University of Pennsylvania School of Education

The University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education offers City Year AmeriCorps members, alums and staff

$15,000 scholarships

The Graduate School of Education will award two annual $15,000 merit scholarships toward any full-time master’s degree program to selected City Year applicants. All recipients must meet the University of Pennsylvania’s admission criteria.

Scholarships are awarded to City Year AmeriCorps members and alums who complete at least one term of service and City Year staff employed for at least two years.

Applicants will be considered for additional merit-based awards depending on the strength of their application.

Eligible master’s programs

• counseling and mental health services
• education policy
• education, culture and society
• higher education
• intercultural communication
• interdisciplinary studies in human development
• international educational development
• learning analytics (online)
• learning sciences and technologies
• professional counseling
• quantitative methods
• reading/writing/literacy
• statistics, measurement, assessment and research technology
• teaching English to speakers of other languages
• teaching, learning and leadership
• urban teaching apprenticeship
• urban teaching residency with certifications

Additional benefits

• If you apply between September 1 and March 1, the application fee is automatically waived. If you apply after March 1, you can request a fee waiver code.

Why City Year loves the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education

The University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education has a long history of excellence in qualitative research, language and literacy studies, practitioner inquiry and teacher education and has more recently developed remarkable strengths in quantitative research, policy studies, evaluation, higher education and psychology and human development. The Graduate School of Education partners with schools, universities and communities to expand educational access–especially for those underserved by society. Through rigorous research and innovative programs, it develops new knowledge and transformational teachers and leaders in pursuit of educational opportunity.

To apply

Application requirements and deadlines vary based on the graduate degree program. Select your program of interest here to find out exactly what is needed and apply online.

Please have all supplemental application materials submitted by the program deadline to be considered for the City Year Scholarship.

To identify your City Year affiliation

Please identify your City Year affiliation in the designated space on the online application by answering “yes” to the question “are you a City Year corps member, alumna/us, or staff member?”

To access the application fee waiver and apply for the scholarship

If you plan to apply after March 1, request an application fee waiver code by emailing admissions@gse.upenn.edu.

To be considered for the scholarship, applicants must have a fully completed admissions application and submit a service verification letter by the appropriate program priority deadline. To request a service verification letter, email alumni@cityyear.org with “UPenn GSE” in the subject line. Within the email, include the site where you served and your AmeriCorps graduation month and year. This letter will be sent electronically by City Year to the Graduate School of Education’s admissions office at admissions@gse.upenn.edu and added to your applicant file. Upon being admitted to the program, applicants will be notified if they have been awarded the scholarship.

To contact the admissions office

Please call (215) 898-6415 or email admissions@gse.upenn.edu with any questions.

Please note that all admissions and scholarship decisions are made by the educational institution. AmeriCorps members, alums and staff interested in these scholarships must complete the full application process for the institution. Please pay close attention to deadlines and consider beginning work on your applications early in the year.