Leadership Scholarships

What is a Leadership Scholarship?

Leadership scholarships are given to students with a proven record of commitment to their school, community or extracurricular activities. These scholarships are designed to reward student leaders who have served as heads of clubs, student bodies and more. Even captains of sports clubs may qualify as leaders.

Unlike other scholarships, there is no specific requirement to apply for a leadership scholarship. Even being treasurer or secretary of one club in your high school career can make you eligible. A leader can be anyone who has guided a group of people. Colleges and organizations give out leadership scholarships because they believe these students exhibit essential personal qualities. A student who is heavily involved in the student council or the honor society may be more likely to become a leader in the professional world.

Being a leader means you have devoted hours to a certain activity and that you have learned valuable soft skills. In some cases, you must have a leadership record with a specific organization to qualify for a scholarship.

How to Win a Leadership Scholarship

If you only have minimal leadership experience, use the essay portion of the application as an opportunity to showcase what you learned from being a leader. If you have to provide a letter of recommendation, choose a teacher, coach or another adult who has seen your leadership skills in action. Having someone else endorse your leadership qualities can improve your chances of winning a scholarship. This may be a different person than you use for other scholarship applications.

Try to show what you did as a leader. For example, if you increased the number of members or added more club activities, describe those accomplishments in detail. You can also talk about how you facilitated events with other clubs or schools. Even if you haven’t served in an official leadership capacity, you can still spin your resume to prove that you have leadership skills. For example, if you helped mentor younger members of your mock trial team or were the lead in a community service project, talk about that in an essay.