General information

The Graduate School of Communication aims to attract the world’s brightest students to its international classrooms. Outstanding students from outside the European Economic Area can apply for an Amsterdam Merit Scholarship (AMS).The AMS is a scholarship that covers (a part of) the tuition fee.

Please find more information and general requirements of the Amsterdam Merit Scholarship here.

In addition to the general requirements, the Graduate School of Communication requires you to apply for and be unconditionally accepted to our one or two-year (Research) Master's programme. Therefore we advise you to apply for the AMS and programme simultaneously. Make sure that you also have applied for the programme before 15 January 2018. You need to submit your application for the programme online. The application for the scholarship has to be sent via postal mail.

Selection procedure

The AMS is targeted at exceptional talented and motivated students with a non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationality. Therefore the selection procedure will strongly focus on academic performance. Please note that belonging to the top 10% of your class and having an overall GPA of at least 8 (scale 1-10) is required. Unfortunately, due to high competition, we cannot take your application into consideration if you cannot provide proof of your ranking. Also sufficient English language skills are a selection criteria. Requirements regarding English language level are*:

• TOEFL: Internet test 100 (with a minimum score of 24 in each of the different components)
• IELTS: 7 (with at least 7.0 in each of the four components)
• Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE): grade A or Cambridge Certificate for Proficiency in English (CPE): grade C

* English language test results may not be older than 2 years

Besides academic performance the AMS committee will also look at your affinity with research, your motivation and extracurricular activities.

As it can be concluded from the text above, the AMS has the same selection criteria as the Amsterdam Excellence Scholarship (AES). Nonetheless a different selection procedure applies for the AMS. In contrast to the AES, candidates for the AMS are directly selected by the AMS committee. Also the selection is only amongst applicants from the Communication Science programme. The Graduate School of Communication can offer approximately 2 full AMS scholarships for the academic year 2018-2019.

The admissions committee will notify you early May if you have been awarded the scholarship.

Application instructions

You need to apply via postal mail before the specific application deadline. Please send your complete AMS application to:

The Graduate School of Communication

Admissions Office (C7.02)

Postbus 15796 1001 NG Amsterdam

The Netherlands

A complete application consists of the following documents (sorted in this specific order, not stapled):

• Application Form AMS
• Proof of belonging to the top 10% of your class; a statement that indicates your ranking. This statement is only accepted if it is signed by the examinations board or dean
• Certified grade transcript; including a GPA

• Motivation letter; in which the candidate explains the reasons for choosing the specific Master’s programme (broader context, relevance for future career);
• Curriculum Vitae
• English proficiency test;
  • TOEFL score: (internet based) overall score of 100
  • IELTS (academic): overall score of 7.0 (with at least 7.0 in each of the four components)
  • Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English (CAE): grade A
  • Cambridge Certificate for Proficiency in English (CPE): grade C

• Letter of recommendation;  written by a dean, teacher or academic supervisor 
• Description of extracurricular activities; such as participation in student committees, international experience, sports or music at a high level or volunteer work

Application deadline

Please note that Amsterdam Merit Scholarships are awarded once a year to new Master's students that start in September. If you would like to be eligible for the AMS, make sure that you apply for the September semester.

Academic year 2018-2019

15 January 2019