AWS Machine Learning Scholarship Program

The AWS Machine Learning Scholarship program is for all developers interested in expanding their AWS machine learning skills and expertise. Applicants 18 years of age or older are invited to enroll now in the first of two scholarships being offered in the AWS Machine Learning Scholarship Program.

Phase 1: Scholarship Foundations Course
Learners can start learning at their own pace from May 19, 2020 and will have till July 31, 2020 to complete the foundational course. The course will help students develop object-oriented programming skills including writing clean and modular code and also introduce key AWS machine learning technologies, namely AWS AI Services and AWS AI Devices and apply their skills in the AWS lab environment. At the completion of the course, learners will receive a certificate for having completed the foundational course. Finally, learners will receive instructions to take an online assessment quiz that will be used to select the top scorers who will receive a full scholarship for Udacity’s popular Machine Learning Engineer Nanodegree program.

Phase 2: Full Scholarship for a Udacity Nanodegree program
325 top scorers from the online assessment quiz from the foundational program will earn a scholarship to the Machine Learning Engineer Nanodegree program. Nanodegree programs typically require several hours of work per week for the duration of the Nanodegree program. This program will offer world-class curriculum, a groundbreaking classroom experience, industry-leading instructors, thorough project reviews, and a full suite of career services.

Anyone 18 years of age and older is encouraged to apply. You must enroll into and complete the foundational course and submit the assessment quiz by July 31, 2020, to be considered. Udacity employees and individuals that reside in countries subject to U.S. trade restrictions are ineligible to apply.

Scholarship recipients should be prepared to invest about 3-5 hours per week during the Foundations Course, which should run ~2.5 months, and about 10 hours per week during the Nanodegree program, which should run for 2 months.

All learners are welcome to take the foundations course, but completion of a beginning level programming course is recommended to fully engage in all of the coursework.

The online enrollment window for the foundational course will be from May 19, 2020 into July 31, 2020. Students must complete their course and take the online assessment within this period to be eligible for a Scholarship to the Machine Learning Engineer Nanodegree program.

Upon completion of the foundations course, Udacity and AWS will provide 325 Udacity scholarships to the top scorers in the assessment quiz administered at the completion of the foundational course.

You can enroll anytime between May 19, 2020 and July 31, 2020. Follow these steps to enroll into the AWS Machine Learning Foundations course:

• Step 1: Click on the “Enroll Now” button at the top of the AWS Machine Learning Scholarship page
• Step 2: Submit the Enrollment form with your name and email address, and note the Terms and Conditions. You will be redirected to the Course Page.
• Step 3: Click the “Start Free Course” button on the course page. You will be directed to the Foundations Course classroom. The course is now loaded in your classroom.

Both the foundational course and Nanodegree program will require performing tasks in an AWS lab environment with an AWS account. Learners will need to submit a credit card on file with AWS to create an AWS account. The required exercise can be completed using AWS Free Tier services. Learners may incur a cost if they complete the optional exercise.

You can study on your own schedule so long as you complete the course within 2 months. That is to say, you’ll have complete access to the course directly in your classroom 24 hours a day. We understand that students have different schedules and will work on their course at different times and on different days. What’s important is that students make consistent progress each and every week and get through all the content before the end of the foundational course and Nanodegree program period.

The program takes place 100% online. You can work from wherever you want to, as long as you have a working internet connection.

Udacity's single courses consist of lessons, videos, and quizzes. But they do not provide comprehensive staff support available to answer technical questions, review student projects, and provide guidance and help. Scholarship students in Phase 1 of this program will have access to an online library of resources administered by Udacity, as well as the student support team to help with any account issues. All students completing the foundational course will receive a certificate of completion from Udacity.

The scholarships awarded in Phase-2 will be Udacity’s popular Machine Learning Engineer Nanodegree program.

After the foundational course ends, follow-up scholarships will be provided for the Udacity Machine Learning Nanodegree program. Students will be evaluated based on successful completion of lessons in Phase 1 in addition to their performance of the online assessment quiz.

Between instructional content, quizzes, and other course-related activity, we estimate that investing 3-5 hours/week will enable you to proceed through the program at a successful pace, finishing before your foundational scholarship ends. If you are awarded a follow-up Nanodegree program scholarship, we recommend investing ~10 hours/week over the next 2 months to complete the Nanodegree program.

In the initial scholarship foundations course, you will learn all about object-oriented programming, writing clean and modular code, and key AWS machine learning technologies. The AWS technologies covered will include Amazon AI Services and AWS AI Devices such as DeepLens, DeepRacer, and DeepComposer. Learners will have the opportunity to work hands-on in a DeepComposer environment. In the Nanodegree program, learners will be able to develop complex and advanced machine learning models in the Amazon SageMaker environment.

Machine learning is expected to transform virtually every industry and customer experience we know today. However, there is a shortage of trained and experienced ML developers. Of 23 million developers worldwide, only 1.3% (300,000) have AI/ML expertise, and by 2022 it is predicted there will be 58 million AI/ML jobs, further deepening this talent shortage. Upon completion of the scholarship program, learners will have developed the skills most in demand in this exciting field.

These scholarships do not guarantee you a job. But Udacity students often do get jobs after graduating from programs like these. Check out some student stories.

You can find more details on the Terms and Conditions here.

If you have additional questions that were not answered here, please submit a support ticket via this form.

Students who complete the foundational course will receive a certificate of completion from Udacity. Students selected for Phase 2 who complete the full Nanodegree program will be awarded a Nanodegree certificate.