All of the data used in this analysis were collected from publicly available sources including press releases and published statistics. The raw data are available at https://github.com/TShimko126/ScholarshipAnalysis .

Undergraduate Scholarships

The Udall Scholarship

This scholarship provides a one-time $5,000 scholarship for undergraduate study to students interested in environmental studies (including policy and sciences), tribal health care, or tribal policy. The Udall Foundation now awards 50 of the scholarships each year, with an additional 50 applicants receiving honorable mentions.

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The odds of winning this scholarship have decreased in recent years to around 11% due the number of awarded scholarships being cut from 80 in 2012 (and earlier), to 50 in 2013 and 2014. However, the decrease in winning probability is slightly offset by a corresponding decrease in the number of applicants over the past two years. This is shown in the table below:

Year TotalApplicants TotalWinners
2014 489 50
2013 488 50
2012 585 80
2011 510 80
2010 537 80
2009 515 80
2008 510 80
2007 434 80

This scholarship is unique in that it is the only one in this analysis that consistently awards more scholarships to females than to males.

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The foundation awards scholarships in three areas of interest: environmental studies, tribal health care, and tribal policy. The odds of winning the scholarship in any of these categories is shown in the graph below. Despite fewer overall scholarships being awarded in the categories of tribal health care and tribal policy, applicants in these disciplines are more likely to win, due to the lower numbers of applicants.

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The Goldwater Scholarship

This scholarship provides $7,500 for either one or two years of financial support, depending on whether the scholarship is won as a sophomore or a junior, respectively. This scholarship has a heavy focus on individuals in the sciences, specifically those looking to pursue a career in research.

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Year TotalApplicants TotalWinners
2014 1166 283
2013 1107 272
2012 1123 282
2011 1095 275
2010 1111 278
2009 1097 278
2008 1035 321
2007 1110 317
2006 1081 323
2005 1091 320

Unlike the Udall scholarship, the Goldwater consistently awards more scholarships to males than to females.

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The overwhelming majority of the scholarships are awarded to students in the physical and life sciences, though in recent years engineering students have come to represent a growing proportion.

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Graduate Scholarships

The Marshall Scholarship

Note: The Marshall scholarships provides a rich data set in PDF format at http://www.marshallscholarship.org/about/statistics

The Marshall Scholarship funds 1-2 years of study at many UK universities. The Marshall Scholarship is far more competitive than either of the undergraduate scholarships. The odds of winning a Marshall Scholarship consistently hover around 4%.

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The Marshall Scholarship selection process includes three stages: endorsement by home university, interview, and selection. Given that the Marshall scholarship is rather open with their data, we can break down the flow of applicants through each of these stages.

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Year Stage1 Stage2
2014 0.1593 0.2179
2013 0.1686 0.2138
2012 0.1570 0.2338
2011 0.1582 0.2089
2010 0.1686 0.2160
2009 0.1650 0.2469
2008 0.1896 0.2202

Applicants have around a 15% chance of being selected for an interview once they are endorsed by their home institution. However, if an applicant is selected for an interview, their chances of being awarded the scholarship jump from 4% to around 20%. We can also break down advancement through this process by gender. The graph below shows the number of males at each stage per one female. There are consistently more female applicants endorsed by the home universities than male applicants. However, as the competition progresses through interviews and selection, that ratio nearly always flips. resulting in more men than women being selected for interviews and the scholarship itself. The dotted line on the graph represents a 1:1 ratio of males to females.

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The Rhodes Scholarship

The Rhodes Scholarship funds one postgraduate degree at the University of Oxford in the UK. Like the Marshall, the Rhodes is extremely competitive, with the odds of winning hovering around 4%.

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Unlike the Marshall, applicants’ chances of advancing from endorsement to interview are better than from interview to selection.

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Year Stage1 Stage2
2014 0.2544 0.1468
2013 0.2427 0.1538
2012 0.2530 0.1509
2011 0.2530 0.1524
2010 0.2497 0.1531
2009 0.2683 0.1481

The Rhodes does not show a consistent skew toward one sex or the other in the past six years.

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Closing Remarks

This analysis is a work in progress. Its main purpose is to give prospective applicants an idea of the competitiveness of these scholarships and what their raw odds are for winning one of them. Check out the raw data if you would like to do your own analysis.