The Barry Goldwater Scholarship Program's mission is to identify, encourage, and financially support college sophomores and juniors who show exceptional promise of becoming this nation’s next generation of research leaders. The Goldwater Scholarship is one of the oldest and most prestigious national undergraduate scholarships in the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics in the United States. Each scholarship provides up to $7,500 per academic year toward tuition, mandatory fees, books, and housing and meals.
What the foundation looks for in a Goldwater Scholar:
- A strong commitment to a research career in the natural sciences, mathematics or engineering
- Intellectual intensity in those fields, demonstrated in coursework and research
- The potential for a significant future contribution to research in their chosen field
Internal Recommendations
Please review the Goldwater recommender guidelines below, as they will help you evaluate the potential for the candidate to be a successful nominee for the scholarship. Your letter will be seen by the faculty fellowships & awards committee, and members of CLBR assisting the committee and applicants.
Should the student be selected as a nominee for the national competition, you will be asked the the nominee to submit a revised letter.
External Recommendations
The Foundation has guidelines for how they would like recommenders to approach their letters, and requirements for how the letters should be formatted. The Goldwater Foundation will not read letters that do not meet their formatting requirements, so please review their guidelines and requirements. Reed's Goldwater Campus Representative will review letters before submitting the applications to the foundation, and may reach out with revision requests if needed.
Due dates will vary from year to year, but final letters will be due approximately two weeks prior to the external deadline. The external deadline is typically in late January. All Goldwater recommendation letters should be directed to CLBR Fellowships for both the internal and external portions of the competition. Thank you for supporting applicants to the Goldwater Scholarship program.
Questions? Please contact clbrfellowships@reed.edu.