General Information

Below are some helpful documents from previous meetings:

Typical Timelines for Scholarships:

Goldwater and Udall
Truman
Graduate Scholarships

Typical Timeline for the Goldwater and Udall Scholarships

Early September – Students may download the current application from the websites at www.act.org/goldwater or www.udall.gov/. Sophomores and juniors should begin working on the application and begin preparing information packets (See Asking for Letters of Recommendation) for your referees. Three letters are required discussing your academic abilities, your research abilities and your potential to do excellent and original work in the future.

Informational meetings about these scholarship opportunities are held throughout the year. See the Upcoming Events page.

Late September – Visit with the Faculty Representative or the Top Scholarship Advisor about your application and its progress.

October – Ask your referees for letters of recommendation. Provide the necessary information to them so they can write an excellent letter for you. Provide them with the necessary forms. Continue to work on your application.

Mid-November – Final application due to the Top Scholarship Office, Norlin Library, S-429.

December and January -- The CU Committees will meet to review applications. Up to four finalists will be selected for Goldwater endorsement. The four finalists will meet with both the Top Scholarship Advisor and the Faculty Representative for further suggestions on revising the application. Up to six finalists will be selected for Udall endorsement The finalists will meet with both the Top Scholarship Advisor and the Faculty Representative for further suggestions on revising the application.

Mid-January – All documents for the Goldwater Scholarship, including final applications, letters and current transcripts are due to the Top Scholarship Office.

Late-January – Final applications are mailed to the Goldwater Foundation. Application packets are due to the Foundations by early February..

Early February – Final Udall applications are due to the Top Scholarship Office.

Mid-February —Final Udall applications are due to the Udall Foundation.

April – Goldwater and Udall Scholars are announced.

August 2007 – Udall Scholar Orientation week.

Typical Timeline for the Truman Scholarship

Mid-September – Come to the Truman informational meeting to learn more and ask questions about the scholarship. Look at the Truman website at: www.truman.gov.

Mid-September – Students should begin working on the Truman application and begin preparing information for the referees. Three letters are required: one from a professor discussing your academic work, one from a person able to verify your participation in a leadership role and one discussing your public or community service.

Late September – Visit with the Faculty Representative or the Top Scholarship Advisor about your application and its progress.

October – Ask your referees for letters of recommendation. Provide the necessary information to them so they can write an excellent letter for you. Provide them with the necessary forms. Continue to work on your application.

Mid-November – Final application due to the Top Scholarship Office.

Mid-November -- The CU Truman Committee will meet to review applications and interview promising candidates. Finalists will be selected and provided with suggestions on how to polish the application.

Mid-January – Final applications and all letters are due to the Top Scholarship Office. Institutional letters of nomination will be drafted.

Late January – Final applications are mailed to the Truman Foundation.

Mid-February – Truman Foundation will invite semi-finalists for an interview in March.

Early to Mid-March – Truman Foundation will interview semi-finalists in Denver.

Late March-- Early April – Truman Foundation will notify new recipients of the Truman Scholarship.

