LoginsEverything on this page is Foundation guidance about how to build a strong nomination — whom to nominate, how to coach a student, and what makes reviewers take a letter seriously. None of it depends on the online system.
Get students into research early
The single most useful thing you can do for your campus is push undergraduate research participation earlier. The Foundation increasingly sees first-year students who already have significant research experience, and those students arrive at the Goldwater competition with something to write about. Having a campus Goldwater committee can help in this regard.
- Presentations and publications carry weight. Reviewers read them as independent validation of the quality of a student’s work. Say that plainly in your campus information sessions, and encourage students to ask their mentors early about opportunities to present or publish.
- Long working relationships pay off twice. They produce better letters and they are more likely to produce peer-reviewed output.
Nominate the right student
By the end of the application process, a student should be able to make a compelling case for why they want to be a research scientist, engineer, or mathematician. If you are not convinced the student intends to pursue an advanced degree and a research career, the reviewers will not be convinced either. Test the argument before you commit a nomination slot to it.
- For applicants in psychology, work that would be considered part of the natural sciences is a strength.
- The programs with the most competitive nominations usually run a Goldwater campus committee that both promotes the program and selects the nominees. If you do not have one, consider creating one.
Coach the writing without writing it
You should not write or edit a student’s narrative statements or research essay. You should absolutely comment on them as they develop, particularly wherever clarity or specificity would strengthen the argument.
Set the proofreading expectation early. There is no excuse for an application to reach reviewers with spelling or grammatical errors. Tell your students plainly that you will not submit an application that contains them.
Letters of recommendation can make or break a nomination
This is where campus advising has the most leverage, because students are usually choosing recommenders for the first time and tend to choose by seniority rather than by who can speak to their research.
Who makes a strong letter writer
- Research mentors, especially long-term ones. They can speak to a student’s potential and their genuine interest in a research career.
- Course instructors who can connect classroom performance to research promise — not simply confirm a grade.
- Non-research mentors who know the student well and can give specific examples of attributes that will support a research career.
Three letters from outside STEM will sink an otherwise good nomination. A single letter from outside the sciences, engineering, or mathematics is strongly discouraged; if none of the three sit within STEM, the likelihood of selection drops significantly.
Read every letter before it goes into the packet. If something in one concerns you, raise it with its author rather than letting it stand.
Write a narrative statement
Your statement is the one place you speak to reviewers directly about a nominee. Useful things to cover:
- The campus competition that produced this nomination.
- What is particularly strong about this student.
- A weakness in the record that deserves context, or a challenge the student faced and overcame.
- How the student compares with others you have advised who went on to doctoral work or won nationally competitive awards.
- Anything in the letters that needs explaining — including a missing mentor letter.
The narrative field has a character limit. Check the current limit on the form itself rather than planning around a number, since it has changed between competitions.
Ask for letters with enough lead time
Set a campus deadline for letters that falls well ahead of the Goldwater nomination deadline and send writers the Foundation’s letter guidance along with your date.
You are welcome to adapt the draft below. Replace the bracketed placeholders and be certain the campus deadline is in there.
Dear [letter writer],
I am the Goldwater Campus Representative for [institution]. [Student name] is being considered by the university for nomination as a Goldwater Scholar and would like you to provide a letter of recommendation on their behalf. It is my understanding that the student has discussed this letter with you, and you have agreed to write on the student’s behalf. You may type your statement into the narrative box provided or upload a PDF. If using a PDF, sign the letter. Please have your letter submitted by [your deadline].
The mission of the Goldwater Foundation is to help develop the nation’s next generation of researchers in the natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Your letter should discuss this student’s overall potential and their potential to become a successful research scientist, mathematician, or engineer. Please describe how you know the student and for how long. Do you see the motivation, creative thought, stamina, and ability to collaborate that characterize people who succeed in these fields? Comparisons with other students you have known who went on to doctoral degrees, Goldwater Scholarships, or other nationally competitive awards are particularly helpful to reviewers. If there are special circumstances or challenges that affected the student’s performance, or that the student faced and performed well in spite of, please discuss them. Above all, be specific — give examples from your own work with the applicant. You can write candidly: the application is kept confidential and all Foundation reviewers sign a confidentiality and conflict of interest agreement, so unpublished results or work in progress can be discussed where that strengthens your letter.
If you are unable to fulfill this request, please let me know immediately so an alternate letter writer can be identified.
Thank you,
[your name]
You provide the last review
Before a packet goes to the Foundation, you are the final set of eyes on it. Check that every transcript is legible — if you cannot read the courses and grades, neither can a reviewer, and you should get a better copy. Check that the letters are appropriate and do not contradict anything else in the packet.
It is also worth pointing students at the full set of application questions so they can see what they will be asked and reading through the questions yourself so you know what the student is working on.
Give yourself room at the deadline
Do not wait until the last day. Set your internal campus deadline about a week ahead of the Goldwater deadline and submit your nominations a few days ahead of it. If something goes wrong with a nomination, that margin is the difference between a fix and a lost nomination.
Common questions
The Campus Representative FAQ answers the specific questions that come up most often — whether a class project counts as research, who can and cannot write a letter, what to do with a letter that runs long, how much time to give writers, and whether the narrative statement is required.