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How to Apply for the Fellows Scholarship

The 2014 class of Davidson Fellows

2025 Fellows Scholarship Information Session

Make sure you are eligible before you start the application process!

Fellow with Bob DavidsonApplication Submission & Deadline

The 2025 application is now available, with big changes for this year! We are increasing scholarship amounts to $100,000, $50,000, and $25,000!

  • The application process has two parts! The initial portion asks for a brief description of the project/portfolio to ensure eligibility. The second part of the application is where you input your nominators’ information and send them their forms, as well as submit all the category requirements.
  • Please submit the initial portion of the application as soon as possible. (The sooner you submit the initial portion, the sooner your application can be approved, giving you and your nominators more time to complete nominating forms and application requirements.)
  • Once the initial portion of your application has been submitted, it will be held for review (1-2 business days).
  • When the initial portion of your application is approved, you will receive an email notification alerting you that you can continue with your application.
    • In part two of the application, you will input your nominator’s information and send them their nominating forms.
    • Additionally in part two, you will input a parent’s information and send them their parent approval form(s). NOTE: only one parent approval form is required. If it is a team submission, one parent form is required per team member.
  • Students can apply with one project only
  • All intellectual property contained within the application remains that of the applicant. Application contents are only shared with Davidson Fellows staff and judges. Davidson Fellows judges sign confidentiality agreements. No application material is ever published on the Davidson Fellows website. Biographical and project information posted to the Davidson Fellows website has been written and provided by the winners themselves.
  • The deadline for receipt of all application materials is February 12, 2025, 11:59pm Pacific Time. 2024.
  • Check out this How to Apply video for tips!
  • IMPORTANT: The Davidson Fellows Scholarship does NOT accept community service projects. Additionally, describing a future major or occupation is NOT an eligible submission.  GOOGLE PRODUCTS ARE NOT ACCEPTED, THIS INCLUDES GOOGLE DOCS AND VIDEOS.
  • Now that you have carefully reviewed the How to Apply page and your category requirements, APPLY HERE.

Review Process and Notification

Each submission is examined for completeness and accuracy. Qualified entries are then sorted by category and evaluated by an independent team of judges comprised of professionals with expertise in related domain areas. The team of judges may, at their sole discretion, consult with additional experts to assist in evaluating the merits of each submission.

Any work submitted by an applicant will be the applicant’s own work. Applicants are not to submit their work without acknowledging any word-for-word use and/or paraphrasing of writing, ideas or other work that is not their own. All submissions are run through plagiarism detection and AI-generated text detection software.

The independent team of judges will identify which applicants will be named Davidson Fellows and decide whether they will receive a $100,000, $50,000 or $25,000 scholarship. Judges' Project Selection Scale (PDF)

All applicants are notified on or before July 15 each year.

If you have any questions, please email DavidsonFellows@DavidsonGifted.org.

The Davidson Fellows Scholarship Program does not discriminate based on race, gender, religion, ethnicity or disability.

Application Tips!

1. Read! Carefully read the How to Apply and Frequently Asked Questions pages.

  1. Read through the available application categories and their requirements, and make sure your project/portfolio is eligible.
  2. The Fellows application has 2 parts, familiarize yourself with the process.

2. Choose reliable nominators.

View this sample of the nominating form. Look at those questions and think about the people who can best answer them.

3. Proofread your work.

Bonus Tip: Ask a friend or family member to read your paper/portfolio, since they will be reading it for the first time, they may catch errors that, in your deep familiarity, may miss.

4. Double check your file uploads.

Make sure the proper file has been uploaded to the proper spot.

5. Make sure all YouTube videos are “Unlisted”.

 If you make your videos private, we cannot view them.

6. Check your email.

The Davidson Fellows program staff and application platform (Submittable) communications will come exclusively via email, you don’t want to miss any of these messages. Also, consider using a personal email address.  School emails can sometimes snag messages in their spam filter.

7. Don’t leave everything to the last minute!

Especially for your nominators, give them time to fill out their forms. 

8. Do you have questions or are confused?

Reach out!  DavidsonFellows@DavidsonGifted.org or 775-852-3483 option 1, we are happy to help!

More about Fellows

Eligibility & FAQs

See how to be eligible for consideration as a Davidson Fellow.

Scholarship Categories

Application categories are Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, Literature, Music,  Philosophy and Outside the Box.

Rules & Regulations

Submitted projects must follow the rules and procedures outlined. Considerations for all applicants, scholarship considerations, policies and more.