Wellesley College Fellowships

Thanks to the generosity of graduates and friends of the College, there are a number of Wellesley fellowships especially for graduating seniors and graduates of Wellesley, including:

• Wellesley College Graduate Fellowships - support graduate and professional study in any field by Wellesley graduates from any country (apply either in the same application cycle as you’re applying for graduate/professional study or while you’re enrolled in a graduate program)  - Applications typically due in mid-January.
• Mary Elvira Stevens Traveling Fellowship - for graduates at least 25 years of age in the year of application, to support a year of purposeful travel into unfamiliar territory, that will inspire reflection and growth and lead to more fulfilling and productive personal and professional lives - Applications typically due in March.
• Elizabeth Crawford ’21 Haystack Fellowship - funds a summer workshop at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts for a graduate of Wellesley - Applications typically due in January.
• Elisabeth Luce Moore '24 Wellesley-Yenching Program - The fellowships are open to graduates in all majors (including international students) and may include some training in teaching English as a second language. Chinese language proficiency is only required for the National Palace Museum Fellowship (unfortunately, due to visa restrictions, the Fellowship at the NPM is not open to citizens of the PROC). Applications are typically due in early February.
  • Wellesley-Yenching Graduate Fellowship at Chung Chi College in Hong Kong - The fellow's time may be divided between helping to organize and promote English language activities at Chung Chi College as a whole, and serving as a teaching assistant for their English department.
  • Wellesley-Yenching Graduate Fellowship at Ginling College in Nanjing, China - Fellows teach English to students at Nanjing Normal University.
  • Graduate Fellowship at the National Palace Museum (NPM) in Taipei - work at the Museum can be an ideal transition between Wellesley and whatever future direction one pursues. It offers an extraordinary opportunity to study Chinese art and history, as well as culture in contemporary Taiwan, and Fellows have gone on to successful careers in art and museums, but also a wide range of other fields.
• Wellesley College Department of Art Mary Clothier Slade Graduate Fellowship - Two fellowships will be awarded annually to graduating seniors or graduates of Wellesley College, one to support a graduate degree in Art History and one to support a graduate degree in Studio Art, with a preference for awards to go to those with Art Department majors and minors. - Applications typically due in January
• Alice C. Cole ’42 Wellesley College Graduate Fund - every other year offers project-based support to Wellesley College artist graduates for the development, production, and exhibition of new work in painting or sculpture - In 2024, applications are due by March 25, via Slideroom
• Peggy Howard Fellowship in Economics for financial aid for Wellesley students or graduates continuing their study of economics. Applications typically due in April.
• Jacqueline Krieger Klein ’53 Fellowship in Jewish Studies to encourage graduating seniors and recent graduates in any field to pursue further education in the field of Jewish studies. Applications typically due in April.
• The Wellesley Repertory Theatre Grant Program will provide project grants every two years to Wellesley College graduate theatre-makers to bolster career progression, encourage creative risk, establish bespoke laboratory conditions for artistic growth, and foster artistic engagement in their own communities. WCT will gather this cohort of grant recipients and our campus community of makers in alternate years to connect, reflect, and share - through presentations, performances, conversations, gatherings and workshops. The inaugural application deadline is August 31, 2024!

External Fellowships (funding for graduate/professional study)

Wellesley graduates are also eligible for a wide array of outside scholarships and fellowships, and they are often stronger applicants for postgraduate fellowships than are graduating seniors.

• If you’re looking for funding for graduate/professional study, whether in the United States or abroad, no matter your citizenship or field of interest, begin with our tips for searching for scholarships for graduate and professional study.

• Scholarships for graduate/professional study in the United States include the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program (for recent college graduates, citizens of any country, to suppprt any graduate/professional degree offered at Stanford), the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships (supports graduate study in STEM and social science fields, for US citizens, nationals, and permanent residents), the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans, and many more...

• Scholarships for graduate study abroad include the Rhodes (open to citizens of any country, for graduate study at the University of Oxford) and Gates Cambridge (open to citizens of any country apart from the UK, for graduate study at the University of Cambridge), DAAD (for graduate study in Germany, open to graduates of North American colleges and universities), the Emile-Boutmy Scholarships (for graduate study at Sciences Po by international students), the Schwarzman and Yenching Academy (open to citizens of any country, for master's degrees taught in English in Beijing), and many more!

• If you were an international student at Wellesley, we have tips especially for you, and are more than glad to offer tailored advice via a Fellowships appointment--there are many more fellowship options for you there than you might expect!

