What Davis United World College Scholars Program at U.S. Universities actually covers.
The Davis United World College Scholars Program is the largest privately funded international scholarship program in the world, providing need-based financial grants to graduates of United World Colleges (UWC) who enrol at one of over 100 partner U.S. universities and colleges. The program was founded by Shelby Davis and has provided scholarships to over 12,000 UWC graduates from more than 165 countries since 2000. African students who complete the International Baccalaureate at any of the 18 UWC schools worldwide — including UWC ISAK Japan, UWC Atlantic, Waterford Kamhlaba (Swaziland), and others — become automatically eligible for the Davis UWC Scholars grant at any of the partner institutions, which include Amherst College, Boston University, Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Georgetown, Princeton, Tufts, Vassar, and dozens of other top-tier U.S. schools. The grant supplements institutional need-based aid, filling financial gaps that the university itself cannot fully cover, and in many cases makes attendance at elite American institutions fully affordable. There is no separate scholarship application: once a UWC graduate is admitted to a partner institution, the university nominates them for Davis Scholars support. For African secondary school students admitted to a UWC school anywhere in the world, the pathway through UWC to a fully-funded education at a top U.S. university is one of the most powerful global scholarship pipelines available.
Who can apply.
Open to undergraduate applicants seeking to study in United States. Eligible nationalities are listed below.
46 more eligible countries — full list available on the official application page.
Every academic discipline is accepted.
This programme does not restrict by field. Research proposals across humanities, sciences, engineering, agriculture, and medicine are all accepted.
From here to submitted.
Scholar Africa helps you discover, shortlist, and track. The application itself is submitted on the provider's site.
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Save itAdd this to your shortlist so we can recommend similar scholarships and remind you of the deadline.
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Prepare your documentsMost providers ask for the same set — transcripts, references, a personal statement, ID. Use the checklist below to track progress across all your applications.
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Apply on the provider's siteSubmit on the provider's site before January 1, 2027 · 173 days left.
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Track the outcomeAdd to your tracker so you can update the status as the provider responds (shortlisted, interview, decision).
Document checklist
Checks are local to this device — they're not stored. Always confirm exact requirements on the provider's official application page.
What we checked, when we checked it.
Scholar Africa runs a link-liveness check on every listing before it goes live and an admin manually reviews every scholarship submitted by providers. Davis United World College Scholars Program at U.S. Universities has been reviewed and verified by our team. Five deeper checks (contact, organisation, winners, third-party, formal audit) are on the roadmap.
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Other scholarships worth a parallel application.
Same eligibility window or destination. Many strong applicants apply to three or four programmes per cycle.