AcrobatHow Participants are Selected
IHS Scholarship Program awards are made on a competitive basis to eligible students who meet certain selection criteria. During the selection process, students are ranked with their peers — juniors with juniors and seniors with seniors, for example — for each priority health career category. The amount of funds available each year determines the number of students in each class year’s list that are selected for awards.
Applications from students in each of the health profession priorities are reviewed and rated using the following three criteria. Points totaling 100 are assigned as indicated for each criteria:
- Academic Performance (40 pts.) — Applicants are partially rated according to their academic performance, based on official transcripts and faculty evaluations. If it is your school’s policy to not to rank students academically, faculty members are asked to provide a personal judgment of your achievement.
Health Professions Scholarship Program applicants only: You must have a cumulative GPA of 2.0. If your GPA is below this minimum standard, your application will not be reviewed. - Faculty, Employer and Tribal Recommendations (30 pts.) — Applicants are partially rated according to faculty, employer and Tribal recommendations regarding the applicant’s potential in their chosen health-related profession.
- Stated Reasons for Asking for the Scholarship and Stated Career Goals (30 pts.) — You are asked to explain why you are requesting the scholarship, to state your career goals, and to explain how these goals will help to meet the health needs of Indian people. You must provide a brief written explanation of your reasons for asking for the scholarship and a description of your career goals. The narratives weigh heavily toward your rating and are judged by the review committee on how well they are written.
NOTE: Needs of Indian health Programs and How the Applicant’s Career Goals Relate to Those Needs — Individuals who apply for health career categories not listed as priorities during the scholarship cycle under review will not be considered.
Ranking Procedures
Eligible applicants with complete applications within each career category are reviewed and rated as described above. The scores are determined for each application and a rank order listing is developed for each priority health career category, beginning with the highest-rated and ending with the lowest-rated application. A cutoff score is determined based on the health professional needs of the Indian health programs and on the amount of funding available.
Selection Priorities
Priority consideration for funding will be given to:
- Applicants who provide documentation of Indian eligibility.
- Students currently enrolled in a health profession program who are performing satisfactorily (2.0 GPA average) and require continued scholarship support.
- Current recipients of the Health Professions Preparatory Scholarship Program or the Health Professions Pre-Graduate Scholarship who have completed their coursework under these programs, are entering a health professions school and are applying in the priority health career categories
- New applicants who are highly rated and ranked competitively according to the selection criteria.
- Participants entering their fourth and third year of school, in that order. Applicants entering their first or second year will be considered only if an insufficient number of fourth- and third-year students qualify.
For more details please download the Application Handbook (PDF - 3926KB)