Applicants shall be in their third year at Elon or, in the case of students with transfer credits, their third year of higher education, with at least one full semester completed at Elon.
While we will not require applicants to meet a specific GPA requirement, we set a GPA target of 3.5 or above and we will consider student GPA as we make awards. Students with GPAs below 3.5 should carefully consider whether they can meet the dual challenge of improving their academic performance while completing a Leadership Prize project.
We expect Prize recipients to maintain their GPA at or near its level when the Prize was awarded. Significantly lower GPAs or evidence of academic struggle could become grounds for further discussions about a student’s involvement in the Leadership Prize program.
Leadership Prize research and change projects require extensive mentoring, so mentors should be involved from the beginning stages of research project development and application. Applicants shall have a nomination from an Elon faculty member or a staff member with faculty rank. Applicants may make a case for exceptions regarding rank if their proposal warrants, but in all cases, the mentor shall be on long-term contract with the institution.
Applicants must be in good standing at the university at the time of the application. That is, a history of repeated or egregious violations of either the academic or social honor codes will disqualify applicants.
Applicants shall demonstrate a commitment to pursuing at least 1.5 additional academic years of study as Elon students.