MMUF Eligibility

Eligibility

Current second-year students and double degree students in their second or third year of study are eligible and encouraged to apply. Oberlin may name up to five Mellon fellows each year for two summers and two academic years of mentored research through workshops, weekly meetings, and professional development activities.

Areas of Study

The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program is open to undergraduates in the following fields, disciplines, and majors at the college and conservatory:

• Anthropology and Archaeology
• Area/Cultural/Ethnic/Gender Studies
• Art History
• Classics
• Geography and Population Studies
• English
• Film, Cinema, and Media Studies (theoretical focus)
• Musicology, Ethnomusicology, and Music Theory
• Foreign Languages and Literatures
• History
• Linguistics
• Literature
• Performance Studies (theoretical focus)
• Philosophy and Political Theory
• Religion and Theology
• Sociology
• Theater (theoretical focus)
• Interdisciplinary studies: Interdisciplinary areas of study may be eligible in they have one or more eligible fields at their core. Please note that interdisciplinary education graduate programs, even those that incorporate one or more eligible fields, are not eligible for MMUF graduate benefits.

Selection Criteria

Selection of MMUF fellows is based on the following:

• Academic promise and intellectual curiosity
• Undergraduate major in an MMUF-eligible field of study
• Second-year status in the college or conservatory OR second- or third-year status in double-degree program
• Interest in pursuing graduate education, especially a PhD, in an eligible discipline of the humanities or humanistic social sciences
• Potential to serve as a mentor and teacher
• Availability for, and commitment to, full and enthusiastic participation in all aspects of the MMUF program, including attendance at conferences and weekly meetings
• Response to a short essay prompt on the ways the applicant’s life experiences and academic aspirations would contribute to MMUF’s goals of advancing a broad range of scholarly perspectives
• Status as a US citizen or permanent resident. Students who are undocumented or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients may also apply
• Students may not study abroad in the fall semester of their first year in the program. Students may study abroad in subsequent semesters