4.1 Scholarships Many of you are coming into Cal with a good sum of free money in your pockets already... that's awesome! We bet some of you even have full rides. However, whether it be need-based or not, a whole bundle of scholarship money still awaits those who are qualified and lucky enough to claim it. So if you're looking for scholarship funding, read on... Campus Resources As the campus's central clearinghouse for information on merit-based scholarships, Scholarship Connection is the "first stop" for undergraduates looking for information on non-need based scholarships. This office also handles the applications for a number of competitive and prestigious scholarships such as the Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships. The office can also advise you on how to prepare competitive applications. Keep in mind that advanced preparation is an important step for success. All students, freshmen through seniors, in all majors are encouraged to stop by 345 Campbell to find out what's available. Since Scholarship Connection receives hundreds of scholarship announcements and applications each year, subscribing to their e-mail list is the best and easiest way to keep up-to-date on what arrives in the office. To automatically subscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@listlink.berkeley.edu with the following message in the text: subscribe scholarships. Since your message will be processed by an automatic list server, leave the subject line blank and do not include other text in the message. You can also e-mail them at scholarships@learning.berkeley.edu or call at 643-6929. While subscribing to the email list is the best way to stay on top of scholarship announcements as they come into the office, the Resource File (in 345 Campbell Hall) is the place to search through all the announcements that they have ever received. They index the scholarships as they come in (ie. by year - for freshmen, sophomores, etc; by academic discipline - for humanities, social science, etc; for study overseas; and many other categories). Therefore you can search for the scholarships that best suit your needs. In addition to detailed descriptions of the eight scholarships that Scholarship Connection administers, the website http://scholarships.berkeley.edu has tips on preparing your scholarship application and links to other web sties with scholarship information. While Scholarship Connection administers scholarships funded by outside agencies and foundations, the Undergraduate Scholarships and Honors office administers University scholarships such as the Regents' and Chancellor's Scholarships (available to incoming students only), the President's Undergraduate Fellowship (to fund faculty-supervised research), and many others. Check the bulletin board outside their office (210 Sproul Hall) for scholarship announcements. The Committee on Prizes (210 Sproul Hall) administers University awards and competitive prizes for creative works (eg., poetry, fiction, music composition, film-video, photography, and many other creative efforts). Go to 210 Sproul to pick up a copy of the booklet "Prizes for Student Achievement" that describes the awards administered by the committee. While Scholarship Connection primarily has information on scholarships you apply for and use as an undergraduate, the Fellowships Office has information on scholarships and fellowships for graduate study. There are a number of fellowships that you can apply for as a graduating senior such Fulbright Grants for Graduate Study Abroad, Melon Fellowships in the Humanities, National Science Foundation Fellowships, and many others. Since many of the fellowships have early fall deadlines, you should begin researching graduate funding while you are researching graduate programs. Feel free to visit the Graduate Fellowships Office at 318 Sproul Hall. The California Alumni Association (Alumni House) administers the Alumni Scholars Program which includes the Alumni Leadership Scholarship (for entering students only), the Emerging Leadership Scholarships (for students who did not receive an alumni Leadership Scholarship when entering), and many other awards for scholarship and/or community service. The Institute of Governmental Studies (111 Moses Hall) has information on a number of public service scholarships such as the Gardner Fellowship (to allow a graduating senior to work in a government office or public service organization) and other fellowships that allow recipients to spend a year working in one of four areas of the California State Government -- the Assembly, Senate, Executive Office, or Judicial Branch. Keep in mind that most departments have bulletin boards on which they post scholarship announcements. Be sure to check those boards since scholarship agencies will often send announcements directly to the relevant academic department(s). Also check other, related departments in addition to your own major department. For example, the political science department may post scholarship announcements that are appropriate for students majoring in history, PACS (peace and conflict studies), and economics. Off-Campus Resources There are a number of scholarship search services available on the World Wide Web; some charge fees while others are free. Below is a list four of the larger free services. Be aware that since these services list hundreds of thousands of scholarships, you can expect to spend several hours identifying scholarships that are appropriate for you. For instance, it's possible that you'll receive descriptions for hundreds of scholarships, request applications for twenty that look appropriate for you, and only receive five responses. Think of the process as a sieve. You put your scholarship information into the sieve and sift out what you don't want with the hope that you'll end up with something useful. The more you put in, the more you'll get out. :) FastWEB ---> www.fastweb.com FinAid ---> www.finaid.org Sallie Mae ---> http://scholarships.salliemae.com Scholarship Service Scams You can pretty much trust that the scholarship services listed above are valid and won't cost you anything. When considering other scholarship services, however, beware of possible scholarship service scams. Before using a scholarship service, check it out to make sure it's backed by a reputable company. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a scholarship service may be a scam if any of the following conditions exist: 1. The scholarship is "guaranteed" or your money back. Be diligent and keep your eyes open. If you are ambitious, active, and articulate, you're on the right road to financing your way through college and earning some scholarship money. Don't get discouraged if you don't get the first scholarship you apply for. Just remember that you are attending one of the most competitive universities in the nation, and some form of subjectivity plays a role in any selection committee's choice of its scholarship recipients. Plan ahead and pay attention to deadlines. Otherwise, best of luck to you!
|
|---|
Thai Student Association at the University of California, Berkeley
