Rise Challenge

Scholarship Sponsored by Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust

Each year, Rise invites 15-17 year olds from around the world to participate in the Rise Challenge. Unlike many traditional applications, Rise uses videos, projects, and group interviews so applicants have multiple opportunities to showcase their potential. For applicants without access to a video recording device, we offer the option of submitting text responses. For applicants without access to technology, we offer an alternative low-tech pathway through paper applications.

The Rise Challenge encourages applicants to create an individual project that demonstrates their talents and benefits their communities, and peer review other applicants’ projects, among other activities.

After applicants complete the Rise Challenge, Rise selects up to 500 Finalists to advance to “Finalist Days,” where they demonstrate their motivations, problem-solving abilities, and teamwork skills in an innovative interview format.

From the 500 Finalists, Rise selects up to 100 Global Winners to receive various benefits as they work to serve others.

Who is eligible?

Applicants for the 2023 cohort must be between the ages of 15 and 17 as of July 1, 2023, meaning they are born on or between July 2, 2005 and July 1, 2008.

It does not matter what country they live in, background they come from, or academic experience they have. Whether they are interested in science, innovation, technology, art, policy, community organizing, or any other discipline—we want to hear from them.

Rise is a program that finds brilliant people who need opportunity and supports them as they work to serve others. We understand that economic barriers are not the only challenges that keep brilliant people from serving others throughout their lives.

What does Rise look for?

Rise Global Winners hail from around the world and demonstrate brilliance in a range of disciplines. Some may excel in STEM fields, others may show outstanding artistic ability, and others may have a gift for community service and organizing.

All Rise Global Winners demonstrate the five Rise Traits:

1. Brilliance
2. Perseverance
3. Integrity
4. Empathy
5. Calling

How is the application evaluated?

The purpose of our selection process is to look at the whole you, not just your past achievements—but also your potential to commit to a lifetime of service to others. To do this, we divide our selection process into distinct components so we can learn about you from as many different angles as possible.

Peer Review

Your video responses will be reviewed by a random selection of your peers according to the Rise Traits. This review will get factored along with the other information you’ve shared throughout the application process to develop a composite score.

Expert Review

The submissions receiving the highest scores will be reviewed by a panel of judges. The panel of judges includes global experts who come from diverse backgrounds and work across numerous fields.

Live Evaluation

Up to 500 Finalists will be selected to participate in a series of activities and interviews. These applicants are further evaluated by an additional review panel that selects up to 100 Global Winners.

The application is like a jigsaw puzzle of multiple pieces: your responses to the short essay questions, your reviews of other peoples’ responses, others’ reviews of your responses, your project, your profile information, and other assessments. All pieces count and together form a whole picture of you as an applicant throughout the Rise Challenge.