Guide to Academic Freshman Scholarships

To be considered for academic scholarships, apply for admission and submit all transcripts and test scores by November 1. Then complete the online scholarship application and submit required supplemental materials by the November 15 priority scholarship deadline for priority consideration. In mid-January, the Academic Scholarship Office will begin awarding scholarships to students who have applied and submitted all required credentials by November 15. Students who miss the November 15 deadline may apply until February 1 for consideration as funds allow. Students who apply by the February 1 final deadline will be notified of scholarship decisions in early March.

Freshman Scholarship Application Checklist

Add scholars@uark.edu and honors@uark.edu and to your email address book

Our primary form of communication throughout the scholarship application process will be through email to your personal email account (be sure to use an email address that you will have access to at all times, even after graduation). Adding these addresses to your email address book will ensure that our messages reach you.

Apply for admission

In order to apply for academic scholarships at the University of Arkansas, you must first apply for admission (students do not have to be admitted before beginning the scholarship process). Students should submit their admissions application by November 1 to be considered for the November 15 priority scholarship deadline and by January 15 for the February 1 final scholarship deadline. In order to be considered for fellowships, all application materials, including the letters of recommendation, must be submitted by the February 1 final scholarship deadline.

Submit your high school transcript to the Office of Admissions

All official transcripts should be mailed to the Office of Admissions at 232 Silas Hunt Hall, 1 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701. The Academic Scholarship Office recalculates all grade point averages to a standard 4-point scale for academic scholarship consideration. One extra grade point is given for Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and dual/concurrent courses when clearly indicated on the high school transcript. Honors and pre-Advanced Placement courses are not given extra weight in the calculation.

Submit all ACT and/or SAT test scores to the Office of Admissions

Superscores are calculated for scholarship consideration, but are not used for fellowship consideration. The December 10 ACT and December 3 SAT are the last national test dates used for priority scholarship consideration.

Check your New Student Center

Approximately 48 hours after you submit your application for admission, you will be able to access your personalized scholarship/fellowship application by logging into your New Student Center. You will copy and paste or upload your required supplemental materials into the application.

  1. From your New Student Center homepage, open your completed admissions application.
  2. Scroll down to the bottom of the application details page to the "Next Steps" header. When your scholarship application is ready, one of the Next Steps will be "Apply for Academic Scholarships". Follow this link.
  3. You will be taken back to your New Student Center homepage. Follow the "Start New Application" link. This will open a popup to start a new scholarship application. Select the "Create Application" button.
  4. A new popup will appear, giving you the option to open any of your existing applications, both admissions and scholarship. Make sure the correct scholarship application is selected, then select the "Open Application" button. This will take you to your scholarship application.
  5. The How to Apply page has more detailed steps and screenshots to guide you through this process.

Prepare supplemental scholarship application materials

View  the list of required supplemental materials and prepare them in your word processing software. For advice on how to make your application stand out in a competitive pool, we encourage you to read the associate dean of the honors college's "Scholarship Tips" blog post.

Copy and paste or upload supplemental materials into the personalized scholarship application

Once you have completed the application and have proofread multiple times, click the submit button. You will not be able to make changes once the form has been submitted. You will receive an email confirming receipt of your application.

Monitor your email account

Continue to monitor your email for important updates from the Academic Scholarship Office. In mid-January, the Academic Scholarship Office will begin awarding scholarships to students who have applied and submitted all required credentials by November 15. Students who apply by the February 1 final deadline will be notified of scholarship decisions in early March.

Check our website for additional funding opportunities

Please visit Additional Funding Opportunities for additional scholarship and financial aid opportunities on campus.

Contact us!

If you have not heard from us or if you have questions regarding the scholarship application process, please contact us at scholars@uark.edu or 479-575-4464.