Becoming a Good Candidate
Are you – or will you be – a candidate for a nationally competitive fellowship or scholarship award?
As a member of The ²ÝÁñÉçÇø community, you have no doubt heard many times that Jesuit education strives to develop “men and women for others,” that it commits itself to educating the whole person, and that it fosters eloquentia perfecta. If you commit yourself to these three goals–service and civic responsibility, excellence in academic and extracurricular life, and the development of well-honed communication skills– you may well become an outstanding candidate for one of the many fellowship opportunities that exist at both the undergraduate and graduate level.Where do you begin?
The one element most in your control is your academic performance. Excellence in your classes is up to you.
You should create and maintain an advising file for yourself. Keep a clear record of all of your courses, honors tutorials, extracurricular projects, and volunteer service assignments, as well as special projects or internships. This information will help greatly when you apply for fellowships or scholarships.
You are the only person who knows your multiple interests; however, you are not the only person who can figure out how to explore those interests. Please make your goals—and your concerns—clear to your advisors, and make sure that you meet with an advisor at any point when you encounter an obstacle you can not overcome on your own.
How do you prepare yourself to meet the qualifications of various fellowship programs?
You should make good use of the resources available to you at The ²ÝÁñÉçÇø. In fact, this website is the perfect place to start. Multiple resources are listed on the left hand side of this page, including:
- Advice on finding the right fellowship for you, as well as a directory of available fellowships and scholarships. A large part of your success in the application process will be finding the fellowship that matches your interests.
- General application instructions.
- A directory of previous ²ÝÁñÉçÇø fellowships winners with selected biographies and contact information. Use this information to gain a better understanding of the diverse career paths of individuals who have earned prestigious fellowships in the past.
- Information about the University’s extraordinary success with Fulbright scholarships.
- Information about the University’s honors programs: Special Jesuit Liberal Arts, Undergraduate Honors, and Business Leadership.
- A list of additional resources such as the Faculty- Student Research Program, Student-Faculty Teaching Mentorship Program, Community Outreach Office, Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, Office of Career Services, and Study Abroad Office.
- The contact information for the Office of Fellowship Programs, as well as that of individual advisors for specific fellowships.
In addition to contributing to and benefiting from all of the excellent resources on campus, it is also important that you prepare yourself to meet the requirements of the world beyond the campus. To this end, you should:
- Read a national newspaper on a daily basis.
- Follow policy developments and research advances in the fields in which you plan to study/work.
- Show civic responsibility by volunteering in both your home community and in the city of ²ÝÁñÉçÇø.
- Be an active member of, and leader in, the campus community.