Scholarship timeline, i'm at the end of my rope trying to get information.

[CBG321]

So my current school is horribly frustrating and has a bunch of uninformed incompetent students working the email and phone lines.  So I can't seem to get an answer other than "look it up" which really really pisses me off.  Be courteous enough to say you don't know or direct me to someone who does.  

 

How far in advance can I apply to a scholarship and remain eligible.  The people i've been in contact with can't seem to understand that concept of doing something really early none of them could even guess at an answer.  I was told the deadline is shown on each scholarship.  Yes I know I didn't ask when it was due!  

 

Specifically I am applying Fall 2015 and would be starting my Graduate program Fall 2016.  What I thought was an easy question has been impossible to get an answer for.  Can I apply for a bunch of scholarships this summer (2015) and be eligible if i've not yet been accepted to any programs or even applied yet?

 

Sorry for my angry rant, i'm just so frustrated with my current school.

[lexical_gap]

Short answer: Probably not.

 

Long answer:  Read the fine print on the scholarship eligibility requirements and documents you must submit with the application.  Some scholarships for graduate school require a letter of good standing from your program, graduate transcripts, LORs from your professors, and/or an acceptance letter from a graduate program as part of the application.  If you do not have those items yet, you may not be ineligible.

That said, many schools offer current undergraduate students scholarships that are transferrable to graduate tuition if they stay at the same university.  I have a classmate who was offered a scholarship her senior year of undergrad that was applied to her grad school tuition.  However, if she had gone to a different university for grad school, she would have lost that money.

Look at when scholarships are awarded and when they must be applied.  Scholarships that issue checks directly to the student instead of the school have an expiration date.  Others get sent to the school and are applied directly to the next term.

Just make sure you read the fine print and ask questions of the people awarding the scholarships.

[CBG321]

Short answer: Probably not.

 

Long answer:  Read the fine print on the scholarship eligibility requirements and documents you must submit with the application.  Some scholarships for graduate school require a letter of good standing from your program, graduate transcripts, LORs from your professors, and/or an acceptance letter from a graduate program as part of the application.  If you do not have those items yet, you may not be ineligible.

That said, many schools offer current undergraduate students scholarships that are transferrable to graduate tuition if they stay at the same university.  I have a classmate who was offered a scholarship her senior year of undergrad that was applied to her grad school tuition.  However, if she had gone to a different university for grad school, she would have lost that money.

Look at when scholarships are awarded and when they must be applied.  Scholarships that issue checks directly to the student instead of the school have an expiration date.  Others get sent to the school and are applied directly to the next term.

Just make sure you read the fine print and ask questions of the people awarding the scholarships.

 

Thank you, I'll have to compile a list and try to find the 'when they must be applied' information.  A few i've looked at just tell me what kind of GPA or level in school I need to be.  At least I know doing it this early probably isn't an option for most scholarships that is more information than I could get from the scholarship department.  How sad is that?