Frequently Asked Questions

Our fellowships are for students aged 15-19 who have not yet started university and who live or study in the UK or Ireland.

For example, this tends to be years 11, 12, and 13 in England, S5 or S6 in Scotland, and Transition Year or Senior Cycle in Ireland. Students on a gap year are also welcome.

Our subject-specific courses are specifically for students currently studying those subjects (maths, biology, or history), although we can be flexible on this, e.g. if you’re studying chemistry instead of biology and want to apply for medicine at uni.

The programmes are open to both state and private school students. We're keen to make Leaf's programmes accessible (especially by offering them free of charge if needed), but Leaf is not an access programme per se; we're aiming to support exceptional teenagers to explore how they can best help others, whatever their background.

Places to our fellowships are competitive. We accept approximately 10% of applicants to participate in our intensive five-week programme (called “Finalists”), and about 1% to continue on as Fellows. (This is a change from 2024, when “Fellow” referred to the top ~5% of applicants and a different set of support opportunities.)

However, all applicants will be offered to participate as Independent Learners and given access to use our online learning platform for self-paced exploration.

In this way, while our most exceptional applicants will receive a higher level of support, discussion, and recognition, everyone who is interested in the programme (and meets our eligibility criteria) will be able to participate in some way. So there really is no downside in applying!

Given Leaf’s limited capacity, places to our fellowships are competitive. We offer varying levels of participation so that while our most exceptional applicants will receive a higher level of support, discussion, and recognition, everyone who is interested in the programme (and meets our eligibility criteria) will be able to participate in some way.

• Finalist: An accepted applicant to our courses. Access to all programme components, including weekly discussion calls with a Leaf staff member.

• Fellows: After the five-week programme, Finalists apply to join a highly selective fellowship continuation where they will receive additional mentorship, support, and up to £1,000 grant funding.

• Independent Learners: Self-paced exploration on our learning platform, no other components (all eligible applicants are invited)

Of course, our application processes are imperfect, and you shouldn’t read too much into whether you are selected to be a Finalist or Independent Learner. Independent Learners in previous cohorts have demonstrated that they are in fact exceptional; by continuing to engage fully with what Leaf offers, they have then been offered full Fellowships in subsequent cohorts, or pursued promising follow-up projects.

We’re primarily looking for applicants who are:

(1) Ambitiously altruistic — we will be discussing ideas and tools for how you can contribute to ambitious aims like preventing human extinction or steering the course of history towards a more positive future.

(2) Intellectually curious — this programme is about exploration of important goals, surprising conclusions, and practical tools.

(3) Smart — we will be diving deep into complex topics, and want to ensure a high quality of discussion. For example, we expect most accepted applicants to have or be predicted a high proportion of 9s or A*s at GCSE, A band 1s in National 5s, or Distinctions at Junior Certificate.

We’ve tried to design the application system in a way that fairly assesses the criteria we most care about.

It is very common for excellent potential applicants (arguably especially people of underrepresented demographic groups) to doubt that they meet the requirements for an opportunity. But if you’re not sure, please just apply! We’d appreciate the chance to review your application.

If you didn't receive a place as a Finalist and are asking this question, then we're grateful for your continued interest in our programmes and the ideas they represent. We also admire your commitment to self-improvement.

Unfortunately, due to the high volume of applications, we aren't able to provide individual feedback on each submission. This policy helps us maintain a fair and efficient review process, which is important given that we are a very small organisation receiving many thousands of applications.

We also don't provide detailed feedback that reveals how our internal review procedures work because it's important that we prevent word getting out and enabling applicants to 'game' the system, which is unfortunately common in exam and university admissions processes.

If you're considering re-applying to the next cohort and would like to take some steps that would increase your chances of acceptance, here are some general steps and tips that might help (although we can't promise they are the most useful for your specific circumstances and needs):

• Get active taking ambitious actions to help others: We look for evidence of altruistic behaviour and intentions. If you can find opportunities to help others, especially high-leverage ones (contributing to neglected problems), then that can enhance your application. It's also just an incredible thing to do!

• Participate fully as an Independent Learner: We check for completion rates and the accuracy and quality of your answers during the programme if you reapply. So participating fully and engaging carefully with the opportunities you are offered from Leaf will increase your chances; it suggests to us that you are genuinely interested and motivated to explore and make use of the ideas that our fellowships explore.

• Get curious: Some of our application questions also reward genuine open-mindedness and curiosity. That can range from just diving deep into your school subjects to going above and beyond what's expected of you by teachers and parents to explore unusual passions and achievements, through to completing independent exploration of topics relevant to helping others.

• Maintain your honesty and integrity: We're seeking people of high moral fibre who actually want to do their best to make a positive impact, not people who will lie, cheat, or exaggerate in order to land a competitive place. This also just seems like a good rule of thumb to live by for many reasons.

We operate on a pay-what-you-can model with a suggested donation of £150; however, there are no questions asked if you can only donate less or nothing at all.

So the programmes are accessible entirely free for participants if you and/or your family do not have the means to pay!

(And a reminder that all applicants are granted free access to our online self-paced courses - this recommended donation only applies to our full five-week cohort, and is requested after acceptance so our admissions are entirely merit-based.)

We aim to empower young people to do good, so it’s important that cost is not a barrier to promising applicants. We want students from underprivileged and underrepresented backgrounds to be able to participate equally.

Our goal really is to support participants to help others, save lives, or change the course of history. We are extremely grateful for the support of philanthropists who share our goals.

There’s more info about our funders on our “About” page, and you can find out more through this video, (although note that some details refer to a residential programme we are no longer running).

