Fourth Year

In the last year of your undergraduate career, you probably have a strong sense of where you want your education to take you. There are a host of prestigious scholarships available to seniors and recent alum who are looking at graduate school, including:

• Rhodes
• Marshall
• George J. Mitchell
• Gates Cambridge
• Fulbright
• Schwarzman
• Yenching
• David L. Boren (NSEP)
• Churchill
• Kanders Churchill
• Freeman-ASIA
• Critical Language
• Benjamin Gilman

If you are applying for Rhodes, Marshall, George J. Mitchell, Fulbright, and/or Gates Cambridge, you will start your application at the end of your third year. You must also apply for admission to the relative University in early fall.

Stay focused! You want to make sure your grades stay competitive. You will also want to consider:

• Writing an honors thesis, if you're in an honors program.
• Publishing research
• Continuing community involvement at a leadership level.
• Preparing for interviews by reviewing tips and attending an interview skills workshop.
• Completing on-campus interviews for prestigious scholarships (if applicable).
• Participating in mock interviews and finalist interviews (if selected).
• Contacting the prestigious scholarship advisor once you have been notified of your candidacy status.

If you decide that graduate school is not the path for you right now, you can also look into Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, or other programs of that nature. While our office does not provide support for these programs, they are a great way to build experience post-graduation.