New York Women in Communications Foundation Scholarship
Scholarship Sponsored by New York Women in Communications Foundation
INTRODUCTION
These guidelines explain who may apply for the scholarships and the documentation required. They outline residency and enrollment rules, academic and program expectations, membership requirements, and instructions for recommendation letters.
ELIGIBILITY
- Applicants must either attend a college or university located in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, or Pennsylvania, OR be undergraduate or graduate students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents of one of those four states, except where a specific scholarship’s own rules override these general criteria. In the event of such a conflict, the scholarship-specific criteria take precedence.
- Examples to clarify:
- A student who lives in Texas but is enrolled at a school in New York is eligible.
- A student who is a New York resident but attends school in Texas is eligible.
- A student who is a Texas resident attending a Texas school is not eligible.
- NYWICI membership: Rising Stars ages 18–26 receive complimentary membership and applicants in this age range must be enrolled as NYWICI members using that Rising Star membership. Applicants aged 27 and older are not required to be members, though joining is strongly encouraged. If you are not currently a member, please consider signing up.
ACADEMIC AND PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS
An applicant must:
- Be pursuing, planning to declare, or enrolled in an advanced degree in a communications-related program at an accredited U.S. college or university. Acceptable fields include (but are not limited to) advertising, broadcasting, communications, digital media, English, film, journalism, marketing, public relations, and publishing.
- Hold a cumulative GPA of at least 3.2 (or 87%).
- Be available for a virtual interview (schedule to be determined).
- If awarded, agree that scholarship funds will be applied to the following academic year; payments are issued directly to the recipient’s school.
RECOMMENDATION LETTERS
- Two letters of recommendation are required. If a recommender cannot use official letterhead (the preferred format), the letter must include the writer’s full contact information.
- One recommendation must come from a faculty or staff member at the applicant’s current institution — for example, an instructor who has taught the student or an academic advisor who can speak to academic performance.
- The second letter should be from a professional or community source. Suitable examples include a supervisor from a job, internship, or volunteer role; an athletic coach; the advisor for an extracurricular activity; or the instructor from an external class.
- Recommenders wishing to submit letters directly may email them to info@nywici.org; these will be attached to the applicant’s file.