Other Scholarships

Other Scholarship or Fellowship Sources

Elie Wiesel Prizes for Essays in Ethics

The Elie Wiesel ethics essay contest is a yearly competition in which students write on matters related to ethics and ethical issues in modern society. Only undergraduate juniors and seniors are eligible to compete. Topics of interest are suggested on the website and students can choose any topic as long as it relates to ethics. Students are required to have a faculty supervisor review their essay before submission. The essay submission deadline is in early December.

College students can enter the Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged essay contest, in which prizes range from $10,000 for first prize to $50 for semi-finalists. Interested students should visit the website for a list of possible topics as well as guidelines for the essay. Students from any university and any country can enter the contest and the essay can be submitted via e-mail. The deadline for essay submission is in late April.

Other Post-Graduate Programs

The Peace Corps

The oldest such federal program in the United States, the Peace Corps takes applications in continuous cycle throughout the year for 27 month stints in one of over 70 countries around the world. The process from application to notification can take up to nine months, and volunteers generally are placed abroad in either early spring or late summer of the year. Language requirements vary from program to program, with a majority of placements demanding fluency in the language of the host country. Volunteers serve in fields ranging from education to agriculture. Countries most “in need” of volunteers: former Soviet satellite nations (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, others), for which Russian language is helpful; many equatorial African nations (for which French is a requirement in Western countries).

Participants in the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme take positions as assistant teachers, sports advisors, or assistants to local governmental offices in Japan. Participants may be placed in any region of Japan with each JET experience being unique. The JET Programme allows one year of participation. The application deadline for United States citizens is in September.

Teach for America picks outstanding recent college graduates (especially those with a background in science and math) to spend two years teaching in low-income schools in rural and urban settings. Competitive students will have a minimum GPA of 3.5 and hold leadership positions. Applicants must be dedicated to spending 2 years teaching in the public school system. If selected to be a member of the corps, students will take part in a 5-week summer institute to learn effective teaching skills and methods. Applicants can request highly preferred regions of the 26 TFA regions available, but assignment to a highly preferred region is not guaranteed. Currently there is a great need for TFA corps members in the greater New Orleans area. For math/science majors, the Amgen fellows program provides each TFA recipient with a monetary bonus for joining TFA. Math/science majors are automatically considered for the fellows program and no extra application is needed. Several graduate schools and businesses have partnered with TFA to waive application fees and allow deferment for TFA corps members. Application deadlines occur throughout the year in September, November, January, and February. Early applicants are more likely to get their preferred regions, advance to the final interview stage, and receive transitional funding.