Preparing to Apply

Cultivating a strong academic career is the best preparation for a fellowship application.  Consider these suggestions.

Excel in Course Work
Most fellowships list high GPA as one eligibility requirement.  Discern what it will take for you to excel, whether it is planning study, visiting professors during office hours, or spending additional time with the course material.

Involvement and Leadership
Pepperdine offers many avenues for campus involvement.  Be selective.  Consider some of your top interests, commit to just a few.  Seek out leadership opportunities.  Rather than mere involvement, selection committees want to see steady leadership in your commitments.

Get to know Faculty
Make an effort to visit professors during office hours, ask questions about course material, and let them know when something interests you.  Down the road, the relationships you've pursued may develop into mentoring relationships with regard to research, and later still, opportunities to receive strong recommendations.

Conduct Research
Pursue opportunities to conduct research through one of Pepperdine's undergraduate research programs or opportunities to research, publish, or present.  This will sharpen your expertise and demonstrate potential for further study or research.

Explore Teaching Opportunities
If you are considering applying for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship, or other teaching programs, teaching experience (broadly defined) will help you prepare and make your application stand out.  Explore tutoring, coaching, and language teaching opportunities.

Plan your Summers
Whether its summer school, research, internships, teaching, or travel, those precious months of May, June, and July provide ample time for rest as well as personal and academic development.  Research and consider possibilities based on your future goals.

Become proficient in a Language
Some scholarships, such as Fulbright, require a language component.  In the Fulbright competition, the level of competency expected varies greatly depending on the country.  If you want to conduct research in a county for which Pepperdine does not offer language courses, you should look into language courses at other schools.  Summer language classes or programs are a great idea.

Keep Current
Read the paper, the web, journals, whatever you can to keep update on current local, national, and international news.  Such knowledge breeds curiosity about the world and your place within it.