Faculty play a critical role in advising and preparing students to apply for prestigious awards, as well as in the nomination process for awards requiring institutional endorsement.

ONSF advisors are happy to speak with you about specific awards and to provide guidance concerning letters of recommendation and giving effective feedback on application materials. Please contact us with any questions or inquiries.

Identifying Students

Although most awards consider academic achievement to some degree, there are often other criteria that are more important (e.g. leadership, research ability, commitment to public service, etc.). When considering a student for referral, please keep the following in mind:

• Students do not have to be academically outstanding to be potential applicants for all prestigious awards.
• GPA thresholds vary considerably across awards (e.g., students with at least a 3.2 are often potential applicants).
• Selection committees tend to look for depth, rather than breadth of experience and engagement.
• Students who demonstrate passion and commitment to their academic field(s), volunteer service, and/or other extracurricular engagement are potential candidates.

Referral Process

We have the greatest success in reaching students when they are encouraged to apply by a mentor and they also receive an invitation to an advising appointment from our office. Many of the most qualified students are so modest about their accomplishments and capabilities that they do not think of themselves as candidates. As you identify students who are potential candidates for prestigious awards, please:

• Encourage them to schedule an appointment with one of us to discuss the scholarship and fellowship opportunities that match their abilities and interests. We use Nexus for appointment scheduling.
• Email ONSF Director Vin Moscardelli (vin.moscardelli@uconn.edu) to nominate a student.

Mentoring and Supporting Applicants

We recommend the following when working with students who are potential applicants to national scholarships:

• Encourage them to take challenging classes.
• Help them find research and professional opportunities.
• Invite them to lectures and other intellectually engaging events.
• Introduce them to your colleagues (most awards require multiple letters of recommendation, so these networks are vital).
• Talk to them about their goals, and then talk to them about graduate school or other training that will help them achieve those goals.
• Write strong letters of recommendation for them (see our guide to writing letters of recommendation).
• Provide feedback to students working on applications that require field-specific knowledge or proposals, as well as those that do not.
• Participate on campus selection and practice interview committees. (If you’d like to help ONSF select UConn’s nominees for awards like the Rhodes, Marshall, Churchill, Truman, Udall, Beinecke, etc., please email ONSF Director Vin Moscardelli at vin.moscardelli@uconn.edu).