CLASS OF 2027 APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!

APPLY BY OCTOBER 4!

Before You Get Started

We’re so glad you’re here!

If you’re passionate about aerospace and ready to make your mark, you’re in the right place. The Brooke Owens Fellowship was created to open doors for undergraduate women and gender minorities who want to lead, innovate, and make the industry more equitable, exciting, and impactful.

Our application is unlike most you’ve seen, on purpose! We’ve designed it to celebrate talent in all its forms and to offer a fair shot to those who might have been overlooked by traditional pathways. In addition to the usual materials, you’ll find a few unique prompts and requirements that help us get to know the real you.

Before you dive into the application portal, we recommend reading this page carefully and starting early. Some components will take time to reflect on and prepare. The more thought you put in, the more your application will shine.

You’ve got time, but don’t wait! Start now, be bold, and know that we’re cheering you on every step of the way.

ELIGIBILITY

Before you begin, make sure all of the following are true for you:

• I am an undergraduate student who has completed at least one year of coursework toward a bachelor’s or associate degree.

• I am interested in pursuing a career in the aerospace industry (engineering and non-engineering fields welcome!).

• I identify as a woman or gender minority.

• I am 18 years of age or older.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO GATHER

Your most recent resume or CV
Make sure it’s polished and up to date. Proofread carefully, and consider having a friend or mentor review it as well. Include all relevant experiences that reflect your potential as a teammate and contributor in the aerospace field. This can include academic work, internships, jobs, volunteer work, personal projects, leadership roles, and extracurricular activities.

Your latest transcript
We gladly accept unofficial transcripts; in fact, we encourage them, since many schools charge students for access to official ones. Your transcript must include at least one full semester of completed, graded coursework (midterm grades alone do not meet this requirement). First-semester Freshman, we will see you next year! If you’re currently attending a new institution and don’t yet have a transcript there, you may upload your transcript from your previous school.

Your letter of recommendation.

As part of your application, you’ll submit one required letter of recommendation. It should be written by someone who can speak to your strengths, achievements, and character. This could be a teacher, coach, club president, mentor, supervisor — anyone other than a family member or friend who knows you well and can write compellingly about:

• Character, creativity, and consistency in service-oriented settings

• We want to see what makes you you, beyond the grades and the accolades. How do you show up in your community? What impact do you make in the spaces you show up?

Once you have these files ready, keep them accessible so you can upload them easily through our application portal.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO CREATE

This is where your individuality shines!

While resumes and transcripts offer valuable context, and recommendation letters provide outside perspectives, they don’t always capture the full picture. To really understand who you are, what you care about, and what you hope to contribute, we ask that you create three original works as part of your application:

• A Personal Statement (600 words max)

• A Mission Alignment Essay (300 words max)

• A Multimedia Essay (any format other than essay, under 250 MB, reviewable in under 5 minutes)

Together, these works should help us understand you across three important dimensions:

• Your professional and academic interests

• Your personal character, values, and passions

• Your commitment to service, community, and creating opportunities for others

Personal Statement

GPAs and transcripts only tell part of your story. This is your opportunity to show us the person behind the resume!

Your personal statement should help us understand what makes you uniquely you. Tell us about the passions, values, experiences, goals, and qualities that have shaped who you are and where you hope to go. We want to hear your voice and understand what you would bring to the Brooke Owens community.

Be authentic, specific, and reflective—this is your chance to make your best case for why you.

Mission Alignment Essay

The Brooke Owens Fellowship is committed to expanding opportunities for women and gender minorities in aerospace. This essay is your opportunity to reflect on why this mission matters to you and how you hope to contribute to it throughout your career.

Draw on your lived experiences and consider how you hope to use your position, leadership, and influence to make aerospace more welcoming and equitable and create opportunities for those who come after you.

Multimedia Essay

The Multimedia Essay MUST be submitted in just about any format other than a traditional written essay. This is your chance to take a creative approach and share your story in a way that best reflects your voice and talents. Do NOT submit a written essay.

Past submissions have included original songs, spoken word, short videos, animations, graphic designs, podcasts, comic strips, and more!

Multimedia Guidelines:

• Submissions must be fully digital (no physical mail accepted)

• They must be viewable or playable using commonly available software- no obscure tools or password-protected files

• If selecting a video format, total run-time should not exceed five minutes

• Each file must be under 250 MB

Multimedia Essay Prompts:

1. Describe a moment when you had to be resourceful. How did you navigate constraints, and what did it reveal about your creativity or values?

2. Tell us about a time you showed up in service to your community. What was the impact, and what did the experience teach you about your role in a community or team?

3. Describe a project, activity, or experience where you fully immersed yourself, bringing energy, creativity, or boldness. What sparked your enthusiasm, and how did you approach it?

4. Describe a time you challenged the status quo—or questioned a system, norm, or assumption. What drove you to speak up or act, and what did you learn from that experience?

5. Many people move through life on “autopilot,” reacting to circumstances rather than consciously shaping their choices. How does intentionality shape your actions? Tell us about a time when it affected your choices, and what the result was?

File Submission Tips

Once you’ve entered your recommender information through the application portal, you’ll be able to log in anytime to check on their progress. Remember, you need to have all of these submitted:

1. Your Resume or CV

2. Your Transcript

3. Your Letter of Recommendation

4. Your Personal Statement

5. Your Multiedia essay

Make sure your files are correctly formatted and meet the size requirements (max 250 MB each). We also recommend including the exact prompt you’ve selected for each original work directly within your file or submission. This ensures our reviewers know which question you’re addressing.

Test your files before you upload and submit them because you will not be able to edit the application once you submit! It is important that you test your video links, check the security permissions, and make sure a technical difficulty doesn’t arise.

Need A Hand?

This application is meant to take some time, thought, heart, and effort. That’s intentional. It’s how we build a program that identifies outstanding talent without defaulting to elitism. It’s how we find brilliance and promise in people and places that others might (mistakenly) overlook.

We also know that many of you may never have filled out an application quite like this before. That’s okay! We’re here to help. We’ve gathered some resources to support you every step of the way:

Frequently Asked Questions
Our FAQ page covers tons of common questions about eligibility, the application process, the Fellowship timeline, Host Companies, matching, and more. Start here if you're wondering about the basics.

Ask a Brookie!
Need advice from someone who’s been through it? We’ve launched “Ask a Brookie” so you can ask a past Fellow questions about their experience. Want to know what their internship was like? How did they approach their application essays? What did it feel like to join the community? Ask away!
The Brookies won’t give away any secret code (there isn’t one), but they will answer with honesty, encouragement, and care. This service is completely free and open to every applicant.

I need more help…
If you have additional questions regarding the content of your application, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Brooke Owens Fellowship via our Contact Page.

Good luck! We can’t wait to hear from you.