David L. Boren Scholarships

Funded by the National Security Education Program (NSEP), Boren Scholarships finance undergraduate students to study language in areas underrepresented in study abroad, including Africa, Asia, Central & Eastern Europe, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East (Boren Scholarships do NOT fund a study to Western Europe, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand). Boren Scholars are expected to focus on geographic areas, languages, and fields of study deemed critical to US national security and to study less-commonly-taught languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Swahili.

Applicants can be pursuing any academic field but should be able to identify how their study abroad program, as well as their future academic and career goals, will contribute to U.S. national security. NSEP draws on a broad definition of national security, recognizing that the scope of national security has expanded to include not only the traditional concerns of protecting and promoting American well-being, but also the challenges of global society, including sustainable development, environmental degradation, global disease, and hunger, population growth and migration, and economic competitiveness.

Preference is given to students who will study abroad for longer time periods (although this requirement can be waived for students in STEM fields) and who are highly motivated to work in the federal government.

Accepting a Boren Scholarship entails a Service Requirement to work for the federal government in the field of national security within a few years of graduation. Applicants are expected to make a compelling case in their application as to why they will be qualified for federal employment with national security responsibilities. Please see the Boren website for details on the Boren Scholarship Service Requirement.

Candidates for the Boren Scholarships must:

• Be a U.S. citizen at the time of application
• Be a high school graduate, or have earned a GED, or a matriculated freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior in a U.S. accredited post-secondary institution, including university, college, or community college
• Apply to study abroad in a country outside of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand that meets home institution standards
• Plan to use the scholarship during their time as an undergraduate. For this reason, Dartmouth seniors are generally ineligible to apply.

Boren Scholarship applicants must be nominated by Dartmouth College in order to apply.

To learn how to apply for nomination and see relevant deadlines, please see our Canvas site.

2024-2025

Madeleine Shaw '25 - Declined

2023-2024

Nathaniel Attia '27 - Kazakhstan - Russian

Emma Ratchford '25 - Cape Verde - Portuguese and Kriolu

2018-2019

Soham Basu '20 - India - Urdu

Nicholas Nobles '21 - Jordan - Arabic

2017-2018

Sydney Kamen '19 - Tanzania - Swahili

2014-2015

Joshua Warzecha '17 - Jordan - Arabic