How to apply for the PD Soros Fellowship

To apply for the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships, you’ll need to create an account and start the online application. You’ll fill out eligibility and demographic questions, share information about your educational and New American background, and then you will have to submit relevant transcripts, a resume or CV, two essays, and then register three to five recommendations.

The application for the 2026 Fellowship will open in April of 2025 and be due in October of 2025.

Check Your Eligibility for the 2026 Fellowship

Announcements

The Application for the 2026 fellowship Opens in April

The application for the 2026 Fellowship will open in April of 2025.

For applicants who applied in the fall of 2025, once we review the applications, the top 77 applicants will be designated “finalists” and will be asked to appear for virtual interviews in late January and early February of 2025. 30 of the the 77 finalists will be selected as Fellows and will be notified in March of 2025. The 2025 Fellows will be announced publicly in April of 2025 and they will begin to receive stipend and tuition support from the program in the fall of 2025, and they will also attend the Fellowship’s Fall Conference, all expenses paid, that October.

Join Our Mailing List for Updates

Applicants notified of Finalist status

Mid-January, 2025

Interviews with the 77 Finalists

February 2025

Winners Notified

March 2025

2025 Fellows Announced

Mid-April, 2025

2026 Application Opens

Mid-April, 2025

2025 Fellowship Begins

Fall, 2025

Apply by 2 pm ET on

October 30, 2025

Things to know Before you apply

PD Soros supports all types of full-time graduate and professional degrees at accredited institutions in the United States.
You can apply when you’re applying to graduate or professional school, or when you’re in the first two years of the academic program you’re seeking funding for.
You can apply more than once and the application is free.
The first year of the Fellowship can’t be deferred.
All application materials must be submitted online through the online application.
We make no exceptions to the 2 pm ET application deadline.

Photograph of two women sitting at a table, looking off camera left. They are both mid-clap. The woman in focus and closer to the camera is in her 20s with medium skin tone and her black wavy hair is pulled back. She is dressed in a suit. The other fully visible woman is in her 20s with light skin tone, long dark hair pulled half back. Other people can be seen sitting nearby.

Creating a Great Application for PD Soros

One of the best ways to learn about The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans is to watch an information session. You can watch a pre-recorded session or join an upcoming live virtual session on Zoom. Webinars are open to everyone with an internet connection and are held on Zoom. Most sessions will include an overview of the Fellowship, how to apply, selection criteria, the benefits of the Fellowship and the Fellowship community. Participants can submit questions during the sessions.

See upcoming sessions

Watch recorded info sessions

Step 1. Collect necessary information

Confirm your eligibility
Your demographic and contact information
Your higher-education history
The graduate program[s] for which you seek support
Recommendations (3 required, up to 5 accepted)
Required submissions: Resume, two essays, transcripts (college, graduate), scores of standardized tests (if they are or were required for admission to your graduate program)
Optional exhibits

We have minimized the official documents required to confirm eligibility, educational, and test results. If you are asked to be a finalist, however, we will specify the official documents that we will need from you before we can invite you to the finalist interviews.

Returning Applicants:

If you have applied to, or been familiar with previous Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship competitions, please note that:

You will not be able to resubmit your previous application.
You will be required to upload your resume essays, transcripts, standardized test scores and optional test scores through the application system.
Recommendations must be submitted online, through the application system. We will not be able to re-use past recommendations.

Essay Questions

Essay One – maximum length 1000 words

Tell us about your experiences as a New American. Whether as an immigrant yourself, or as a child of immigrants, how have your experiences as a New American informed and shaped who you are and your accomplishments?

Feel free to discuss how individual people (such as family or teachers), institutions, aspects of law, culture, society or American governance made an impact on your life as an immigrant or child of immigrants. The program is interested in understanding the context of your personal, professional, and academic accomplishments.

Essay Two – maximum length 1000 words

Tell us about your current and near-term career-related activities and goals, as well as why you decided to pursue the specific graduate program(s) and school(s) that you have. How do you see your current work and study informing your early career goals? If you have not been accepted into a program yet, please tell us about why you selected the programs to which you are applying.

