Nationally Competitive Scholarships

Discover scholarships and fellowships that match your academic, personal and professional interests, then let us help you put your best foot forward when applying. Most fellowships allow students to study, conduct research, or study abroad to gain practical experience in their field and strengthen cross-cultural engagement skills. These external awards provide funding and life-changing opportunities across a range of disciplines and interests. 

Whether you're still earning your undergraduate degree, have moved on to graduate school, or have recently graduated from Appalachian State, scholarships and fellowships enable you to challenge yourself, open doors, and make new connections. NCS is here to help. Our goal is to make the process of applying for awards an enriching and reflective personal journey. Within the parameters of each award, we support students through the entire process by providing advising sessions, writing support, interview preparation and institutional endorsements. 

Why Apply:

Applying for a scholarship is an ideal opportunity to reflect upon what you have learned and achieved at Appalachian State. At the same time, it enables you to consider where you are headed and what steps are needed to achieve your goals and aspirations. Developing a scholarship application will also help you create a professional portfolio of materials, which can be used when pursuing other opportunities.

Through the application process, applicants become better writers, especially in genres of personal essay and grant application, further understand their strengths and challenges as a scholar, artist and/or researcher, and identify personal and professional goals connected to their vision for the future.

Whether you win an award or not, the application process alone will allow you to:

1. Cultivate resilience, stamina, and time management skills by managing long term goals, following through on multifaceted application components, reading and responding carefully to application directions.
2. Practice meeting rigorous expectations and being receptive to critique. 
3. Reflect on which academic, extracurricular, and life experiences have been most meaningful to cultivating your values and identity.
4. Clearly articulate your future goals to a larger audience in a compelling way 
5. Improve your writing by producing clear, concise, and persuasive essays that articulate your qualities and qualifications. 
6. Refine your networking and communications skills by cultivating relationships with faculty, staff, and mentors and staff.

If you make yourself competitive for a national award, you'll be competitive for a lot of things, from internships and jobs, to research and leadership opportunities. In this sense, it's not the product that matters (winning some prestigious award) but the process itself that signals success. And, of course, given proper planning and preparation, you might just win your award!