2024 Announcements

A message from our Executive Secretary, Dr. Terry Babcock Lumish, to all registered Advisors.

September 5, 2023
Dear colleague,

Welcome to the 2024 Truman Scholarship competition! Our 2024 application is open. You may register applicants from your dashboard page, with all applications due on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.

While much has changed in our world, the content and questions in our application, as well as our selection criteria, have not. We continue to look for promising Americans from every state in the nation, plus DC and the US territories, making commitments to careers in public service, broadly defined. 

Consistent with our recent years’ messaging and annual cohorts, there is no one-size-fits-all Truman Scholar. When it comes to cultivating leaders, our diversity is our strength. We see stellar applicants working in traditional political and policy roles – the campaign volunteer, the campus reformer, the military or nonprofit leader, the community activist – but we also welcome applicants pursuing meaningful change via science, technology, the arts, and other innovative avenues.

We respect that there are challenges we can see and know from our application, as well as many we cannot. We, along with all of our readers and interviewers, do our best to take into account the recent years' realities to give each Truman applicant the fairest possible consideration. There are ways that you can help – both by continuing to provide guidance and support, as well as alerting us to issues that may not be obvious from an applicant’s written materials.

We are acutely aware of the challenges facing not only applicants but also campus communities, including all of you. We recognize that many face hardships introduced by illness and economic instability. Campus resources – including advising – are stretched thin and subject to conflicting demands. 

We plan to conduct our spring 2024 interviews in person. However, we will make allowances for individual situations or if the public health conditions in an area require them. Please keep eyes peeled for Foundation communication regarding any changes.

We will offer the following webinars for:

• Advisors Only, Tuesday, November 7 @ 2:00 pm ET
• Candidate Webinar (Advisors Welcome), Thursday, December 7 @ 2:00 pm ET
• Office Hours (Open to Both), Tuesday, January 9 @ 2:00 pm ET

Information about the webinars, as well as recordings, will be available on your dashboard page. The “Apply” section of the Truman website offers a great deal of information, including sample responses and an FAQ.

Should you have questions about our program, the online application, or the likely competitiveness of individual candidates, you are welcome to contact Deputy Executive Secretary Tara Yglesias (tyglesias@truman.gov).

Thank you for identifying and supporting our nation's future leaders.

Yours in service,
Dr. Terry Babcock Lumish
Executive Secretary

Summer Institute:

Early in the application candidates are asked whether they plan to participate in the 2025 Summer Institute program. While this question does not require an in-depth response, these few sentences are the first opportunity to communicate directly with the readers. Applicants should take care to respond fully and with specifics. It does not matter whether the applicant plans to attend Summer Institute, but it does matter that they are able to articulate their plans for the summer after graduation. Applicants planning to attend Summer Institute should select one or two public service internship opportunities and explain how they plan to take advantage of those experiences. Applicants not planning to attend should explain why and, ideally, connect that activity to their overall public service journey.

Limited Leadership & Service Opportunities:

Applicants who feel they have had limited leadership & service opportunities due to situations outside their control (e.g. health conditions, family obligations, food or housing insecurity) may include that information in their application if they believe it might be helpful to assessing their candidacy. Applicants can provide additional information - either in the supporting letters or their materials - to ensure we adequately understand their circumstances.  
 
Applicants should work directly with Advisors and letter writers to ensure these variations are adequately covered in their materials. Straightforward pieces of information (e.g. the applicant has family obligations that make volunteer work difficult) can best be conveyed in the nominating letter - thus allowing the applicant the ability to discuss other items in their application if they wish.  

Likelihood of Academic Success:

The Truman Foundation is generally less concerned with GPA than we are that an applicant's current academic performance is likely to secure them a spot at the graduate school identified in Question 11.  We also recognize that schools took a varied approach to grading in the years post-pandemic. Thus, variations in grades or decisions to take a semester pass/fail arer unlikely to significantly change our assessment.

Some students may feel that an additional semester of grades was critical to bolstering their case for graduate school.  This concern may be particularly acute for those students who had weaker grades during their first year.  In that case, you should work with both your Advisor and the author of your academic letter of recommendation to address these issues in their letters.  

Additional Information in Question 14:

We provide space in Question 14 to discuss additional information that may be helpful to our readers.  For many of you, there may be a desire to discuss COVID-19 and the impact it has had in this space.  We would caution you to use this space wisely.  While COVID-19 represents a serious impact on the lives of everyone, unless you are able to write something unique in this space, you might wish to use it to discuss other matters that are more germane to your overall application.  Again, it is best to consult with your Advisors as well as follow the guidance provided elsewhere on our website.

Leaves of Absence:

Students who have elected to take a leave of absence may still be nominated so long as the institution is willing to do so.  Please determine if the leave of absence will result in a change to the student's graduation date and adjust the timing of the application accordingly.  Students who are graduating in three (or fewer) years would apply in their final year.

Civil Disobedience:

We have had several inquiries regarding what impact arrest or citation for civil disobedience might have on a Truman application. We have had a number of applicants and Scholars involved in protest activities - we have also had a number of applicants and Scholars who have had arrests and convictions on other matters.  We do not consider such things a barrier to application - indeed in some situations such activities have been integral to an applicant's journey in public service.  Discussion of such matters in application materials is subject to many considerations.  Advisors should contact Tara Yglesias for guidance.