Honors College
Nationally Competitive Programs
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How to Prepare for the Process
Students should begin preparing for Nationally competitive opportunities as early as their freshman year. If you are interested in becoming a future applicant, the following is a set of recommended guidelines for each year of your undergraduate career.
The interest form link lists each award and provides a direct link to each opportunity's website page. If you have any questions about applying, contact us at scholarsFREEMississippi.
- Establish a solid grade point average
- Join organizations, activities, and causes that represent issues that are important
to you
- Your involvement demonstrates your passions and motivations outside the classroom. Find ways you can make an impact in the Hattiesburg community.
- Show intellectual well-roundedness
- Pursue an ambitious and diverse curriculum. Seek extra-curricular involvement, on campus. Join groups that represent issues that align with your personal and professional interests. Demonstrate commitment and passion. Search for leadership opportunities. Identify a need and fill it. Broaden your horizons.
- Develop close relationships with faculty in several disciplines
- Get involved through research, internships, service-learning, study abroad, or other opportunities. You want future recommenders to write personally about you.
- Stay informed
- Read the newspaper daily (The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal) or follow them on Twitter. Listen to podcasts, Ted Talks, or news radio (NPR). Know what is being talked about in the world around you.
- Keep a journal
- The personal statement is one of the most important components of a grant application in which you talk about your background, life experiences, personal, academic, and professional interests, and aspirations. Keeping a journal helps you know yourself, remember highlights from your life experiences, and strengthen your writing skills.
- Meet with the Project Director for Nationally Competitive Programs
- Schedule an initial appointment to discuss professional and personal goals.
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Start undergraduate research with a faculty member
Beginning research early is especially important if you are a science or engineering major.
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Continue your involvement in organizations and with causes
Find unmet needs on campus and in the community, and determine solutions.
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Show intellectual well-roundedness
Craft diverse and interesting semester schedules that challenge you and reflect a broad array of understanding. Consider taking upper-division (300-level) courses.
- Look ahead to the summer
- Seek internships, study abroad opportunities, or experiences that will strengthen your application and broaden your awareness. Reflect upon your life values and goals. Dream big. Clarify steps you can follow to reach your goals.
- Know your award options
- Review the applications you have an interest in with the Project Director for Nationally Competitive Programs before departing for the summer by scheduling an initial appointment. Determine gaps in your application that can be filled over the break.
- Make yourself nationally competitive
- Start undergraduate research in your junior year and continue throughout your senior year.
- Give back to your discipline
- Present at conferences, and attend state and national meetings. Depending on your major, give performances, hold an art exhibit, or publish in a reputable journal. Enroll in a graduate-level course if possible.
- Know where you are going and where you have been
- Consider your future academic goals. Know your "why" and be able to share your plan of study and your passion behind it.
- Bolster your résumé and transcript
- Seek an active role in organizations and activities that are personal to your interests and goals. Take challenging courses in and out of your major area of study.
- Prepare for senior awards in your junior year
- Your senior year will offer many options for nationally competitive awards, such as the Marshall, Rhodes, Gates Cambridge, Mitchell, and NSF. The most successful students begin the application process in their junior year. Meet individually with the Office of Nationally Competitive Awards or attend a workshop to learn more about each scholarship. Assess the areas that you need to strengthen to be nationally competitive, and address these over the summer.
- Start planning for graduate school
- Define your areas of interest for graduate school, and begin speaking with professors about reputable programs in your field of study. Meet one-on-one with professors to secure letters of recommendation, providing each recommender with an academic résumé and examples of work you did in their class.
- Prepare for national exams
- Spend months studying for national entrance exams such as GRE, GRE subject exam (when applicable), and MCAT, etc.
- Utilize Nationally Competitive Programs
- Schedule a meeting with our office by emailing scholarsFREEMississippi.
Applying for Awards
Nationally competitive programs begin as early as freshman year. Use the following list to explore core opportunities. Visit the fellowship and scholarship list of programs above to view a full list of opportunities.
- All majors opportunity for fall, spring, or summer to earn major class and internship credit in Washington D.C.
Gilman International Scholarship
- Offers grants for Pell Grant eligible undergraduates to pursue study abroad
UK Summer Institutes | US-UK Fulbright Commission
- The Fulbright UK Summer Institutes are three-to-four week programs for US undergraduate students. Experience higher education in the UK.
