ARCS Foundation Scholars

• ARCS funding is to be provided in addition to any funding already provided by the nominee's academic home program/department and/or advisor.
• The ARCS Scholar fellowship provides a $10,000.00 award. This award does not include tuition/fee payments. 

The nominee must be a U.S. citizen with a GPA of 3.5 or higher. The nominee may be a naturalized citizen, but supporting documents must be on file. Legal Permanent Residents (Green Card holders) are not eligible.

Nominees must be registered full-time for the entire academic year and should be starting their second, third, or fourth year of study. Please see FAQs below for more details.

They must NOT be in their first or final year of study during AY 2024-25. Ideally, nominees should have at least three years of study remaining, as the fellowship is renewable, offering up to three years of total support (contingent upon good academic standing, full-time registration, and available funding) and the preference is to build a cohort of scholars over multiple years.

Please do not nominate those who don’t meet these timing guidelines. Please see the FAQs below for more details.

If you have questions about a particular nominee’s eligibility, please first review the FAQ's select FAQ below to see if the question is addressed. If it is not addressed below, create a ticket in the Services & Support Portal by emailing gradfellowshipnoms@ucsd.edu with "ARCS Scholar Nomination Question" in the subject line.

The nominee must be a doctoral student/candidate in one of the following graduate programs at UC San Diego:

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Bioengineering

Bioinformatics

Biological Sciences

Biomedical Sciences

Biostatistics

Chemical Engineering

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Clinical Psychology* 

Computer Science and Engineering

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Materials Science

Mathematics

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

NanoEngineering

Neurosciences

Physics

Public Health – Epidemiology

Public Health - Global Health

Public Health – Health Behavior

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Structural Engineering

*Clinical Psychology JDP students whose primary faculty advisor is affiliated with SDSU must apply through SDSU; students whose primary faculty advisor is affiliated with UC San Diego must apply through UC San Diego. Please note that the calls for nominations and submission deadlines vary between institutions.

ARCS Foundation fellowships reward excellence in research. Selection is based primarily on the exceptional promise of the nominee to make a significant contribution to the advancement of science, and to the material and intellectual welfare of all people. https://www.arcsfoundation.org/san_diego/

• Nomination Procedures: Each eligible program may nominate one qualified doctoral student/candidate. Students may not self-nominate.

• To nominate, a department representative should submit nominations via this Google Form and attach the requested materials as .pdf documents:
  • One confidential letter of recommendation addressed to Interim Dr. Dean Judy Kim of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs, from a UC San Diego faculty member and co-signed by the graduate program chair.
  • Nominees expanded CV/resume showcasing all academic achievements, including 1.) short abstracts of published papers, presentations, speaking engagements, etc., and 2.) all post-secondary honors/activities/leadership/service.
  • An unofficial UC San Diego transcript.

The 2024-25 Deadline has now closed.

Submit nominations via this Google Form

If you have any questions about UC San Diego's ARCS Foundation nomination/awarding process, please review the FAQs below. If your question is not addressed below, create a ticket in the Services & Support Portal by emailing gradfellowshipnoms@ucsd.edu with "ARCS Scholar Nomination Question" in the subject line.

For general FAQs about the ARCS Foundation, please visit the FAQs on the ARCS Foundation webpage: https://www.arcsfoundation.org/faq 

1. Question: Is the minimum 3.5 GPA requirement flexible? Can I nominate a student who has a 3.4 GPA? 
   • Answer: The 3.5 GPA minimum requirement is set by the ARCS Foundation and is standard across all partner schools. All UC San Diego nominees must meet the minimum threshold of a 3.5 cumulative GPA.  
2. Question: My UC San Diego program/department is not listed above, but I think it would be a good fit for the ARCS Scholars program, what should I do?
   • Answer:  Departments are added or subtracted within a rigorous ongoing review process that seeks to ensure that ARCS Awards are given only to the most highly ranked departments and scholars across science, engineering, and medical research fields. If you are interested in having your program considered for future ARCS awards, please complete this application and supporting documentation and email it to Tamara Schaps at tschaps@ucsd.edu indicating the name and email address of the person who will be the program/department contact for the ARCS Foundation application process, which may take 6 to 12 months.
3. Question: Can I accept the ARCS award if I am also a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)? 
   • Answer: Yes. Because ARCS is not considered a federal fellowship, recipients can concurrently accept an ARCS award and also be a recipient of the NSF GRFP (See: page 27 Fellowship Details and Conditions
4. Question: I am entering my fifth year of doctoral study, however, due to COVID-19 delays or other extenuating circumstances, I will not graduate for another three years and plan to be enrolled in at least 12 units per quarter to complete my degree. Am I eligible to be nominated for ARCS?
   • Answer: Generally, ARCS prefers nominees who are not so far along in their academic journeys, however, because COVID-19 has impacted normal academic progress for many students, if your department can confirm you will be here for the next three years and enrolled in 12 units per quarter, then you would be considered eligible. Please include this context in the nomination materials so reviewers are aware.
5. Question: I am entering my third year of doctoral study, but plan to graduate in the next two years (not three). Are students planning to graduate in two years eligible?
   • Answer: The ARCS Foundation prefers nominees have at least three years of study remaining, as the fellowship is renewable, offering up to three years of total support (contingent upon good academic standing, full-time registration, and available funding) and the preference is to build a cohort of scholars over multiple years. With this in mind, the most competitive applicants will be those who have at least three years of study left. However, ultimately, each department decides which student they want to nominate, so please confer with the graduate coordinator in your academic home department for more guidance.