Congratulations! You have decided to apply for a prestigious external scholarship. Now what? The University of Alabama Committee on External Scholarships and Fellowships reads all applications, interviews applicants and decides whether and whom to endorse. We then provide an institutional endorsement letter, signed by President Stuart Bell. You will see on our website that there is a campus deadline approximately one month ahead of the national deadline for each major award requiring institutional endorsement.
Once you have carefully ascertained eligibility for a specific award and have spoken with the appropriate campus representative about your plans to apply, follow these steps:
Application
Submit by email to the appropriate campus representative a well-polished draft of your completed application, along with an unofficial transcript, by the campus deadline. This is a hard deadline.
Letters of recommendation (LORs)
Ask all those providing LORs to email draft letters to the campus representative, also by the campus deadline. Draft LORs are fine at this stage and do not need to be sent on letterhead. If you are selected for endorsement, our office will work with faculty and other recommenders on fine-tuning letters. Find more tips here on LORs.
Campus interview
Meet with members of the Committee on External Scholarships and Fellowships for your campus interview. Our office will schedule the interview soon after the campus deadline and well before the national deadline.
Submit the final application
If endorsed, we will provide feedback on your application, unless you are applying for the Rhodes Scholarship, or any other award where feedback is not permitted. Make all final revisions in time for the national deadline and submit if possible before the cutoff. Application portals can become congested and have been known to crash.
Finalists
Let the Director of External Scholarships and Fellowships know the minute you hear from the foundation. If you are a finalist, we will work with you on interview prep.
Celebrate
All applicants are winners. There is value in the process. If you do not receive the award, explore other opportunities and try again. In the spring of each year, we will invite all students who complete an application to join us for a year-end reception.