THE BASICS    

Are you eligible for a Boren Fellowship?

To be eligible, you must be:

• A U.S. citizen at the time of application.
• Enrolled at an accredited U.S. institution of higher education located within the United States and in the process of pursuing a graduate degree at the time the award is made.
• Applying to engage in a study abroad experience in a country outside of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand that meets home institution standards.

You may also apply for a Boren Fellowship if

• you are applying to graduate school, but have not yet been accepted. (For example, you might be a graduating senior applying to graduate school.)

If you have applied for graduate school, but not yet been accepted you must meet certain requirements:

• Your Boren application must indicate the graduate school programs to which you have applied. Merit review panels will consider this information when they review your application.
• If you are selected for a fellowship, the award will be contingent upon your acceptance into a graduate program, and you will be required to provide IIE/NSEP with proof of your intent to enroll in that program.
• You will need to provide complete proof of actual enrollment before any Boren funds are disbursed.

Examples of evidence of intent to enroll include copies of your acceptance response to the graduate program or evidence of your enrollment deposit.

Proof of actual enrollment may be established by providing an updated transcript from your university or official correspondence from the registrar’s office, your academic department, or the graduate school in which you are newly enrolled.

You must continue to be enrolled and make progress toward your degree while studying on a Boren Fellowship.

Universities will usually allow students to maintain enrollment while they are abroad pursuing curricula outside the standard requirements. The option of registering for independent study or directed reading credits during the semester(s) of absence from the home institution is often available.

Please consult with your appropriate academic advisor for more detailed information on the specific requirements of your university.

Graduate students who received Boren Scholarships as undergraduates are encouraged to apply for Boren Fellowships, especially if they plan to continue studying the same language.

Those who achieve an advanced level of language proficiency in Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Persian, Russian, Hindi or Central Asian languages are also eligible to apply for NSEP’s National Flagship Language Program.