Thinking about Harvard?

Long before I had a Harvard student ID in my wallet, I wondered how I could make a year at Harvard financially possible. 

I was finishing a bachelor of commerce in marketing at Concordia University in Montreal, a university that had given me a chance to find my footing academically. By graduation, I knew I wanted to build a career around higher education, public service and the institutions that help people learn. 

Harvard’s one-year master’s of education in education leadership, organizations, and entrepreneurship felt unusually well matched to that goal. It blended education with organisational leadership and entrepreneurship, while giving me the flexibility to cross-register across Harvard — including at Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School and Harvard Kennedy School — and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). I also had opportunities to audit courses, with instructors’ permission and subject to each school’s policies. 

As I started working through the financial side, I found the Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship. I was surprised by how few Canadian students I knew had heard of it. 

One of Harvard’s most generous fellowships  

Established by Annie Reid Knox in memory of her husband, Frank Knox, the fellowship supports students from Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom who wish to pursue full-time graduate degrees at Harvard. It covers full Harvard tuition and mandatory health insurance, and provides a stipend intended to cover a single fellow’s living expenses. Funding is guaranteed for up to two years for programs lasting longer than one year. 

Applications are currently open to Canadians for the 2027-28 competition, with a closing date of Feb. 1. The fellowship application is separate from Harvard admission; prospective students  must also apply to the Harvard graduate or professional school of their choice.  Supporting materials include a CV, academic transcripts, two confidential recommendations and an essay of no more than 1,000 words covering academic interests, extracurricular activities, reasons for choosing Harvard, proposed studies and future plans. 

What I learned from applying 

The fellowship looks for academic excellence, strength of character and leadership potential, but my biggest lesson was to make the application as specific as possible. Rather than explaining why Harvard is prestigious or listing what I had already accomplished, I focused on why this particular program made sense for the work I hoped to do next; what I wanted to learn there; and how I hoped to use that experience back in Canada. As I wrote, I repeatedly asked myself the same three questions: Why Harvard? Why now? What would I bring back to Canada? 

For me, that meant connecting my experience at Concordia and in the public service at Parks Canada with my longer-term interests in academia, universities, libraries, social entrepreneurship and community work. 

Emma Dale, a University of Toronto graduate and current Canadian Knox Fellow, is now studying alongside me in the Harvard education program. Reflecting on the application process, she said one of her biggest lessons was to emphasize the experiences that genuinely mattered to her rather than trying to present what she thought a selection committee wanted to see. “Lead with your authentic voice,” she said. “Trust your experiences and your passion and let that guide you.” 

Ms. Dale also emphasized being intentional about recommendations. One of her referees had known her over several years — first as a participant in a program, then as a volunteer and later as a working artist — and could speak to how she had developed over time. “I chose that over someone who could maybe speak to my check-listed accomplishments,” she said. “Someone who spoke to my journey as a leader and a person.” 

Now that I am at Harvard, the reasons I wrote about in my application feel much more tangible. I am pursuing a concentration in higher education and taking courses including “Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Learning,” which examines how leaders translate good ideas into action. I am studying education alongside classmates from around the world, while thinking more deeply about how universities are governed, how organizations change, and how promising ideas can reach more people. 

And then there are the smaller moments. During my first weeks on campus, I walked into Widener Library and felt goosebumps. My mother has worked in a municipal library for more than 40 years, so I grew up understanding libraries as places where people discover ideas and sometimes entirely new directions for their lives. Standing there, after years of studying, working, saving and applying, it really hit me. I was at Harvard.  

Although Harvard was my dream, there are many other opportunities available to students. That’s one reason I built Programs for Young Canadians, s, an open-access database bringing together more than 420 scholarships, fellowships, internships, exchanges, awards and other opportunities for young Canadians, with filters designed to make them easier to navigate. The idea behind it is simple: an opportunity can only change someone’s life if they know it exists. 

I would encourage Canadians not to let any single scholarship determine whether they pursue a larger goal. Apply early. Apply widely. Read the current eligibility rules carefully. Give recommenders time. Make your essays unmistakably yours. 

Most importantly, keep looking. 

Sometimes the distance between an opportunity feeling impossible and becoming real is simply knowing that it exists. 

For more career advice for grad students, see our full Graduate Matters archive.