The Mitchell Scholarship Program 2023 | Easy Guide to Apply and Get3it

Mitchell Scholarship program

Mitchell Scholarship is a national, selective, and competitive scholarship funded by the US-Ireland treaty. The scholarship program was named after US Senator George Mitchell for his decisive impact on the Northern Ireland peace movement. 

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About 12 students within the age range of 18-30 are awarded the Mitchell Scholarship annually for one academic year of postgraduate study in any discipline of their choice offered by institutions of higher learning in Ireland and Northern Ireland. 

The Mitchell Scholarship program will cover the applicant’s tuition fee, accommodation, travel, and many other living expenses. 

Application guidelines 

You must submit all your application documents online on or before September 24th, 2023, by 5 pm Eastern time. You are solely responsible for submitting your application and all four letters of recommendation and approval before the deadline(undergraduate students only).

As an undergraduate, you should understand that the deadline for application approval will be much earlier in your college or university than the Mitchell scholarship application deadline. So you should contact your campus fellowship advisor before starting anything on the application.

If you are applying as a graduate and have graduated, you have a graduate degree; you are advised not to submit an institutional approval. 

In addition, you and your campus fellowship advisor should be exceptionally careful not to make any mistakes during the application process; this is because once you submit, you will not be able to unsubmit or even view it. 

Finishing your application

Note that you do not need to fill the application in any particular order; just make sure you save the completed part before you log out; you can come back to it anytime to continue and complete it.

There is a “CHECK MY WORK” button in each section; this button is used to verify whether you have missed something or not.

Take note of the required length allowed in each section. When you are done, you will have the opportunity to run a final review and check on your application at the “review and submit” tab.

After submission 

You will get a confirmation email once you submit it. From then, you will only have access to your application status bar; this is where you can monitor your approval and letter of recommendation submission. 

Before submitting your application, make sure those commended you are available because you will have to send them an email from the status page to remind them. 

Understand that, once you have submitted, you will not be able to change or remove a recommender.

Mitchell Scholarship Video interview 

After the application deadline (mostly 12 hours after), you will receive a mail from an Irish company Sonru about the expected video interview. You will only receive this mail if you have submitted a complete application. 

You must submit the video application by 5 pm Eastern time on Monday, September 27th, 2023.

Treat the video interview as very serious and very critical to your chance of winning the scholarship. The video interview is an avenue for the Mitchell Scholarship selection committee to get to know you better. 

It is expected that you and some other lucky winners will be the Ambassadors for the Mitchell Scholarship, so the video interview is to see how you are going to express your interests in a multinational environment. 

You are expected to respect the importance of this process and not by any means share the information or interview questions with any other person. 

To record an impressive video interview, you need a good and fast internet connection, a very quiet environment to record the video, and a computer that has a microphone and camera. 

The interview will take between 10-15 minutes, and there is an opportunity for you to answer practice questions before the real interview starts.

Once the real interview starts, you will not be able to stop or take a recess until you finish the interview. Four questions will be displayed on the screen, and you will answer them verbally and record your answers.

Materials needed to complete the application.

• Passport-style photo (jpg, png, pdf)
• Scan all documents into a single pdf and block your social security number if it’s showing on any of the documents. 

This document should contain all undergraduate and graduate work you have done over the years.

You can submit an unofficial document at the initial stages. Still, if you make it to the final round, you will be asked to submit the official documents during the interview in Washington, D.C. 

• Personal statement of not more than 1000 words. Here, you are expected to talk about your goals and ambitions and why the Mitchell scholarship and studying in Ireland or Northern Ireland will help you achieve your goals.
• A scan of your signature(jpg, png, pdf).
• Contact information of the people that recommended you. Provide their phone numbers, mailing addresses, and email.
• Information about your past achievements, community services, and awards.
• Complete the mail address of your university.

If you make it to the final stages, you will be asked to provide;

• a proof that you are a US citizen. You should tender your US passport, driver’s license, and social security number.
• A sealed envelope containing all official documents or through a secure electronic system directly from your registrar.

Mitchell Scholarship Program Eligibility criteria 

• You must be a citizen of the United States of America.
• You must be 18 years or more than but not up to 30 as at the application deadline. For instance, if the application deadline is September 21st and you can turn 30 on September 20th, you are not eligible.
• You must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university before studying as a Mitchell scholar. If you attended an accredited International University, you could tender your certificate too, but that’s if every other condition is met.
• Married applicants or applicants with partners are also allowed. However, your spouse’s expenses are your responsibility to cater for not Mitchell scholarship business.

You should also note that if your partner or spouse is not an EU member, government agencies in Ireland or Northern Ireland may require them to prove financial resources of the year to obtain the necessary visa or permit of residency.

Guidelines on how to write a personal statement

Mitchell scholarship requires every applicant to check the box after the personal statement attesting to the statement below:

“I attest that this personal statement is my work, represents my views and experiences, and is wholly truthful.” 

If you are applying for another scholarship opportunity, you are not required to write a completely different article; you can just pick out a part that makes sense and use it to describe why you think the Mitchell scholarship makes sense to you.

Institutions in Ireland

Mitchell scholars have the opportunity to choose among 11 schools in Ireland. They are listed below;

1. Dublin City University
2. Technological University Dublin
3. Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design & Technology
4. National University of Ireland, Galway
5. Maynooth University
6. Queen’s University Belfast
7. Trinity College Dublin
8. University College Cork
9. University College Dublin
10. University of Limerick
11. Ulster University

You are advised to carefully pick your choice of programs, check the order well while filling your application. 

This is because of the programs you indicate in your application that the Mitchell scholarship selection committee will use to assign programs for you.

The academic year in Ireland

The university academic year starts in September and ends in June, and it is divided into three semesters. 

Recently, however, some colleges/universities have introduced a two-semester system. Some graduate programs often require that students complete their thesis during the summer months, which are (June, July, August)

Accommodation 

Your accommodations will be taking care of by the Mitchell scholarship, though feeding is excluded. Accommodations may vary, but basically, it may be in a shared apartment, in a secure on-campus setting, or an individual room in a Hall of residence.

Institutes of Technology & Other Institutions of Higher Learning

mitchell scholarship

In addition to the universities listed above, thirteen Institutes of Technology complete the Irish higher education system. They are spread in different regions in Ireland; the Institutes offer many sub-degree and undergraduate degree courses. 

The National Council makes the Institutes’ awards for Educational Awards. Only Technological University Dublin awards its degrees by itself. 

Suppose you need further information concerning the accredited post-graduate courses conducted by the Institutes. In that case, you should contact the NCEA at Mountjoy Square, Dublin 1, or the DIT at Pembroke Street, Dublin 2.

Special study opportunities

Due to the history between Ireland and Northern Ireland, courses related to race, conflict, war, and so on are very peculiar to this island.

If you encounter any technical issue during the application process;

You should know that the system only allows three specific types of files. You should use PDF for documents and PDF, PNG and JPG for images.

Also, submit as soon as possible. The system slows down when everybody tries to submit on the last day.

FAQs