Location: Bowdoin / Student Fellowships / National / Keasbey

Keasbey Memorial Foundation Scholarships*

Initial Bowdoin Deadline: September 25, 2009
Campus Interview: October 2, 2009
Final Bowdoin Deadline: November 4, 2009
Web site: There is no Web site for this scholarship
Campus Contact: Cindy Stocks, Director of Student Fellowships and Research

Bowdoin is allowed to nominate students for a Keasbey Scholarship once every three years. After the 2009 – 2010 cycle, Bowdoin students will next be apply to apply in the fall of 2012.

Description.
Keasbey Scholarships are available on a rotating basis to students from only 12 of the top colleges and universities in the United States: Amherst, Bowdoin, Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Haverford, Middlebury, Princeton, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, and Yale. The award supports two years of study at one of four British Universities: Oxford, Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, or University College of Wales at Aberystwyth. The Foundation does not permit a deferral of the scholarship or a break in the study once the scholar has matriculated.

For the 2010/2011 academic year, the following Colleges at Cambridge and Oxford will be open to Keasbey Scholars for their residences. This does not in any way preclude a Scholar from studying with members of the faculty of other colleges.

  • Oxford (Christ Church, Hertford, New, Trinity, and University)
  • Cambridge (St. John’s, Selwyn, and Trinity)

Benefits.
The Foundation will pay directly to the institution involved the Scholar’s fixed charges for tuition, etc. The Scholar will receive a living stipend from which he or she will pay the college charges for board and lodging, travel to and from the United States and general subsistence in Europe. The amount of the current stipend will be announced upon selection, and will be approximately equal to the Rhodes stipend.

Eligibility.

  • Applicants for a Keasbey Scholarship must be a citizen of the United States and must be a member of the graduating class of his or her college or university.
  • The Trustees have determined that the scholarship may not be held by a married Scholar. Therefore, a nominee should not have present expectation of marrying before completing two years of study abroad. If the Scholar marries, the scholarship is forfeited.
  • The Scholar may not have another scholarship, such as a Rhodes, Marshall, Mellon or a fellowship grant for foreign study from his or her own college.
  • The Keasbey Scholarship may not be deferred or interrupted.
  • The successful candidates will demonstrate academic excellence, active participation in extracurricular activities, leadership abilities, and personal promise.

Bowdoin’s Internal Selection Process. Since Bowdoin is allowed to nominate only two Bowdoin students for the Keasbey, the Committee will meet to screen the initial applicants. From that meeting, the Committee will select a list of students it would like to interview based on the following materials. Please bring four collated packets of the following materials to the Office of Student Fellowships and Research by the “Initial Bowdoin Deadline” (see above):

  • Current resume
  • Unofficial transcript (Print off of Bearings)
  • Academic Interest and Proposed Course of Study Statement
  • List of the three people who will be submitting letters of recommendation and their relationship to you


If you are selected for a campus interview, you will be contacted to schedule an interview date and time. Then, on the basis of your interview and personal materials, the Committee will determine which students will receive Bowdoin’s nominations for the Keasbey.


Materials for Final Consideration. If you receive Bowdoin’s nomination, it is your responsibility to continue revising and collecting your material and to remind people writing your recommendations of all dates and deadlines. By the “Final Bowdoin Deadline,” nominees must provide the items listed below to the Office of Student Fellowships and Research.

  • An official transcript of the nominee’s academic grades for the first three years
  • A typewritten statement from the nominee summarizing the areas of the nominee’s major academic interest and the course of study proposed to be taken in Great Britain. This will require some research on the part of the nominee and, preferably, prior discussion with faculty members who have had experience with educational institutions in Great Britain so that the proposed course of study abroad will have a relationship to what the nominee has done as an undergraduate and to the nominee’s career objectives. This is particularly important if the successful nominee hopes to do at least some work in Great Britain at what would be considered the graduate level here, such as to read immediately for the M.Phil., B. Phil., or M. Sc. Degree.
  • A letter addressed to the Trustees by a senior administrative official who knows the nominee personally and who is generally familiar with the nominee’s academic qualifications. The letter should include a description of the nominee’s extracurricular activities and leadership qualities.
  • Three letters from faculty members with whom the nominee has worked closely saying, in substance, that the candidate is believed to be capable of academic work which should result in the nominee’s obtaining a good Honors degree in his or her field of interest.

The Office of Student Fellowships and Research will be responsible for gathering the following items and sending all materials directly to the Foundation for further consideration.

  • A grade distribution analysis (distribution of grades).
  • A letter addressed to the Trustees by a senior administrative official who knows the nominee personally and who is generally familiar with the nominee’s academic qualifications. The letter should include a description of the nominee’s extracurricular activities and leadership qualities.

More about the Selection Process: The Foundation is asking three other American colleges to make two nominations each and expects to make one award. Bowdoin’s nominees will be interviewed by representatives of the Foundation on December 11, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. at the law firm of Morgan Lewis & Brockius LLP in Philadelphia.

Please note that applicants are responsible for all photocopying needed for the internal selection process and as required by the foundation.


*Information derived from Keasby Memorial Foundation Information Sheet and Foundation letter