Tenable During College

The following fellowships are for opportunities during your undergraduate career such as study abroad, summer internships, and scholarships.

KEY: F = Freshmen, S = Sophomores, J = Juniors, S = Seniors, NGS = Non-graduating seniors (i.e. you have plans to return to Columbia to finish your bachelor's degree after benefiting from the fellowship opportunity), * = Open to non-citizens

General  ||  Government & Foreign Affairs  ||  History  ||  
Language Study ||  Studying Abroad || Working Abroad || Science ||
Public Health || Environmental || Women-Only Fellowships  ||  Fine Arts

General

The Josephine de Karman Fellowship* will contribute $14,000 toward your senior year tuition. You need only have exceptional recommendations and grades plus a compelling record of research or scholarship. (J)

Government & Foreign Affairs

The State Department Summer Internship seeks undergraduates interested in government, diplomacy, and international relations to work in any one of the US embassies worldwide or in Washington. A select number of priority internships offer pay and housing. (F, Soph, J, NGS or S attending graduate school next year)

The Pickering Undergraduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship will finance your last year of college and your first year of graduate school in international affairs. In exchange you agree to work three years for the State Department as a Foreign Service Officer after completing the fellowship. (J)

The Humanity in Action Fellowship* offers you a five-week intensive summer seminar in human rights in Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Paris, or Warsaw. (F, Soph., J, S)

The Phyllis Stevens Sharp Fellowship* supports political science majors who want to use the summer to do research in American politics or take an unpaid, public-spirited internship. (F, Soph., J, NGS)

The Leonard M. Rieser Fellowship* of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists wants to fund your research project, leading to a publishable essay, on a topic (such as nuclear energy, drone warfare, or genetic selection) that lies at the intersection of science, politics, and public health. (F, Soph, J, NGS)

History

The Gilder Lehrman History Scholars Program offers top students in American History a five-week, all-expense-paid fellowship in New York, with privileged access to both precious documents and high-powered scholars. Month- and week-long programs are available every summer.

The Schomburg-Mellon Humanities Summer Institute* seeks five New York-area juniors who are dedicated to the humanities and who wish to spend the summer studying the recent history of the African Diaspora in multi-disciplinary seminars led by eminent scholars. A $2,500 stipend sweetens the deal. (J)

Language Study

The Kathryn Davis Fellowship* will pay all tuition and living expenses as you study Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, Portuguese or Russian in the Summer Language Schools at Middlebury College. (F, Soph., J, S)

The Critical Languages Scholarships (CLS) will pay all your expenses, including airfare, if you can commit yourself to a summer’s worth of intensive language study overseas. More than a dozen critical languages are on offer, including Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, Persian, Korean, and Turkish. (F, Soph, J, S)

The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship* will pay you a generous tuition grant and stipend to foster your mastery of a language not commonly studied (which shuts the door on Spanish, French, and German, but admits a whole range of tongues such as Arabic to Armenian to Zulu). You must be prepared to study the language of your choice on an intermediate or advanced level. Summer and academic year programs are available; the latter requires you to combine language training with international or area studies. (Soph., J)

The Coca-Cola Fund for Summer Study in China* will contribute up to $1,800 towards your study of Chinese through a Columbia-run language program in Beijing (elementary through advanced) or Shanghai (intermediate or advanced levels only). You must show that you could use the financial help. (F, Soph, J, S)

Studying Abroad

The Boren Scholarship sponsors you on a half-year or year-long adventure as you study any one of several dozen “critical need languages” in a foreign country. You must agree to work for the federal government for a year within three years of graduation. (F, Soph., J, NGS)

The Gilman International Scholarship Program* offers grants of up to $5,000 to students of limited means to study abroad. The grant will be supplemented if you study a “Critical Need Language” such as Arabic, Chinese, Russian, or Swahili during your adventure. (F, Soph., J,NGS)

The Bridging Scholarship will subsidize an undergraduate study-abroad program in Japan, for a term or an academic year, in any subject. Knowledge of Japanese not necessarily needed. (F, Soph., J., NGS)

The DAAD Undergraduate Scholarship* will fund your study-abroad program in Germany, for a term or a full year, provided you can demonstrate the significance of your project in Germany to your future goals. Knowledge of German not necessarily required. (Soph., J, NGS)

The Leitner Family Student Fellowships for Language Study and Research in Africa* will pay for your trip to Africa, to study an African language or to conduct research for your senior thesis. (Soph, J, NGS)

The Weatherhead Undergraduate Training Grant* will fund your summer research project (or unpaid internship) anywhere in East Asia. You will need to have completed at least two courses in East Asian Studies before applying. (F, Soph, J, NGS)

