Applications FOR THE CLASS OF 2026 ARE NOW OPEN!

Applications are due Oct 13th @ 11:59 PM PST

To Apply, Please follow this link: aerospacefellowships.smapply.us/

Before you contact the Leadership Team or a Brookie Alumni with questions, make sure you read through this ENTIRE page and check our Frequently Asked Questions, This is a lot of information, but it will help be your guide as you start this application journey.

We’re thrilled you found us, and we can’t wait to read your application!

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.

What You Need to Confirm Before You Apply

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

• You are an undergraduate student.
  You may be enrolled in any accredited undergraduate institution, including community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), liberal arts colleges, women’s colleges, tribal colleges, technical institutes, or public/private universities. You must have completed at least one full semester of your current academic program by the time of application.

• You identify as a gender minority in aerospace.
  This Fellowship is designed for students who are underrepresented in the aerospace industry due to their gender. This includes cisgender women, transgender women, non-binary individuals, agender, bigender, two-spirit, demigender, genderfluid, genderqueer people, and others whose gender identity qualifies as a minority in this field.

• You are available for a full-time summer experience in 2026.
  While we recognize that summer schedules vary by school and that personal or family obligations may arise, applicants should be available to participate in a full-time summer opportunity. The Brooke Owens Fellowship includes a demanding and rewarding summer experience that requires a meaningful time commitment.

• You are genuinely interested in a career in aerospace.
  You don’t need to have your future completely mapped out, but you should be seriously considering a path in aerospace. This program is designed to help launch aerospace careers—if that’s not a goal of yours, this opportunity may not be the right fit.

If you’re not eligible for the Brooke Owens Fellowship or are looking for other opportunities, we encourage you to explore our sibling and partner programs, including the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, Sally Ride Fellowship, Zed Factor Fellowship, Solastra Fellowship, and Zenith Canada Pathways Fellowship.

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO GATHER

Your most recent résumé 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.

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

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED Create

This is where your individuality shines!

While résumés 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 and what you bring to the table, we ask that you create two original works as part of your application:

• A Personal Statement(~600 words)

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

These works should help us learn more about you across three key dimensions:

• Your professional and academic interests

• Your personal character and passions

• Your commitment to service and community
  

Personal Statement
This essay gives us a deeper understanding of your values, thinking, and communication style. It’s an opportunity to thoughtfully engage with some personal reflection and answer the question, why 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

• The total run-time should not exceed five minutes

• Each file must be under 250 MB

2026 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 résumé or CV

2. Your transcript

3. Your Personal Statement

4. 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? The Class of 2018 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.

For technical support with the Survey Monkey application portal, please contact the Survey Monkey Support Team directly and submit a support ticket.

submit to the application portal

Like last year, we are using Survey Monkey to review your application. Please use this guide for applicant instructions! Please use this guide for recommender instructions!

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