The Office of Fellowships & Awards will soon begin
accepting applications for internal nomination for the Rhodes, Marshall, and
Mitchell Fellowships.
These scholarships are among the best-known and most
prestigious scholarship opportunities open to rising seniors, graduating seniors
and recent graduates of Georgetown University. Among the leading qualities
these fellowships look for are:- An outstanding record of academic and intellectual achievement
- Strong public service and leadership experiences on or off-campus
- Serious interests in graduate study
- A clear, focused ambition to make a difference in the world
The deadline for applying for internal nomination for the
Rhodes, Marshall, and/or Mitchell is April
2, 2013. Please get in touch with our
office (gufa@georgetown.edu) for more detailed information if you have an
interest in applying.
If you are interested in what comprises the typical
fellowship candidate profile, the following piece, from the University
Fellowship Secretary, Professor John Glavin, speaks to this often ask question:
At first meetings students regularly ask us some version of
this question: “what do I have to do to be a successful (Fill In The Blank)
Fellowship candidate?”
Our invariable, and invariably disappointing, answer is “Be
yourself.”
Whatever they may reply, it’s usually pretty clear that this
is not the answer they expected or wanted.
That’s because, unfortunately, most students approach the
fellowship process a bit like a high school senior renting a tux for the Prom.
(I am sure there’s a female equivalent to this image, but I wouldn’t venture to
claim it.) You get it from standard stock, put it on for the occasion; it’s
tired, it doesn’t really fit; and the next day you drop it and return to torn,
worn jeans and vintage T-shirts. The real you.
Of course, no one is going to win a fellowship presenting
him or herself in an application and in an interview that are the equivalent of
jeans and a T-shirt. So why not take a
chance on a tried (if untrue) standard image?
The answer is: there’s a third, and much better choice.
Take charge of your life. Energetically deploy all the time
you have between now and the competitions to think, write, speak and above all act
authentically (naturally, spontaneously, habitually) as a leader, that is: someone
who turns highly original, creatively disruptive ideas into measurable and
significant achievements. The specifics
of that description will vary from fellowship to fellowship. It doesn’t mean
the same thing for the Churchill which is looking for a dozen or so young men and
women who will prove to be the leading scientists of their generation; for the
Truman, which is looking for an individual from each state who has done and will
do outstanding public service; or for the Rhodes, which is looking for the 32
individuals per year who offer the greatest promise of becoming the prime
leaders of the major institutions of our society. But in each case, and for all
of the other competitions our office oversees, the essence is the same: leaders
with big ideas making a big difference.
Please note carefully that the first sentence of the
preceding paragraph said “as a leader,” not “like a leader.” There’s an ocean
of difference between acting like a leader (renting the tux) and being a
leader. To put it bluntly, at its most
obvious, leaders lead. They change life for and with others. You will know, then, that you are on the
right path to the competitions when that short sentence applies --without any
form of qualification-- to you.
-JG
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