*forwarded message*

Soros Fellowship for New Americans (Deadline Nov 30th)

What: The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans

Who: Graduate student who (1) is a resident alien; i.e., holds a Green

Card (2) has been naturalized as a U.S. citizen or (3) is the child of

two parents who are both naturalized citizens.  (Only open to seniors in

college and 1st and 2nd year graduate students.)

What: Each year (max of 2yrs) the Fellow receives a maintenance grant

of $20,000 (paid in two installments) and a tuition grant of one-half

the tuition cost of the U.S. graduate program attended by the Fellow.

When: Deadline for application is Nov 30, 2002.

Where: http://www.pdsoros.org/application.html (it has all the details

plus the application; go to the website to see if you fit the requirements)

So, now that I have given you the facts, I want to highly encourage

all of  you who meet the eligibility requirements to apply.  This is an

amazing grant that could really help take a chunk out of your student debt.

The fellows are awesome people, and the conference once a year in New

York is really fun.  There are recommendations needed, so you should get

the process moving now.

My advice (take it or leave it), as a former fellow: I would recommend

not falling into the trap of trying to sell yourself as a "do-gooder" if

that is not really what you are passionate about and good at.  I think

this is a common pitfall.  The Soros people very much respect excellence

in any endeavor, including making money. If you are good at that, for

example, emphasize that and be explicit about what your long-term goals

are.  They just want you to be very good at what you do, whatever that

may be, and want to know that you have lofty, sincere goals that you

have demonstrated are realistic - or perhaps imaginable - for you given

the work you have already done.  And please, please do not be

intimidated by the biographies of the fellows online - I promise you

that when you become a fellow you will be impressed with your own bios

(they have amazing writers crafting the website)!  And, do not be

discouraged by the fact that many of the fellows are from Stanford,

Harvard, Princeton, Yale...they are actively trying to diversify the

group.  I guess these just happen to be the people who know about the

fellowship and apply.