My name is Srihari and I am a Next Genius Scholar at Union College, NY. I am one of the 7 students in India awarded the Next Genius Scholarship to attend Union College for my undergraduate studies. I was also awarded a certificate of merit for being among the top 10% of the 6700 students who applied for the Next Genius Scholarship in 2018-19.
Next Genius has enabled me to enroll into an amazing college where I can explore different facets of STEM, especially astrophysics and astronomy. Through Next Genius, I am a member of an empowered community called Club Orenda. The Next Genius Foundation and the Club Orenda seniors help in grooming the scholars and connecting them with internships, career mentoring and a range of career development opportunities. I am also doing an internship with Next Genius Foundation now.
Founded in 2014, The Next Genius Foundation is a registered charitable trust in India that offers full and partial tuition scholarships to outstanding Indian high school students to pursue their undergraduate education in the United States.
They are the largest undergraduate abroad scholarship fund in India. In the last 4 years, they have awarded scholarships worth USD 18 million to 212 students from 125 high schools. In 2019-20, they hope to award over USD 10 million worth of scholarships to more than 100 students.
The Scholarship program consists of the following Selection Process:
Online Critical Thinking Test
The test consists of 36 multiple choice questions with one correct answer and will last 2 hours. The questions are divided over three sections with 12 questions per section. The three sections are: Logical Inquiry, Functional Literacy, Data Analysis.
Each question in the test is allotted a limited time. Student needs to solve the problem and mark the correct answer within the allotted time to score.
Candidate Selection
Following the Level 1 Online Assessment, contestants are ranked on the basis of their performance, The short listed candidates will be notified via email.
Short listed students are provided with detailed information about the various scholarships and are invited to identify college(s) of their preference. These students will fill an online form to set their college preference order and the scholarships they wish to be considered for.
College Selection
Combining their college preference orders, online critical thinking test scores, demonstrated interest and profiles, the Next Genius team will allocate a college to all the shortlisted students.
College Application
This allocation will segregate all the students into mutually exclusive cohorts per college students will then have a date by which to accept the allocation by submitting the college allocation confirmation form and paying a fully refundable deposit of 3000 online.
Interview
The 3000 refundable deposit is required to demonstrate an interest in continuing the candidature in the program and to reserve an interview spot. The full amount will be refunded after the student participates in the scholarship interview. Please note that the full amount will be forfeited for students who reserve an interview spot but fail to submit a complete college application or to participate in the interview for any reason.
It is a great opportunity. Please check the deadlines for the various steps in the process. Here's the website link through which more information about the aforementioned process is mentioned: https://www.next-genius.com/.
If you have any questions or comments, please reach out on the Alma Matters Forum.
All the Best!
