Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans

The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans is a $90,000 merit-based fellowship for immigrants and children of immigrants studying graduate education in the United States. The program receives over 1,800 applications each year out of which 30 fellowships are offered.

In this in-depth analysis of ‘Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans,’ we cover:

• History of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship
• Awards in Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship
• Eligibility for Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship
• Selection Criteria for Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship
• Online Application Procedure for Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship
• Essay Question for Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship Application
• Recommendation for Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship
• What are the obligations of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship fellows?

History of Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship

In December 1997, with a $50 million charity fund, Hungarian immigrants and American philanthropists Paul and Daisy Soros started their Fellowship program for New Americans to assist immigrants and children of immigrants with their career goals.

Mr. and Mrs. Soros chose a fellowship program to fill the gap in the market with funding assistance that was lacking to support the demographic. They also added another $25 million in 2010 to the charitable trust that sponsors the Fellowships for New Americans.

Awards in Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship

The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans support thirty new Americans, immigrants or their children, who are pursuing graduate education in the United States each year.

Each Fellowship covers one to two years of graduate study in any discipline and at any accredited advanced degree school in the United States.

Each award is worth up to $90,000 in total.

How Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship is disbursed?

Each Fellow receives a stipend of $25,000 per year (all stipend awards are capped at $50,000 per year).  The fellowship also covers 50% of mandatory tuition and fees for one to two years, up to $20,000 per year. Note that the Fellowship funding for the first year cannot be postponed.

Number of Awards: 30

Amount: $90,000

Eligibility for Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship

Broadly there are three eligibilities that applicants must prove while applying for the fellowship:

1) New American Status: To be eligible, both the applicant’s birth parents must have been born outside of the United States as non-US citizens. Neither parent must have been eligible for US citizenship at their birth. The applicant must be a US citizen by birth or born abroad but currently is a naturalized citizen or adopted or green card holder, or refugee or an asylee.

If the applicant doesn’t follow into any of the categories, particularly if they were not born outside of the United States, they must have completed high school and college in the United States.

2) Academic Standing: To be eligible for the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships, the applicant must have a bachelor's degree while applying for the fellowship.

The applicant may be applying to graduate school at the same time as applying for the Fellowship or may already be enrolled in the graduate program for which they are applying at the time of the deadline.

• All fields of study and fully authorized full-time graduate and professional degree programs are eligible for the Fellowship.

• The applicant must not have started the program's third year for which they are requesting financing.

• Individuals with a previous graduate degree are eligible for this program.

• Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships funding is available for online programs, including hybrid programs.

Programs Not Eligible for Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship

Executive graduate programs, joint bachelor's/programs master's that award both degrees jointly, certificate programs, post-baccalaureate programs, graduate programs offered by Universities outside the US, and graduate programs that are not fully accredited are not eligible for Paul & Daisy Soros.

Fellowships.

Can Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship winners work while they complete their graduate program?
Fellows are also not permitted to work full-time during the academic year,although part-time work (up to 20 hours) is permissible with the agreement of the Fellowship director.

3) Age

Is there are any upper limits on Age?

The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans are for students just starting their professions. As of the application deadline, all students must be under 30. There is no restriction on a minimum age.

Selection Criteria for Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship

The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship program covers five criteria, among which the three are the entry criteria. The further two are related to IMPACT & future commitment.

The primary three criteria for the fellowship program are:

•  In one or more facets of their lives, the applicants displayed innovation, inventiveness, and initiative.
•  The applicant has exhibited a dedication to and capacity for achievement, demonstrated by perseverance and hard work.
•  The applicant has shown a dedication to the values enshrined in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights - support for human rights and the rule of law, opposition to unjustified encroachment on personal liberty, and advancement of the responsibilities of citizenship in a free society, primarily counted among them.

Apart from these three primary criteria, Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship program considers two more criteria:

• Applicants promise to make contributions in the future that represent distinct inventiveness, originality, and initiative, establishing them as leading and influential figures in their fields of expertise.
• Graduate training is relevant to the candidate's long-term career goals with the potential to improve the scale of their accomplishment.

Online Application Procedure for Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship

The application and the application materials for Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship must be submitted online. The major sections that are included in the online application for the program are:

• Eligibility Confirmation.
• Applicant’s personal and contact information.
• Applicant’s higher-education history.
• The graduate program for which the applicant is seeking support.
• Three required Recommendations (up to 5 are accepted)
• Submission of Resume, two essays, transcripts (college, graduate), scores of standardized tests (if required for admission to the graduate program)
• Optional exhibits

Further, certain official documents specified for the finalist are required before the interviews. Also, while filling up the program’s online application form, applicants must note that they will not be able to resubmit their previous application.

Applicants will be required to upload their resume essays, transcripts, standardized test scores, and optional test scores through the application system. The recommendation letter also must be submitted online through the same application system, and none of the past recommendations will be re-used.

