How to Earn a 50% Scholarship for Grad School - Saunders Leadership Fellows

What the Saunders Leadership Fellows Program Has to Offer

The Saunders Leadership Fellows Program provides students getting their graduate business degree with personal industry mentors that have experience. The highly selective, cohort-based learning experience is designed to build management and leadership skills necessary to be successful in business. All Leadership Fellows receive a guaranteed 50% scholarship.

Are You Eligible?

All applicants to the Master of Business Administration (MBA), MS in Global Supply Chain Management, MBA in Accounting, and MS in Accounting programs are eligible to apply.

Saunders Fellows must meet the following expectations throughout their academic programs*.

• Be a full-time student
• Maintain a GPA equal to or greater than 3.00, with no course final grade equal to or lower than C
• Fully engage with industry mentors, initiate communications and interactions, with faculty guidance
• Attend all mandatory graduate student activities such as orientation and Fellows presentations
• Attend regular meetings with Fellows program director and complete all readings and program assignments

Students are strongly encouraged to fully explore and demonstrate their leadership potential in and outside their academic programs.

How to Apply

To be reviewed for the Fellowship, candidates must complete their graduate application by April 30. Those wishing to be considered should include a short bio as a page following the application essay or send via email to Peggy Tirrell. The bio should outline the aspects of your professional experiences and professional interests that exemplify leadership, creativity in managing challenges, research, or initiatives that helped set you apart from your colleagues in your undergraduate program or professional career. Connect with RIT’s Writing Commons if you need help writing or reviewing your application.

Featured Fellows

See what previous Fellows have to say about the program:

"The experiences and opportunities that the MS in Management at RIT has allowed me to experience are things I would have never experienced in life otherwise. My time spent at RIT has been extremely beneficial in preparing me with analytical and critical thinking skills that I can apply in my career. Coupling this with having two real business leaders from the Rochester area through the Saunders Leadership Fellowship Program has helped changed my future to fit the vision of what I wanted it to be. My time at Saunders helped changed my life for the better, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of this program."

Thomas J. Higgins III

Production Planner, Harris Corporation

Rochester, NY

MS Management

"Working in a small cohort with our program advisors allows for a more personal learning experience that is not offered in lecture halls. Then throw in the fact that you get to observe industry leaders work, their management styles compared to your own, and the ability to expand your professional network - that just makes the Fellowship all the more valuable in enhancing the education for MS Management students."

Andrew Tobin

Packaging Engineer, LiDestri Food & Drink

Rochester, NY

MS Management

"Looking for a program that contemplated business and practice was essential for me and I found it here at RIT through the MS in Management. The program and RIT brought the right intersection between technology and business I was looking for, which made the experience much more applicable and up-to-date. The Leadership Fellows program was also essential to make my learning experience much more practical and helped me see the concepts from inside the classroom in the business environment. Not only observing and interacting with the mentors was a differential, but getting their advice and one-on-one time was unlike anything I experienced before."

Camila Mota Oliveira

Class of '18, Management Fellow

MS Management