The dawn of the winter semester at OU brings with it the beginning of Scholarship Season. From now through roughly the end of February, various organizations, departments, and schools on-campus welcome scholarship applications from hopeful students. These scholarships vary in both criteria and amount and come from a plethora of sources, yet they all accomplish the goal of helping Oakland students finance their education.
For several hundred students each year, the dream to receive a scholarship based on hard work in the classroom, on-campus, and in the community is realized. Despite this fact, there seems to be a widespread lack of knowledge pertaining to where and how one can attain these impeccable sources of financial assistance. While the Office of Student Financial Services has established a helpful database of some scholarships, it is important that students look elsewhere on-campus as well.
For example, if you do some digging, you can find a great list of departmental scholarships offered through the College of Arts and Sciences (found through using the old CAS site). The list includes scholarships for several departments, even a less-populated one such as Women’s Studies. Scholarships such as these are not listed in the aforementioned Financial Aid database, yet these are the kinds that are quite specific and thus very attainable. In addition to a source such as this, it is important to ask professors, department chairs, and academic advisors as they may also know of additional sources of aid through the university itself.
Once you have found out just how many scholarships you may be eligible for, it is important to remember that you will be competing against other students for said scholarships. In general, there are three keys to becoming a quality candidate: strong record of academic excellence, demonstrated leadership, and involvement at OU and in the wider community.
These three keys lead us to the main point of this post: if one treats OU as offering the total university experience (i.e. getting involved and maintaining great grades) as opposed to a strict commuter experience (i.e. going to class and working many hours outside of campus), then it is completely possible to finance one’s education simply by becoming an active member of the campus community. What this means is that participating in student organizations, becoming involved in your field of study (research, orgs, etc), working on-campus jobs, and attending events or functions all help to increase your chances of receiving an in-house scholarship. Becoming involved in this sense may decrease opportunities to work jobs to help pay for school, but the bottom line is that such involvement can pay for your school while building your resume, increasing your social ties, and enhancing your total university experience at the same time.
Unfortunately, at this time, there seems to be a lack of students embracing this kind of enveloping experience. While there are certainly thousands of students who are involved and keeping up on their studies, a fair majority are still sitting on the sidelines, mostly due to, we suspect, The Commuter Syndrome (which we hope to expound on in the future). This makes this scholarship process all the more enticing for those who are demonstrating those skills listed on so many applications. It is with that said that we urge you all to find a scholarship which you feel you are qualified for and apply for it. It never hurts to try, especially at a university like OU that is so great about rewarding its students for treating it as a true place of higher learning and experience.
Good luck!
