Penn's own Sunjay Mishra, Susanna Goldfinger and David Bard will study in Cambridge, England, next year with all their expenses paid.
The three have won the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, which was established in 2001 and will pay for up to three years of study at the University of Cambridge.
Mishra said he was caught off-guard when he found out he had won.
"They just e-mailed me. It was really ghetto," Mishra said. "It didn't even sound like I won... at the bottom, it said, 'Congratulations,' so then I figured that I did."
Mishra, a senior in the Management and Technology Program, will be studying next year for his master's of philosophy in technology policy. Mishra said he is interested in eventually working for a technology center that advises the government on technology-related policies.
"There were people I knew who won fellowships," Mishra said, adding that he was friends with one of last year's Gates winners, Alex Bernhardt, who encouraged him to apply.
Mishra's friend and classmate Engineering junior Lauren Moskovitz said she was not surprised to learn that he won.
"Sunjay has always impressed me with his work ethic and his people skills," Moskovitz said. "He was one of only five students to be accepted into the M&T; program as a sophomore."
Mishra, who was home this past weekend doing his family's taxes, said that he received help from Hamilton College House fellowship adviser and English professor Michael Gamer, as well as from advisers at the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.
Bard, who graduated this past December, was also in the M&T; Program. This semester, Bard is working for Oliver Wyman and Company, a consulting firm in New York City.
Next year in Cambridge, Bard will study for a master's of philosophy in economics with development, examining developing capital markets in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia and Thailand.
"I have always been interested in international affairs," said Bard, who was a member of Penn's Model United Nations Conference and the founder of PennPAC, the Penn chapter of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Goldfinger, meanwhile, graduated from the College in 2001 with a degree in English and Comparative Literature.
"I became interested in Renaissance literature my senior year," Goldfinger said. "I wrote my undergraduate thesis" on it.
She now works as a grant writer for WNYC public radio.
"In the fall, I started thinking about the possibility of going back to school," Goldfinger said. "I feel very, very fortunate to have won.
"I'm excited to go abroad again," added Goldfinger, who spent her junior year in France. "I think Cambridge will be a very exciting challenge for me."
The three have received varying degrees of help from CURF, which always works with students who are applying for scholarships like the Gates.
"We worked with [David and Sunjay] on both getting their written applications together... and we also talk with them about strategies to use during the interviews," said Art Casciato, director of CURF.
Since the Gates Scholarship was established two years ago, Penn has had eight winners.
"Students like Sunjay, David and Susanna have gotten us off to a really great start," Casciato said. "We help as much as we can, but these guys really do the work."
Even though Goldfinger had already graduated from Penn, she still received some advice from CURF.
"We are trying to reach out to people who already left campus and left Philadelphia," Casciato said.
Students from any country other than the United Kingdom are eligible to apply for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. This year, 42 Gates Scholars were chosen out of 500 applicants.
