Presidential Fellowship/Dean's Scholar Program Guidelines

The Presidential Fellowship Program in the College of Arts and Sciences is aimed at enhancing our competitiveness in recruiting outstanding graduate students. To be eligible, a nominee must be a new applicant to a PhD program in the College of Arts and Sciences with at least one of the following:

  • a cumulative undergraduate grade point average of 3.4 or higher
  • OR A two component combined GRE test score(the sum of the scores of the verbal and quantitative components of the GRE General Test revised format subsequent to Oct. 1, 2002) of 1270 or higher AND a score on the new analytical writing component of 4.5 or higher
  • OR a score on the relevant GRE Subject Test in the 75th percentile or higher.

Please note that, in accordance with the recommendations of the Educational Testing Service, the CAS Fellowship Committee will only consider GRE General Test scores taken on or after October, 2002.

The nominee must be offered a teaching/research/graduate assistantship by the nominating department. Each Fellow will receive a fellowship of between $6000 and $8000 on top of the assistantship stipend and a full tuition scholarship. On a trial basis, for this year the College of Arts & Sciences has allocated well over $20,000 to be used to supplement some of the $6,000 Presidential awards, bringing the total fellowship stipend for these selected candidates to $8,000. We hope this will make us more competitive for the very best doctoral candidates. The Fellowship is renewable for three additional years provided the Fellow maintains satisfactory academic progress.

In addition, the College of Arts and Sciences will offer 25 Dean's Scholarships to outstanding graduate students who meet the criteria above. Dean's Scholarships carry a stipend of $4000 and, as with the Presidential Fellowships, will be renewable for up to three additional years and will require that the nominee be offered a teaching/graduate/research fellowship by the department.

Each department is asked to rank its nominees in order of priority. Preference will be given to domestic applicants. Each nomination should include a completed nomination form and required supporting materials. Early nominations must be submitted by Tuesday, January 22, 2008. The general submission deadline is Friday, February 8, 2008. Later applications will be considered if any fellowships remain to be allocated. Six copies of each candidate's application should be submitted to the Fellowships Committee, Attn. Kathy Janik, College of Arts and Sciences, 810 Clemens.

Download the Presidential Fellowship and Dean's Scholar Nomination Form for 2008-2009

1   Students with an MA or MS from another institution are eligible for Presidential awards. Depending on how many credit hours are applied to their Ph.D. degrees, they may end up with fewer than four years of funding. Students with MA degrees from UB who apply for a Ph.D. program in the same field are not eligible for Presidential awards.