The eligibility requirements and application procedures for the
scholarships described at this site may appear daunting. All of
the scholarships are intensely competitive, but do not sell
yourself short; UALR has some extraordinary students. In the
1993-98 Truman competitions, UALR produced eight of the thirteen
state finalists and two of six winners. In 1997, one of our
students was the first woman from Arkansas to win a Rhodes
Scholarship. UALR's 1998 Rhodes nominee was the only candidate attending an Arkansas college or university to advance to the final round of competition in Atlanta, GA. You, too, may be a winner.
Attend carefully to the statements of purpose and eligibility
requirements in the overviews. Many of you have career and/or
degree plans that have not jelled completely, and it may be to
your advantage to consider a few adjustments and get involved in
activities that would make you more eligible for some of these
scholarships. If you are a freshmen or sophomore, contact the
campus representative of the scholarship in which you are
interested to see what you can do to better position yourself for
applying in the future.
Most of the applications for graduate scholarships ask for an
explanation of your choices of where you wish to study, which
will require you to do considerable research into other
universities and graduate programs. It is never too soon to
begin such research, and it will not be wasted even if you do not
win a scholarship. Just getting admitted to graduate schools
anymore is a pretty competitive business, so any early jump you
have on inquiring into programs (even if the only thing you take
away is familiarity with how to inquire) will serve you quite
well. Also, graduate school applications usually require essays
of the sort you have to compose for these scholarships. Even
non-winning applicants for these scholarships report that the
effort they had to expend in focusing their career goals was
invaluable.
UALR is committed to assisting persons interested in applying for
these scholarship, but be prepared to work. Past winning
students from UALR wrote seven or eight drafts of their
applications and were put through challenging mock interviews.
They reported that the process is easily the equivalent of a
demanding three-hour course. Adherence to internal deadlines for
drafts are necessary to ensure that applications are as polished
as they can be and that persons writing supporting letters of
recommendation have sufficient time.
Although applying for these scholarships requires a lot of
effort, remember that assistance is available, and keep in mind
the stakes for which you are playing. More important than the
financial support these scholarships provide are the contacts you
will make and the doors that will open for you. Should you land
a scholarship, what appears to be an inordinate investment of
time and resources on the front end will turn out to be one of
the best bargains of your life. And, to repeat a point, what you
learn from the application process is very worthwhile whether or
not you receive one of these awards. Applying is a win/win
proposition.
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
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Little Rock, AR 72204-1099
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