Getting Started
|
Video: Former applicants Josie Chambers, Matt Grobis, and Stephanie Maldonado describe how they first heard about different scholarship opportunities. |
Distinguishing Yourself
Your scholarly options as an undergraduate are plentiful. However, much depends upon your willingness to take the initiative early and often. From the very outset it is imperative that you:
- Attend lectures, seminars, and speaker series within your field and/or of general interest
- Go beyond the basic reading required in your courses (e.g., read journals in your field)
- Participate in leadership or service activities that you are passionate about
- Pursue summer opportunities such as internships, volunteer programs, and travel
|
Video: Fulbright applicants Tiffanie Bui, Rosalie Ierardi, and Joe Johnson share advice about maximizing your time at the University of Illinois. |
Scholarly pursuits are not limited or tied to coursework. Summers can and should be put to good use beyond "earning money" or "sun, fun, travel, and relaxation." Your academic and professional interests can be combined and wed to the above pursuits in profitable, interesting, and beneficial ways. The possibilities are endless.
No matter what you are interested in, no matter what your academic or career goals, make sure you take advantage of the opportunities that are available to you.
Getting to Know Faculty
|
Video: Fulbright applicants Tiffanie Bui and Joe Johnson share advice about getting to know faculty before asking for recommendation letters. |
Professors are some of the best resources on campus. Before requesting recommendation letters, take time to develop a personal relationship with multiple faculty members in your field of interest.
- Introduce yourself before or after class, during office hours, or at a campus event
- Read about your professor's research topics and ask them about their research
- Conduct a research project with a professor that allows for travel and/or learning new skills
- Don't limit your contact only to faculty in your department or from the courses you have taken
So, You Want to Win a Prestigious Scholarship or Fellowship
It is no longer sufficient to meet the minimum requirements for merit-based scholarships or fellowships. The competition is intense. To compete you have to be as good as, if not better than, the rest.
Indeed, a perusal of recent scholarship recipients suggest the following profile:
Scholar X knows Bono and espouses many of his concerns; worked with Mother Theresa's religious order; found a cure for some disease or other; presented and/or published his/her research at/in scholarly or professional meetings/journals; climbed Mt. Everest; is the captain of his/her underwater hockey team; is president of his/her student body; speaks 3 languages; performs in the school orchestra; and is the winner of innumerable departmental and college awards and honors.
Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration but it does illustrate the point. (Don't believe us? Check it out for yourself. Profiles of the most recent recipients of the Rhodes and Marshall scholarships can be found at the scholarships' websites.) You may also view winning applications for some awards at our office resource room. Further, write-ups of recent Illinois recipients may be found here.
Intimidated? Don't be. Below you will find some tips and suggestions for things you should consider at the different stages of your undergraduate career. The difference between the student who is competitive for a variety of prestigious scholarships and the one who is not is based on more than GPA. The competitive student has taken advantage of available academic, extracurricular, scholarly, and service activities.
Whether or not you win one or more scholarships/fellowships, you will certainly get far more out of your education, your life, and time spent while a student at the university. We may be located in "the middle of a cornfield" but that doesn't mean that your undergraduate career should be lackluster. The soil here is internationally renown for its fertility; with a little effort, you can reap remarkable rewards in your intellectual, personal, and social life.