It’s scholarship application time! Let’s be honest; scholarships are among the most important parts of your college experience, but earning the scholarship by completing the application and personal statement is not exactly easy or fun. This handout reviews the UIS Donor-Funded Institutional Scholarship Application to make that process a little easier!

What is the UIS Donor-Funded Institutional Scholarship?

UIS offers hundreds of thousands of dollars in donor-funded scholarships to enrolled UIS students every year. In fact, “UIS awarded over $990,000 in donor scholarships to approximately 300 students for the 2023-24 academic year.”[1] You can find the shared application for all of these scholarships on the UIS website. Students have until February 15th each year to complete their submission for the following academic year, which includes several parts:

  • Student Information
  • Classes, Programs, and Future Plans
  • Employment
  • Additional Information
  • Student Engagement, Leadership, and Athletics
  • Release Agreement

Many of the questions are easy-to-answer drop down menus or short responses. Besides giving you space to share details about yourself, the application also helps you indicate whether you qualify for scholarships that have specific requirements, like a particular major, membership, or achievement. This handout will concentrate on the writing portions of the application in the Student Information section, which includes the Personal Narrative, Field of Study, Academic/Career Goals, and An Experience at UIS.

Personal Narrative

The personal narrative is your opportunity to share details about your “personal, educational, and vocational goals” – basically, who are you, and what do you want out of life? This space also allows you to discuss remarkable aspects of your academic experience, such as “awards, honors, and other student activities.” Basically, what have you done that can impress the people reviewing your application, and how can you point toward the scholarships you qualify for?

The online application requires that the narrative be at least 250 words long, but caps the length at 750 words. To write within this length, you should plan ahead carefully. You don’t want to include too much, and you want it all to flow and make sense. The following is some advice you can use to write a personal narrative that hits all the marks.

How to Begin a Personal Narrative

  • Kick things off with a strong, memorable first impression by grabbing their attention right away
  • Start with a personal anecdote you can use as the core thematic thread which points toward your goals
  • Share ideas that show the pursuit of success through struggle, your persistence and grit and dedication

How to Develop Ideas in a Personal Narrative

  • Explain the experiences you’ve chosen to include, with relevant detail and description
  • Reflect on how these experiences have shaped you, or helped you push toward your goals
  • Connect everything together to show who you are, what you’ve done, and where you’re going

How to Finish a Personal Narrative

  • Leave your reader with a solid, singular idea they’ll remember out of all the narratives they’ve read
  • Pull the personal anecdote back in as the core thematic element driving the narrative
  • Make sure to have shown how you’ve persisted through the struggle; you’re on the path to success

Field of Study

The second writing section of the scholarship application asks you to explain “How I chose my field of study.” Your response will likely be briefer than the personal narrative, but you should take some time to examine the reasons why you chose your major. Consider these questions to get started:

  • What about this field of study interests me? In what ways?
  • Who from this field of study might have influenced my academic goals? How?
  • When did you know this was your chosen field of study? Why?

Academic/Career Goals

The third writing section of the scholarship application asks: “How do your recent educational experiences fit into your future academic or career goals?” Specifically, this section wants you to apply “your past accomplishments to your future goals.” To do this effectively, you’ll want to think back to your work in a class you took recently. Give an example of when your coursework connected to your future academic and employment goals. This can include:

  • Lab work or research
  • Essay or other project
  • Group project or presentation
  • Reflection work
  • Hands-on learning
  • Volunteering experience

An Experience at UIS

The last writing section of the scholarship application gives space for you to describe something you’ve experienced at UIS. The sky’s the limit as far as what you may want to share, but try to make it matter in the context of the rest of your responses in the application. You also should look at whether you can use this story to indicate your eligibility for particular, restricted scholarships. In other words, this story should tell your readers something about you and your academic experiences and career goals. Here’s some examples of what that might look like:

  • This one time at UIS, my roommate and I . . .
  • During welcome week, I had the strangest experience where . . .
  • While working at my campus job at [X], I . . .
  • At the Student Union, I attended. . .
  • In my [X] class with Dr. [Y] one night, I . . .
  • Let me tell you about my first night in my dorm room where . . .

Closing Thoughts

Remember that the purpose of a scholarship application is to show how you benefit your institution, and how well you will represent your potential donors as the recipient of their funding. You’re an investment; help them see why they should invest in you and how their scholarship will pay off through your future successes.

Hopefully these ideas have helped you complete your application – good luck, we hope you receive scholarships!

[1] “UIS Scholarship Application for 2024-25.” UIS News, 1 Nov. 2023, https://www.uis.edu/news/uis-scholarship-application-2024-25