• Graduate Fellowship

    IEI Fellowship Image

    The Impact Entrepreneurship Fellowship is a two-year cohort experience for high-potential leaders from diverse backgrounds who are committed to creating social impact through entrepreneurship while pursuing a master's degree at The New School. Through the Fellowship, we aim to catalyze the creation of a more inclusive economy by making entrepreneurship education, resources, and networks more accessible to individuals from underrepresented backgrounds during the early stages of their entrepreneurial journey. Fellows benefit from courses, mentorship, peer support, workshops, networking opportunities, and the opportunity to complete a Graduate Minor in Impact Entrepreneurship. They may receive an award of up to $10,000 over two years for participation in the Fellowship, in addition to any merit-based scholarship from their degree program.

    Benefits of the Fellowship

    • Enrollment in the Fellowship Cohort Course during the fall semester of the student’s first year. This course supports Fellows as they develop or expand ideas intended to address pressing social or environmental challenges, so that they are prepared to launch a financially sustainable venture. Incorporating elements of discovery, ideation, prototyping, and user testing, the course takes students through a design-driven process aimed at clarifying the unmet need they have identified, helping students better understand their target industry, helping them develop a social impact theory of change, validating their assumptions, and allowing them to consider different approaches to scaling. 
    • The opportunity to complete a Graduate Minor in Impact Entrepreneurship by enrolling in additional entrepreneurship-focused courses
    • Regular cohort meetings and networking events during the academic year
    • Peer support from a community of socially minded innovators
    • Access to individual mentorship and advising from experienced staff, faculty, and mission-driven entrepreneurs 
    • Access to seed funding through participation in the Venture Lab course during the student’s second year
    • An award of up to $10,000 over two years for participation in the Fellowship, in addition to any merit-based scholarship from their degree program*

    *Applicants for admission to The New School are also strongly encouraged to submit the FAFSA to be considered for federal loans.


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