HERTZ Fellowship
frequently asked questions
We want your Hertz Fellowship application to be a positive and motivating experience. If you need additional information, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re happy to make sure you understand the process and are able to submit your best application.
contact the fellowship teamGeneral Application
The 2026 Fellowship application will open on August 28, 2025, and close on Friday, October 31, 2025, at 11:59 PM PST.
After the application closes on Friday, October 31, 2025, applicants who advance beyond pre-selection will be invited to first round interviews (via Zoom). You should hear from us regarding your application status by late November.
First round interviews will take place in December 2025 and January 2026. Second round interviews (in-person) for select finalists will be conducted in February 2026. Fellows will be selected in late March 2026, notified in April and announced publicly in May 2026. Funding for the selected Hertz Fellows will begin in fall 2026.
Please email us with any questions or concerns regarding the application at fellowshipinfo@hertzfoundation.org.
The first round of interviewees are selected by mid November. You should hear from us regarding your application status by late November.
The fellowship is intended to fund individual students, not a specific project. There is no requirement to submit a proposed research project as part of the application process. However, the application does provide the opportunity to summarize current and prior research experiences as well as interests you intend to pursue.
Eligibility
Applicants must be college seniors, first-year graduate students, or individuals in a gap year preparing to apply to graduate school, who intend to pursue a PhD in the applied physical and biological sciences, mathematics, or engineering. Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States. If you are not a US citizen, we will ask to see proof of Application for Citizenship or your Permanent Resident card if you advance through selection to the interview phase. We ask all applicants to make a moral commitment to make their skills available to the United States in times of national emergency.
Applicants must be citizens or permanent residents of the United States. For non-citizens, we require proof of application for citizenship or a permanent resident card.
We generally do not award fellowships to students after their first year of graduate school, except in rare cases where the fellowship will make an exceptional difference in the kind, quality, or creativity of the applicant’s graduate research. There have been only two such cases in the last 10 years.
The Hertz Fellowship will fund only the PhD portion of an MD/PhD program. We encourage students to apply during the year before starting the PhD portion of an MD/PhD program. You are eligible to apply either the year before you plan to begin your dissertation research, the PhD portion of your program, or during your first year of the PhD portion.
To receive fellowship funding, students must be enrolled full-time in one of the Hertz Foundation’s approved participating schools. If you’re awarded a fellowship and your school is not on the list of participating schools, you may ask to have it added to the list, and we’ll do our best to work with your school to negotiate an agreement. Fellows may also change to another participating school at any time during their fellowship.
If your current masters is a step along the way to a PhD in the same program, then it will count as graduate work for this application.
If the master’s degree you are pursuing is in a different field than the PhD field of study you propose in your application or is part of a different program, then this time does not count as graduate years in your application.
Yes, you can reapply. When reapplying, it’s important to show the progress you’ve made in the time since you submitted your previous application.
No. Based on our governance documents, one of the requirements of the Hertz Fellowship is that fellowship schools must be in the United States and we do not have flexibility in that regard.
Participating Schools
We have established a standard agreement with graduate schools at the following institutions to coordinate paying the stipend, tuition and other costs for our fellows via a 9-month stipend model.
Arizona State University
California Institute of Technology
Carnegie Mellon University
Case Western Reserve University
Columbia University
Cornell University
Duke University
Emory University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Harvard University
Johns Hopkins University
Lehigh University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York University
Northwestern University
Ohio State University
Pennsylvania State University
Princeton University
Purdue University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rice University
Rockefeller University
Stanford University
State University of New York at Stony Brook
Texas A&M University
The Scripps Research Institute
University of Arizona
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Davis
University of California, Irvine
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Riverside
University of California, San Diego
University of California, San Francisco
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Cruz
University of Chicago
University of Colorado Boulder
University of Colorado Denver
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Maryland
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
University of Rochester
University of Southern California
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Vanderbilt University
Washington University in St. Louis
Yale University
No. Individuals may apply to the Hertz Fellowship whether or not they are currently attending one of our participating institutions and nomination by the school is not required.
If you’re awarded a fellowship, you may request to have your school added to the list of participating schools. We’ll evaluate your request to determine if the school is located in the United States and whether the quality and breadth of education in your field of interest meet our standards of excellence. You DO NOT need to be currently enrolled in a participating school nor plan to attend a participating school to submit an application.
