NICOLE ALBERTSON
News Assistant
Scholarship season has begun as the Sept. 27 internal deadline calls for the Fulbright candidates to polish their applications and compete for a spot in the national selection.
Several other prestigious scholarship deadlines are also coming up and some have gone — including the Marshall, Mitchell, National Science Foundation GRFP and the Rhodes— leaving many Pepperdine students excited for their hopeful future.
“It’s exciting to integrate knowledge from class, my passions, and field of research,” said senior Stephanie Doe, who is applying for a Fulbright Full Grant scholarship.
Two of the most well known and sought after scholarship programs are the Fulbright scholarship — due Sept. 27 — and the Rhodes scholarship, which had a Tuesday deadline.
Each year these programs are offering opportunities for the selected students to further their education in a unique and prestigious way. The Fulbright funds students who wish to aid in cultural education in foreign countries and the Rhodes scholarship brings students to the University of Oxford for two years of study.
Pepperdine candidates like seniors Doe and Michael Wong, are among 24 other Fulbright scholarship potentials, will be competing for one of the 6,000 awarded grant opportunities. In 2006, the Fulbright awarded grants that totaled up to $235 million given to students, teachers and professionals conducting research, teach, study or lecture in 150 different countries. Most of the Fulbright scholarships will fund the applicant’s program- including travel, housing and a small stipend.
The Fulbright offers two different types of scholarship opportunities: an English Teaching Assistantship (ETA) and a Full Grant.
An ETA goes toward participants who wish to teach English in a selected country for 12- 20 hours a day, according to Melissa Umbro, Coordinator of National Scholarships and Awards. The participant will also propose a small project that can be conducted within the allotted time.
“I want to teach English [in Hong Kong] and also get involved with public health and education non-governmental organizations,” Wong said. “Specifically [I want to] tutor students in English and get involved with HIV/AIDS and reproductive health issues.”
A Full Grant scholarship focuses on a particular proposed idea for study or research by the application, Umbro said. The recipient will also be affiliated with an institution while they are conducting their study.
“I [want to] study the construction of gender identity and its role in perpetuating human trafficking in Hong Kong,” Doe said. “I [want to] analyze the culture’s history, religion/belief systems, political & cultural institutions and how the British has influenced the development of the Hong Kong culture.”
In 2006, two Pepperdine students were awarded Fulbright scholarships. MBA student Kari Filerman continued her MBA curriculum at an institution in Mexico and alumna Evelyn Baca taught English in Spain to school children for their primary education.
But unlike the Fulbright scholarship, the Rhode scholarship only offers 32 spots for its thousands of applications, unlike the 6,000 awarded for the Fulbright.
“The odds are simply much more difficult for a scholarship,” Umbro said.
The first Rhodes scholars were selected in 1904. For present scholars, the candidates are chosen from selection committees in each of the 50 states. While the competition for a Rhodes scholarship is much more competitive because of the limited spaces, the committee does make certain that at least one candidate is chosen from a school that has never produced a Rhodes scholar before.
Rhode scholarships include funding for “all education costs, such as matriculations, tuition, laboratory … each scholar also receives a maintenance allowance adequate to meet necessary expenses for term-time and vacations,” according the Rhodes Web site.
Last year’s Rhodes winner from the California district was Tanya Ali Haj-Hassan from Stanford University. She proposed a study to use her Bachelor’s in human biology to “shed light on possible interventions for better neonatal well-being in her country,” said the Rhodes Web site.
While being granted a scholarship is just the beginning of an exciting adventure, the application process needs to be well thought out and planned in advance.
“It is important for students to know that there is funding out there,” Umbro said. “You just have to find it.”
09-13-2007