. These interests and more are supported. 

Applications require advance planning, but there are many people on campus who can help.

  • Deadlines: Many applications are due between late September and mid-October. Another set of deadlines comes in early November. 
  • Preparation: Look at many of the possible options below, and make an appointment to talk more about your ideas before summer. Plan to arrive on campus in September with solid written drafts of application essays and a plan for completing them ahead of the internal and national deadlines.
  • Faculty mentors, faculty advisors, career development, the graduate school, the Cohen Honors College and other offices, are all eager to help you produce the best possible application. 

For more opportunities and some applications tips, visit the Oberlin College scholarship and fellowships website and the National Collegiate Honors Council national scholarships list.

Language and Living Abroad 

» Critical Language Scholarship - For Current Students and Graduates: The Critical Language Scholarship Program seeks participants from a variety of career paths with the goal of building a cadre of Americans who speak critical languages at high levels in government, business, arts and culture, science and engineering, health and medicine, education, research, and other fields. The thirteen CLS languages are Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish, and Urdu.

» Fulbright Summer Institutes - Freshmen and sophomores only may apply. Funds 3-6 weeks of academic and cultural study at a UK institute of higher learning. Participants study topics ranging from Shakespeare to archeology to the Atlantic slave trade. Applicants must be U.S. citizens. 

» Fulbright U.S. Student Program - For Graduating Seniors: This grant offers post-bachelor's scholars the chance to go beyond the U.S. borders to promote an intercultural exchange of ideas. Student grants are awarded for both research and English teaching assistantships abroad.

 

STEM Research

» Goldwater Scholarship - For Current Sophomores & Juniors: The purpose of the Goldwater Scholarship is to provide a continuing source of highly qualified scientists, mathematicians, and engineers by awarding scholarships to college students who intend to pursue research careers in these fields.

 

Leadership, Politics, and Public Policy

 

» Voyager Scholarship - For Current Juniors. Looking for young people from every corner of this country who share a curiosity about the world and the conviction to want to make positive change within it—just like the scholarship's founders. Students should have a passion for helping others, experience serving in or building community, and an expansive view of what’s possible through public service. Application opens in February and is due in March.

» James Madison Fellowship - For Current Juniors & Seniors: The Madison provides graduate school funding for students who plan to pursue high school teaching careers in American history, American government, or social studies. Fellows must teach American history, American government, and/or social studies in grades 7-12 for one full year for each academic year of aid received under a fellowship.

» Marshall Scholarship  For Graduating Seniors: Marshall Scholarships finance young Americans of high ability in any field to study for a degree in the United Kingdom. Up to forty scholars are selected each year and provided full cost to study at the graduate level at an educational institution in the UK.

 » Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship - For Juniors: The Fellowship is designed to attract outstanding individuals from all ethnic, racial and social backgrounds who have an interest in pursuing a Foreign Service career with the U.S. Department of State and whose academic and professional interests include management, political and economic analysis, administration, and science policy.

» Truman Scholarship - For Juniors: The foundation seeks future “change agents” who have a strong desire to improve the ways that government agencies, nonprofit organizations, or educational institutions serve the public. Truman Scholars are usually interested in pursuing a law degree, a Master of Public Administration, Master of Public Health, Master of Social Work, Master of Education, Master of Public Policy, or a Master of International Affairs. Scholars must commit to work in public service for three of the first seven years after completion of a grant.

 

General Graduate Study

» Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans - For Graduating Seniors: Each fellowship supports up to two years of graduate study—in any field and in any advanced degree-granting program in the US. Each award is up to $25,000 in maintenance grants and up to $20,000 in tuition and fees. Must already have a bachelor’s or be a college senior and be 30 years of age or younger.

» Rhodes Scholarship - For Graduating Seniors:The Rhodes Trust, a British charity established to honor the will and bequest of Cecil J. Rhodes, provides full financial support for Rhodes Scholars to pursue a degree or degrees at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The Rhodes provides full cost to attend Oxford for one or two years.

 

 Wichita State University is a member of the National Association of Fellowship Advisors (NAFA)