Gates Cambridge Scholarship

Background

The Gates Cambridge Scholarship program was established in October 2000 by a donation of US $210 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the University of Cambridge; this is the largest ever single donation to a UK university.

The aim of the Gates Cambridge program is to build a global network of future leaders committed to improving the lives of others.

What It Is

Each year 90 fully funded scholarships are offered to outstanding applicants from countries outside the UK to pursue a full-time postgraduate degree in any subject available at the University of Cambridge.

Candidates must apply to their chosen postgraduate program at Cambridge through the University’s Graduate Applicant Portal. To be considered for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, you must complete the section to apply for admission to a course and a College place and the Gates Cambridge part of the funding section. Gates Cambridge has access to the full application for admission and funding when reviewing applications.

After departments rank eligible applicants on academic ability, the Gates Cambridge passes the most academically outstanding on to shortlisting committees, which are divided into subject areas. These committees consider the applicants based upon the scholarship criteria. Shortlisted candidates are invited to interview.

Eligibility

• Citizen of any country outside the U.K.
• Applying to pursue one of the following full-time residential courses at Cambridge:
  • PhD (three-year research-only degree)
  • MSc or MLitt (two-year research-only degree)
  • One-year postgraduate course (e.g. MPhil, LLM, MASt, Diploma, MBA, etc.)

Criteria

• Outstanding intellectual ability: Scholars are expected to have the ability to make a significant contribution to their discipline while at Cambridge. At the start of the application process, potential Scholars are ranked by the department they are applying to. Only the most outstanding candidates are considered further.
• Leadership potential and the capacity to “take others with them.”
• A commitment to improving the lives of others
• A good fit between the applicant’s qualifications and aspirations and the postgraduate program at Cambridge for which they are applying.

Application Components

• Online application completed through the University’s Graduate Applicant Portal
• CV/resume
• Gates personal statement (max. 3,000 characters or approx. 500 words)
  • Prompt: explain why you are applying for a G-C Scholarship and how you meet the four main criteria.
• Three recommendation letters: in addition to two academic letters needed for admission to the graduate program, Gates Cambridge asks for a reference who will attest to your fit with the scholarship and criteria.
  • Note: it is essential that the Gates Cambridge Referee is fully briefed about the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, especially its selection criteria, and is able to write authoritatively about your leadership potential and commitment to improving the lives of others. Specific examples are crucial.

Application Timeline

Anyone intending to apply for the Gates Cambridge applies directly to Cambridge. There is no institutional endorsement process for this scholarship; however, the CRF advises applicants at each stage of the process.

• March-May: Advising begins on the Gates Cambridge
• June-September: Candidates work on applications to their respective programs and draft and revise the Gates Cambridge personal statement
• Early October: External application deadline
• Late January: Finalist interviews take place

Select Recipient Bios

Angela Bai, Gates Cambridge Scholar 2019

Program at Cambridge: MPhil in Architecture & Urban Studies

Angela graduated from Georgetown in 2017 with a major in biology and a deep affinity for design. Growing up in Zhengzhou and Los Angeles, both cities plagued by smog, she became keenly concerned about climate change and those who suffer its numerous consequences. As a student of biology at Georgetown University, she witnessed unprecedented melting of the Greenlandic Ice Sheet and studied thriving microbial communities in the extreme cold of Antarctica. At Cambridge, Angela is studying how people interact with bio-designed technologies, architecture, and landscapes in order to understand how designers, architects, and planners can create truly sustainable — and dignified — cities.

Ayan Mandal, Gates Cambridge Scholar 2018

Program at Cambridge: PhD in Psychiatry

At Georgetown, while pursing majors in Neurobiology and Physics, Ayan studied how different disease states could affect the connectivity of the nervous system. Most of his work centered on stroke, investigating how damage to neural structures, particularly white matter tracts, affected language abilities in patients. He also conducted in vitro electrophysiology research and characterized the functional connectivity of neuronal networks corresponding to APOE4, a high risk gene for Alzheimer’s Disease, in comparison to APOE3, the neutral allele. At Cambridge, he is applying his growing expertise in network neuroscience analysis to uncover brain networks corresponding to states of cognition in patients with brain tumors. Ultimately, he hopes to become a physician-scientist dedicated to translating key advances in research into the clinic.