The $90,000 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for Graduate Studies

The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans was established to support exceptional immigrants and children of immigrants in pursuing graduate education in the United States. By awarding up to $90,000 in funding to 30 individuals each year, the fellowship program aims to highlight the diverse contributions of New Americans to society and culture.

The fellowship boasts an active alumni network that includes artists, designers, architects, directors, writers, composers, and musicians, as well as doctors, lawyers, public health experts, professors, engineers, and entrepreneurs. It is particularly beneficial for students in the arts pursuing MFAs, providing critical financial support to advance their creative and academic endeavors.

“The true value of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship is our brilliant, sensitive, and ever-growing community. The fellowship has been a transformative and generative place for me as an artist because of insightful conversations and sometimes even collaborations with Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows from diverse fields such as music, immigration law, theater, medicine, engineering, and philosophy. I’m thrilled to be part of this exuberant community.”
– Ivan Forde, 2017 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow

Eligible New Americans include green card holders, naturalized citizens, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, individuals born abroad who graduated from both high school and college in the United States, and the US-born children of two immigrants. Interested applicants can watch an information session for those in the arts, design, and architecture.

For more information, visit pdsoros.org.

The application for the 2025–26 academic year is due on October 31, at 2pm (ET). Learn more about full eligibility requirements and connect with the program on Instagram.

Requirements

You may apply for a Fellowship in 2025 if the following is true as of the October 31st application deadline:

You are 30 years or younger
You must not have reached or passed your 31st birthday as of the application deadline. There is no minimum age requirement.

You are a New American
You are an immigrant or the child of immigrants. If you are an immigrant, you should be a naturalized US citizen, a green card holder, an aslyee or refugee, or someone who graduated from both high school and college in the United States.

You are planning on starting or continuing an eligible graduate or professional degree program
You must be planning to be enrolled in a full-time degree-granting graduate or professional program in the United States in the 2025-2026 academic year. The Fellowship is open to all fields of study and you can apply when you’re applying to graduate school or while you’re in the early years of graduate school.

More information on eligibility can be found here.

Application Instructions

To apply for the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships, you’ll need to create an account and start the online application. You’ll fill out eligibility and demographic questions, share information about your educational and New American background, and then you will have to submit relevant transcripts, a resume or CV, two essays, and then register three to five recommendations.

Start an online application.