The Undergraduate Scholarship Committee has finalized its review process and have awarded all available scholarships for Fall 2019 and Spring 2020 semesters. We do not offer summer scholarships. The committee will continue to award undergraduate scholarships if additional funding becomes available during the academic year. For these new scholarships, the committee will reconsider students who applied in Spring 2019, but were not awarded.
2020-2021 Eccles School Undergraduate Scholarships Application
Application is now OPEN. Application Deadline: March 23, 2020 (11:59 PM).
You must also complete the University of Utah General Application when you sign in.
Items to prepare for the 2020-2021 scholarship application
- Verify that your business major status and/or academic program is accurate in CIS.
- The committee strongly encourages all eligible applicants to file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA): http://financialaid.utah.edu/.
- Personal Statement: Essay (minimum 500 – maximum 700 words) in which you describe your academic, professional, and personal goals, as well as include any special circumstances that you want to share with the scholarship committee. You will upload this document to the application when you apply.
- Resume (one-page maximum): A current resume outlining your professional work experience, extracurricular activities, academic projects, volunteer service, and awards. You will upload this document to the application when you apply.
- Letter of Recommendation (Optional): On the application, you will be asked to provide a name and email address of one reference that has agreed to submit a confidential reference form or letter on your behalf. Your letter should come from either an academic or non-academic source, but not a family member. Your reference will be notified via email on how to submit their confidential reference form or letter. You reference has until *March 25, 2020* (11:59 PM) to submit their confidential reference form.
- *New for 2020-2021 Opportunity Scholars Scholarship Application*: In addition to the program application, students must also apply through the Eccles School Undergraduate Scholarship Application in order to be considered for Opportunity Scholars scholarships for 2020-2021.
Scholarship Eligibility
This application is open to undergraduate business students, including transfer and pre-business students. Applicants will be considered for any, and all, undergraduate scholarships available through the Eccles School and for which they may qualify. All scholarships are awarded for fall and spring semesters unless the scholarship committee or program director has approved an exception. We do not offer summer scholarships. The majority of scholarships are awarded to declared business majors who are enrolled full-time (complete a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester). Currently enrolled pre-business students can apply at the same time that they apply for admission to Upper Division. Scholarship recipients must maintain at least 3.2 GPA and continue to make progress toward a business degree at the University of Utah unless the scholarship committee or program director has approved an exception.
Graduating seniors are still eligible to apply and can receive their award at less than full-time status, and may receive their total scholarship allotment for fall semester if graduating. The committee will also consider applicants enrolled part-time as long as they qualify and are the best candidate for a particular scholarship.
Recipients of a Business Scholars Program scholarship (freshman, transfer, and four-year scholarships) are eligible to apply for scholarship support through the Eccles School Undergraduate Scholarship application; however, they will receive only the scholarship of the highest value, not both awards. The committee will consider exceptions on a case-by-case situation; such as, but not limited to, if a student has demonstrated high financial need and/or a student is the best and only qualified applicant for a particular award.
The undergraduate scholarship awarding process is competitive.
For the 2019-2020 academic year, the committee received nearly 700 applications and awarded scholarships to approximately 40 percent of applicants. The majority of the recipients are declared business majors, who have completed, and are currently taking upper-division coursework for their major.
In addition to merit-based awards, the scholarship committee takes a holistic approach when evaluating and selecting applicants for scholarships since funding is limited. Some factors that are heavily weighted, but not limited to, are as follows: major status, demonstrated financial need (i.e. filed FAFSA), volunteer work, extracurricular activities and work experience, adversities, and professional goals. The committee must also adhere by any special criteria set by donors. There are years that donors set very specific criteria that limit the committee’s awarding scope; for example, the committee must select the best candidates from certain Utah regions, career experience or interest, or have faced extreme hardships. Even with such narrow parameters, the committee always strives in selecting the best academic performing student who is also the best qualified for any available scholarship.
Please send your questions to Scholarships@Eccles.Utah.edu.