Churchill Scholarship

Churchill Scholarships support one-year graduate degree courses at the University of Cambridge in engineering, mathematics, or the sciences: see the official website for a list of eligible programs of study. The award provides payment of all university and college tuition fees at Cambridge, a maintenance allowance, and a travel allowance.

The Churchill Foundation currently offers at least fifteen scholarships each year. Yale is invited to nominate two candidates to the national competition; the campus nomination process is coordinated through Yale's Office of Fellowships.

Application Information: Detailed information and application instructions, along with the official application, may be found on the Churchill website. This information should be read carefully, along with the Yale application information here; pay special attention to the official application instructions, which are detailed and very specific.

Note that to be eligible for the Churchill, you must also apply to Cambridge for the degree course of your choice by the deadline for the Gates Cambridge Scholarship on October 11, 2023, listing Churchill as your first-choice college.

To apply for Yale's nomination for the Churchill the following materials must be submitted, ideally via the Yale Student Grants Database:

• Application: simply create a pdf of your DRAFT online Churchill application and submit this through the Yale Database. To do this, complete AND submit your application through the official Churchill application system and then create a pdf of the submitted file to upload to the Student Grants Database. If endorsed, your submitted file can be returned to you for further edits. Included with your application should be the four additional required documents: List of Scholarships, Prizes, Awards, & other distinctions obtained (1 page max); Research/Employment (1 page max); Proposed Program of Study essay (1 page max); Personal Statement (2 pages max)
• Letters of Reference: 4. Letters should be submitted online, via the Student Grants Database, as pdfs of SIGNED ORIGINALS on LETTERHEAD. Applicants should note the official instructions concerning the choice of recommenders, and may consult the Office of Fellowships with further questions. To allow your recommenders to submit letters online, please trigger the Database to send a request for reference.
• Laboratory placement (if applicable & available); may simply be an email from the prospective PI in addition to above DRAFT Churchill application: a copy of your Cambridge postgraduate degree course application, which you must have submitted to Cambridge by their mid-October Gates and other funding deadline, listing Churchill as your 1st-choice college
• Transcripts: For the initial campus competition, unofficial Yale College transcripts may be uploaded by applicants (the Office of Fellowships will work with nominees to obtain official transcripts). An official transcript must also be requested from any other institution attended for post-secondary studies; only one official copy of each transcript is required, and should be sent directly to the Office of Fellowships by the campus application deadline. Following the campus round of competition, no more than two endorsed applications may be sent to the national competition in November. Applicants are normally notified of the results by late December and awards are announced publicly by early February.

Interested Yale applicants, after doing some research of their own, may refer questions to Yale's Office of Fellowships (meetings by appointment).

Eligible Yale applicants must be US citizens who are graduating seniors or recent alumni (within 12 months of graduating from Yale College). They must hold a bachelor's degree by October 1 of the academic year in which they would take up the award, and may not have attained a doctorate.

Selection is based on: outstanding academic achievement, especially in the major (previous Scholars have usually had a GPA of 3.9 or better); proven talent in research and a capacity to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the sciences, engineering, or mathematics by pursuing original, creative work at an advanced level (as demonstrated by awards, prizes, research, and letters of recommendation; applicants in the sciences and engineering will demonstrate extensive laboratory experience, internships, or other related work, while applicants in mathematics will show substantial independent work or other projects); scores on the GRE; and outstanding personal qualities.