Additionally, we are truly grateful that most participants and their parents/guardians choose to support Leaf’s mission by donating to us when they are offered a place. Such donations help to keep Leaf free and accessible to those who truly couldn’t afford to participate otherwise.

William MacAskill, a philosopher at Oxford University, has defined effective altruism as:

“(i) the use of evidence and careful reasoning to work out how to maximize the good with a given unit of resources… and

(ii) the use of the findings from (i) to try to improve the world.”

Effective altruism is both a research question and a community.

Our programmes focus on exploring the research question: how can we do the most good? There are no clear, objective answers here, and it’s not even obvious that this is the best question to be asking. So we encourage participants to both consider and critique the new ideas that they encounter during our programmes.

Leaf’s staff are, to varying extents, often part of the effective altruism community, and we’re glad to be able to connect participants to a wider network of researchers, entrepreneurs, and advocates aiming to do as much good as possible, whether affiliated with effective altruism or not!

Great! Dig into that and discuss with your group: is the disagreement values-based, or empirical? What might cause you or the other person to change your mind?

We’re keen on “productive disagreements” and “anti-debates”; we aim to be “scouts” who accurately map out the territory, rather than “soldiers” who defend their position at all costs.

We don’t shy away from bold claims, unorthodox methodologies, or surprising conclusions, but it’s vital to engage critically and carefully with them.

Yes, the programmes are designed specifically to fit around school. And we know that ambitious students often have a bunch of other responsibilities and commitments, too!

This summer’s programmes will run between 30th June and 3rd August, with some onboarding and welcoming beginning the week of 23rd June.

Although there are tonnes of fun and engaging extras with your cohort of participants, most of the core content is self-paced and independent, so even if you’re very busy for several days in a row, you should be able to catch up, as long as you’re happy to make up the time later.

The various calls and opportunities to connect with other participants will usually be on evenings or weekends. You can see in the "Weekly structure" section of each of the course pages (maths, biology, history, AI) the rough timings per week.

For the weekly discussion calls, we ask about your time availability once accepted to the programme. We'll then group you with peers and a facilitator who can all meet at the same weekly slot.

We’re thrilled that you're excited about more than one of our fellowships!

You only need to submit the application form once.

Simply choose the course that interests you the most as your primary choice. But don't worry! Our application form includes a question about your interest in other courses, with an option for "I’d be equally excited for this."

We will only invite you to one course at a time to ensure you have enough time and focus to participate fully and excel. However, there will likely be opportunities to complete more than one. If you demonstrate a high standard of participation in your first fellowship, we may invite you to join a subsequent cohort of another fellowship or provide access to the online learning platform to explore at your own pace. (These additional opportunities are earned through your dedication and contributions.)

We’re genuinely excited about your interest in multiple programmes! We envision Leaf becoming a dynamic online ecosystem and support network where you can explore various topics and problems, developing a broad understanding of how to best help others and shape the world for the better

We’re keen for participants to attend as much as possible. The content is interconnected, so some content might not make much sense if you’ve missed the previous bits.

But if you have to miss one of the weekly group discussion calls because you have an unavoidable clash, then of course, we’ll be able to work around that. Just let us know in advance.

Although there are tonnes of fun and engaging extras with your cohort, most of the core content is self-paced and independent, so even if you’re away for a whole week, you should be able to catch up, as long as you’re happy to make up the time later.

We offer alumni small financial grants for actions that would help you accelerate your path to impact.

We are excited to give grants if:

• You have a part-time job that doesn’t have much impact or provide you with much useful learning, and you’d like to use this grant to ‘buy out’ your time to focus on something more impactful.

• You have a plan for an impactful project, and think that a financial reward would substantially increase your motivation and commitment.

• You have a promising plan where financial costs (e.g. subscriptions to online services, travel, accommodation) are a substantial barrier.

These grants must be applied for; they are not guaranteed, and will be awarded based on our evaluation of the promise of your proposal for helping you to have major positive impact (now or later).

There’s no minimum funding amount. To date, most grants we’ve paid out have been between £50 and £300, but we’re open to providing more than this. For more ambitious grant proposals above £1,000, we may help you apply to more substantial grantmakers, such as our own main funders, EA Funds.

Yes, if you complete all the content and other requirements. E.g. Finalists need to attend at least 4 of the 5 discussion group calls.

There are separate certificates for Finalists (accepted applicants) and Independent Learners (self-paced course-takers; available to any applicants).

We can write references for some purposes for course participants too, such as for work experience, scholarship applications, or the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

We have participants in each of our courses who are passionate about law, economics, engineering, and more!

We hope in the future to offer specific courses in these areas, and often run early iterations with alumni of our other programmes.

As for expansion beyond the UK and Ireland, we are hoping to open our programmes up to international applicants in late 2025.

If you’re interested in staying in the loop, please sign up for updates at the bottom of our homepage.

Probably not. But there are a number of other programmes we may or may not offer in the future.

If you’re interested in staying in the loop, please sign up for updates at the bottom of our homepage.

That’s a shame! You can sign up to our mailing list at the bottom of our homepage to hear about future opportunities.

Thanks very much! We expect some of our most promising applications to come from people who are directly encouraged to apply by people who know them well. So, if you know any teens who might be a good fit for our programmes, please do encourage them to apply!

If you have a particular type of expertise that you think might be helpful to the development of Leaf’s programmes, are supportive of our goals, and are willing to offer advice or pro bono support, please do email info@leaf.courses

You can also sign up to our mailing list at the bottom of our homepage to stay in the loop with future developments.

Cool! We're really glad you're interested and curious. Unfortunately, we're a small team and receive many email queries, so we are often not able to respond. But feel free to try us at info@leaf.courses