About the Office of National Scholarships

The Office of National Scholarships (ONS) recruits and mentors high-achieving students to compete for prestigious national and international scholarships. ONS nominates candidates for competitions that require institutional endorsement (Group 1): the Rhodes, Marshall, Mitchell, Goldwater, Udall, Jack Kent Cooke, Truman, and Carnegie Jr. Fellows competitions. We also support students applying for prestigious competitions that do not require nomination (Group 2) like the Gates Cambridge, Javits, Madison, Knowles, Pickering, NSF Graduate, NIH Partnership and many more. Students are encouraged to visit ONS early in their college careers to consider their options.

To become a strong candidate for a prestigious scholarship, candidates must maintain excellence in their coursework and research as well as demonstrate leadership and involvement in their extracurricular pursuits.  Talk to your faculty and follow the links on our advice page:  Become a Strong Candidate.

Preparing early to apply for a prestigious scholarship can broaden your intellectual horizons, focus your goals and help you articulate yourself as a scholar. 

The Application Process

Visit our office in the Center for Undergraduate Education (CUE) 414 to learn how you can be competitive.  Drop by or make an appointment with the Director, Dr. Jill Deans, 486-0087, ons@uconn.edu or contact Marlene Coughlin, 486-6255, with questions.

If you are seeking nomination for a group 1 scholarship, clink on the links to the left for more information.  After you’ve learned about the scholarship, you will need to fill out a pre-application for our campus competition. 

Looking for Other Scholarships?

• Browse by major or interest: Agriculture, Arts & Humanities, Business, Education, Engineering, Environment, Human Rights, International Affairs, Nursing, Pharmacy, Political Science, Psychology, Sciences
• For a more comprehensive list of competitive scholarships, see National / International Scholarship Programs
• For scholarships open to non-US Citizens, see Opportunities Open to Non-US Citizens

Here are links to information about scholarships not administered by the Office of National Scholarships.

Things to Check Out

• Advance Article on Marshall Scholarship winner, Michelle Prairie
• Advance Article on UConn’s 2009 Goldwater Scholars
• Jill Deans’ podcast on national scholarships with host David Miller, Professor of Psychology