Rangel & Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship Programs

The Schar School of Policy and Government is an official partner school for both the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Program and the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program.

The programs seek to attract and prepare outstanding young people for Foreign Service careers with the U.S. Department of State in which they can help formulate, represent, and implement U.S. foreign policy. The programs select outstanding fellows annually in a highly competitive nationwide process and support them through two years of graduate study, internships, mentoring, and professional development activities.

The programs encourage the application of members of minority groups historically underrepresented in the Foreign Service, women, and those with financial need. Fellows who successfully complete the program and Foreign Service entry requirements will receive appointments as Foreign Service Officers, in accordance with applicable law and State Department policy.

Eligibility

  • Applicants must be seeking admission to enter graduate school in the fall for a full-time two-year program at a U.S. university in an area of relevance to the Foreign Service (such as public administration, public policy, international relations, business administration, economics, and political science).
  • Applicants can be in the senior year of their undergraduate studies, graduating by June, or they can be college graduates.
  • Applicants must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher on a 4.0 scale at the time of application.
  • Applicants must be a U.S. citizen.
  • Fellows are selected in fall (typically November).
  • Fellows need to indicate their graduate school plans, i.e., “I plan on applying to the Schar School for a public policy master’s.” Some will choose to apply to the school before they receive a final decision from the fellowship programs.

Benefits

  • Anyone who has applied or been accepted to either program will have the Schar School application fee waived.
  • The Schar School will provide funding for all approved master’s programs to make up the difference in required tuition after either program's funding is applied for the entirety of the two-year program.
  • The Schar School will offer up to $1,500 per year for two years to cover fees and other associated costs such as travel and accommodations for fellows to attend a conference or other approved professional development opportunity.
  • Interested fellows will be paired with a faculty mentor whose expertise closely aligns with the primary policy interest of the participating student.

Fellows must remain in good academic standing. These benefits apply to all Schar School master’s programs excluding the Organization Development and Knowledge Management MS program.

Award Amount

  • In 2021, the Rangel and Pickering programs individually awarded 45 fellowships of up to $42,000 annually for a two-year period for tuition, room, board, books, and mandatory fees for completion of two-year master’s degrees.
  • This included up to $24,000 per year for tuition and mandatory fees and an academic year stipend of $18,000. 

For more information, contact the Graduate Admissions team at schar@gmu.edu.