Woodrow Wilson Fellows and Dissertation Fellows elected between 1945 and 1971 were surveyed to trace their educational careers, judge the effectiveness of the selection process, and determine what they are now doing with their education. Some elements covered by other national studies were included to make possible a comparison of the Woodrow Wilson Fellows with other groups of graduate students. Based on 6,169 responses from the 14,000 who were mailed questionnaires, information is provided on the degree completion rate, percentage of fellows attending 21 graduate schools, distribution of awards by sex, percentage of fellows in 23 fields of study, the time taken to complete their studies, reasons for delay in completion of degrees, the selection of a dissertation topic, financial support, change of fields in graduate study, employment rates, academic employment, nonacademic employment, and reasons for employment outside academe. The following observations are presented: financial support may be necessary in selected areas, including the humanities; more work needs to be done concerning dissertation fellows to determine how their awards affected their careers; more information is needed about women and graduate education to determine why they are discouraged from completing graduate work or why it takes them longer to complete their dissertations; and more study is needed to assess the value of sabbatical leaves in improving teaching quality. (SW)