Participants

Applications for the GAIN 2025/26 cohort are open!

Who can apply?

We are looking for extremely motivated individuals who want to apply to graduate programs at top institutions worldwide and eventually pursue a PhD in economics and other social sciences. We strongly encourage African students who have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in economics or related fields and graduated at the top of their class to apply for our program. The program is open to students from all countries across Africa.

Accepted participants will attend our free, biweekly webinar series, where guest speakers will discuss different aspects of graduate school admissions and careers in research or policy. After completing the webinar program, participants may apply for the second part of the program, the mentoring program. Please note that participation in the webinar series is a mandatory component of the application to the mentoring program. Promising participants will have to go through a 3-months GRE bootcamp and take the GRE.

Applicants with a sufficient GRE score will be officially accepted to the mentoring stage and will be matched with an experienced mentor to guide them through the graduate school application process. For more information on the different phases of the program, please see the about page.

To apply for our program, participants must meet the following minimum requirements.

  1. Applicants must hold a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in economics or a related field.
    The applicants we are looking for are seeking to pursue a PhD in economics or related fields, or a Master's program in economics with the intention of pursuing a PhD in this field thereafter.

  2. Applicants must be willing to study abroad and commit the necessary time to participate in the GAIN Webinar Series. Typically, participants dedicate 3-5 hours per week to the program from January onwards.

Additional requirements for the mentoring program will be communicated during the webinars!

How can I apply?

If you meet the requirements above, we encourage you to apply to our program using the GAIN Program Application Form until February 16th below or here. The webinars will start on February 13th, so we recommend you to submit your application before then. More information on eligibility requirements can be found here and in the FAQ section.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and accepted participants will be notified by the end of February at the latest. Please check your mailbox for an email by webinars@gain-network.net.

Important Dates:

Application deadline:
February 16th
Information session:
January 29th, 6-8pm CET (8-10 pm EAT / 6-8 pm WAT). More information on how to join below.
First official GAIN webinar:
February 13th. We recommend to apply before this webinar otherwise you are required to catch up on any missed information by yourself.

We look forward to receiving your application!

GAIN Information Session

On January 29th, 2025, we will host an information session open to anyone interested.

In this session, we introduce our organization and our curriculum, and invite successful GAIN alumni to share their experiences and answer your questions. If you have already applied to our program you will be automatically reminded about this webinar. If you would like to wait with your application until after the information session, kindly RSVP via the form below.

Details for the session are below:

  • Date: Wednesday, January 29th, 2025

  • Time: 6-8 pm CET / 8-10 pm EAT / 6-8 pm WAT

  • The zoom link will be share here the day of. If you would like to be reminded, please RSVP via this form.

The recording of last year’s information session can be found under “Resources”.