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All About the Marshall Scholarships
By
Kira Ranieri
Kira is a content writer at Scholarships360. Kira earned a Bachelor of Media and Journalism with a concentration in Advertising and Public Relations from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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The United Kingdom has many prestigious and globally renowned universities and programs for graduate students. Beyond the stellar academics, studying abroad allows students to gain a global perspective and learn about new cultures. If you’re an American who’s dreamed of studying in the UK, then the Marshall Scholarships might be an amazing opportunity for you. In this guide, we’ll break down what the scholarship is, the expenses it covers, and what you need to know about the application process. Let’s get into it!
What are the Marshall Scholarships?
The Marshall Scholarships program aims to help young Americans pursue their graduate studies at British universities. The scholarship commission hopes that this opportunity will help scholars contribute to the advancement of knowledge in science, technology, the humanities, social sciences, and the creative arts at Britain’s centres of academic excellence.
The program awards up to 50 scholarships annually. Scholarships range in tenure. The One-Year Marshall Scholarship is tenable for one academic year (i.e. 12 months) and cannot be extended, while the Two-Year Marshall Scholarship is tenable for two academic years (i.e. 22 months). The Two-Year Marshall Scholarship may be extended by the Commission under special circumstances, though not beyond the end of a third academic year.
Marshall Scholarships cover university fees, cost of living expenses, an annual book grant, a thesis grant, research and daily travel grants, and fares to and from the United States. They also provide, when applicable, a contribution toward the support of a dependent spouse.
Who is eligible for a Marshall Scholarship?
The Marshall Scholarship Commission is looking for scholars who have exhibited academic merit, leadership potential, and ambassadorial potential.
In order to be eligible for a Marshall Scholarship, candidates must have all the following criteria:
- Be a citizen of the United States of America.
- Hold their first undergraduate degree from an accredited four-year college or university in the United States.
- Have obtained a grade point average of not less than 3.7 on their undergraduate degree at the time of application. Rounded GPAs are not accepted.
- Not have studied for, or hold a degree or degree-equivalent qualification from a British University or GCSE or A Levels taken at school in the UK.
The Marshall Scholarship Pathways
As mentioned above, there are multiple scholarship pathways for the Marshall Scholarships. Depending on the length and type of program you are pursuing, you may be eligible to have an extended tenure to your scholarship. Let’s break down each pathway and its length:
- The One-Year Pathway:
- Covers a one-year master’s degree
- Cannot be extended
- The Two-Year Pathway:
- Covers two one-year master’s degrees (at the same or different universities, pursued consecutively)
- Covers 1 two-year master’s degree (at one university)
- Covers PhD/DPhil degree (at one university, typically 3 years in the UK)
- For Marshall Scholars who enter as PhD/DPhil candidates, the Commission provides three years of guaranteed funding subject to academic progress.
- Covers 1 one-year master’s degree + start PhD/DPhil in Year 2 (at the same or different universities).
- In this scenario, the Commission will guarantee two years of funding, and may provide a third year of funding on a discretionary basis.
How to apply to the Marshall Scholarships
Once you have confirmed that you are eligible for a Marshall Scholarship, applying to this scholarship has multiple steps, including submitting an online form, letters of recommendation and endorsements, and an interview.
In order to apply to this scholarship, candidates will need to be endorsed by the President, Provost, or Academic Dean of their undergraduate institution. The institution will need to submit a letter of endorsement on behalf of the candidate. This is one of the first steps in the application process, along with choosing which pathway (one- or two-year) they would like to apply for. The deadline for submitting the form usually falls around mid-September.
Another important part of the application process to note is that the scholarship commission only allows students to apply in one region. This region can either be the one where they have their permanent home address or ordinary place of residence/employment, or the one where they are studying. For this scholarship, the U.S. is split into 8 regions: the Atlanta Region, the Boston Region, the Chicago Region, the Houston Region, the Los Angeles Region, the New York Region, the San Francisco Region, and the Washington DC Region. If candidates apply in more than one region, they’ll be automatically disqualified.
The next step of the application is interviews. If you’ve made it to the next step, you’ll be invited to interview in person in the city of your region. For example, if you live and apply in the Houston Region (Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas), interviews will take place in Houston. Candidates can request a virtual interview if they are working or studying overseas during the interview period, which usually runs from October to November.
One last thing to note is that candidates do not need to have applied for or be accepted at a British university before they apply for a Marshall Scholarship. That being said, some universities like Oxford and Cambridge, where course applications precede the Marshall interview dates, have special requirements for this scholarship.
Not sure about the Marshall Scholarships? Check out some other opportunities!
If you’ve looked into the Marshall Scholarships and think that they might be a good fit for you, head over to their website to start the application process! If you’re still not sure about the Marshall Scholarships, fortunately there are many amazing scholarships for graduate students looking to study abroad.
For example, here are a few great opportunities to consider:
- Fulbright Scholarships – an opportunity for U.S. academics and professionals to conduct multi-country, trans-regional projects.
- Boren Awards – for undergraduate (Boren scholarships) or graduate students (Boren fellowships) looking to study abroad.
To get a more personalized touch to your scholarship search, sign up for Scholarships360 to get matched to scholarships specific to your eligibility!