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Recipients |
The Boston College Advanced Study Grant was established to encourage, support, and give visible recognition to first- and second-year students who have that special spark of scholarly initiative and imagination. Students with these qualities should also be thinking of themselves as prospective candidates for national fellowships, such as the Rhodes, Marshall, Fulbright, Goldwater, or Truman. An Advanced Study Grant for a summer project can be an important step along the way.
Advanced Study Grants are for student-designed projects. They are not awarded for projects in which a student proposes to work with a faculty member on the faculty member's research. For such faculty-designed projects, BC has Undergraduate Research Fellowships.
Advanced Study Grants are awarded for summer "skill acquisition" projects that promise to accelerate dramatically the applicant's progress in the major field of study. The intent of this program is to encourage undergraduates to acquire skills that will make more sophisticated research and study possible during their Junior and Senior years. Consistent with these goals, preference will be given to proposals from Freshmen and Sophomores. However, proposals from Juniors are also accepted and given full consideration.
"Skill acquisition" is broadly defined. It might mean, for example, improving language competence, mastering information technology applications, or improving proficiency in lab techniques—or it might mean becoming knowledgeable about methodologies within, or across, academic disciplines.
Advanced Study Grants to BC undergraduates have funded a wide array of summer projects during the past few years, but these grants have certain features in common. In every case, the project built upon the student's past academic accomplishments and laid the foundation for things that the student had in mind for the future, such as study abroad or a potential senior project. In many cases, successful proposals had more than one dimension. For instance, a proposal that combined intensive foreign-language study with a research project, or with an internship, or with community service in that language was more likely to succeed than one that proposed only foreign-language study. Winning proposals also showed sparks of originality and prudent ambition.
In sum, what succeeds are imaginative, unusual, and yet feasible proposals. Students are encouraged to discuss potential project ideas with a faculty mentor. Copies of the winning proposals for Advanced Study Grants in past years are available for review at the University Fellowships Committee office in Hovey House. Students applying for an Advanced Study Grant may find it helpful to read several of these prior winning proposals. See above table—Recipients—for descriptions of project proposals that received funding in past years.
The University Fellowships Committee makes every effort to provide partial or full funding to as many worthwhile projects as it can. In previous years, grants have typically been in the range of $500 to $2,000, and roughly one out of every four nominated applicants has been awarded a grant.
Students considering the Advanced Study Grant should read the encouragement and advice from prior student winners, in their own words: Maureen Olsen and Pasha Mirazimi.