Thomas J. Watson Fellowship

Consult with Sarah Whitfield, DavisConnects Advisor in Law, Government, Policy, Education and Social Impact ([email protected]) in your search for any kind of fellowship.

Students with creative or offbeat projects can travel and live abroad even with a substantial stipend. The overall GPA is less important than the originality of the proposal.

Takes place in late September.

1. Written. A well worked-out project of 5 pages or so, showing that you have a firm idea of what you want to do and that you have constructed a realistic budget. Creativity counts for a lot. Plus, strong support from faculty recommendations.

2. Oral interviews. On campus with Colby professors and later with Watson representatives

Highly competitive. Colby chooses 4 finalists from the entire senior class. Every year one or two students have won the award. In 2008, for example, Emilia Tjernström, studied nomads in Mongolia, Mali, Mauritania, and Argentina. A few years earlier, another one of our students worked on an art project in Senegal and neighboring countries.

Contact Professor Véronique Plesch ([email protected]) in Art who has shared the following information:

On Friday, September 6, at 4pm, Grossman 209/10, Prof. Plesch will talk about the process and answer questions.

– See the campus website: https://www.colby.edu/davisconnects/watsonfellowshipapplication/ The password is “eustis” or “Eustis.”

– Also visit the National Foundation website: https://watson.foundation/fellowships/tj

“You will find there all the important information (for instance the length of the personal and project statements); you should familiarize yourself as much as possible with the process and details and will find examples on the Colby one (although it’s really YOUR project).

As you start thinking about your project, please keep in mind that this needs to be a student-designed project as opposed to a research project or an internship, and that you cannot return to a place where you’ve spent more than six weeks.”