The Beinecke Scholarship supports graduate study leading to a PhD or MA/MFA in the arts, humanities, or social sciences.

The Beinecke Scholarship seeks to encourage and enable highly motivated students to pursue graduate study and to be courageous in the selection of their choice of graduate programs (including study in the United States or abroad). Recipients are allowed to supplement the award with other scholarships, assistantships and research grants. The scholarship provides funding to offset the financial burden associated with applying to graduate school as well as funding while attending graduate school. Funding must be utilized within 5 years of completion of undergraduate studies.

Eligibility and Selection Criteria:

  • US citizen or US national from American Samoa or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
  • Documented history of receiving need-based financial aid; for those students receiving merit awards or tuition exchange, the Financial Aid Office will need to indicate how much need-based aid would have been received in lieu of the non-need-based support
  • Juniors seeking graduate study in the arts, humanities or social sciences are eligible; graduate study in neuroscience is not funded; additionally, graduate study in law, business, medicine or other professional school programs are discouraged
  • Demonstrated superior standards of intellectual ability, scholastic achievement and personal promise

Sample Application Essays (from Emory University)