The Harriman Institute Undergraduate Fellowship Program* will support your field research in Eastern or Central Europe or any of the post-Soviet lands. Ideal for senior theses or other major projects, the award covers travel during winter break or the summer months. (J, S)

Working Abroad

The Christianson Grant* will fund your dream of working—not studying—abroad for at least half a year, provided you make all of the arrangements independently and receive no academic credits for your endeavors. (F, Soph., J, S)

The Teaching Assistant Program in France* and the Teaching Assistant Program in Spain* are sponsored by the respective Ministries of Education in these two neighboring countries. Each program recruits over 1400 North Americans every year to teach English part-time in K-12 schools. The work pays a modest stipend plus health insurance. To apply, you will need mere proficiency in French, or intermediate Spanish; experience working with youth is an advantage, of course. (Soph., J, S)

The Teach and Learn in Korea* program invites native English speakers to lead after-school English classes for children in the rural provinces. In exchange for your six- or twelve-month commitment, you get a stipend, insurance, airfare, and a free pass to the palaces in Seoul. (Soph., J, S)

Science

The Goldwater Scholarship* will contribute $7,500 towards your junior or senior year if you can demonstrate that you intend to devote your professional life to scientific or mathematical research. (Soph., J)

The Columbia Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship,* the Cal Tech Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship,* and the University of Alabama at Birmingham Summer in Biomedical Science* programs all offer you a generous stipend to conduct a summer’s worth of supervised biological research, culminating in an original research article or poster presentation. (F, Soph., J, NGS)

The Summer Internship Program in Biomedical Research at the National Institutes of Health* invites 1200 students each summer to work with leading scientists in Bethesda, Detroit, or elsewhere in the NIH’s far-flung biomedical empire. Jump into one of hundreds of ongoing research projects, attend career workshops, and draw a modest stipend. (F, Soph, J, S)

The Summer Undergraduate Research Program at Gerstner Sloane-Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences offers 20 motivated undergraduates hands-on research experience in such fields as developmental biology, cell-cell interactions, and genomic integrity. Stipend + housing in NYC. (F, Soph, J)

The Pasteur Foundation Summer Internship Program invites you to Paris in the summertime to conduct research on infectious diseases at one of the world’s most cosmopolitan biomedical laboratories (J, S)

Public Health

The Health Research Training Program* of the New York City Department of Health will give you supervised, hands-on experience fighting one of the many City’s public health woes, from obesity to tuberculosis; part-time during the year, full- or part-time for the summer. (F, Soph, J, NGS)

The Collegiate Leaders in Environmental Health* program invites you to spend the summer at the Centers for Disease Control campus is Atlanta, pondering such topics as air pollution, food shortages, poisoned wells, and other by-products of the strained relationship between the environment and overabundant humanity. Modest stipend included. (Soph, J)

The Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars Program offers you 11 weeks in the nation’s capital, working in congressional offices on health policy issues affecting racial and ethnic minorities. Learn about federal legislative procedure, develop critical thinking and leadership skills, and build your network. Stipend + housing included. (J, S)

The Health Scholars Program at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health provides a rigorous, hands-on introduction to the field of public health. Gain experience in the field, working with underserved groups; take field trips to communities throughout the city; attend introductory courses; collect stipend and enjoy free housing. Minority status a plus. (Soph, J, S)

Environmental

The Udall Scholarship* will pay $5,000 towards the expenses of your junior or senior year. To win, you need to show that you are strongly committed to preserving or enhancing the environment. (Soph., J)

The Global Fellows in Sustainable Development Program* will fund your overseas fieldwork or coursework, or your off-campus research assistantship or internship, if any of these are related to your studies in sustainable development. (F, Soph., J, NGS)

Women-Only Fellowships

The Women’s Forum Scholarship Fund* aims to contribute $10,000 towards the educational expenses of five or more New York-based female undergraduates over 35. (F, Soph., J, NGS)

The Talbots Scholarship Foundation* will fund at least ten women, who have been out of high school at least ten years, with cash grants of $15,000. (F, Soph., J)

The Glamour Top 10 College Women Competition* wants to find 10 rising full-time juniors who excel in leadership, community involvement, and academics. Photo shoot + cash grants await you.

The Women and Public Policy Summer Internship* will – for a modest fee – help you land a policy-oriented summer internship in the nation’s capital. Once there, the program will connect you with women leaders and help you build your job-hunting skills. (F, Soph, J, NGS)

The Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund* sponsors women from developing countries who are completing their degrees in the U.S. and who aim to return to the developing world to improve the lives of women and children there. (F, Soph, J, S)

Fine Arts

The Worldstudio Foundation* gives cash grants to financially needy students who are working towards undergraduate degree s in fine arts or photography. (Minority status, if you can claim it, is a big plus here). (F, Soph, J)