Nomination

Nomination, not application

The Goldwater Scholarship is a nominated award. Every Goldwater nomination goes through a Campus Representative (CR) — the faculty or staff member who leads the Goldwater competition at your institution. Each institution may nominate up to four students per year. An institution may nominate a fifth student if at least one nominee is a transfer student or a U.S. veteran, and a sixth if the nominees include both. You may be nominated by only one institution in a given year.

Steps in the Goldwater Scholarship process

You cannot apply to the Foundation directly. Every applicant is nominated by their institution through its Goldwater Campus Representative.

If your institution is not listed in the CR Locator

Your school may not yet have a CR. Contact the Goldwater Help Center at 507-931-8335 or goldwater@scholarshipamerica.org — and consider pointing a faculty member or fellowships advisor to our Campus Representatives section, which explains how an institution registers a CR.

Key dates

When	What happens
First Tuesday in September	The online application opens
September – January	Campus deadlines — set by your Campus Representative and earlier than the national deadline
Last Friday in January, 5:00 p.m. Central Time	Nomination deadline — your CR must submit your complete nomination by this time
Mid-February	Review committees evaluate nominations
Mid-March	The Board of Trustees votes on the awards
Last Friday in March	Goldwater Scholars announced (12:00 p.m. Eastern Time / 11:00 a.m. Central Time)

How applications are reviewed

Reviewers evaluate applications holistically, giving balanced consideration to your academic record, research experience and research essay, career goals, any social or economic influences on your education, activities and recognitions, leadership, and letters of recommendation. Information disclosed in your research essay is held in confidence; all reviewers sign a confidentiality and conflict-of-interest agreement.

Applications are read by reviewers in your own discipline. If your work is multidisciplinary — for example, bioinformatics, environmental science, or materials science — you’ll be asked to identify the field of the reviewers you’d like to read your application, so the Foundation can match it to the most appropriate readers. A bioinformatics applicant whose contribution is primarily biological, for instance, would choose to be read by biologists, while one whose contribution is primarily computational would choose computer scientists.

Using artificial intelligence

Since the 2026 competition, the application has asked whether you used AI tools to prepare it. You may use AI for spelling, grammar, and sentence structure; to find related research and identify other researchers working in your field; to identify graduate programs where similar work is being done; and to brainstorm ideas. You may not use it to fabricate, falsify, or plagiarize your story or your research. Your own institution’s AI rules always apply, and you are responsible for every word you submit. Whether or not you used AI does not affect how reviewers score your application.

From the 2027 competition, the application also asks whether you used AI tools while conducting your research. While the Foundation is supportive of AI use in research, use of these tools during your research work is determined by your mentor, the laboratory where you are working, and by your institution. You must follow the guidelines established by these individuals and institutions. The Foundation asks in order to understand how widely applicants are using AI in their research; your answer is not used to judge the merits of your application.

What a complete nomination includes

Component	What it is	Who submits it
Online questionnaire	Questions about your background, career goals, research activities, coursework, and recognitions. You can preview the full question set before you begin.	You
Research essay	A three-page essay on a research project you have completed, are working on, or propose to do. See the Research Essay page for requirements and guidance.	You upload it
Three Letters of Recommendation	Written by people who know your research strengths — your mentor is the most important. Each writer submits their own letter: they can type it into a narrative box that holds about two pages, or upload it as a PDF. See the References section for what your writers need to know.	Your Letter Writers
Transcripts	From every institution whose grades count toward your cumulative GPA. Official or unofficial transcripts are both accepted.	You upload them
Permanent residents only	A copy of your Permanent Resident Card.	You upload it
Campus Representative Statement	Optional but strongly recommended: your Campus Representative’s account of how you were selected and what your record shows. Limit 2,000 characters.	Your Campus Representative

Choosing your letter writers

Your most important letters come from research mentors — the project directors, faculty, or postdocs who supervised your work. Faculty who taught you in science, math, or engineering courses and can connect your coursework to your research goals are also appropriate. An advanced graduate student who worked closely with you can write in some situations, and such letters are strongest when written jointly with a faculty member. A project director at another institution counts as a research mentor too, so a summer research supervisor elsewhere is a legitimate writer. Letters from high school teachers, coaches, or family friends carry minimal weight. If no research mentor is writing for you, explain why elsewhere in your application. Before asking for letters, discuss possible writers with your CR. Once you agree, approach your letter writers early — at least a month before your campus deadline — and give each one a tailored information packet (your résumé, your draft application materials, and details of your work with that writer). Avoid giving everyone the same packet—identical materials tend to produce letters that look and sound the same.

Transcripts: start early

Talk with your CR at the start of the process about how your institution will handle transcripts. Official or unofficial transcripts are acceptable. Transcripts must not be password protected: password-protected files cannot be opened by the Foundation and will make your nomination incomplete. Every transcript must show your name and the institution’s name, be easily readable, and include the transcript key. For the current competition, report your GPA through at least the most recent spring term, and add fall grades if they post before your nomination is submitted. If your current transcript already lists the courses and grades you earned at another institution, that single transcript is enough — you need a separate one only when those courses and grades are missing from it.

Important terms

Goldwater uses precise definitions for sophomore, junior, transfer student, U.S. veteran, and your addresses — they determine your eligibility and years of support. See the full Definition of Terms.

After your CR submits

Nominations are due the last Friday in January at 5:00 p.m. Central Time; late or incomplete nominations are not reviewed. Review committees evaluate nominations in mid-February, the Board of Trustees votes in mid-March, and Scholars are announced on the last Friday in March. Once you submit your application to your CR, you lose editing access — if something must change, your CR can return it to you until nominations are locked.

Everyone nominated hears from the Foundation, not only those selected: in late March the Chair of the Board of Trustees writes to all nominees to recognize the nomination itself.