The Graduate Dean's Top-Prospect Awards are intended to secure enrollment commitments from outstanding PhD prospects.  Prospects must have been admitted to a PhD program and must be guaranteed a .5 FTE assistantship for at least nine months.  Top-Prospects Awards are only for the first year of graduate study.  No more than two Top-Prospects Awards will be granted to a single department (independent of program or concentration) in one academic year.  Approximately 20 awards will be made each academic year.

Award Amount

Individual awards will be a $5,000 stipend for the 2015-2016 academic year.  The Graduate Dean's Top-Prospect Award supplements a .5FTE assistantship base salary.  Awarded students will receive their Top-Prospect Awards during the summer semester after satisfactorily completing their first 18 credits, meaning they have maintained a 3.0 GPA.

Eligiblity

All newly admitted prospects deemed “highest” priority (namely the number 1 or 2) recruits to PhD programs will be eligible, assuming they do not qualify for a Robert B. Toulouse or McNair Fellowship.  “Highest priority” must be demonstrated in the written narrative and other evidence submitted by the Graduate Officer of the program.

Selection Process

Departments must submit a Prospect Nomination Form containing a narrative written by the Graduate Officer describing why the nominee is the “highest” priority recruit.  High GRE scores alone will not be sufficient to demonstrate highest priority.  Graduate Officers are encouraged to look holistically at each nominee.  Ideally, nominees will be in the top 15% nationally of all prospects.

The dean of the Toulouse Graduate School will make awards based on the documented quality of the nominees.  Decisions will be made within 72 hours of receiving nominations.  Awarded prospects will receive a letter from the dean congratulating them for being selected a “top-prospect.” 

Nomination Time Frame

Nominations will be reviewed beginning December 15, 2014.  Awards will be made as long as funds remain or until March 1, 2015.