Mary Gates Endowment for Students

All complete applications are read by a committee of faculty and staff. You can follow your status through the online application, and both you and your mentor are notified by email whether or not you are awarded. The review process takes roughly eight weeks.

Review process

1. Applications are screened for completeness.
2. A committee of three faculty and student-services specialists reviews your application, reading your essay for the nature, extent, and quality of your research activities and the role you play in them. Two reviewers work in areas close to your discipline, though not necessarily your precise focus — a marine biology project might draw reviewers from biology, fisheries, or marine biology — while the third is a generalist, a faculty or staff member who understands the research enterprise well. Reviewers give numerical scores and comments using a rubric built from the selection criteria provided.
3. Every applicant is notified, and anyone who isn't funded is invited to a "Reworking your MG Application" workshop for support in revising their materials.

Selection criteria

The review committee weighs four areas; you may not have room to address every point equally.

The committee uses the review criteria below to evaluate your application. These are the factors reviewers weigh, though they understand you may not have room in your essay to address every point equally.

Motivation of the applicant

• adequate academic preparation for the proposed work, and your potential for success;
• sincere curiosity about and interest in the topic or research experience;
• your mentor's overall assessment of your abilities and your potential for learning and contributing to the research.

Understanding of research

• the clarity and depth of your project description;
• your ability to place the research in a broader context;
• your demonstrated facility with the concepts, methodologies, and questions in your field, with the description written clearly in your own voice;
• how well you articulate your responsibilities and how they relate to the overall research project.

Quality and intensity of experience

• your investment in the research;
• the level of participation and challenge relative to your stage of development;
• the quality of the mentoring support and the research environment.

Educational and long-term impact

• the achieved and potential learning benefits of the research experience;
• your longer-term educational or career goals, and how the research moves you toward them;
• the impact of the financial support on your engagement with the research, and of being named a Mary Gates Scholar.