Beinecke Scholarship
Apply through Reed Fellowships and Awards Committee
Internal Deadline: January 17th, 2024 at 12:00 PM
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» 2023–24 Beinecke Program Announcement
Description
The program seeks to encourage and enable highly motivated students to pursue opportunities available to them and to be courageous in the selection of a graduate course of study in the arts, humanities and social sciences. Since 1975 the program has selected 719 college juniors from 122 different undergraduate institutions for support during graduate study at any accredited university.
Each scholar receives $5,000 immediately prior to entering graduate school and an additional $30,000 while attending graduate school. There are no geographic restrictions on the use of the scholarship, and recipients are allowed to supplement the award with other scholarships, assistantships and research grants. Scholars are encouraged to begin graduated study as soon as possible following graduation from college, and must utilize all of the funding within five years of completion of undergraduate studies.
Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Demonstrate superior standards of intellectual ability, scholastic achievement, and personal promise during their undergraduate career.
- Be a college junior pursuing a bachelor’s degree during the 2023-2024 academic year. “Junior” means a student who plans to continue full-time undergraduate study and who expects to receive a baccalaureate degree between December 2024 and August 2025.
- Plan to enter a research- or creative-focused master’s or doctoral program in the arts, humanities, or social sciences. NOTE: Students in the social sciences who plan to pursue graduate study in neuroscience or clinical psychology should not apply for a Beinecke Scholarship.
- Be a U.S. citizen or U.S. national from American Samoa or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
- Have a documented history of being eligible to receive need-based financial aid during their undergraduate years, with a slight preference for Pell Grant recipients. Other evidence of meeting this criterion is a student’s history of receiving need-based institutional, state, or federal grants-in-aid. The nominated student will be required to complete and submit a Financial Aid Data Sheet outlining how the student meets this criterion. During the selection process, the amount of financial need will be one of the factors considered, with preference given to candidates for whom the awarding of a Beinecke Scholarship would significantly increase the likelihood of the student’s being able to attend graduate school.
Selection Criteria
There are four primary criteria by which applicants will be evaluated:
- Evidence of academic success and relevant academic background: Does the transcript show evidence of high academic achievement? Does the coursework prepare the candidate for the planned field of study? Is there other evidence of high-level performance (e.g., merit scholarships, academic prizes, artistic creations, research publications)?
- Clarity of research/creative focus: Are the research questions/creative impact and career path well-defined, coherent, and well thought through? Does the candidate’s writing give evidence of higher-order thinking skills and the ability to express thoughts clearly and without jargon
- Knowledge and fit of proposed graduate programs: Has the candidate proposed graduate programs that are appropriately ambitious and a good fit for their scholarly and career plans?
- Quality and breadth of recommendations: Are the recommendations excellent and from people who know the candidate and can make informed comparisons with other students? Can any of the recommendations speak to the relevance of the proposed research/creative work, the suitability of the proposed courses, and the ability of the candidate to undertake and excel at scholarly research/creative work?
During the selection process, the amount of financial need will be one of the factors considered, with preference given to candidates for whom the awarding of a Beinecke Scholarship would significantly increase the likelihood of the student’s being able to attend graduate school.
Reed's Fellowships and Awards Committee will nominate up to one candidate to compete for the Beinecke award at the national level each year. The Beinecke Scholarship Program will select up to 20 scholars annually from a pool of up to 137 nominees.
Application Procedure
This scholarship requires Reed College to nominate up to one applicant each year. Prospective applicants can find the internal application instructions on our website. Please contact CLBR Fellowships with any questions.