McCloy Scholarship Program — Master's Scholarship

The McCloy Scholarship Program awards up to six scholarships annually for two-year study at Harvard Kennedy School. Recipients pursue the MPP, MPA, or MPA/ID and complete a compulsory public-interest internship between the two academic years.

Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes administers the programme with support from Harvard University, German federal ERP funds, the Haniel Foundation, the McCloy Scholarship Foundation, and the programme’s promotion association. It is intended to prepare future leaders for public and international organisations while strengthening transatlantic ties.

Benefits & funding

A monthly stipend of USD 2,500 for 21 months.
A one-off USD 500 starting grant and USD 1,000 travel grant.
Tuition is reduced to a personal contribution of EUR 10,000 per academic year; other scholarships may be combined with McCloy funding, and a conditional emergency fund is available.
Membership in the Studienstiftung, McCloy, and Haniel networks, plus programme events in Germany and the United States.

Eligibility

Applicants may come from any academic discipline and must complete a bachelor’s, master’s, Diplom, state examination, or doctorate before starting at HKS, with at least a German grade of “good”; law graduates need “fully satisfactory”.
The most recent university degree must be no more than five years old on 1 November; parental leave, extended illness, and qualifying caregiving periods may be considered individually.
German citizens may apply regardless of where they earned their degree. Non-German citizens qualify only if they earned their university entrance qualification in Germany or at a German school abroad, are treated as equivalent under Section 8 BAföG, or are EU or Swiss citizens whose latest university degree was earned in Germany.
The MPP has no formal work-experience minimum; the MPA requires at least three years by enrolment, while MPA/ID expects a strong quantitative background and demonstrated development-policy interest.
Three-year joint degrees, dual degrees involving an HKS programme, and the Mid-Career MPA are not funded; previous ERP Fellowship Programme recipients are also ineligible.
HKS admission is not required when applying for McCloy, but the scholarship can be taken up only after separate admission to HKS.

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Application process

1
Use the current application pack and prepare the completed form, a tabular CV, a narrative CV, certificates, GRE or GMAT material or applicable waiver evidence, an HKS study-plan statement, short essays, and three recommendation letters.
2
Submit the McCloy application as a PDF by email and ensure the three referees send their letters directly by 1 November 2026.
3
Apply separately to Harvard Kennedy School; its admission decision is independent of the German McCloy selection.
4
After document-based pre-selection, about 30 candidates are invited to a seminar with three individual interviews and several group discussions.

Program timeline

Applications open.
1 August 2026
Digital Haniel, McCloy, and ERP information session.
7 September 2026
Online information session led by current McCloy scholars.
20 September 2026
Digital session with the HKS Admissions Office.
29 September 2026
McCloy application and recommendation deadline.
1 November 2026
Selection-seminar invitations are normally issued.
Late November to mid-December 2026
Selection seminar is expected.
Mid-January 2027
HKS admission decisions are expected.
March or April 2027
Two-year programme at HKS.
Academic years 2027–2029