Meet Adam Cohen (COL '16), Truman Scholar

• About Us
• / News

“Should I apply for the Truman Scholarship?” For the past two years, I have returned to Penn to speak with students about applying for the scholarship and have found that most are far more interested in this question than they are in the intricacies of the application. It’s a tough question without a right or wrong answer. The application has many components; it asks you to tie a very specific graduate school program and career path to one of the (likely many) societal problems you want to address and gives you a very limited number of characters to do so.

[[{"fid":"2100","view_mode":"rte_image_placement_center","fields":{"format":"rte_image_placement_center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Award ceremony at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri at Truman Scholars Leadership Week (May 2015)","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Award ceremony at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri at Truman Scholars Leadership Week (May 2015)","external_url":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"2":{"format":"rte_image_placement_center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Award ceremony at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri at Truman Scholars Leadership Week (May 2015)","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Award ceremony at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri at Truman Scholars Leadership Week (May 2015)","external_url":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"Award ceremony at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri at Truman Scholars Leadership Week (May 2015)","title":"Award ceremony at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri at Truman Scholars Leadership Week (May 2015)","class":"media-element file-rte-image-placement-center","data-delta":"2"}}]]

I came very close to not applying. I found out about the scholarship at the end of my sophomore year when a close mentor of mine at Penn encouraged me to apply. The support it offered aligned well with my goals and I told myself my application would be complete by the end of that summer, prior to leaving for my semester abroad. Like most twenty-year olds, I found plenty to distract me that summer and the application never happened. At the tail end of my semester abroad, I decided to call it quits. I wrote my mentor:

Unfortunately, I think I've decided to call it quits with the Truman app. I have been trying to get it done over the past couple of weeks but it seems to be really difficult to accomplish from overseas where access to many US websites is restricted. Also, there are many sections of the application (mostly the intended degree and career sections) that I don't feel I can adequately answer because I just haven't done enough research or talked to enough people over the past semester. I think I underestimated just how busy the program was going to keep me and also how difficult communicating with people back home was going to be with the time difference and lack of internet availability. I just wanted to thank you for your help throughout the process. At some point next semester I'd like to talk to you about the parts of the application that I was struggling with so that I can begin narrowing my interests and goals heading into my last year of school.

She replied:

Adam, many students have had this reaction to the Truman app, and almost everyone has found that it compels them to think hard about what they want to do and why, which is a positive thing.  No need to thank me-- I of course support whatever decision you make and am happy to be a sounding board for future applications.

I applied and ultimately won the scholarship. I still don’t know why, and I never will. Apart from a passion for and commitment to public service, there is no issue area, background characteristics or desired graduate school program and career path that make someone a better or worse candidate for the scholarship. Despite the challenging application and the uncertainty surrounding the competition’s outcome, and the very little sleep I got during the week in which I rushed through my application, I can tell you that I would apply twenty times over again. Here are a few reasons why:

1. It forced me to reflect, research, and plan. I spent a lot of time in college reading, writing, applying for internships, volunteering, and socializing. I spent very little time thinking about career paths, graduate school options, or the impact I wanted my work to have on the issues that motivated me. The Truman application offered me a chance to think hard about what I had learned up to that point, how to leverage it, and the opportunities that existed for me to utilize my strengths and improve upon my weaknesses. Even more importantly, it helped me to realize what I still didn’t know. This forced me to consider the types of classes, experiences, and relationships I would need to fill these gaps, which ultimately made my senior year and the first few years out of school more directed and fulfilling.
   
   [[{"fid":"2101","view_mode":"rte_image_placement_center","fields":{"format":"rte_image_placement_center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Truman Foundation 20th Anniversary Celebration hosted by Truman Scholar Mayor Bill De Blasio at the Gracie Mansion in New York City. (October 2016)","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Truman Foundation 20th Anniversary Celebration hosted by Truman Scholar Mayor Bill De Blasio at the Gracie Mansion in New York City. (October 2016)","external_url":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"3":{"format":"rte_image_placement_center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Truman Foundation 20th Anniversary Celebration hosted by Truman Scholar Mayor Bill De Blasio at the Gracie Mansion in New York City. (October 2016)","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Truman Foundation 20th Anniversary Celebration hosted by Truman Scholar Mayor Bill De Blasio at the Gracie Mansion in New York City. (October 2016)","external_url":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"Truman Foundation 20th Anniversary Celebration hosted by Truman Scholar Mayor Bill De Blasio at the Gracie Mansion in New York City. (October 2016)","title":"Truman Foundation 20th Anniversary Celebration hosted by Truman Scholar Mayor Bill De Blasio at the Gracie Mansion in New York City. (October 2016)","class":"media-element file-rte-image-placement-center","data-delta":"3"}}]]
    
