How to apply for the PD Soros Fellowship

You can select the option that says you will be taking your test after the deadline, and upload your official scores when you have them, or a screenshot of your online account when the scores are posted. 

Please note that we only require the test scores that you needed for the program you would like the Fellowship to fund. So, if you are applying to fund medical school and your medical school only needed the MCAT, you only need to upload the MCAT scores to your application. If you are applying to fund another program, and that program only requires the GREs, you only need to include your GRE scores. If your program requires both exams, you can upload the scores you have with a second page that says you will be taking the GREs on x date and will send in your scores when you have them. 

Please submit an image of your transcript that includes your name and the institution’s name. It does not need to be official. If you are selected as a finalist we will request your official transcript. 

The examinee score report is what you should upload. If you don’t have a PDF of that, a screenshot of your account would be fine. If you are selected as a finalist, you will be asked to provide an official score report. Do not type up your scores in a word document and self-report them. 

There is no way to upload a secure PDF into the online application. If there is a password on your GRE PDF, please try to contact the party who provided you the PDF file to see if they can remove the security restrictions. If that is not possible, then please print out the pages that you would like to upload. Then, scan the printed pages into a valid file format and upload this new document onto the appropriate page on the online application. When you scan your document, please make sure to configure the page size output to be standard US Letter size of 8 in x 11 in.

We understand that many universities, and particularly those abroad, do not use a standard GPA system. If your undergraduate or graduate program does not use a typical system, please write “0.00” in the space provided.

Yes, the word limit is 1,000 words per essay. This is a hard limit. You’ll have to copy and paste your essays into a text box.

While you can use an essay that you’ve previously written, you will likely want to think about whether it best answers the question and conveys what you most want to share. If you have have written a previous personal essay that you think is appropriate in answering Essay One, then perhaps that would be a good place to start.

The application will preserve formatting, since it will convert uploaded and filled in fields into PDF format.  

More information about essays can be found in Recorded Info Sessions, specifically one video called “Information Session on Essays, Recommendations, and Optional Exhibits.

Yes. All recommendations must be submitted by October 30, 2025 at 2:00 pm ET. 

We cannot forward a letter of recommendation from a previous application to a current one. All recommendations must be submitted to the current application. 

Yes, recommendations signed by multiple people only count as one letter. The application system requires three to five separately registered recommenders. Each recommender must be registered separately so we can verify their identities. A recommender can upload a letter signed by more than one person, but the applicant would still need at least two additional recommendations registered and submitted in the application system to have a complete application.

Your recommenders will receive an email giving them instruction on how to access the application portal. You will be able to see their status as “Requested” at this time. This status will change to “Received” after a recommendation has been submitted. You will also receive an email from SMApply confirming a recommendation has been attached to your application.

The applicant and recommender should confirm what e-mail the registration e-mail would have been sent to. Applicants should also verify that they have clicked “save” after registering each of their recommenders. Recommenders should check their junk mail folders, since the e-mail is from a smapply.io address that sometimes gets filtered out. If your recommender still hasn’t received an email, you can resend the request by clicking the “…” next to their request on your application portal and then clicking “Resend Invitation”. Note: there will be no confirmation after you click “Resend Invitation”, so only click it once so you don’t spam your recommender.

If you have a question regarding uploading issues within the application system, please use their help desk. SurveyMonkey is available Monday through Friday 8 am – 8 pm Eastern Time; PD Soros staff are only available 9 -5 pm Eastern Time Monday through Friday.

No.

Yes, you can submit your application before your recommendations have been submitted. Once you submit, you’ll still be able to login into the system to check on the status of your recommenders. In order for your application to be considered complete it must have a minimum of three recommendations submitted as of the October 30, 2025 deadline.

We do not accept any materials by mail or e-mail. All materials must be submitted through the online application system.

Interfolio should provide instructions on their website. We recommend submitting recommendations directly via our system. 

Be sure you are not trying to log into pdsoros.org, which is our Fellowship website, not our application website. You can find the appropriate link here.

Click on the “Forgot your password?” link under the green Sign In button on the application site. Click here to access the main application page. 

The application will preserve formatting, since it will convert uploaded and filled in fields into PDF format.  

No. All applicants must have their applications in by 2 pm Eastern Time on October 30th, 2025 to be considered. We are very strict about our deadline for applicants.