StudyDesk Scholarships
About the scholarship
The Kotzen Scholarship is the formal name used in scholarship listings for what Simmons itself calls the Distinguished Scholar Award. It is a merit award, not a need-based one — and that distinction matters for international applicants, because Simmons states that international students do not receive need-based aid, while merit scholarships are open to them. The award is made for the normal period of study, up to four years of full-time undergraduate study, and it supersedes any previously awarded merit scholarship: if you win it, it replaces your earlier merit offer rather than stacking on top of it.
Simmons is a private university in Boston founded in 1899, and the Kotzen competition is deliberately small and selective: a short answer and a formal essay, then finalist interviews, with winners notified by 1 March. The total value is commonly put above $120,000 over four years once tuition, fees and room and board are counted together — treat that total as an aggregator estimate, since Simmons publishes the components (full tuition, fees, room and board, plus the $3,000 annual award) rather than a single headline total.
Benefits
- Full tuition for up to four years of full-time undergraduate study.
- Mandatory fees covered in full.
- Room and board covered in full.
- $3,000 a year for study abroad, summer internship tuition, short-term courses or research support — the enrichment award that sets Kotzen apart from a plain full-tuition offer.
- Renewal for the normal period of study, subject to remaining a full-time undergraduate in good standing.
Who can apply
- Level: first-year undergraduate applicants only, for a Fall start. Transfer students are not eligible for the full Distinguished Scholar award.
- Nationality: open to international students of all nationalities as well as domestic applicants.
- Academics: an outstanding record — the benchmarks reported across listings are a GPA of 3.3 or higher, honours, Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate coursework, and test scores of ACT 28+ or SAT 1300+ (new SAT) / 1250+ (old SAT, with at least 600 in each section highly recommended). These are reported competitive profiles, not a published Simmons cutoff, so treat them as a guide to the standard, not a guarantee.
- English: TOEFL or IELTS for non-native English speakers, per the listings.
- Selection: academic record, essay quality and programme fit, followed by a finalist interview. Finalists are notified in mid-January and winners by 1 March.
Documents required
- Admission application to Simmons as a first-year undergraduate, submitted before 1 December.
- Short answer (250 words) explaining how you will spend the annual $3,000 grant.
- Formal essay (500 words).
- Resume, sent with the essays by email to ugadm@simmons.edu in PDF or Word format, including your full name and date of birth.
- Finalists are interviewed before the final decision.
How to apply
- Apply for admission to Simmons University as a first-year undergraduate.
- Prepare the short answer (250 words), the formal essay (500 words) and your resume.
- Email both essays and the resume to ugadm@simmons.edu in PDF or Word format before the 1 December deadline — and submit the admission application before the same date.
- Watch for finalist notification in mid-January and an interview in February; winners are notified by 1 March.
FAQs
Full tuition, mandatory fees and room and board, plus an additional $3,000 a year for study abroad, summer internship tuition, short-term courses or research, for up to four years of full-time undergraduate study.
1 December. Both the admission application and the scholarship essays must be submitted before that date; Simmons publishes the date annually as December 1.
Yes. The award is open to international students of all nationalities. Note that Simmons does not offer need-based aid to international students — Kotzen is a merit award.
No. Transfer students are not eligible for the full Distinguished Scholar award; it is for first-year undergraduates only.
Reported competitive benchmarks are a GPA of 3.3 or higher, honours/AP/IB coursework, and ACT 28+ or SAT 1300+. These are aggregator-reported profiles, not a published Simmons cutoff.
It is a separate application: a 250-word short answer, a 500-word essay and a resume, emailed to ugadm@simmons.edu, in addition to the admission application. Finalists are interviewed.
Verified 29 Oct 2026 against EngineersJob (full tuition, room and board, $3,000 for academic pursuits; deadline 1 December 2026; GPA 3.3+, ACT/SAT/TOEFL/IELTS; 250-word short answers + 500-word essay + resume by email to ugadm@simmons.edu), StudentArrive (full tuition, mandatory fees, room and board; $3,000/year for study abroad, summer internship tuition, short-term courses or research; four years; supersedes any previously awarded merit scholarship; deadline 1 December 2026) and StudyHunt (honours/AP/IB; GPA 3.3+; ACT 28+ / SAT 1300+ new / 1250+ old, 600 per section highly recommended; 250-word short answer on the annual grant; finalists notified mid-January, winners by 1 March; deadline 1 December 2026). CONFLICTS: (1) Some pages list the deadline as 1 December 2025 — that was the Fall 2026 entry deadline; the live annual date for the next entry is 1 December 2026, and the article uses that. (2) The "over $120,000 over four years" total is an aggregator estimate from the components, not a Simmons-published total, and is flagged as such. (3) Some aggregator breakdowns add airfare, health insurance and visa-fee reimbursement — those items are not in the core published package (tuition, fees, room and board, $3,000/year) and are not stated in the article.
