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Undergraduate Education
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  • The Truman Scholarship is an award for students committed to a career in public service. This may include working in the government at any level or work with non-profits, educational institutions, or the military. The award helps students attend graduate school at the university of their choice, with 55-60 scholarship recipients selected each year.
  • The scholarship is for $30,000 toward up to three years of graduate education.
  • Applicants will be considered by their ability to be a change agent as shown through a commitment to a career in public service, leadership ability, and the likelihood to succeed in graduate school.
  • You apply as a junior or in the third year of your undergraduate degree.
  • The award can be deferred.
  • The application opens in August. BYU deadlines start in late October or early November, and the foundation deadline is the first Tuesday in February.

www.truman.gov

Procedure


If you plan to submit an application for the Truman Scholarship there are three deadlines you need to keep in mind. Each of these is listed on the Prestigious Scholarships Deadlines page. For this scholarship, you must first request that our office open an application for you by emailing national.scholarships@byu.edu sometime after the application opens (usually around August 1st). That email should include the following information: the email address you would like the Truman Foundation to use to contact you, your preferred first name (if you’d like to be called something other than your legal name), your intended graduation date, and your BYU net ID. After we create an application for you, and before BYU’s internal November deadline, please submit the following items comprising your initial application materials to our BYU office:

  • A written verification that your online Truman application is complete and ready for the committee to review
  • A picture of yourself (a headshot is preferable and will only be used for internal committee use)
  • Unofficial transcript (this can be a PDF file of your record summary found at aim.byu.edu > student academic record > record summary)
  • The list of those who will be writing your letters of recommendation and which specific letter each will be writing (academic potential, leadership, or commitment to a career in public service) along with their email addresses and phone numbers. Note, however, that it is not necessary for these letters to be completed by the initial campus November deadline.
  • Three other references (individuals who are not writing your letters of recommendation) along with their email addresses and phone numbers. If BYU endorses your application, these references will be contacted with some questions about you that will help us write a more robust letter of endorsement from the university.

Again, all of these items should be submitted electronically at national.scholarships@byu.edu on or before the BYU November deadline listed in the calendar.

Note: At the internal November deadline we expect a fairly polished application since your application materials will be reviewed by a university committee. That committee will decide if Brigham Young University will endorse your application. You will, however, have the chance to revise your application before your final submission to the foundation, in part based on committee recommendations. The committee may request a personal interview with you before a decision is reached. You will be informed of the committee’s decision by the date listed on the calendar.

Deadlines