Let’s learn about the $90K fellowships awarded by The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

Today’s guest, Dr. Craig Harwood, earned his BA in Music from Queens College and then a PhD in Music Theory from Yale University in 2002. Dr. Harwood went on to serve as the dean of Davenport College at Yale University and the Director of Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College before becoming the Director of The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans in 2013. Welcome!

What are the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans? [1:20]

It’s a fellowship dedicated to honoring immigrants and the children of immigrants. We provide support – up to $90K – for them to go to grad school.

It’s $90K over two years: $25K a year for stipend (to cover living expenses), and $20K for tuition.

Who were Paul and Daisy Soros? [2:30]

They were immigrants from Hungary who escaped Nazism and communism and made their way to the U.S. Early on, Paul Soros wanted to attend grad school in engineering, and he was accepted to top schools, but couldn’t afford the tuition. A friend pointed him to Polytechnic University, where he was able to afford graduate school.

He had an extraordinary career in engineering – he specialized in systems for loading and cargo on ships, and became the world’s leader in the field.

Later in life he invested with his brother George Soros, and he and his wife did very well. They became philanthropists and supported a many educational causes.

How did the fellowship program come about? [4:45]

About 20 years ago, Paul and Daisy Soros were thinking through how they could make a lasting contribution that honored their experience and especially how valuable grad school had been in their lives.

They didn’t want to put their name on a building: they wanted to support other new Americans and propel them to accomplish their goals.

Who is eligible to apply? [5:48]

New Americans – immigrants and children of immigrants.

There are three main categories of eligibility:

• New American status: An applicant was born abroad, they need to be naturalized, a green card holder, adopted to the US, or have been granted DACA status. If you were born in the US, both parents must have been born abroad as non-US citizens.

• Academic standing: You must be entering grad school or in your first two years of grad school at the application deadline, and attending grad school full-time in 2018-19.

• Age: You can’t have reached or passed your 31st birthday by the application deadline.

Can you describe the application process? [8:50]

The application is on our website.

There are some general questions – background questions, etc.

We ask you to upload a resume. We ask for test scores (whichever scores your grad program requires). There are two essays. We have space for optional exhibits, and there are letters of rec.

The essays are really important – it’s where we get to know you as a person.

The first essay asks about your New American experience – what it means to you. We encourage people to start ahead of time to allow plenty of time to think – especially since thi...