- Science, math and engineering majors planning doctoral studies and research following undergraduate degree
- All majors interested in environmental, sustainability, or planning issues or Native Americans focusing on health care or tribal policy
- All majors participating in undergraduate research with a minimum 30 cumulative hours and 3.25 GPA
UK Summer Institutes | US-UK Fulbright Commission
The Fulbright UK Summer Institutes are three-to-four week programs for US undergraduate students. Experience higher education in the UK.
- All majors for study abroad in a critical need country
Gilman International Scholarship
- Offers grants for Pell Grant eligible undergraduates to pursue study abroad
National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates
- Intensive summer research for undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors
- All majors opportunity for fall, spring, or summer to earn major class and internship credit in Washington D.C.
- Summer program designed to provide undergraduate students with a deeper appreciation of current issues and trends in international affairs.
- All majors with demonstrated leadership and campus/community involvement with career plans in public service or public policy
- Science, math and engineering majors planning doctoral studies and research following undergraduate degree
- All majors interested in environmental, sustainability, or planning issues or Native Americans focusing on health care or tribal policy
- Summer program designed to provide undergraduate students with a deeper appreciation of current issues and trends in international affairs.
- All majors participating in undergraduate research with a minimum 30 cumulative hours and 3.25 GPA
- All majors for study abroad in a critical need country
Gilman International Scholarship
- Offers grants for Pell Grant eligible undergraduates to pursue study abroad
National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates
- Intensive summer research for undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors
- All majors opportunity for fall, spring, or summer to earn major class and internship credit in Washington D.C.
- All majors interested in foreign policy and/or careers in the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State
- All majors interested in foreign policy and/or careers the Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State
- All majors for graduate study at Oxford University
- All majors for graduate study in the United Kingdom
- All majors for graduate study at Cambridge University
- All majors for graduate study at approved institutions in Ireland and Northern Ireland
- All majors interested in graduate study provided through the Global Affairs degree program at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China
- All majors interested in teaching US history or government
- All majors interested in teaching or researching abroad
- All majors participating in undergraduate research with a minimum 30 cumulative hours and 3.25 GPA
National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship
- Science, math, engineering, and social science majors pursuing post-graduate research
National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship
- Science, math, and engineering majors pursuing post-graduate degree
Hertz Foundation Graduate Fellowship
- Science, math, and engineering majors pursuing post-graduate degree
Additional Resources for Research, Fellowships and Internship Opportunities
- Drapeau Center for Undergraduate Research - The Drapeau Center for Undergraduate Research (DCUR) at Southern Miss supports all aspects of undergraduate research and creative activity. Center initiatives are funded by generous contributions from its benefactor, Mr. Donald Drapeau, and from the Office of the Vice President for Research.
- Gulf Coast Research Laboratory - Located in Ocean Springs, Miss., The University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL) is one of the largest marine laboratories in the southeastern United States. With a workforce of approximately 200 faculty, researchers, graduate students and support staff, GCRL conducts applied research and higher education in a diverse array of facilities on its 50-acre Halstead and 224-acre Cedar Point sites.
- Center for Community Engagement - The Center for Community Engagement (CCE) coordinates meaningful and mutually beneficial community engagement experiences to address university and community needs, effect positive social change, and cultivate active citizen leaders. Through partnerships with faculty, staff, students, and community agencies, CCE facilitates activities that integrate learning, service, and leadership.
- Center for Pathways Experiences - This Center is a great resource for USM students to find meaningful experiences to enhance their career potential.
- The Student Opportunity Center (SOC) - A database with over 11,000 on-campus, in-state, regional, and nation-wide undergraduate student opportunities from the arts to the sciences: conferences and competitions; journals for publication of undergraduate scholarly work; internship, co-op, and research programs; and funding for undergraduate scholarly activities. Access the SOC database with your USM email address and choose a password (your SOAR password is not automatically recognized).
- Undergraduate STEM Database - STEM students can use these databases to locate many external research opportunities.
- Graduate STEM Database
- Internet Resources in Educational Advising - This website contains many links to sources of financial aid, testing, international programs, and university based resources.