PHI BETA KAPPA (External)

The Phi Beta Kappa Association of New York is offering scholarships to students from NYC community colleges who are graduating in Spring 2018 and will be transferring to four-year colleges to continue their studies for bachelor’s degrees in liberal arts and sciences. This year they will be offering two scholarships, each for $2000.

Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest college academic honor society in liberal arts and sciences, recognizes excellence in both of these disciplines. As members of the local alumni association in New York, they carry forward these ideals. The Phi Beta Kappa Association of New York (PBKNY) offers the scholarships to students who not only show academic achievement and promise, but who also, in their work and goals, show identification with the values associated with the Society- love of learning, freedom of inquiry, commitment to liberty of thought and expression, interest in creative endeavor and belief in scientific inquiry. More information is available on the Society’s website- https://www.pbk.org.)

Candidates must meet the following requirements:

1. Candidates must submit an official copy of their transcripts through Fall 2017 (If selected)
2. Along with a cover letter with their contact information, candidates must submit a 250-500 word essay explaining their academic or professional goals. They may want to talk about their background and interest as these relate to those goals. As an organization focused on the liberal arts and sciences, they exclude candidates who are enrolling in college for purely technical studies. They have considered or given awards (for example) to candidates in engineering, nursing, teaching and social work as well as other fields where those candidates have demonstrated via their essays, coursework, or recommendations some breadth of interests, study or skill consonant with their espoused values.
3. Candidates must submit 2 letters of recommendation. At least one must be from a faculty member of the college. A second could be from someone at the college or elsewhere. Especially, if the second recommendation is from a nonacademic, it should clearly speak to the candidates’ intellectual as well as personal abilities or qualities.
4. Candidates must submit, with the application, a letter of acceptance from a four-year college program, excluding technical or para-professional programs. Candidates must be graduating from a NYC community college in Spring 2018.
5. In the fall of 2018, for those candidates selected as awardees, they will need letters from the colleges confirming that the students have actually enrolled.

The application materials must be forwarded from the Hostos Scholarship Office on behalf of finalists by May 9, 2018. However, the last day for students to bring their complete package to the Hostos Scholarship Office is May 7, 2018 at no later than 5:00pm.

The physical presentation of the awards and checks usually takes place in the Fall or Winter at a general meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa Association of New York once confirmation has been received from the colleges that the awardees have actually enrolled.