Nationally competitive awards offer a variety of opportunities that would not be otherwise available to students. These awards, scholarships, offer full funding for graduate school or funding for research.

Generally, the scholarships require two to four letters of recommendation, a personal statement and an essay. These requirements vary depending on the scholarship and what the organization giving the scholarship is looking for.

Laura Good works as the assistant director of nationally competitive awards and the undergraduate honors program at Iowa State. Even though her office is housed in the Jischke Honors Building, she emphasizes that anyone can apply.

“There are many people outside of the Honors program that qualify for these scholarships,” Good said. “It’s harder to reach them.”

Good is working with Honors Ambassador Edel Aron to redesign the honors website and the nationally competitive awards page.

“There is going to be a scholarships tab right at the top,” Good said. “It’s going to be a more robust webpage.”

The website will make it easier for people not in honors to find the scholarships and get into contact with Good. There will be a way to schedule a meeting with Good directly on the website, along with profiles of previous winners of the scholarships. Good plans to create a list of all previous winners and finalists for various scholarships.

“I don’t know everyone who gets a scholarship,” Good said. “It can be hard to make sure everyone gets recognition.”

This year there were 23 finalists and winners from Iowa State for various scholarships. The process for applying for one or more of these scholarships can be very long and in-depth.

“You can’t start the night before,” said Aron, senior in mathematics.

While Aron did not become a finalist in any of the scholarships she applied for, she is still grateful for the experience. Aron had not thought about applying for any scholarships until she had to talk to Good before an honors event for prospective students and their parents.

“If I hadn’t talked to Laura, I don’t know if I would have done it,” Aron said.

Aron applied for the Knight-Hennessy scholarship, a scholarship that is only two years old. It was started by Phil Knight, Stanford alumnus, and the tenth president of Stanford John Hennessy. The scholarship is meant to support students who will be going to Stanford for graduate school.

The scholarship also requires applicants to write about their previous experiences in research.

“I chose to talk about the labs that I felt I had contributed to the most,” Aron said.

With the majority of the application requiring writing skills, except for a short video portion, it can be a daunting task to take on, especially personal statements and essays.

“Writing is not my strong suit,” Aron said. “If you are applying, have someone else look at it.”

Aron also recommends having people other than friends edit the essays and statements.

“Sometimes friends can be scared of being too critical of you,” Aron said.

Even though winning is highly unlikely, Aron still recommends applying.

“Even if you don’t have a chance, [the process] is still beneficial,” Aron said. “These scholarships exist for a reason.”

Mengyu “Allen” Wang, senior in aerospace engineering, was a Goldwater Scholar last year and this year he was a Knight-Hennessy Scholar finalist and was one of the winners for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship.

When Wang became a finalist for the Knight-Hennessy scholarship he was in the top 100 of over 3,000 applicants worldwide. He was able to go to a workshop hosted by Knight-Hennessy with all of the other finalists and network with well-known people in their respective areas.

The requirements for the scholarship application change depending on where the money is coming from and what the decision makers are looking for.

“[The Knight-Hennessy scholarship application] was more sentimental,” Wang said.

Wang was required to write about some of the research he has done during his time at Iowa State.

“Lots of people get in their head,” Wang said. “You have to start more than one to two months ahead of time.”

Wang also recommends taking a good look at what the scholarship stands for and why the money is being given out.

“You have to think ‘what’s something that’s a good fit for me,’” Wang said.

Scholarships provide financial aid and give people a lot more freedom to enable themselves.

“Remember, scholarships are a means, not an end,” Wang said.

Catherine Leafstedt, senior in agronomy and global resource systems, applied for the Rhodes Scholarship as well as the Gates Cambridge Scholarship. Although Leafstedt did not receive either of the scholarships, she was grateful for the experience they provided.

“Even though I didn’t get them, I feel more confident,” Leafstedt said. “I feel strongly that I am on the right path.”

For the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, Leafstedt first had to apply to Cambridge and then apply for the scholarships after she was accepted.

“I still had the acceptance even if I didn’t get the scholarship,” Leafstedt said.

The unusual part of Leafstedt’s applications was instead of two to four recommendation letters she was required to have a minimum of five, with a maximum of eight. Finding that many people for recommendation letters can be difficult Leafstedt said.

“Be active outside of class interactions,” Leafstedt said. “Maintain that relationship, foster relationships with managers or your superiors.”

Instead of participating in many activities, Leafstedt recommends being involved in fewer.

“Try hard to be deeply involved,” Leafstedt said. “Go above and beyond [expectations].”

Writing personal statements can be difficult to fit all of the information needed for a small amount of space.

“It’s not just a rewrite of your resume,” Leafstedt said. “It takes a lot of editing. Telling a compelling life story in one to two pages is hard.”

The Rhodes Scholarship Leafstedt applied for does not allow the applicant to get help from anyone.

“I think they want to make sure that it’s your own writing,” Leafstedt said.

Leafstedt plans on going to Cambridge and pursuing her master’s degree.

“It’s tough,” Leafstedt said. “You have to really want it.”