Applying for MMUF - Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program

The application for the 2026 cohort is now open.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. The application will remain open until all fellows have been selected, but may close if all fellows are selected after the priority deadline. The priority deadline is April 30th.

For applications submitted prior to the priority deadline, finalists will be contacted on May 5th to schedule an interview for May 7th or May 8th. Please hold any available time on those dates to provide maximum scheduling flexibility if selected as a finalist.

When you submit your application, you will be asked to attest to the following: “The work I have submitted is my work alone; I have not copied any part from another source and have not used Al to generate my application documents.” Please keep this in mind as you prepare your materials.

Claremont Colleges students will log in with their student ID to complete the application. In order to complete the application, please gather the following:

Contact Information for Letters of Recommendation

Each applicant must submit at least two letters of recommendation. At least two letters must be from faculty members at The Claremont Colleges with whom you have spent significant and meaningful time (for example, you took a class with them or worked with them on a research project), so they can best share details with the committee. Your recommenders should be familiar with your academic work and your personal qualifications for the MMUF program.

While there are spaces for additional letters, only two letters are required for your application to be complete. Some students want to include letters from staff they have worked with closely, or a supervisor from their place of employment—someone they feel speaks to an aspect of their qualifications that faculty recommendations cannot cover. Extra letters are welcome but not required.

Please provide contact information for each recommender. They will receive a prompt with a link to upload their letter. Make sure you’ve spoken with each recommender about serving as a reference, so they know to expect the request for a letter. Your application will not be complete until two letters are received.

Transcript(s)

You’ll be asked for an unofficial transcript. If you are a transfer student, please gather all transcripts into one PDF.

A Résumé

The résumé should include any academic honors, student leadership positions, co-curricular activities, community engagement and/or involvements, research experience, and work experience.

An Application Plan Form

Please fill out the Academic Plan Form in as much detail as possible. You should consult on this form with someone on your home campus who serves in an advisory role to you (for example, your advisor, a faculty mentor, etc.) and that person should sign the form. We understand that plans change and expect that your plan for the next two years will change a great deal. However, the committee is interested in seeing the trajectory you are setting for yourself at this time—how you intend to meet requirements for graduation and how you imagine preparing for a doctoral program. You can find the blank form here.

A Statement of Intent

Your Statement of Intent should be no longer than 1,000 words and should address the following:

Your professional trajectory
- What drew you to the possibility of graduate school and an academic career?
- What elements of your educational, research, service, and/or personal experience have contributed to your interest in and preparation for this path?
- Why are you passionate about pursuing a PhD in your chosen field?
Your research interests
- Describe an emerging or developed project idea for your MMUF research project.
- Be as specific as possible. If this is a developed project idea, you might include a brief literature review, methodology, and description of significance. If this is a project idea in development, speak to the research questions or theoretical perspectives that interest you in your field, and how you might explore those ideas.
Mentorship & program participation
- What do you hope to gain from being an MMUF fellow, now and in the future?
- What will you gain from faculty mentorship?
  - How would your research interests and professional development benefit from working with a mentor?
  - What kind of mentorship are you looking for?
  - If you have possible faculty in mind, share those names. If you do not have specific faculty in mind, share the characteristics of a faculty member from whom you would ideally receive mentorship.
Relationship to the Mellon Foundation’s description of the mission of MMUF: “Established in the 1988/1989 academic year, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) is committed to broadening the range of scholarly perspectives in the US academy, with a focus on the humanities and the humanistic social sciences.”
- How do your own goals and aspirations connect to the mission of the MMUF program?
- How do your research interests relate to the stated mission of the MMUF program?

We encourage you to discuss your MMUF application with faculty in your field; visiting faculty office hours is a great way to do this. Please contact your campus liaison if you have any questions regarding the application. Interested students are also encouraged to visit the Mellon Foundation’s MMUF Website.