I will not have taken my graduate school entry exam before the October 30, 2025 PD Soros deadline. What should I do?

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.

What standardized test scores are required?

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.

Do I need to submit an official transcript for the application or is an unofficial transcript sufficient?

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.

How should I upload my test scores?

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.

My university does not use a typical Grade Point Average (GPA) system. How should I report my GPA?

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.

Is there a word limit for both essays?

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.

Can I use essays I’ve already written for graduate school?

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.

If I use special formatting in my resume or essays, will the application preserve the formatting?

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

Where can I find more information about our essays?

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

Step 2. Request 3-5 Recommendations

Guidance for recommenders

Letters of recommendation educate and contextualize the achievements and choices of each applicant for the screeners and panelists, which is particularly important because in 2024 the Fellowship received more than 2,300 applications from applicants in all types of fields—everything from science, to music, to computer science, to archeology—and from applicants from a diverse range of cultures, backgrounds and places.

Recommenders can find full guidance on writing letters here.

Applicants can find guidance on who to select as a recommender here.

Is the deadline for recommenders the same as applicants?

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

I applied last year. Is there a way for one of my recommendations from last year to be transferred to this year’s application?

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

Does a recommendation letter signed by more than one person count as one recommendation?

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.

I submitted information for my recommenders, what happens now?

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.

What should a recommender do if they have not received the registration e-mail?

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.

What should a recommender do if they can login but cannot update their letters?

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.

Is there a page or word limit for recommendations?

No.

Can I submit my application before my recommendations have been submitted?

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.

Can recommendations or application materials be submitted by mail?

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

Would it be possible to upload recommendation letters using Interfolio?

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

Step 3. Submit an Online Application

All application materials must be submitted online through the online application. Any hard copies of materials received will not be included in the application or returned to the sender. The 2024-2025 application cycle is now closed. Applicants can access the portal here.

I’m having trouble logging into the application, what should I do?

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.

How do I request a new password?

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.

If I use special formatting in my resume or essays, will the application preserve the formatting?

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

Do you make any exceptions to the deadline for applicants?

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.

after you apply

Once we receive the applications, our team of diverse readers will review the applications and select the top 77 applicants, who will be designated “finalists.” The 2025 finalists will be asked for documents to confirm their eligibility and to take part in our virtual interviews in late January and early February of 2025. The 30 2025 Fellowship winners, selected from among the 77 finalists, will be notified in March and they will be announced in April of 2025. The Fellows will begin to receive stipend and tuition support from the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships program in the fall of 2025, and they will also attend the Fellowship’s Fall Conference, all expenses paid, that October.

Find Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows with similar backgrounds in our directory

Discover the inspiring stories of over 800 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows. You can explore and filter Fellows based on their university and heritage, providing a rich insight into the diverse backgrounds and achievements of our community. Learn how each Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow is making an impact and find connections to your own journey. Dive into the stories that define the essence of the Fellowship.

Meet the Fellows

“Everyone arrives having walked their own unique journey, and yet there is a profound shared understanding among us of the challenges and sacrifices our families made to immigrate and adapt to life in the United States. It’s the collective empathy and lifelong friendships that make the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship such an empowering and truly special community.”
Charlie ChangWon Lee, 2021 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow

pdsoros

A graduate and professional school fellowship for immigrants and children of immigrants.
#immigrants #NewAmericans #immigrantkid #DACA #HigherEd