Graduate Scholarships

• The Javits, Rhodes, Marshall, Mitchell, Churchill, and Gates Scholarships have early fall deadlines, so much of the application work takes place in the spring and summer.
• The Javits deadline is in early October. Official GRE scores must be reported by this deadline or the application will not be considered. The FAFSA must also be filled out.
• The CU Rhodes/Marshall committee and the Mitchell committee will accept applications until an early April deadline from juniors wishing to be considered for endorsement in the fall process. Each candidate wishing to apply for the Rhodes and, Marshall scholarships must fill out a Marshall application and provide additional information as required by the committee. The Mitchell candidates should complete a Mitchell application in the spring. The committees will select students in the spring with high potential and provide specialized advising in preparation for the fall process. Up to eight letters of recommendation may be required so it is extremely important to keep meeting your faculty members, administrators and community members. The committee is looking for high achieving students with significant leadership and community service experiences. Early in the fall, CU scholarship committees will meet to select student finalists for these scholarships and provide institutional endorsement for the chosen candidates.
• The Churchill and Gates Scholarships are due in late October to mid-November. The GRE is required for the Churchill. As both of these scholarships are tenable at Cambridge University, the application will require a Cambridge application form in addition to the scholarship application forms. Visit the Top Scholarship Office for information on how to decipher the forms and choose your course.
• The Fulbright Scholarship also has an early fall deadline (mid-September)so it is important to begin to collect information about the scholarship and your proposed country of study as soon as possible. This scholarship often requires a research proposal and affiliations in addition to study or research abroad.
• The Jack Kent Cooke has a mid-spring deadline and the NSEP has an early spring deadline, and while it is important to begin work as early as possible on these scholarships, applicants are not required to turn in an application in the spring of their junior year. However it is important to look at the application and plan ahead as there are additional items, such as GRE scores, the FAFSA report or a writing sample, to turn in with the application. Specific graduate study plans are also required, which can take considerable research and time.
• The Javits and Churchill are all limited to certain fields of study, so it is important to excel in one of the specified fields and have great potential in order to be a successful candidate
• You will be required to submit at least three letters of recommendations from faculty and/or activity supervisors. In order for the letters to be effective, they must come from someone who knows you. Don’t wait to meet your faculty members – DO IT NOW! This is one of the best ways to help yourself in these competitions.
• You must be prepared to discuss your future academic and career plans.

Expected Timeline For Rhodes, Marshall, Mitchell and Gates Scholarships

Mid-March – Marshall applications due for Rhodes and, Marshall scholarship candidates. This includes four letters of reference. Mitchell candidates must supply an application and five letters to the Top Scholarship Advisor to be forwarded to the CU Committees for review.

Late March, early April -- At this point the Committee will identify the most promising students through a survey of the written materials and an interview with the student. The Committee, in concert with the student, will make recommendations about which scholarships may best suit each student. Students selected during this process will then work closely with the Top Scholarship Advisor to make changes to the application based upon Committee recommendations. Students selected at this time are not guaranteed endorsement in the fall. Study-abroad students (and other students, such as transfer students) may enter the CU competition for endorsement in the fall.

Summer– Students should finalize their applications. Students should type the front pages of the Rhodes and Mitchell applications. Students should be contacting their referees for updated letters due in mid-September. Students should continue to investigate their proposed programs and Universities.

Mid-September– Final applications due to the CU Committees for final selection of endorsed candidates. Students will make final revisions based on the CU Committees’ recommendations. Final letters should all be received in the Top Scholarship Advisor’s Office. CU Committee will write letters of endorsement for students to be signed by the Chancellor.

Late September – the student and the Top Scholarship Advisor should review final applications one last time for typographical, grammatical or other errors. If no corrections are needed, the student should then make the appropriate number of copies for the Scholarship Foundations and one copy for the Top Scholarship Advisor.

Early October – Student mails Rhodes and Gates applications and submits the Mitchell application online.. Student brings appropriate number of copies of Marshall application to Top Scholarship Advisor for mailing as a single packet. Students check with their referees to make sure that their letters of recommendation have been written, copied and sent to the appropriate locations – Rhodes and Mitchell letters and copies should be sent directly to the appropriate state or national committees (or submitted online) and one copy sent to the Top Scholarship Advisor. Marshall letters and copies should be sent to the Office of the Top Scholarship Advisor where they will be mailed with the applications in a single packet

Late October, Early November – Rhodes, Marshall and Mitchell Foundations begin notifying students invited for interviews.

Mid-November– Marshall and Mitchell Scholarship interviews held in Houston, TX and Washington, D.C. Scholars selected at this time.

Mid-November – Rhodes State Committee interviews. If selected as a finalist, later that week students fly to Houston, TX to compete in the Regional Committee interview process. Students selected at that time. Cambridge and the Gates Trust may begin notification of finalists for interviews.

Early February 2007 – Gates interviews held in Annapolis, Maryland.