Tag Archives: education

BOSTON UNIVERSITY 2026 TRUSTEE UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP

Application Deadline: December 1, 2025.

LOCATION: USA

Every year, BU welcomes approximately 20 outstanding students to the Trustee Scholars Program. Many of our current Scholars had perfect 4.0 grade point averages in high school and ranked at the top of their class.

ELIGIBILITY:

Submit the Common Application and all required materials for admission to one of the undergraduate degree programs at BU by December 1.

Complete the Trustee Scholarship essay on the Common Application as part of your application to BU.

The Trustee Scholarship Essay:

Please choose from one of the two prompts below and submit one essay, in 600 words or less, as part of your application through the Common Application.

Nobel laureate and BU professor Elie Wiesel once said: “There is divine beauty in learning…” To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests.” Is there a book, film, podcast or life experience that has made you feel more connected to your personal history/identity, and what is the most important thing you learned from it?

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Do not follow where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” Describe a time in your life when you stepped out of your comfort zone and forged your own path. What motivated you to take that action, and how did it change your perspective? Share the lessons you learned from that experience and how it might shape your views as a Trustee Scholar.

    BENEFIT:

    A Trustee Scholarship covers full undergraduate tuition plus mandatory undergraduate student fees and is renewable for four years if certain criteria are met.

    APPLY

    LUMIERE EDUCATION SCHOLARS ESSAY AWARD 2025

    Application Deadline: November 16, 2025, 11:59 PM EDT

    LOCATION: USA

    A world-class essay competition for ambitious high school students. The Lumiere Scholars Essay Award invites high school students to examine issues that matter to them, cross disciplinary lines, test assumptions, and defend their arguments with rigorous evidence. 

    ELIGIBILITY:

    The competition is open to all students from any country who will be enrolled in high school (as of December 31, 2025).

    Essay entries are reviewed by our Academic Advisory Committee, an international panel of distinguished professors and researchers.

    Free to enter and open worldwide, the award celebrates rising thinkers, sparks dialogue about the ideas shaping our future, and continues Lumiere’s mission of empowering the next generation of researchers.

    Participants can choose ONE of the following prompts:

    Humanities Prompt #1: How should societies determine which past injustices deserve apologies and reparations from the state?

    Humanities Prompt #2: How might popular culture reshape our understanding of the world around us?

    Free entry: There are no fees required to enter this essay award. It is open to all eligible participants without cost.​

    Single Submission: Participants may submit only one essay.​

    Original Scholarship & Sole Authorship:
    Each essay must be the original work of the participant.
    While participants may seek feedback or engage in discussion, the writing must be conducted entirely by the student. No joint or collaborative submission is permitted.
    The use of external writing services is strictly prohibited.

    Language​: Essays must be in English.​

    Academic​: Essays must be academic and use formal language. Students may not use personal anecdotes to substantiate their arguments. ​​

    The award seeks well-reasoned, research-based argumentative essays rather than original research papers. ​​Participants are not expected to perform primary data collection or advanced data analysis to submit.

    Word Limit​: Essays must not exceed 2,000 words, excluding footnotes and bibliography.

    BENEFIT:

    6 winners from 3 categories (Humanities, STEM, and Social Sciences) will receive a total of $20,000 in cash prizes and scholarships.

    APPLY