Waivers for University Fellowships

The Graduate School believes that rigorous, established criteria for nominations are the foundation and threshold baseline of the University Fellowship competition. The Graduate School’s waiver policy enables graduate programs to nominate exceptionally qualified applicants who may fall short on the required minimum undergraduate cGPA. Waivers cannot be used for Graduate Enrichment (Section 6.2) or College-Allotted Fellowship nominations (Section 9.3), as those nominations use a petition process. The number of waivers allotted to each graduate program is 25 % of the graduate program’s nomination cap or two, whichever is greater.

If all application materials are present and the nominee’s credentials do not meet the minimum undergraduate cGPA for the University Fellowship competition, the nomination will be reviewed only if the nominee is able to be awarded a waiver from the program’s allotted waivers.

Any nomination not meeting all of the fellowship eligibility criteria for the University Fellowship competition that has not been identified as having a waiver will not be included in the competition. Missing items from the fellowship packet are not a permissible basis for a waiver.