Graduate Fellowship

To be selected for the Impact Entrepreneurship Graduate Fellowship, students must be committed to promoting positive change through entrepreneurship and be admitted to a participating master's program at The New School in fall 2023 (see the list of programs below).

Priority consideration is given to individuals who:

• Have entrepreneurial experience or an in-depth understanding of how underrepresented communities and minority groups venture in entrepreneurship in the United States
• Have faced challenges, including financial constraints, socioeconomic barriers, and other related hurdles that limit their potential as entrepreneurs
• Are committed to building ventures in the United States and/or have strong affiliations with community-based organizations in the United States
• Are committed to situating learning and relationship building within the social networks of New York City

Parsons School of Design
Design and Technology (MFA)
Design and Urban Ecologies (MS)
Fashion Studies (MA)
Industrial Design (MFA) 
Strategic Design and Management (MS)
Theories of Urban Practice (MA)
Transdisciplinary Design (MFA)

Schools of Public Engagement 
Creative Writing (MFA)
Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management (MS)
International Affairs (MA, MS)
Media Management (MS)
Media Studies (MA)
Public and Urban Policy (MS)

College of Performing Arts
Arts Management and Entrepreneurship (MA)

The New School of Social Research
Anthropology (MA)

Applications will be reviewed based on the following criteria against a competitive set of other applicants by a rotating panel of academic, professional, and administrative members of the IEI community.

Leadership and Entrepreneurial Vision
Applicant demonstrates the ability to inspire others and has the emotional intelligence to lead effectively. Are you willing to take responsibility for enabling others to achieve a shared purpose in the face of uncertainty?

Resilience and Growth Mindset
Applicant is receptive to feedback, has learned from past experiences, and is flexible and capable of changing their minds. Are you able to anticipate obstacles and bounce back from them?

Ability to Collaborate and Attract Resources
Applicant can mobilize relationships and resources. Do you have the ability to resolve conflict and bring together the necessary people, money, and resources to create your venture? Are you curious about how to create new systems of value that attract capital in financial and non-financial forms?

Desire to Participate in a Cohort Experience
Applicant successfully lays out what they will gain from, and how they will contribute to, the cohort experience. What does collaboration mean to you?

Idea/Venture

• Clarity with which the unmet need of a particular community has been articulated
• Evidence that the unmet need represents a significant societal challenge
• Innovative idea for addressing the need
• Potential of the idea to address the problem
• Potential of the idea to achieve scalable social impact
• Potential of the idea to galvanize demand among an engaged and participatory set of constituents/stakeholders/users

A Successful Applicant

• Is a self-starter with an entrepreneurial mindset 
• Is grounded in the community or local ecosystems they seek to serve and engage
• Can mobilize relationships and resources
• Is committed to continuous improvement through ethical behavior, just practices, resilience, and values that reflect respect for all people and populations
• Is resilient and growth oriented

A Successful Application

• Reflects a commitment to explore and develop the venture, initiative, or program within the community
• Outlines a venture, initiative, or program responding to a defined systemic challenge by addressing root causes with corrective action
• Outlines a venture, initiative, or program structured around a framework incorporating values of diversity, equity, inclusion (of groups including people with disabilities), social justice, and social impact
• Incorporates a narrative that demonstrates that the applicant has already invested time and effort in the creative and intellectual development of the idea regardless of financial resources

The Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative (IEI) will review applications in two phases. 

Priority deadline: IEI gives priority to applications submitted on or before January 15, 2023. Decisions will be delivered to candidates in May 2023. After this date, applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and we will continue to review applications through June 15, 2023. Rolling submission decisions will be delivered to candidates in July 2023.

The application process for the graduate fellowship consists of the following steps:

1. Submit a completed application to a participating master's degree program at The New School by the appropriate deadline. See the list above of participating master’s programs.
2. Submit a separate application for the Impact Entrepreneurship Graduate Fellowship. The application form will ask you to upload a current résumé and respond to eight short-answer questions related to your proposal. See a preview of the questions.
   
   • Give us a sense of your drive and enthusiasm and how you synthesize the details provided in the application in a streamlined introductory pitch.
   • What experiences have led you to become interested in serving the community you have identified? Why are you motivated to address this issue, and why do you believe it represents a significant societal challenge?
   • In what ways have you already engaged with the community and/or customer you are targeting, and what have you learned from these interactions?
   • If selected for the Impact Entrepreneurship Fellowship, how will you contribute to the cohort experience?
3. Sign and submit the online fellowship application.

Selected candidates may be invited to schedule an interview with the Impact Entrepreneurship team and/or provide the names and contact information of individuals who are familiar with their work.