Application for the 2027 Fellowship - Open Now!
Applications due: October 29, 2026 at 2 pm ET
General Requirements
Requirements for the 2027 Fellowship, which will be due by October 29, 2026 at 2 pm Eastern Time. All requirements have to be true as of the application deadline.
- You are 30 years or younger
- You must be 30 or younger as of the application deadline. There is no minimum age requirement.
- You are a New American
- You are an immigrant or the child of immigrants. If you are an immigrant, you should be a naturalized US citizen, a green card holder, an asylee or refugee, or someone who graduated from both high school and college in the United States.
- You are planning on starting or continuing an eligible graduate or professional degree program
- You must be planning to be enrolled in a full-time degree-granting graduate or professional program in the United States in the 2027-2028 academic year. The Fellowship is open to all fields of study and you can apply when you’re applying to graduate school or while you’re in the early years of graduate school.
Your New American Status
General requirements
- You are an immigrant or the child of immigrants.
- Your birth parents must have both been born outside of the US as non-US citizens, and both parents must not have been eligible for US citizenship at the time of their births.
- Your parents’ current immigration status or location is not relevant. Some Fellows’ parents never immigrated, some have returned to their country of origin, others have naturalized or received their green cards in the US, and others are living in the United States but have not naturalized.
Additional Information
If you are a US citizen by birth, then one of the following must be true:
- Both of your birth parents were born abroad as non-US citizens and were not eligible for US citizenship at the time of their births.
- You were raised by only one of your birth parents, the parent that raised you was born abroad as a non-US citizen, and your second birth parent was not a part of your life growing up and you have no contact with them.
- You were born in the United States and both of your biological parents were born abroad as non-US citizens.
If you were born abroad as a non-US citizen then one of the following must be true:
- Naturalized Citizen: You have been naturalized as a US citizen either on your own or as a minor child under the application of one of your parents.
- Adopted: You were born outside of the US or one of its territories and were subsequently adopted by American parents and were awarded US citizenship because of your adoption.
- Green Card: You are in possession of a valid green card.
- Refugee & Asylees: You have been granted asylum or refugee status in the US.
- If None of the Other Categories Above Apply: Graduated from High School and College in the US: If none of the other categories apply to you and you were born abroad, you must have graduated from both high school and college in the US (this includes current and past DACA recipients).
Your Academic Standing
General requirements
- You will have a bachelor’s degree as of the fall of 2027 when the 2027 Fellowship will begin. You can have a previous graduate degree.
- You are planning on starting or continuing an eligible fully-accredited graduate or professional degree program full-time in the United States in the 2027-2028 academic year. Online programs are eligible for Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships funding.
- You can apply to graduate school at the same time that you are applying for the Fellowship. You do not need to have been admitted into a graduate program when you apply.
- If you are already in graduate school when you apply, you must not have started the third year of the degree program you are seeking funding for as of the application deadline.
If you are already enrolled in a graduate or professional degree-granting program:
You cannot have started a third or subsequent year of that program as of the deadline.
If you are in a joint- or dual-degree program, the program you are enrolled in for the 2027-28 academic year must meet the eligibility requirements.
Ineligible Programs
Executive graduate programs, joint bachelors/master’s programs in which both degrees are awarded simultaneously, certificate programs, post-baccalaureate programs, graduate programs that are not in the United States, and graduate programs that are not fully accredited.
