Graduate College Fellowship and Award Deadlines
Introduction
Internal (Graduate College) as well as prestigious external fellowships require a nomination in order for a student to apply. For internal competitions, the Graduate College sets its deadline -- academic programs generally set an earlier deadline in order to complete their role in the formal nomination process. For external funding, especially for those competitions for which the Fellowships and Awards coordinator is the formal or informal advisor, the Graduate College establishes a campus deadline in advance of the funding source's deadline.
These dates are subject to change.
Graduate College Fellowship and Award Deadlines
| Department nomination deadline | Announcement of awards | |
|---|---|---|
| Access Fellowship - Round I: Recruitment | February 2, 2026 | March 26, 2026 |
| Access Fellowship - Round II: Retention | Suspended | n/a |
| Award for Graduate Research | Fall: October 2, 2025; Spring: Extended to March 13, 2026 | Fall: March 26, 2026 Spring: May 1, 2026 |
| Barnhurst-Doherty Award | December 1, 2025 | March 26, 2026 |
| Dean's Scholar Fellowship | Suspended | n/a |
| Graduate Mentoring Award | Extended to March 13 2026 | May 1, 2026 |
| Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring Award | December 1, 2025 (Extended to December 8) | March 16, 2026 |
| Outstanding Thesis and Dissertation Award | October 15, 2025 | March 16, 2026 |
| Provost's Graduate Internship Award | March 13, 2026 | May 1, 2026 |
| Provost Visiting Scholar Award | October 31, 2025 | March 16, 2026 |
| SROP Early Admissions Fellowship (deadline to apply to a UIC PhD program) | November 14, 2025 | December 15, 2025 |
| UIC Pipeline to Faculty (PIF) Program | February 2, 2026 (as part of Access or University Fellowship app) | March 26, 2026 |
| University Fellowship | February 2, 2026 | March 26, 2026 |
Select External Deadlines
| Campus Deadline(s) | Submission Deadline(s) | |
|---|---|---|
| IBM PhD Fellowship | Ask your department | 10:59 pm CT on August 30, 2025 |
| Meta PhD Fellowship | n/a - student submit directly | No information available. |
| AHA Predoc | See dept and OVCR | September 3 |
| Two Sigma Fellowship | Ask your department head/chair | 11 am CST on September 20, 2025 |
| NVIDIA Corp. Graduate Fellowship Program | n/a | 5 pm CT on September 15, 2025 |
| UI System - Paul D. Doolen Scholarship | n/a - student submits directly | October 5, 2026 (anticipated) |
| Fulbright US Student Program | September 04, 2025 | October 7, 2025 |
| Google PhD Fellowship | TBD | anticipated April 16, 2026 |
| NSF GRFP | TBD | Mid- to late-October 2025 |
| National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program | n/a | November 1 |
| Critical Language Scholarship | n/a - student submits directly | anticipated 7 pm CT, November 15 |
| Joint AAAI/ACM SIGAI Doctoral Dissertation Award | October 1 (anticipated) | November 21 |
| Deutscher Akademischer Austauchdienst (DAAD) | Fields other than Architecture, Music, Performing Arts, Fine Arts, Design/Visual Communication & Film: Oct. 21 | varies |
| Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund Fellowship | January 5, 2026 | anticipated January 22 |
| Boren Fellowship | January 5, 2026 | January 21, 2026 |
| Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad | Cancelled? | n/a |
| UI System - President's Research in Diversity Travel Assistance Program | n/a - student submits directly | Fall '25 competition: September 22; spring 2025 deadline TBD |
Graduate College Fellowships and Awards
Links to specific Graduate College fellowships and awards.