External Fellowships (funding for travel, work, research and more)

Outside fellowships for travel, work, research, and more, include:

• Alfa Fellowships - offer Americans, Britons, and Germans year-long professional placements in Russia (applications typically due in early December)
• Blakemore Freeman Fellowships offer US  citizens and permanent residents who are seniors or recent graduates support for a year of advanced-level language study in East or Southeast Asia (applications typically due in late December)
• Carnegie Endowment Junior Fellows Program - open to graduating seniors (including international students with OPT) and those who graduated during the previous academic year but who have not yet begun graduate study, to support a substantive year-long paid research assistantship at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC (campus application deadline typically in November)
• Coro Fellows Program - open to US graduates, this program uses the city as a classroom to train the next generation of change-makers, through a full-time, nine-month, graduate-level experiential program offered in Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and St. Louis (application deadline typically in mid-January)
• Echoing Green - offers seed funding and support for social entrepreneurs (US citizenship not required - applications typically due in October)
• Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for Artists - supports early-career artists working in representational style in painting, sculpting, drawing, and/or printmaking (US citizenship not required - rolling applications)
• Fulbright US Student Program - open to US graduates for research/degree- or language-study or English Teaching Assistantships, in one of more than 150 countries around the globe - Special programs of interest to graduates include the grants in business, journalism, and public health,  and the Fulbright-National Geographic Digital Storytelling Fellowship, many of which are only open to graduates with professional experience (and also, for the Fulbright-Clinton, a JD, MPH, MPA or other master’s-level degree) - Note: the Wellesley Fulbright committee is very happy to support graduate applicants (read how to apply for the Fulbright through Wellesley here; campus application deadline typically in late August), also note that although the Student Fulbright doesn't have age restrictions--good news for Davis Scholars!--for graduates 5-10 years or more out from their most recent college/university degree, the Fulbright Scholars Program for artists, scholars, and other professionals (direct application deadline typically in mid-September) may be a better fit than the Student Fulbright. Did you know that artist Donna Dodson '90 won a Fulbright Scholar grant for 2021-22?
• German Chancellor’s Fellowship - open to citizens of Brazil, China, India, Russia, & the US who received bachelor’s degrees no more than 12 years ago, this program supports a year in Germany for professional development, study, or research (applications typically due in September)
• Luce Scholars Program - open to US citizens and permanent residents under the age of 32 (or if older, within 3 years of earning the bachelor's degree: Davis Scholars, take note) with limited recent experience in Asia, to support a paid year-long professional placement in Asia (direct application deadline typically October)
• Marjorie Deane Financial Journalism Internships offer budding financial journalists internships at The Economist and Financial Times, and contributes towards living expenses (US citizenship not required - applications typically due in early September)
• Marshall-Sherfield Fellowships offer postdoctoral fellowships at British universities or research institutes to US citizens with PhDs in science or engineering subjects (applications typically due in early October)
• Robert Bosch Foundation Fellowship Program offers US citizens professional development and placements in Germany (applications typically due in early November)
• The Teaching Assistant Program in France offers the opportunity to teach English to French students of all ages in public schools across all regions of metropolitan France and in the overseas departments of French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion.  (applications typically due in mid-January)
• The Udall Native American Congressional Internship Program provides American Indian and Alaska Native undergraduate, graduate, and law students with the (paid) opportunity to gain practical experience with the federal legislative process in order to understand first-hand the government-to-government relationship between Tribes and the federal government  (applications typically due in late January)
• The prestigious White House Fellows Program provides Americans first-hand experience working at the highest levels of the federal government (applications typically due in mid-January)
• And many more!

Looking for help?

You’re warmly welcome to contact the Fellowships team at Wellesley: email us at fellowships@wellesley.edu or call Caitlin at 781.283.2347. Book a one-on-one Fellowships advising appointment via Handshake or drop in online to Fellowships Virtual Pop-Up Advising (details via Career Education events listings). We can't wait to talk with you!

Whether or not you need to apply for a fellowship through Wellesley, we offer advice to help you at any stage, from exploring options and drafting essays, to preparing for finalist interviews. You can to book an appointment via Handshake to talk via telephone or video chat. We'll gladly talk over your interests and aspirations and offer honest advice on how to put your best foot forward, and why applying for fellowships can be valuable--whether or not you win an award.

Have you won a fellowship?
Please let us know — we’d love to congratulate you!  And if you might be interested in talking with prospective Wellesley applicants (whether current students and/or other Wellesley graduates) for that or similar awards, we’d be delighted to put you in touch.  Your experience and advice would make all the difference to your Wellesley sibs, and we hope that you’d enjoy those conversations, too!

Questions?
Email fellowships@wellesley.edu or call 781.283.2347.