The 2016 Fellowship Competition
- Every year, The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans supports thirty New Americans, immigrants or the children of immigrants, who are pursuing graduate school in the United States. Full eligibility requirements can be found here.
- Each Fellowship supports up to two years of graduate study - in any field and in any advanced degree-granting program - in the United States. Please note that the Fellowship does not cover tuition for executive programs, accelerated Bachelor's/Master's programs, or online degrees.
- Each award is for up to $25,000 in stipend support (not to exceed $35,000), as well as 50 percent of required tuition and fees, up to $20,000 per year, for two years.
- New Fellows join a strong community of current and past Fellows who all share the New American experience.
- The application deadline is November 1, 2015 at 11:59 pm EST.
- The competition is merit-based. Selection criteria emphasize creativity, originality, initiative, and sustained accomplishment. The program values a commitment to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The program does not have any quotas for types of degrees, universities or programs, countries of origin, or gender, etc.
- The top 77 applicants will be designated "finalists" and will be asked to appear for interviews in New York City or California in late-January or early-February of 2016. The Fellowship program will cover travel and accommodation.
- The 30 Fellowship winners, selected from among the 77 finalists, will be notified in March of 2016. They will begin to receive stipend and tuition support from the program in the fall of 2016. If a Fellow is in the second-to-last year of their graduate program in the spring of 2016, when the new class of Fellows is announced, the Fellowship may approve special requests, under certain circumstances, to retroactively activate the Fellowship in order to cover that term.
- The first year of Fellowship funding cannot be deferred.
- Unsuccessful applicants are welcome to reapply in subsequent years if they are still eligible.
