Each year, thousands of high school students around the world apply for the few spots offered by highly coveted merit scholarships.

The Elks Most Valuable Student scholarship is one of the most prestigious high school scholarships in the United States.

In this post, we provide a comprehensive overview of the Elks Most Valuable Student Scholarship including key dates, application requirements, and tips and tricks for how to win.

What is the Elks Most Valuable Student Scholarship?

The Elks Most Valuable Student (MVS) scholarship is sponsored by the Elks National Foundation.

Each year, around 500 MVS scholars are chosen to receive scholarships in $1,000 to $7,500 amounts.

The Elks National Foundation awarded $

2. 5 million in scholarships in the 2023 year.

Starting with the 2024 year, the top 20 MVS scholars will receive $30,00

0. The top 20 scholars will be invited to the MVS Leadership Weekend held in person in Chicago.

Attendance is required to receive the scholarship award.

The selection criteria will encompass leadership, academic achievement, community involvement, and financial need.

There's no cutoff in terms of family income, but the scholarship does require the submission of the FAFSA to gauge financial need.

It's encouraged nonetheless to apply.

What’s the Eligibility for the Elks Most Valuable Student Scholarship?

To apply for this highly competitive program, make sure you meet all the eligibility requirements below: Current high school senior and have not graduated high school Be a U.

S. citizen and not of permanent legal status Applicants do not need to be related to a member of the Elks What are the application requirements?

Students have to advance through local, district, and state levels to reach the national competition.

To do so, make sure to include all of the following in your applications:  FAFSA statement Short answer essay (past example: “Using one of the leadership roles or extracurricular activities you prioritized as being important to you, describe what impact the experience had on you. ”) 1 teacher evaluation   List of work experience, community service, honors and awards, extracurricular experience, and leadership positions Official high school transcript  Note that these were the 2016 application requirements listed directly on the application.

How Do I Win the Elks Most Valuable Student Scholarship?

Now that we’ve established that the Elks MVS Scholarship is a highly competitive program, you need to have an exceptional application to distinguish yourself in the applicant pool.

If you’re a MVS hopeful, make sure you follow these steps to win.

Start early.

Giving yourself ample time to prepare your application will reflect on the overall quality of your application.

In competitive programs like these, it’s best to start on your essays and short responses weeks before the deadline so you have enough time to reread and revise.

In addition, starting your application early ensures that your recommender has enough time to prepare their materials on your behalf.

The rule of thumb is to ask for letters of recommendation at least two weeks in advance.

See the Elks Most Valuable Student scholarship application timeline below for the most recent year.

November 13, 2023: Application deadline.

February 14 2024: Online application and nominator forms due.

Mid-January, 2024: Notification sent to applicants advancing from district selection to quarter finalist March 2024: Notification sent to applicants advancing from quarter finalist to national semi-finals Highlight your personality.

Utilize your application to your advantage.

Make sure to personalize your essays as much as possible in order to hammer home who you are as a person and why you deserve a spot in the program over everyone else.

In addition, the extracurriculars you describe in your application are just as important as the character you showcase in your essays.

The MVS program puts special emphasis on community involvement and leadership training.

Think about what you’ve done to better your community and how you can use your skills to further social welfare in broader areas, and how a scholarship could help you on your journey.

Your unique theme is going to be your differentiating factor, whether it be environmental awareness or policy research.

Be attention-grabbing in your essays (start with hooks or in medias res!) and use memorable, impactful words.

Highlight your humanity and be vulnerable when necessary.

Explain the whys as well as the whats that pertain to what you do.

If you need additional guidance for how to build your personal theme, check out this article that shows you how to do just that—and craft a compelling college application in the process.

Challenge yourself and excel in school.

One of the scholarship selection criteria is academic achievement.

You should be actively challenging yourself with a rigorous workload and showing the selection committee that you regularly seek challenges and work to overcome them. https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=Ky2Vo7RJcDs Sure, just telling you to get good grades is easy.

But how do you actually do well in school to be competitive for prestigious scholarships?

Watch this video from a current Harvard student that debunks lies about how to be the "perfect" student and gives authentic, foolproof tips to make your academic journey 10x easier.

Fulfill all application criteria.

Make sure that you’ve fulfilled all requirements prior to the deadline.

Ensure that your video was successfully uploaded and is in the exact format that you intended.

Concluding Remarks In conclusion, we provided a comprehensive overview of the Elks Most Valuable Student Scholarship as well as how to maximize your chances at winning.

Undergraduate scholarships not only do a great deal in alleviating financial burden but are overall great opportunities to socialize with other bright scholars and gain a supportive community.

However, each scholarship can only accommodate so many recipients—the key lies in applying to multiple to increase your odds at obtaining one.

Check out Rishab’s ultimate scholarship guide that contains 90+ vouched scholarships that are absolutely worth the time applying for.

Best of luck!.