For my PhD thesis research, I work between Johns H

For my PhD thesis research, I work between Johns Hopkins University (@johnshopkinsu @hopkinsmedicine) and the Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics (@alleninstitute), which has given me a unique opportunity to experience different approaches to science. I am fortunate that the cultures at both institutions are highly collaborative, enabling me to be a part of such an exciting project. While JHU broadly has a traditional academic environment, the Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics is a non-profit research organization dedicated to the principles of open science and team science. For open science, the Institute not only emphasizes releasing datasets, tools, and protocols for others to use or reanalyze, but also ensures that these released materials are easy to use, well-documented, and rigorously validated. Talking with teams that prepare our data and code for public release, I have learned how important these efforts are to expanding the impact of our work. On the team science front, the Institute consists of biologists, chemists, physicists, veterinary surgeons, former industry engineers, project managers, and people of many other backgrounds all working together on shared scientific goals. Especially as a trainee, this has been a treasure trove of knowledge, with an expert in almost any field only a few steps away. My time at the Allen Institute so far has demonstrated to me the benefits of coordinated group efforts that leverage multiple areas of expertise. Such efforts are often difficult to establish in traditional academic labs, but knowing what to look for now, I have started to notice similar threads of multi-lab team science around Hopkins as well. Together, these experiences have shaped my vision of the scientific culture I hope to cultivate in my future career.

Outside of the lab, I enjoy taking advantage of the amazing natural wonders that surround me in Seattle. Biking around the city on a clear day provides mesmerizing views of the mountains, and hiking them in the summer is even more awe-inspiring. In hopes of breaking the stereotype that “it’s all just rain in Seattle,” I’ve attached some proof here 😉

–Michael Xie, 2024 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow

Though I was born in the United States, I lived in

Though I was born in the United States, I lived in China for about a year and a half starting just before my first birthday and visited again when I was four. At the time, my dad had just started his first job and my mom had recently finished graduate school, and they leaned on the community and family they had in China to help take care of me. While in China, I spent time with my grandparents and extended family in Ganzhou (赣州) and Wuhu (芜湖), and I remember feeling a deep sense of communal support. I can vaguely recall my grandparents and uncle excitedly teaching me how to eat soup dumplings (小籠包), meeting two of my great grandmothers before they passed, and watching my grandparents play cards with their neighbors. In the years after I moved back to the United States, my parents wanted to continue that extended familial bond — I visited my family in China every few years, and when they were able, my grandparents would come stay with us in New Jersey.

In the U.S., my parents raised me alongside my younger brother, and they fostered in us a deep sense of curiosity for the world. We would frequent museums, where my parents encouraged us to ask questions to the guides, and they signed me up for a local robotics club, where I got my first taste of science and engineering. They also shared with us their love of exploration and trying new things, whether it be new foods, cities, or cultural customs. We biked together on vacation and learned to cook a whole turkey for Thanksgiving. Despite all the adaptation my parents went through to build a life in the U.S., they still strove to keep our family’s Chinese heritage alive. I learned Chinese fables and poems, watched the Journey to the West (西游记) animated series, and joined my parents in making egg rolls that we’d often bring to my elementary school class for the Spring Festival (春节). My parents were acutely aware of the fact that we’d always be seen as Chinese in America, and they taught us the importance of embracing both cultures.

These lessons and nurture from my family have shaped my own values as a new American, and I am endlessly grateful for their love and support.

–Michael Xie, 2024 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow

Hi everyone! Michael Xie here — I’m looking fo

Hi everyone! Michael Xie here — I’m looking forward to sharing a little about my story this week 🙂

I was born and raised in New Jersey to parents who emigrated from China for educational opportunities. I’m currently an MD/PhD student in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in the 3rd year of my PhD. My work broadly focuses on developing and applying tools to uncover fundamental principles of how living brains process information. These days, my research is being conducted primarily at the Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics in Seattle, where one of my advisors relocated his lab. I’m truly grateful to be a part of the @pdsoros community, and as I reflect, I am excited to share more in the coming days about the people and experiences that have molded who I am today!

–Michael Xie, 2024 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow

This week we’re handing over our Instagram accou

This week we’re handing over our Instagram account to 2024 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow Michael Xie!

Michael, who was born in New Jersey to immigrants from China, is pursuing an MD/PhD in the Medical Scientist Training Program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His PhD research project is a collaborative effort between the Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics and Johns Hopkins University, co-advised by Karel Svoboda at the Allen Institute and Adam Charles at Johns Hopkins.

Over to you, Michael!

#education #highered #jhu #johnshopkins #mdphd #md #physicianscientist #chineseamerican #immigration #immigrantkid

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