When your fellowship is awarded, you will have the opportunity to make a final decision about the school you’d like to attend. It is possible to transfer your fellowship to a different school during your graduate work. At that time, you may also petition for your desired school to be added to the list of participating schools, if necessary.
Essay Questions
Yes, the application will allow you to upload multiple documents. Please limit the size to five megabytes per document.
Reviewers are less concerned with the word length and more so about the applicant’s ability to adequately address the prompt. Therefore, you may go under or over the suggested length of 250–500 words for the various short essays and 500–1000 words for the Personal Essay.
We want you to reveal your creativity beyond your research. This could be your favorite extracurricular activity, a leadership experience, or anything else that gives us a better sense of what makes you who you are.
References (aka Recommenders)
No. All of your references must use our evaluation form that is emailed to them. Please register your four references using the online application.
We learn more about our applicants through our specific questions rather than a standard letter. This form also contains checkbox questions up front which are important for our review process.
In the application, you will be asked to submit contact information for four individuals that will serve as your “recommenders.” These individuals will be required to complete an evaluation form as part of the application process.
Once you’ve entered the recommender’s name in the application system, the system will immediately email your recommenders to request that they complete a reference form. If your recommender does not receive the email, please ask them to be sure and check their spam folder. This form asks your recommender to evaluate various attributes. Specifically, they are asked to highlight notable examples of personal creativity in your work, your strengths and weaknesses at your current stage of training, as well as general comments regarding their endorsement of you for the fellowship.
When choosing your recommender, select those who are not only familiar with your scientific knowledge but may also provide examples of your creativity. Our reference questions specifically focus on your scientific knowledge, and you will miss an opportunity to demonstrate strength in this area if you use someone who can’t speak to this topic. Additionally, in the form that your recommenders complete, they will be asked to discuss your potential as an applied scientist or engineer as well as offer a comparison to other students they have worked with at the same stage of development.
We encourage you to be proactive when requesting your recommenders. Please note and tell your recommenders that we ask them to fill out a questionnaire form. We learn more about our applicants through our specific form questions, rather than a general letter. Make sure to allocate enough time for them to complete the evaluation.
Monday, November 3rd at 6:00 p.m. pacific
No. We provide a buffer between the application deadline (October 31) and the recommender deadline (November 3). Only references submitted at the recommender deadline are guaranteed to be included in the files for reviewers. Applications will be reviewed whether or not we have received all the letters. Applicants should contact fellowshipinfo@hertzfoundation.org with any questions.
Graduate Record Exam (GRE)
The GRE is optional. We will accept GRE Subject Test scores but do not require them. To send us your scores, use the foundation’s code: #4366.
If you choose to submit GRE scores, we can accept your scores after the application deadline. Initial interview decisions will be made in early November. If we have not received your GRE scores by then, your file will be reviewed without them.
Yes, enter the score or range information you receive at the test.
MD/PhD students may submit their MCAT scores in place of GRE scores if they never took the GRE.
Unless you’ve taken additional tests, we have your previous scores and do not require you to resend them.
Transcripts and Course Verification
Upload your transcripts using the online application. We accept unofficial transcripts in your initial application. If selected as a finalist, we’ll ask you to submit your official transcripts.
You don’t need to send transcripts unless your grades have been posted. If your graduate school transcripts are not available, we only require your undergraduate transcripts.
Every university defines upper division courses somewhat differently. Please use your best judgment to detail any courses that you feel are upper division.
Other Awards
No, you don’t need to turn down the other offer. We coordinate with a variety of institutions, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, to make sure you can take advantage of both offers and receive the maximum possible compensation. You may also defer your fellowship if you are awarded a grant, such as a Fulbright grant, or a scholarship, such as a Rhodes Scholarship, Churchill Scholarship or Marshall Scholarship.
Additional Resources
Who Can Apply
The nation’s most promising talent comes from different disciplines, backgrounds, and points of view.
see all criteriaFELLOWSHIP BENEFITS
The Hertz Fellowship awards up to five years of funding, valued at up to $250,000—and so much more.
LEARN MOREfor recommenders
Our recommenders in academia and industry are integral in helping students apply for the Hertz Fellowship.
LEARN MOREAPPLICATION HELP
We have resources to guide you as you navigate the application process, including FAQs, advice from Fellows, and more.
Find out morecareer support & mentorship
In addition to networking with some of the nation’s preeminent scientists, Fellows also work with a dedicated mentor throughout their fellowship.
LEARN MORE
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