Scholarship eligibility: how to check which scholarships you qualify for

Scholarship eligibility is the set of rules that decides who may apply: usually your nationality, the degree you hold or want to study, your career stage and your field, plus conditions such as work experience, a language level or a promise to go home afterwards. Checking them comes first with any scholarship, because one unmet condition rules an application out however strong the rest of it is. This page explains the rules scholarships use, how to check them yourself, and how the Scholarway search does the check for you. The search below shows every opportunity in the Scholarway database, before a profile narrows it down.

The eligibility rules scholarships use

Every funder writes its own rules, but they come from a short list. The examples below are taken from the official eligibility pages of Chevening, the DAAD, the NSF, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions and the US State Department:

Some rules are about what you have, others about what you lack. A doctoral position under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, for example, is open to any nationality but not to anyone who already holds a doctorate.

How to check your eligibility yourself

1. Read the funder's own eligibility page. Rules change from one call to the next, and summaries on other websites go out of date. Our programme pages link to each official page.
2. Read each condition as a must. Unless the page says "preferred" or "desirable", one unmet condition is enough to rule you out. Watch for "and" and "or": Chevening, for example, asks applicants from some countries both to be citizens and to live in an eligible country.
3. Check the country list itself. Many programmes publish a list of eligible countries, and it isn't always the one you'd expect. The DAAD's STEM study scholarships, for example, take applicants only from a fixed list of developing and emerging countries: if yours isn't on it, you can't apply.
4. Count dates the funder's way. Years since your degree are often counted to the application deadline, as the DAAD does. Work experience may count only from your first degree onwards, as with Chevening.
5. Look for the exclusions. Dual nationals, current residents of the host country, staff of the funder and earlier award holders are common exceptions, usually listed near the end of the page.
6. Ask when in doubt. If a rule is unclear for your case, write to the programme before you spend weeks on an application, and keep the answer.

Eligibility is only the entry ticket. Selection then looks at your record, your plans and your references: our guide on how to get a scholarship covers that part.

Scholarships I can apply for right now

Being eligible doesn't mean a scholarship is open. Most programmes have one call a year, often closing many months before the course starts, and a few take applications all year. If you're after scholarships you can still apply for this cycle, check the call dates as well as the rules: our page of scholarships open now lists current calls, and every result in the search above shows its calls and deadlines when you open it.

It also helps to plan a year ahead. A scholarship you can't apply for now, because you haven't finished your degree or haven't got enough work experience yet, may be the right one next year.

How Scholarway checks eligibility

There's no separate quiz: the Scholarway search is the eligibility checker. Each opportunity in its database is stored with its eligibility rules, read from the official sources. You add your profile once (nationality, the degree you hold, your career stage and your field) and the search keeps the scholarships, fellowships and funded positions whose rules you meet, from every country it covers.

Open any result in the preview above and you'll see its rules under "Who can apply", with conditions that are only preferred marked as such. Some conditions depend on more than a profile, such as grades, a language test or an offer from a university, so read those for each scholarship you shortlist.

What the search doesn't do: it doesn't apply for you, it can't tell you how likely you are to win, and it doesn't replace the funder's own page, which always has the final word. Scholarway's search opens soon; leave your email below for early access.

For more ways to search, see our comparison of scholarship websites and apps, or browse by degree: undergraduate scholarships, master's scholarships, PhD scholarships and fellowships. For funding by destination, see study abroad, and for everything at once, scholarships for international students.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know which scholarships I qualify for?

Compare your nationality, degree, career stage and field with each scholarship's official eligibility rules, then check the extra conditions such as work experience or a language test. A search that matches those rules, like Scholarway's, does the first part for every scholarship at once.

What are the most common scholarship eligibility requirements?

Nationality, the degree you hold or plan to study, your field and, for research funding, your career stage. Many programmes add academic results, a language test, work experience or an offer from a university.

Can I apply for a scholarship if I meet most but not all of the requirements?

Usually not. A condition marked as required rules out anyone who doesn't meet it. Conditions marked as preferred or desirable are different: they count in your favour but aren't needed to apply.

Is there an age limit for scholarships?

Some programmes have one and many don't. Schwarzman Scholars, for example, takes applicants aged 18 to 28, while Chevening has no upper age limit. Check the eligibility page of each scholarship you're interested in.