Essay Question for Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship Application

The applicants must submit two essays, each with a maximum of 1000 words.

Essay One (maximum length: 1000 words): The applicants need to write about New American experiences. How have their experiences as New Americans informed and shaped who they are and their successes, whether they are an immigrant themselves or a child of immigrants?

The applicants are free to talk about how specific persons (including family or instructors), institutions, parts of the law, culture, society, or American governance influenced their life as an immigrant or child of an immigrant. The program is interested in learning about their personal, career, and academic successes in their context.

The first essay is about the applicant’s first few months in America. Consider things from a broad perspective, as well as from a personal and creative standpoint. Many applicants will be writing about their identity as a New American for the first time in this essay. The program hopes that through writing this essay, they will be able to reflect on important ideas and experiences and learn something new about their family and background. The applicant can use this essay to inform the selection committee what it means to them to be a New American; explore their background or a significant experience that pertains to them or their family's immigrant narrative; and think about tales, memories, mentors, or lessons that could provide a window into their world. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to writing this essay.

Essay Two (maximum length: 1000 words): The applicants are required to write about their current and upcoming professional activities and ambitions and why they chose the graduate program(s) and school(s) that they did. What impact do the applicants think their present work and studies will have on their early career goals? If the applicants haven't yet been accepted into a program, they need to explain why they chose the programs they're applying to.

The second essay is akin to an application essay for graduate school. This essay concentrates on the applicant’s academic and/or professional achievements and their field and hobbies. Applicants don't need to include a twenty-year plan that is completely spelled out—the selection committee realizes that plans change and that graduate school gives a plethora of possibilities and options that could lead them in different directions. The selection committee must grasp what makes the applicants and their work stand out. If applicants are already enrolled in the graduate program for which they are seeking funding, they should explain why they chose it and how it fits into their objectives.

If applicants are unsure which graduate program they'll attend, they need to explain what they're looking for in their graduate education.

Recommendation for Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship

For their application to be complete, all applicants must submit three recommendations.

Applicants can submit an extra two recommendations for a total of five recommendations. Whatever the case may be, the application will not be considered unless it obtains three recommendations by the deadline. The deadline for recommendations is the same as the deadline for applications.

Applicants should use the online application to register their recommenders. When a recommender registers for the application, they will receive an e-mail with all the information they need to complete their application. Because the recommenders' e-mail might sometimes get up in the spam folder, the student should double-check with their professors to ensure they've received the link.

Also, remember that applicants do not have to wait for recommendations to be filed before applying. They can continue to sign in to the online application system after they've applied to check on the progress of their recommendations.

What is the recommendation used for?

Recommendations help the selection committee to hear from the applicant's most ardent supporters—those familiar with them and their work and who can attest to how exceptional they are. The selecting committee uses recommendations for three purposes:

1) They validate and highlight the applicant's achievements, strengths, and qualities

2) they assist the selection committee in contextualizing and understanding the applicant's strengths and accomplishments to the selection criteria, as well as within their field and among other applicants; and

3) they provide additional perspectives or information that may assist the selection committee in better understanding the applicants to the selection criteria.

Optional Exhibits

At the end of the application, Optional Exhibits is a section. This section is optional; however, it allows applicants to supply the selection team with any additional information that they believe will assist them in better understanding them, their work, or a different aspect of applicants. Exhibits don't have to be precisely relevant to applicants’ graduate studies to complete the image of who they are.

Types of Optional Exhibits: Relevant newspaper and magazine articles; A link to a YouTube or Vimeo video; a SoundCloud link of a relevant performance or piece of work; Artwork or visuals from a portfolio or a past project; Excerpts of creative writing; and Research articles or papers.

Applicants can post their optional exhibits in a variety of ways. In the case of many documents, applicants can upload them one at a time. If they want to use photos or links, they need to combine them in a single document and save it as a PDF. Make sure that any documents, photos, or links provided are labeled. It could be good to create a one- or two-sentence description for the reader. Applicants need to keep in mind that each file upload is limited to 2 MB.

The optional exhibit part is not a separate essay attaching section and should not be considered one. Also, this is not the place to include a second letter of recommendation. There is no need to provide exhibits that may not enhance the application if essays, résumé, and recommendations speak for themselves.

What are the obligations of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship fellows?

Fellows are obliged to attend the annual Fall Conference in New York City for the duration of the Fellowship, which is completely funded by the program.
The Fall Conference is held during a weekend in late October for new Fellows to get to know one another and the Fellowship staff, alumni, and community, as well as to celebrate and evaluate the New American experience.

During the first fall semester of their Fellowship, the director or deputy director of the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships will visit each Fellow at their respective university.

Fellows should be able to focus on their studies full-time thanks to the Fellowship financing, which is why they cannot work full-time during their graduate degree. Finally, while receiving money, Fellows must maintain excellent standing in their graduate program.

As active fellows, they must present an exit report at the end of their two years. When chosen, applicants sign a contract with the Fellowship.

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Reference

Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship