Boston University Trustee Scholarship

TRUSTEE SCHOLARSHIP

Boston University’s most prestigious merit-based award recognizes students who show outstanding academic and leadership abilities. Every year, Boston University welcomes about 20 outstanding students to the Trustee Scholars Program. Many of our current Scholars had perfect 4.0 grade point averages in high school and typically ranked in the top 5–10% of their class.

In addition to exceptional academic credentials, Trustee Scholars are intellectually and creatively adventurous and demonstrate viewpoints, experiences or achievements beyond the usual. They are, in other words, not just top students, but extraordinary people. At BU, scholars also become part of a unique campus community that offers many intellectual, cultural, and social opportunities.

While the competition is especially rigorous, the benefits are considerable. A Trustee Scholarship covers full undergraduate tuition plus the University orientation and mandatory undergraduate student fees and is renewable for four years if certain criteria are met.

HOW TO APPLY

To be considered for a Trustee Scholarship:

• Submit the Common Application and all required materials for admission to one of the undergraduate degree programs at Boston University by December 1.
• Boston University Trustee Scholars are encouraged to develop well-informed and well-reasoned views of important political, social, and artistic issues. We select students who have a sense of how to present persuasive arguments in support of their views. With that in mind, please select one of the questions below and respond with an essay explaining your perspective in 600 words or less. Please complete your Trustee Scholarship essays on the Common Application as part of your application to Boston University. If you have already submitted your application, you may submit your Trustee Scholarship Essay using this form.

1. Some have described the worldwide appeal of populism–a grass-roots force associated with a distrust of political and cultural elites, the attraction to common-sense solutions, and an upsurge in ethnic, religious, or national pride–as a response to the upheavals of globalization. Over the past decades, technology and global trade have cost jobs and emptied cities, income inequality has grown exponentially, and, for many, the values of community and identity seem more threatened today than ever before.
   
   In your view, is the appeal of populism a necessary and positive corrective to the challenges of globalization, an unrealistic or inadequate response to the current age, or some combination of both? Is it an example of democracy at its best or a danger to democratic institutions?


2. Biospecimens routinely taken during medical procedures such as blood tests, biopsies, and surgeries can be an important source for research into a variety of diseases. In some cases, this research has led to breakthroughs in the development of new drugs and therapies. While protocols are now widespread requiring explicit consent from patients before any specimens are used for research, researchers predict future areas of research, especially regarding genetic material, that are unknown today.
   
   Do you believe patients must give their consent before any biospecimens from their bodies may be used for research? Must all possible areas of research be specified? In cases where the research leads to commercially viable treatments should they or their families be compensated?


3. The German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote: “One cannot escape the world more certainly than through art, and one cannot bind oneself to it more certainly than through art.”
   
   With extended reference one novel, poem, play, piece of music, or work of art, please discuss what you believe this sentence to mean.

• In addition, please submit a short essay of no more than 300 words, to the statement below:
  “Something that’s not on the resume”
  Give us a glimpse of a passion, dream, or mental pursuit that absorbs and delights you.