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UC LEADS Fellowship

Scholar presents their research at UCSB at the end of their 2024 summer
Scholar presents their research at UCSB at the end of their 2024 summer

The UC Office of the President now supports the UC LEADS Fellowship, designed to increase the application, admission and enrollment of talented UC LEADS scholars in UC Ph.D. programs.

Fellowship Award Details

For funding eligibility, students must apply and be admitted to a UC Ph.D. program within 5 years of completing the UC LEADS program.

  • Application fee waiver:
    The application fee is waived for UC LEADS alumni applying to master’s and doctoral programs at all 10 of our UC campuses.
  • Fellowship funding:
    Beginning with alumni applying to a UC Ph.D. program to enroll in fall 2025, all admitted UC LEADS alumni are eligible to receive competitive funding packages. UCOP requires that these students be offered at least 5 years of competitive funding support, upon admission (or the equivalent of normative time for the program). This 5-year offer, the UC LEADS Fellowship, is a cost-share award package (tuition and fees and stipend/salary support at the competitive level for their respective academic programs). The funding is cost-shared by the UC Office of the President and the relevant campus and/or program. Once enrolled, these students will be considered UC LEADS Fellows.
  • Living supplement/transition award:
    Enrolled UC LEADS Fellows will receive a $3,000 transition supplement as soon as possible, to support moving expenses and/or the transition to graduate school at a UC campus.
  • Professional development:
    Enrolled UC LEADS Fellows will receive $5,000 of professional development funding allocation that may be used at any time during their Ph.D. program.
  • Extra support:
    Students in eligible disciplines (Physics/Astronomy, Computer Science/Computer, Engineering, and Math/Statistics) are eligible for the Cal-Bridge Doctoral Professional Development Program (DP2), a four-year cycle of professional development workshops focused on the development of effective pedagogy/communication and research skills.