2. It connected me to a network of kind, brilliant, driven, and decent people. To me, the Truman network has been so much more than the other 55 recipients in my scholarship class. It has also been the countless professionals who have spent time being candid with me about their career paths; the professors who read draft after draft of my application and asked me very pointed questions as they carefully crafted my recommendations; the Penn alumni who had gone through the process in the past and spent a generous amount of time easing my anxieties; the many dedicated public servants who are not Truman Scholars who I have gotten to know because of the opportunities the Truman has afforded me; and of course, the network of more than 3,000 Truman Scholars through which I have made some of my closest friends and been connected to people and opportunities I would have never thought possible.
   
   [[{"fid":"2102","view_mode":"rte_image_placement_center","fields":{"format":"rte_image_placement_center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Truman-Albright Fellows with Truman Foundation Chair and Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. (May 2018)","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Truman-Albright Fellows with Truman Foundation Chair and Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. (May 2018)","external_url":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"4":{"format":"rte_image_placement_center","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Truman-Albright Fellows with Truman Foundation Chair and Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. (May 2018)","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Truman-Albright Fellows with Truman Foundation Chair and Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. (May 2018)","external_url":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"Truman-Albright Fellows with Truman Foundation Chair and Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. (May 2018)","title":"Truman-Albright Fellows with Truman Foundation Chair and Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. (May 2018)","class":"media-element file-rte-image-placement-center","data-delta":"4"}}]]
    
3. It provided me with flexibility and encouraged me to take my time. The first thing the Truman Foundation staff tells you when you win the scholarship is to forget about the path you laid out for yourself in the application. You will almost never follow it exactly as you wrote it and that is okay. For me, taking time off before graduate school and living in Washington, DC has been one of the best decisions I ever made. I have gotten coffee, lunches, and beers with more than fifty different people who work in all areas of my field. I play soccer three nights a week, something I never made enough time for in college. I have worked three different jobs where, as one of the youngest people in the organizations, I find myself performing a wide range of tasks that I never could have believed fell under a single job title. Through it, I have learned a lot more about the kinds of work I can see myself doing, the kinds of places I can see myself living, and the types of people I want surrounding me. As I begin to reconsider my graduate school plans, I feel as though I am doing so with a much clearer sense of what I am hoping to get out of the experience, the amount of debt I am willing to take on, and the ways in which the program I choose will affect my personal, geographic and career opportunities both near- and long-term.

I was fortunate (and shocked) to have received the scholarship. Most people who apply won’t win, and will continue to do incredible things—they are at top graduate schools, winning other prestigious fellowships, traveling, and continuing to pursue the public service-related passions that motivated them to apply in the first place. The Truman Scholarship doesn’t guarantee your success, and not getting the Truman Scholarship doesn’t set bounds on it. Regardless, I think most who apply will tell you the process itself is worth it. You will encounter some of the most interesting and driven people you have ever met. You will outline an education and career path from which you will be able to measure your growth and understanding of yourself over the coming years. You will develop and strengthen relationships with the professors, mentors, friends, and family members who will ultimately make the journey worthwhile.

[[{"fid":"2099","view_mode":"rte_image_placement_left","fields":{"format":"rte_image_placement_left","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Photo of Adam Cohen ","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"external_url":""},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"rte_image_placement_left","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"Photo of Adam Cohen ","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false,"external_url":""}},"attributes":{"alt":"Photo of Adam Cohen ","class":"media-element file-rte-image-placement-left","data-delta":"1"}}]]Born and raised in Scarborough, Maine, Adam is a 2016 graduate of Penn’s College of Arts and Sciences. He is currently a Policy and Program Associate at Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future, working with Congress, HUD, and other federal and state agencies to build support and remove barriers to the preservation and production of high-quality affordable rental homes. He is a recipient of the Harry S Truman Scholarship and the Humanity In Action John Lewis Fellowship.

Related Articles